Apr 2 - Matthew 7:15

"Watch out for false prophets.

They come to you in sheep's clothing,

but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."

Matthew 7:15

It appears that Jesus invented the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Wolves in sheep's (or grandmother's) clothing are seeking to devour us.

Who are the wolves? False prophets. False teachers. And false philosophies.

To turn us away from God, false ideas don't have to force us do a complete about-face -- 180 degrees. If you're walking through the thick woods, imagine what happens is you're turned just a degree or two away from true north.

After a few hours of wandering off-course, you're completely in the wrong place ... and without a compass -- the Word of Truth -- it will be nearly impossible to trace your way back home. (And by the way, this is the scenario that wolves enjoy most. Food that's lost and helpless and wandering aimlessly.)

On Easter I cited a troubling statisitic. In America, for every one person who believes they're going to hell, one-hundred-and-twenty believe they're going to heaven! Shouldn't that mean that there are 120-times as many believers as unbelievers (since belief is the key to "shall not perish" -- see John 3:16)?

If just about everybody in America believes that they deserve to go to heaven, regardless of what they believe, haven't we been massively deceived? And shouldn't we be worried about those who are wandering, lost and aimless, as wolf-food.

It should be noted that this deceit is often perpetuated innocently. A true-Truth is proclaimed first -- "God loves you." And that leads to a sweet-sounding HALF-truth -- "Therefore, you're going to heaven." It sounds so "nice" -- because God is nice. But what is the half-truth that our society keeps leaving out is our response -- faith. People live lives mocking God, faith, virtue, and church, and yet claim that God owes them something.

Do you see how these kinds of deceit seem to start innocently? Key word -- "seem" to start innocently. That's the sheep's clothing. The wolf -- and false teacher -- wants us to be believe something nice and easy, rather than true.

That's why we must keep reading scripture. Reading the Word is not a legalistic discipline; rather, it's our compass in our world that wants us to keep missing  the mark by a degree or two ... and stumble into dens of wolves that seem as cuddly as sheep.

In Christ's Love,

a guy who's favorite

college team is called,

"The Wolfpack"

(and it's irritating that our

chief rival has a ram-sheep

as their mascot)

[Do you think I need

to confess something?]