Since When do Heretics Care What the Bible Says?

Have you noticed that heretics only seem to care what God says in His word when they are,

Eisegeting the text to support their pet heresies, or false teacher.
Telling you not to judge them/their heresies/their teacher.
Telling you that you can never truly know the truth, so their teacher’s teachings are true. You just haven’t matured enough yet to get them.
Telling you that you are the one causing division, and not seeking peace, and unity.
When they are playing the martyr for everyone to see.
When they are playing the Pharisee card on you.

They arm themselves with the typical list of verses like arrows in a quiver to shoot your way when you expose them. We’ve all seen the verse torn out of context with a brand new meaning attached to it that it never had in context. Purgatory for instance, when you call it out there will be someone who cites 1 Corinthians 3:12-15. When they are telling you not to judge them they pull out the old trusty Matthew 7:1-2. Get ready for a mind blower. You can’t know the truth because, Isaiah 55:6! Here is the big unity one folks, 1 Corinthians 1:9. I love it when they apply this one to themselves, Matthew 10:20. You can basically take any verse that speaks negatively about Pharisees, and apply them willy nilly to your theological foes. They are basically get out of jail free cards for many different losing positions because the person on the receiving end is a legalistic meany!

One thing you’ll notice if you look into their eisegetical abuses is that the scriptures they cite often times refute the point they are trying to make when you honestly read them in context. Don’t expect to get them to change their minds when you demonstrate that. Many of these folks are so concretely convinced that it will take a miracle from God to open their eyes, and ears. If you run in to that situation, the quicker you realize it the better. Then you can pray for them, and stop arguing. Please don’t say, “I’ll pray for you.” in that snarky tone of voice. Just pray for them without telling them.

They don’t want to hear what God says in His word if any of what you are quoting takes away from what they are teaching. They use the Bible to attempt to shut up attacks against their heresies, or golden calf of a teacher. Being a Reformed Baptist, I get called a heretic, and have many of these things said about me. I don’t accuse someone of heresy lightly. Heresy is more than heterodoxy. Heresy is when you are teaching something that negates one of the primary articles of faith. Heresy is heterodox, but not all heterodoxy is heresy. A false teaching that doesn’t address one of the primary articles of faith is heterodox. If a person teaches that Jesus was not God incarnate, they are teaching a heresy. If a person teaches that Jesus was solely a man, they are teaching heresy. If a person teaches that you should go to Church on Saturday, they are teaching a false teaching, but it isn’t heresy.

We have all been in groups on social media where we have encountered horrendous abuses to God’s word. Due to my Bible reviews, I’ve been in many groups that were supposed to be solely about the material features of a particular Bible. I don’t know how many times some actual heretic has come in, dropped a heretical statement on the sly, and then when people like myself mention that they are teaching heresy, and need to stop, they play it off as if they were actually asking something else. Due to the rules of the group, I, or people like me get scolded by the admins. Well, I am shrinking my presence in those groups. My echo chamber is getting smaller. One day it might be so small that there is no echo, it will only be the sound of one man’s voice. I hope it won’t be mine, but that of Christ, from His word. Remember, Salvation is of the Lord. Repent of your sins, and trust solely in Christ for your justification. Persevere in the Faith, and we’ll be with Christ in eternity. Sola on my brothers, and sisters!