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Interject, comment, give insight, ask questions!Slow me down if need be – as much as needed.

Paul Trudeau

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While Men Slept

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Another parable put he forth unto them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

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So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

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But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Mt 13:24-30)

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The thief (the enemy) comes not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I (the sower) am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (Joh 10:10)

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Who is this “sower”?Who is this “thief”?What is “wheat”?What is “tares”?What does “slept” mean?This “killing” is different than others.What do you think is the main means the thief uses to accomplish these three things?

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This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2Ti 3:1)

What kind?

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Other than the rebirth of Israel, what do you think is the pre-eminent sign that we are in the last days?

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Mt 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.

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7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

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12 the love of many shall wax cold.14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whosoever reads, let him understand)

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21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.25 Behold, I have forewarned you.Where was the emphasis in these scriptures?

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Right here:Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name and shall deceive many. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

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Every other sign to look for was mentioned only once, but DECEPTION was mentioned three times!

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What is deception?Deceive – to beguile, cheat, delude; to cause to go astray or err; to wander out of the way, accept fraudulence; to stray from piety or orthodoxy; to cause to roam from safety, truth or virtue; to seduce wholly.

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What does deception do?He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. (Mt 13:22)Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. (1Co 15:33)But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (Jas 1:22)And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? (Lu 6:39)

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Deception ALWAYS leads into error and disobedience – voluntary or involuntary!

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Where does deception come from?You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (Joh 8:44)And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Re 12:9)

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Biblical warnings concerning deception:

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Behold, I have forewarned you. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Heb 3:13)

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But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who shall secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their shameful ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evilly maligned. And through covetousness shall they with false words exploit you, whose judgment of old now lingers not, and their destruction slumbers not. (2Pe 2:1-3)

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For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. (2Co 11:13-15) This is not the same transformed as Ro 12:2!

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As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him: Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Col 2:6-8)

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That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; (Eph 4:14)

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I charge you therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be diligent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they draw to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto myths. (2Ti 4:1-4)

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Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits, and doctrines of demons; speaking lies in hypocrisy ; having their conscience seared with a hot iron. (1Ti 4:1-2)

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Let no man deceive you with vain words (doctrine) : for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not therefore partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now are you light in the Lord: walk as children of light: For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. (Eph 5:6-10)

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Let no man deceive you by any means: For that day shall not come, except there come the falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. (2Th 2:3)Who is this man of sin?Who is the son of perdition?

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Who can be deceived?But when Peter came to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed. For before certain men came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them who were of the circumcision. And the other Jews joined likewise with him; so that Barnabas also was carried away with their hypocrisy. (Ga 2:11-13)

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And when his disciples came to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread? How is it that you do not understand that I spoke not to you concerning bread, that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they that he bade them not to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. (Mt 16:5-7, 11, 12)

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Why did Jesus use the term leaven and why was it equated with the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Because leaven is anything which is influential in causing change, especially by rotting, contamination and decomposition.

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Just how much leaven (deception) is needed to pervert the things of God?Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1Co 5:6-8)How much is too much leaven?

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Examples of Deception:

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The example of the shepherds:And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, ’You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in her midst.

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Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and the common, neither have they shown difference between the clean and the unclean . . .

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And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD has not spoken. And I sought for a man among them, that should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.This is unbelievable, but it’s happening today in churches all over the world.

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Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, says the Lord GOD. (Eze 22:23-28, 30, 31)Who’s paying the price of the lack of shepherding? The sheep!

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The example of Saul:Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.  Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.' "

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But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

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Samuel arrives at the last minute.Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell you what the LORD has said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When you were little in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed you king over Israel? And the LORD sent you on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.

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Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but did pounce upon the spoil, and did evil in the sight of the LORD? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

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But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD your God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

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For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and your words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. (1Sa 15:2, 3, 9, 16-24) 

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The example of the Samaritans:(Here is the beginning of the Samaritan race.) Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land. Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

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However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they dwelt. So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from there. (722 B.C.)

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Now Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they follow their statutes, or their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. However they did not hearken, but they did according to their former manner. So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as their fathers did , so do they unto this day. (550 B. C., 172 years later!)2Ki 17:27-29, 32-34, 40-41

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He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then came he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said unto her, Give me a drink. (Joh 4:3-7).Jesus then gives her a “word of knowledge”.

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The woman said unto him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. (Joh 4:19-22)(Now approximately 34 A.D. - seven and a half centuries later still in deception!)

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How quickly can a church body be deceived?

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And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, You know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all times, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house.

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For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.

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For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears. (Ac 20:17, 20, 27-31) How long and often did he warn everyone?

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But look what happened just a couple of years after Paul warned the people:I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. (Ga 1:6-8)

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By 1997 (Brownsville), it was common to have lengthy and rapturous periods of singing and dancing and altars packed with hundreds of writhing or dead-still bodies from a variety of ages, races and socioeconomic conditions.In that first revival service (Toronto, Jan 1994), there were about 120 people in attendance. Arnott recalled that most members fell on the floor "laughing, rolling, and carrying on".Wikipedia

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Let’s see some videos.

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What is the ONLY way to keep from being deceived?Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.

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Therefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. (Eph 6:11-14)

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (Joh 8:32)

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So what is the exact opposite of deception?

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What is truth?Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me. (Joh 14:6)Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth. (Joh 17:17)

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So Truth = Life = The Way.

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How many accept truth?Enter in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be who go in there. But strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it. (Mt 7:13, 14)Strive to enter in at the narrow gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. (Lu 13:24)

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What is the ONLY way to know the truth?Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth. (Joh 17:17)Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2Ti 2:15)What exactly is the “word of truth”?

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What is the only worship that is true?But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (Joh 4:23-24)It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. Joh 6:63

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What is another word for truth?And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Ac 2:42)Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. (1Ti 4:13)Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. (1Ti 4:16)Other than doctrine, what is common here?

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But it’s not just any type of doctrine:For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. (2Ti 4:3)Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. (Tit 1:9)But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. (Tit 2:1)

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“Doctrine” or expressions relating to sound doctrine are mentioned in Timothy and Titus, books addressing church leaders, 43 times – this in just 13 chapters. That amounts to 3 times per chapter!

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So Sound Doctrine = Truth = Life = The Way.

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Who can comprehend deeper doctrine?Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. Isaiah 28:9-10

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For every one that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Heb 5:13-14)

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I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Ro 12:1-2)

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Let no man deceive himself! If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?(1Co 3:18-20)

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Abstain from all appearance of evil. 1Th 5:22

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And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. (Eph 5:11)

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I have a binding obligation to this fellowship – to every single one of you. Inherent in one of my gifts is to expose wolves, and keep their teeth and their erroneous doctrine far away from you.

I also have to protect the sheep from well-meaning, but spiritually deceived, Christians.

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He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Mt 11:15