I wrote about the importance of theology this week over at Do Not Depart.

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. 2 Peter 2:1-3

There are all sorts of false teachers in the world today. There have been around since the days of the early church. I’m going to resist the urge to call-out the more “famous” ones of our generation, because I am sure there are far more than I am aware of and far more than I could list. I will say this though, in hopes that it will help you identify them for yourself: they walk in the lusts of the flesh. They despise authority. They are presumptuous and self-willed. And even though they are not afraid to speak evil of evil beings (Satan and demons) and stand against them, they do so out of selfish pride and arrogance (2 Peter 2:10).

The saddest thing about these false teachers, however, is that will deny the Gospel (in full or in part, either by adding to it or taking away from it) and many people will fall victim to their lies. So how do we guard our hearts from these people who are bound for destruction? How do we tell the difference from words that sound pretty and words that are true? By being in God’s Word for ourselves. By learning for ourselves, by the power of the Holy Spirit, what the Gospel is in it’s purest form.

Read the full post here: Theology Helps Us Identify False Teachers and False Doctrine.