Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 26

January 26;      2 John 10;       235/260(III);        ‘This Doctrine’

2 John 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him;

If any verse emphasizes the importance of the Word of God, this verse does.  In order to shun false doctrine, you have to know true doctrine.  The Lord gave us His Word to protect us knowing that there will always be false teachers endeavoring to draw people away from the truth, believing their heresy.  Those trained to recognize counterfeit money are trained to know the details of real money.  Then when counterfeit money is shown to them, they recognize that the money is fake.  If it is important to recognize counterfeit money, how much more important is it to recognize false doctrine concerning the things of God.  Knowing the true Gospel is eternally important.  It is vitally important that a Pastor knows the Word to protect the congregation.  Believers should be very careful when they are invited to ‘Bible Studies’ taught by people they do not know.  If the Christian knows the Word of God it is less likely that they will be deceived.  New or immature Christians are vulnerable to false teachers.  If there are concerns about what is taught outside of the church, the believer should show the Pastor what is being taught and respect the judgment of the Pastor.  This verse tells us very clearly that those who teach false doctrine should not be shown Christian hospitality.  This is incredibly serious since false doctrine can hinder the growth of a Christian or prevent an unsaved person from being saved because of lies that they are taught.