Silver Bullets for false teachers

The most feared region of France from 1764-67 was the province of Gévaudan. An area of about 80 km2 in the Margeride Mountains became known as the attack zone of a mythical creature called La Bête du Gévaudan, the Beast of Gévaudan. The beast was widely rumored to resemble a wolf, except that it was not grey, but red with black streaks. It was described as being as tall as a man, with a massive, bushy black tail, ferocious teeth, and a chin that was always stained with blood. In a space of two years, there had been 210 attacks on humans, with 113 dead and 49 injured. And 98 of the victims had been partially eaten.

Eventually, the crown got involved and King Louis XV commissioned two professional hunters, Jean d’Enneval and his son Jean-Francois to find and kill the beast. They killed dozens of grey wolves, but the attacks continued, so in 1765 King Louis replaced them with a man reputed to be the best hunter in France: Francois Antoine.

Sure enough, on 20 September 1765 Antoine tracked down the largest wolf anyone had ever seen. He stood 31 inches from paw to shoulder, was 5 ft 7 long, and weighed in at 130 pounds.

Some doubted this was the beast because reports were consistent that it was had red fur with black streaks. But Antoine pointed out that the survivors probably saw this grey wolf with streaks of blood on its fur. Also, this wolf had several scars on its body which Antoine said was evidence that it had attacked humans who had fought back with knives.

Antoine returned to Versailles with the wolf stuffed and mounted as a trophy for the king. He was received as a national hero, honored by the king with a title and an award, and he was of course handsomely paid. The people of France reveled in their newfound freedom to stroll unhindered through the forests of Gévaudan. That is, until shortly afterward, 12 more people were killed and eaten by the Beast of Gévaudan.

The Beast was eventually shot by a hunter called Jean Chastel on June 19, 1767. After this, the attacks stopped for good. As the story goes, Chastel had fashioned a silver bullet, which he had the local priest bless as a bullet set apart for God’s work. A silver bullet to protect God’s people. I like that. So today we are going to look at the silver bullet that protects God’s people from wolfish false teachers.

Jude has warned us against the wonky worship of false teachers, and how to recognize false teachers, today we see

4 SILVER BULLETS WITH WHICH TO WARD OFF FALSE TEACHERS

1. REMEMBER

Jude 17 – 19 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.

If you could choose between being able to read more of the Bible each year or remember what you’ve read so far, which would you choose?

Top contestants in the Speed Reading World Championships can reach up to 2,000 words a minute. That’s all the words in one of my sermons in 90 seconds. BUT… their comprehension is only 50%. The reigning world champ, Anne Jones, can read 4,700 words a minute. It would take her just under 3 hours to read the whole Bible.

But would that make her more godly?

Not necessarily.

God wants you not only to know what he has said but to remember what he said!

The problem with many Christians is not that they do not have access to the Bible, sermons, or knowledge of the word. It’s that they don’t remember what they have learned.

James 1: 23-25 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Jude is telling us that the Bible is full of warnings that false teachers will come. The first silver bullet to be safe from false teachers is to remember that they are coming.

Jesus predicted them…

Matthew 7: 15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Paul predicted them…

Acts 20::29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Peter predicted them (2 Pet 3:3).

Jude predicted them.

a. BY BUILDING YOURSELF UP

Jude 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.

So, the way to stay safe from error is to remember the truth God gave you in his word, and the method of remembering is building and praying. This means building or edifying or fortifying your own life and soul with the content of the Bible.

Knowing your Bible will help your discernment. Discernment is the wisdom you use to tell truth from error.

Heb 5: 12- 14 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Milk is good, but a bowl of milk every morning for breakfast lunch and supper is not enough to make you grow unless you are a kitten in the faith. To mature you need to progress to porridge, and eventually steak. The point of maturity is that you gain discernment and that keeps you safe from the nonsense on Christian bookshelves and the TBN channel.

So how can we stay safe from wolves dressed as sheep? We build ourselves up in the content of the Scriptures.

Read, study, go on courses, listen to sermons, take notes, memorize scripture.

b. BY PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT

Jude 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.

Rely on God’s power and presence by praying to him. That will keep you safe. Get God involved in making you wise, discerning, and keeping you safe.

Pray in line with what the Spirit has revealed. When you pray in the Spirit you get assurance that your faith is real because you see your prayers being answered, which assures you that God is listening and is real.

It doesn’t work when you pray for things God has not promised to answer, like healing, and comfort, and avoidance of trials.

When you pray to God with the knowledge of his word in your mind and the guidance of the Spirit, you will ask for what God wants you to ask for, and you will see answers to those prayers, and this will help you remember that the faith you have is genuine.

CONCLUSION

How do you build up your immunity to the poison of false doctrine? How do you load your gun with a silver bullet to ward off a wolf attack on your soul? Remember what God has given you in the Bible.

By building yourself up in the content and application of the Bible, you fortify yourself with doctrine and theology and knowledge of Jesus and what he did and what he said and what is true about him, and by praying in line with his will, which you learn from the Spirit-inspired Scripture.

Clint Archer