TWO KINDS OF HERETICS

From the beginning there have always been heretics who taught error and sought to lead God's people astray.  (I Pet. 2:1-). Those who pursued their wayward course to its conclusion were branded apostates and denied fellowship (Rom. 16:17-18). It should come as no surprise to us that there are heretics among us today...and that many of them are well on the road to complete apostasy.  Only in heaven will such departures from the Lord cease to occur.
Studying the history of our people is an enlightening experience.  In doing so, we see a never ending stream of unfaithful men who lost their faith in the ancient gospel and began teaching a new and different message. Two different types of heretics are also seen: those who are respectable and those who are not.

Respectable heretics will admit their loss of faith. They will acknowledge that they have embraced a new doctrine.  They will openly declare that they are no longer in sympathy with the Church of Christ.  They will resign their posts as preachers or as  teachers in  Christian schools because they cannot in honesty continue in something they do not believe in.  They will leave behind the church they no longer sympathize with and seek fellowship and positions among those who share their new beliefs; whether it be Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal or Unitarian.  While this degree of honesty will not forgive their abandonment of the way of Christ, nor will it give them any advantage in judgment, at least they will not have compounded their sin and guilt by dishonesty.

Shameless heretics, on the other hand, will hide and deny their loss of faith. They will cloak their false ideas in the language of the old acceptable doctrine.  They will protest and feign great hurt and dismay when they are charged with departures.  They will cling to a paying position rather than gracefully leave for a new field. They will try to lead a band of disciples away from the faith, practice and worship of the church they entered upon becoming Christians into something new and different. They will generally do so without being forthright and frank in so doing.  To start a new congregation from scratch is too hard for such heretics. They will try to commandeer the meeting house of a church or a school built by those who did not share their new faith. In every departure, without exception, those leaving, always try to get control of the church's property.  They don't want to have to raise the money, sacrifice and struggle to build their own meeting places. They want the prestige and respectability that goes with the property that has long housed a congregation of God's people.  By securing the building, they hope that other Christians will not exclude and shun them as the heretics they are.  There is a sense of conquest and victory if they can storm and take the fortress of the owners they would overthrow. 

Although I regret to hear of any brother departing from the faith, I confess I do have a degree of respect for the man who forthrightly tells me, "I no longer believe what I used to believe.  I am resigning my position and going elsewhere."  But I have nothing but contempt for the apostate who lingers among us to rob from Christ all the members, and resources he can before he is driven out.  Let us watch to see into which category those who are determined to impose unscriptural changes on us will place themselves.