15 The false prophets

2 Pet 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

I used to read a lot about other religions and the cults who claim to be Christian but do not recognise neither the Trinity, the deity of Christ or the atonement. I figured if I studied other teachings I would be better placed to see the genuine. This may have some merit, however pre-occupation with different doctrines may also eat away at the time you could be using to study the genuine, to get to know the character of God and understanding of his ways. I was told by a Christian friend who was also a banker that on his first day of work at the bank, he was given several bank notes. They were all legal tender. He was taught to get to know the feel of the notes, the weight, the colours, the watermark, the printing and graphics. He was not shown a forgery. Why not? He was told that forgeries will be replaced with other forgeries and they will get better. The genuine notes will stay genuine, they won't change. When you become so accustomed to the genuine, you will not fall victim to the forgery. Of course some forgeries are so good nowadays that we may need ultra violet lights or other methods to detect what is false, however the example remains valid. The false can never be the genuine article no matter how much it resembles it. It may pass for a time, but eventually it will reveal it's fakeness.

So it is with God and the true word. People  may come claiming a new gospel, or that they have after all these centuries been revealed the interpretation hidden from the church for two thousand years. But those who know the word of God, who have searched the scriptures and learned from bible scholars and those who genuinely know how to interpret Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew will not be fooled. You might hear "God is doing a new thing" I have heard that often. He is likely not. The word of God pointed to the coming Lamb of God who would save a people from their sin. The later scriptures revealed who this Lamb is and what his people were to be like. The writer of Ecclesiastes  once wrote 1:9 What has been will be again,

    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun.

You could argue that there are many new things, but I believe he meant in general humans got through a raft of emotions and challenges that whilst the material aspect of life may change, the fundamental humanness remains and we face the same issues despite the changed environment. Of course the writer may not have foreseen Jesus, the Messiah come and do new things, but now that we have seen and believed there is nothing new, only what we might see today, revival, healings, miracles, testimony are only what has been before and now pointing to who has been and will come again. Be careful who you entrust your learning to. Check several sources to see who is out of step with the others and ask why. God is not a God of confusion, if you asked him to lead you to the truth, he is not going to lead you to imitators. but be wise and open your bible and check what is being said, lest you do fall prey to the false teachers who infiltrate out churches and bible studies.