Baa, Baa, Snap!

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It’s not hard to resist the wolves on the outside the church, but it sometimes is a challenge to recognize the wolves, disguised in sheep’s clothing, inside the Body of Christ.

It didn’t take the believers of the Galatian church long to be deceived. Paul begins his letter with this cryptic statement: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6, 7).

It’s subtle—that’s the nature of a wolf disguised as a sheep. What he says sounds good, but if we examine what is said in the light of the Scriptures we will be able to discern the truth from the half-truth or the outright lie. The key for us is to be students of the Word of God, to chew for ourselves what the Bible says. Every believer has the Spirit of God as his Teacher (John 14:26), and if we pay attention to Him as He speaks through His Word to us, we will know the truth. We need, as believers and listeners, to become like the Bereans (Acts 17:11) who didn’t even take Paul’s word as truth until they had checked it out for themselves!

Wolves in sheep’s clothing are clever, and we need to even more clever if we expect to avoid getting “eaten” by them.

Paul warns: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 4:8, emphasis mine).

And they will be.