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There Must Be Heresies
I Corinthians 11:19

by David A. DePra

For there must be heresies among you, that they which are
approved may be made manifest among you.
 
     Have you ever wondered why God allows heresy to exist
among His people? Today it seems as if there is more
heresy than ever in the churches. Some of these heresies are
doing spiritual harm to those who embrace them. Yet God lets
them exist. He doesn't seem all that concerned about
exposing them.
     For instance, take the teachers who tell you that it is always
God's will to heal you. In fact, they say, send them money and
you will be healed. That action of giving, you are told, will
release your faith and insure you a harvest of good health. They
also promise you salvation for your family, prosperity, and
all other kinds of blessings if you give them money. This
teaching is nothing new. The Roman church used to sell
indulgences in the middle ages. This is the same teaching. Only
the trappings are altered and modernized.
     It used to puzzle me as to why God didn't simply come down
and strike one of these teachers with some kind of strange
illness which they could not "positively confess" away. Not that
I wished evil on them, mind you, but it's just so easy to get
tired of hearing all of the false teaching. You tend to want a
quick fix. But no. God doesn't seem to want to do that. You
rarely hear of such things happening.
     Why? Why does God allow heresy and false teaching to
abound? The above scripture tells us why. It is so that we
might be given the opportunity to choose. Only by being faced
with false teaching and error are we motivated to seek out
the Truth. Only if the Truth is attacked will be have the chance
to stand by faith against error, and thereby become all the more
strengthened in the Truth.
     The nature of faith is that it must be tested. Otherwise it
remains passive and only intellectual. But if something happens
to call into question what I believe, then I can no longer remain
passive about it. I must rise up and inquire of God. I must
allow Him to do a work in me which will show what is genuine
and what is error. And the wonderful end-result is that I will
then possess the Truth by experience, rather than just in the
form of doctrine.
     The scripture above says that heresies MUST exist so that
THEY which are genuine may be shown to be so. Note that.
It doesn't say that the purpose for heresy is to ultimately show
which TEACHINGS are genuine. No, although that is included
in the overall purpose. Rather, the purpose is to show whether
WE, as individuals, are genuine. In other words, God allows
us to be exposed to error, so that through it, He might do a work
in US.
     Deception has many causes. But in the final analysis, the
reason we are deceived by anything is that it appeals to us in
some way. It either appeals to us in a positive way -- that is --
offers us something. Or, it appeals to us in a negative way -- it
somehow threatens us if we won't embrace it. But when all is
said and done, deception cannot force itself on us. We must
have a vulnerability for it. We must give it a home. And often
we do, in total ignorance of what we are doing.
     God wants to set us free from all of our ignorance. He wants
to expose all of those areas in us which could possibly provide
a home for heresy. So what does He do? Shield us from all
error? Make sure we are never tempted? See to it that nothing
we ever hear could lead us astray? No. He allows heresy to
come into our lives and tempt us. He allows it to come in and
play upon our weaknesses. Only then will those weaknessess
be exposed. And only then will we address them in Christ and
allow God to set us free by the Truth.
     Suppose we are beset with a chronic illness. Wouldn't it be
tempting to believe that all we need to do it positively confess it
away? Or simply give money to God to buy His healing? Sure,
it certainly would be more tempting to believe that teaching. Fear
would motivate us to believe it. If there is one thing we all seek, it
is a way out of a trial. Often deception error provides one, but
completely out of the will of God.
     But wait. If I have a chronic illness, and am confronted with a
false teaching promising me healing, it is also a great opportunity.
Through the experience I can not only find out God's specific
will regarding my health, but I can allow Him to use the whole
thing to set me free from any predisposition I have towards heresy
in that area.
     When I am confronted with any teaching which I am not sure of,
or am confronted with anything which challenges what I currently
believe, Jesus says, "If any man wills to do His will he shall know
of the doctrine, whether it be of God...(see John 7:17) In effect, we
are to take all things to God and surrender ourselves to Him. We
are to be willing, in our hearts, to allow Him to adjust us to the
Truth, regarding of cost. If we have this willingness, Jesus says
we will come to know the Truth.
     Of course, anything which comes our way must also agree
completely with the Word of God. That's a given. But the trouble
is, if our hearts are not right, we will read into the Bible what our
heart dictates. Therefore, even when we are seeking out the Truth
with the Bible in hand, we must do it with an unconditionally
surrendered heart to God. We must allow Him to deal with any
spiritual problems in US, and then we can more clearly see
what the Bible actually says.
     Heresy is often God's tool for waking us up to the Truth. Isn't
it amazing how God uses even false teaching in a redemptive
manner? He makes the wrath of man to praise him. Through the
very heresies of the enemy God molds a tool whereby He
is able to make manifest in us the character of Jesus Christ.
     There MUST be heresies among God's people. Not because
heresy is good, or God desires it. But heresy IS, because man
will not yield to God -- and God will not force us to yield. So
God takes the rebellion and falsehood which the human heart
is able to produce and says to us, "Seek Me regarding these
errors. And as you do, I'll deal with anything in YOU which
might tend to give place to the errors. The end-result will be a
heart which is a fit home for the Truth of God in Jesus Christ." 

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