Three More Savage Wolves in the Church

“Stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer.” 
– 1 Timothy 1:3-4

When the Apostle Paul left the city of Ephesus after three years of ministry, he warned the church leaders about “savage wolves” who would come to undermine the teachings of Jesus Christ. Sure enough, false teachers arose within the Ephesian church and started muddying the clear and simple gospel teaching that they had received from Paul.

Listen to what Paul wrote to his partner in ministry, Timothy, after he left: “Stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about” (1 Timothy 1:3-7).

This wasn’t just a 1^st-Century problem. Last week we looked at examples of three savage wolves that have risen up within the American church today. Now, let’s take a look at three more:

Savage Wolf #1: The hedonist who teaches, “Do what makes you happy. God will forgive you” (Jude 4). Jude wrote: “For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 4). In recent years, a growing number of Christian leaders and churches have turned a blind eye to most sexual sins. Hedonistic Christians are very good at making excuses for sin and watering down what God’s word teaches about judgment and hell. They view God’s grace as a get-out-of-hell free card. So, be on guard. Steer clear of churches that call “good” what God calls “evil.” These are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Savage Wolf #2: The legalist who teaches, “Follow all my rules” while largely ignoring Jesus’ call to love God and people (Matthew 23-24). Jesus leveled this woe against the religious leaders of his day: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices .... but you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). Legalism takes our eyes off Jesus and shifts our focus to rule-keeping. And any pastor or teacher who takes your eyes off Jesus, and tries to get you to follow some religious formula instead of loving and following Jesus, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Savage Wolf #3: The politician’s hatchet man disguised as a pastor (1 Timothy 2:1-4). Remember what Paul teaches us: “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority…. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4). God only calls a few Christian pastors to be political activists. But He calls ALL of us to pray for our leaders. It doesn’t matter if you’re a registered Republican, Democrat or Libertarian. Your top political priority as a Christian is to PRAY for President Biden, Vice President Harris, Governor Newsom and our local city council members. Pray for ALL our leaders to carry out God’s will for their lives. And we know that if they are in the center of God's will, they will make decisions that are righteous and honor Him.

More times than not, political activism in the church take our eyes off the goal: to expand Christ’s kingdom on earth by leading people to salvation and maturity in Christ. So, watch out for church leaders who are two-thirds political activist and only one-third gospel proclaimer. Most of them are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Remember, Christianity boils down to these three things: 1) Trust God, 2) Love God and 3) Obey God. False teachers always, always, ALWAYS chip away at at least one of these: Faith, Love and Obedience. Remember that and be on your guard!

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person at 9 a.m., or online at 10 a.m. on YouTube or Facebook. Dane’s latest book, “Called to Persevere: One Man’s Journey to Overcome Pain, Disease and Disappointment with God,” is scheduled for release on Amazon in September.

Toxic Hypocrisy

“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” – Luke 11:39

The story is told of a zoo that was famous for its great variety of different animals. One day the gorilla died, and to keep up the appearance of a full range of animals, the zookeeper hired a man to wear a gorilla suit and fill in for the dead animal. During his first day on the job, the man made some feeble efforts to move and act like a gorilla. But as he tried to move convincingly, he tripped and fell over a perimeter wall and ended up in the lion exhibit. He began to scream, convinced his life was over…until the lion spoke to him: “Be quiet, or you’re going to get us both fired!”

It’s not very often that we run into people pretending to be apes or lions, but every day there are those around us who pretend to be much nicer on the outside than they really are on the inside. And far too often these individuals are quick to criticize others’ bad behavior while ignoring their own internal rottenness.  We have a word to describe such people: hypocrites.

In Luke 11:37-44, Jesus tackles hypocrisy head-on. And I’ve got to warn you: For some of us, his words sting a little. For others of us, his words sting a lot!

The passage begins with an invitation to dinner. One of the religious legalists (aka, a Pharisee) asked Jesus over to his house for a meal, and Jesus accepted his invitation. But as Jesus made a beeline from the front door to the dinner table, the Pharisee was shocked. Jesus didn’t join the other dinner guests in their traditional hand-washing ritual before dinner. Now, this wasn’t a matter of hygiene – it was purely ceremonial. For several generations the Jewish legalists had prided themselves in their meticulous observance of legalistic traditions that their forefathers had added to the Old Testament. Sadly, strict adherence to these rituals had become a litmus test for religious sincerity, and the Pharisees were the biggest promoters of this religious snake oil. On this occasion in Luke 11, Jesus had had enough. So, he spoke up and leveled 3 warnings against the Pharisees for their hypocritical legalism.

Warning #1: (v42) You major in the minors. Jesus challenged the Pharisees’ priorities. They spent considerable time counting out 10% of every seed and herb in their garden to give as their tithe. Meanwhile, their neighbors were suffering injustice and God was not being worshiped. What a travesty! The Pharisees had reduced their relationship with God to a list of rules, and it had backfired. Just as a healthy marriage cannot be reduced to a list of rules to follow, our relationship with God cannot boil down to a “Top 10” list either. The Pharisees believed that they were in God’s favor because they split hairs over the most insignificant religious acts. But they were dead wrong! God is much more concerned with love, compassion, justice and internal righteousness than He is with seeds and herbs.

Warning #2: (v43) You put your reputation before your character. In Jesus’ day the seats in a synagogue worked a lot like the seats at Dodger stadium. The seats up front were the VIP seats, and the seats in back (in the “nosebleed section”) were cheap seats for the unimportant people. Guess where the Pharisees always wanted to sit? You guessed it—in the front row where EVERYONE could see them and be impressed by them. The Pharisees had somehow forgotten what God had taught the prophet Samuel in the days of King Saul: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” Warren Wiersbe says it so well: “Reputation is what people think we are, character is what God knows we are.” Therefore, since our character is what’s most important to God, it must be what’s most important to us as Christ’s followers.

Warning #3: (v44) Instead of helping people, you’re harming them. In verse 44, Jesus compare the Pharisees to unmarked graves. According to Numbers 19:16, any Jew who touched a dead body would be ceremonially unclean for a whole week. Because of this, the Jewish people would walk far out of their way to avoid touching any grave or tomb. Yet Jesus told the Pharisees at the dinner table that they themselves were unmarked graves and tombs. In other words, when people came to the Pharisees to receive godly counsel and sound biblical teaching, what they actually received was ungodly counsel and false teaching. Instead of moving people closer to God, the Pharisees actually pulled them away from God. Instead of blessing people, they corrupted them.

Sadly, in First Century Israel the Pharisees were doing more harm than good. It was bad enough that their hypocrisy had corrupted their own relationships with God. But their hypocrisy was actually corrupting the whole community as well. Innocent bystanders were being defiled by their teaching. And Jesus knew that when this happens, judgment day will be especially severe for these toxic teachers and leaders.

Jesus’ stern warning to the Pharisees two thousand years ago stands as a stern warning for you and me today. Hypocrisy is a serious matter in the eyes of the world. But it’s an even more serious matter in the eyes of God. He calls you and me to be sincere: The same on the inside as we are on the outside. He calls you and me to eradicate hypocrisy from our lives and live as authentic, honest believers and followers of Jesus Christ. Until Christ returns, toxic hypocrisy will most likely remain in our world. But it doesn’t have to remain in you and me. 

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville and the author of "Holy Huldah: Lessons You Should Never Forget from Bible Characters You've Never Heard Of." For more information, visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com, and join us for our Worship Celebration Sundays at 10 a.m.

Splitting Hairs and Hatching Plots

“The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.” - Luke 6:7

John Hyde was a missionary to India in the 1800s, and he really frustrated other Christians. It wasn’t because his theology was off, or because of a poor attitude. He frustrated them because he had a bad habit of showing up late.

You see, John Hyde was a true prayer warrior—so much so that he earned the nickname “Praying Hyde.” Before he spoke at a worship service or at an evangelistic crusade, he would be on his face before the Lord in prayer … sometimes for hours. He wasn’t about to go up and teach God’s word until he was convinced in his heart that God had released him from his time of prayer. On more than one occasion he refused to stop praying when it was time for him to speak. As you might guess, this didn’t go over well with his fellow missionaries, who had to stall until he was done praying.

Well, the frustration John Hyde’s fellow ministers felt with his methods gave them just a small taste of the frustration the Pharisees and teachers of the law felt over Jesus’ methods. They started off by accusing Jesus of breaking Jewish law by forgiving sins, dining with sinners and eating on designated fasting days. But he was only breaking the manmade oral traditions which had been added onto God’s laws over the past few hundred years. Jesus made it clear that he didn’t give a flying fig about their manmade rules and traditions. And that really chapped their hides.

So, the Pharisees and teachers of the law decided to step up their game. They were bound and determined to catch Jesus in the act of breaking one of God’s Old Testament laws. At the beginning of Luke 6, they started by accusing Jesus’ followers of working on the Sabbath by eating kernels of grain as they walked through a field. The hundreds of oral tradition laws related to the Sabbath said that “work” included reaping, winnowing and preparing food. So, when Jesus’ followers were pulling the heads of grain off the stem, the Pharisees considered that “reaping.” When they rubbed the heads of grain in their hands to separate the chaff, that was “winnowing.” And when they tossed the kernels into their mouths, the Pharisees could say, “A-HA!! You’re preparing food!” But Jesus let his critics know that it would not be right for his followers to go hungry by splitting hairs about what did and didn’t constitute work on the Sabbath Day.

On another Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, and there was a man there whose right hand was shriveled. Jesus knew in his spirit that the Pharisees and teachers of the law were wondering whether or not Jesus would heal this man’s hand on the Sabbath Day. In verse 7, we read that they were watching Jesus closely, “looking for a reason to accuse [him].” The oral traditions regarding healing on the Sabbath were very clear: it had to be a life-threatening injury. If Jesus healed this man’s shriveled hand, his opponents believed they could make a strong case that Jesus was breaking the Old Testament laws about working on the Sabbath, because clearly a shriveled hand was not a life-threatening malady.

Well, Jesus must have figured if he was going to heal the man, he might as well do it in front of everyone and teach an important lesson in the process. After calling the man forward to stand in plain view of everyone, Jesus asked the crowd—particularly the Pharisees and teachers of the law—“I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” (v. 9). This question must have infuriated Jesus’ critics. They had a question they wanted Jesus to answer, but this wasn’t the question!

But Jesus had delivered a pre-emptive strike. Obviously there was no possible way for the Pharisees to answer his question in the negative. They were forced to agree that the Sabbath was a day for doing what was “good” and for “saving life.” And you’d better believe they felt backed into a corner and hated every moment of it. So, Jesus told the man to stretch out his hand, and immediately the hand was “completely restored” (v. 10). At that point, we’re told in verse 11, the Pharisees and teachers of the law “were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.” For the first time, Jesus’ critics put every option on the table. And one of those options was to kill him. At this point, it was one of several options—but before too long, they would see killing Jesus as the ONLY option.

We look at the Pharisees today and shake our heads at how wrong they were. But while we (hopefully) don’t plot to murder those we disagree with, how often do we ourselves miss the true meaning of God’s word for us? In the words of theologian William Barclay, “They came to Scripture not to learn God’s will but to find proof texts to buttress up their own ideas…. When we read Scripture we must say, not, ‘Listen, Lord, for Thy servant is speaking,’ but ‘Speak, Lord, for Thy servant is listening.”

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com and join us for church Sundays at 10 a.m.

A Change for the Better

“No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.” - Luke 5:36

How well do you handle change?

A middle-aged man went to the doctor’s office for his annual check-up, and the doctor came into the room with a concerned look on his face. “Sir, you’re in really bad shape. Your blood pressure is way too high, your cholesterol is off the charts, and you’re clearly stressed out about your finances. You won’t survive another month unless your wife helps you make some major changes. I want you to go home and tell your wife that she needs to start making you fresh, healthy meals at least twice a day. She needs to do more work around the house to lighten your load. And she needs to stick to a budget, so you’re not so stressed about finances.”

The man replied, “Doctor, would you please call her and tell her?” The doctor said, “Sure. No problem!” About 45 minutes later the man got home, walked through the door and saw his wife crying at the kitchen table. He said, “Honey, what’s wrong? Did the doctor call you?” “Yes,” she sobbed. “He told me you’re going to die in a month.”

That woman did NOT like to change. Neither did the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. That was one of their biggest problems with Jesus. And in chapter 5 of the Book of Luke, they started voicing their complaints.

First, the Pharisees didn’t like the fact that Jesus and his followers went to a big banquet thrown for Jesus by Levi, who had been a tax collector, and Levi’s friends—more tax collectors and other people the Pharisees viewed as the scum of the earth. Second, they REALLY didn’t like the fact that they were dining during a time the Pharisees held as a time of fasting. Put into modern lingo, their complaint might sound like this: “Jesus, why are your followers chowing down while the rest of us are fasting?” (v. 33).

In response to their complaint, Jesus shared three illustrations from everyday life to help explain why his disciples didn’t fast and why he didn’t follow all of the Pharisees’ legalistic, man-made traditions. First, he compared his presence with the disciples to a wedding feast: “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast” (vs. 34-35). Then, in his next two examples, he talked about what the Pharisees were fighting against the hardest: change.

Jesus said in verse 36, “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.” New cotton shirts shrink, right? But once they’ve been washed a few times, they don’t shrink anymore. So if you get a hole in your favorite t-shirt, and you need to patch that hole, you would never buy a brand new $20 t-shirt and cut a hole in it to provide a patch for your old shirt. You’d end up with a new shirt that’s destroyed. And once you put your old shirt in the washing machine, the patch would shrink and make the rest of your old shirt look terrible.

So, what is Jesus’ point? Jesus and the Pharisees probably agreed that Judaism wasn’t perfect. But the Pharisees thought where it had holes, it could be patched up with lots and lots and lots of extra rules. Jesus said, “No!” Jesus’ illustration of the patch job makes it clear that he didn’t come to earth to put a patch on Judaism. He came to offer something radically new.

Next, Jesus drove his point home with the illustration of wine and wineskins. In those days, they would use animal skins to store grape juice and wine. Well, in order for grape juice to become wine, it has to ferment. And during the fermentation process, the juice gives off a gas and expands. New skins have a nice elasticity that allows them to expand during the fermentation process without breaking. But old skins become dry and stiff and lose their elasticity. The same was true of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Over time they had become dry and stiff and had lost their elasticity. They didn’t respond well to change.

Here’s what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees: “You religious leaders are comfortable in your tired old religion. You want me to lock arms with you and just put a few small patches onto Judaism to make it a little better, but that’s not going to happen. The new life of the Spirit can’t be sown onto old Judaism, and it can’t be poured into old Judaism. I am giving you something fresh and new and life-changing. What I am offering you is a brand new life of forgiveness, healing and joy in the Lord.”

Jesus isn’t into putting a patch on your tired, stale religion or your old, ineffective priorities. Jesus doesn’t do makeovers. He does new construction. Out with the old. In with the new. And praise God for that!

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com and join us for church Sundays at 10 a.m.

Steer Clear of the Snake Oil!

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” – Colossians 2:8

In my household, I’m way outnumbered. I have a wife and four daughters, and even our dog is female. I’m not just the man of the house—I’m the ONLY man in the house. So, I sometimes end up watching TV shows and movies that aren’t very … manly. One of these is the Hallmark series, “When Calls the Heart.” And I’ve got to admit, it’s actually pretty good.

In a recent episode, a stranger comes to the little Canadian town of Hope Valley in the early 1900s. He rides up in his horse and wagon, parks in a prominent spot, and launches into a sales pitch for his revolutionary elixirs, guaranteed to heal everything from stomach pains to a weak heart. This peddler was what we call a “snake oil salesman.” These scam artists scattered the frontier of North America, hawking worthless potions that not only didn’t cure these ailments, but often made them worse. And as bad as this was, it’s not nearly as bad as religious snake oil salesmen who peddle sham religion.

That’s what the apostle Paul was fighting when he wrote his letter to the Colossians in the first century. The new Christians in Colosse were being exposed to three human philosophies that were very popular in those days. All three of them looked SO good on the surface. They were marketed to make Christians think these philosophies could make their good Christianity even better. But the truth was, they were nothing but snake oil. They made big claims, but couldn’t deliver. Worse, each of these philosophies made the critical mistake of luring Christians to take their eyes off Christ and fix them onto other things instead.

And guess what? Some 2,000 years later, these same three philosophies have been repackaged and remarketed to a new generation, leading many Christians away from Christ. Here’s a quick snapshot of these three human philosophies and the lies they promote.

#1: LEGALISM’s lie: “Following rules will make you holy.” The false teachers who were infiltrating the Colossian church were peddling some legalism—strict Jewish rules concerning traditional food, drink and Sabbath day rituals. But Paul warned them in verse 16 not to let false teachers give them a guilt trip about following Jewish traditions that were irrelevant to salvation and Christian growth. He wrote in verse 17: “These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” One of the greatest tragedies of both Mormonism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses is that they pull Christians from reality to shadow by saddling their followers with extra-biblical rules and legalism. These result in well-meaning worshipers taking their eyes off the reality of Christ to focus on a shadowy rule book instead.

#2: MYSTICISM’s lie: “Pursuing visions and spirit guides will make you more spiritual.” In Paul’s day, mystics would rattle on about a vision they had or some angel they had spoken to or some out-of-body experience they had. In our day, mysticism takes the form of astrology, which is simply looking to the stars for answers instead of to the Creator of those stars. Modern-day mysticism also includes Ouija boards, palm reading and Tarot cards. All that stuff takes our eyes OFF Christ and draws us into the shadows.

#3: ASCETICISM’s lie: “Treating your body harshly will restrain your sinful nature.” In the middle ages, Christian ascetics slept on rock-hard beds, wore scratchy underwear and deprived themselves of sleep for days at a time, all to try to keep their sinful nature in check. Did it work? Of course not. Because physical remedies can never cure a spiritual disease. Only Jesus Christ can tame us of our sinful nature. That doesn’t mean there’s not a time for staying up late in prayer or fasting. But these things were always intended by God to point us TO Christ—never to take our eyes OFF Christ. That’s where asceticism backfires. The harsh treatment of the body becomes the focal point instead of Jesus Christ.

You get the picture. If it takes the focus away from Christ, it’s not Christianity. Here are three simple questions to determine if someone’s teaching is true and good: Is it firmly grounded in Christ’s teaching in the New Testament? If not, reject it. Does it take your eyes off Christ? If so, walk away. Is the teacher walking the walk? If not, reject it.

Never forget that false teachers are marketing geniuses. Their religious products sound so good … but at the core, they’re nothing but hollow and deceptive philosophy that depends on the stuff of this world, not the stuff of eternity. As another great apostle, Peter, puts it in 2 Peter 1:3: “[Jesus Christ’s] divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” As we lock arms and hearts with our fellow Christians in a Bible-based church, Jesus Christ is all we need.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information, visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.