Deuteronomy 13: Remove False Teaching

​Key Verse
3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 
 
Meditation
False teachers infiltrate God’s people, fracture the community, and further the enemy’s deceit. Since the garden, Satan has sought to cast doubt on God’s word (Genesis 3:1). Peter uses false prophets from Old Testament Israel to warn the Church that false teachers will manifest among them too (2 Peter 2:1-2). Satan’s strategy remains the same: Twist God’s truth for the destruction of God’s design. Likewise, God’s direction remains the same: Let your love for God be manifest through fidelity to His Word.
 
Removing false teaching is the backbone of today’s reading. Moses warns God’s people that false teaching will come through people who claim to speak on God’s behalf (“prophets and dreamers” in vv. 1-5), through family affiliation and familiar relationships (vv. 6-11), and through popular movements in villages and cities (vv. 12-18). In each case, the false teaching (and the teachers!) are commanded to be rejected, removed (even through death!), and replaced with the word of God. False teachers were a vehicle for God to “test you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul” (v. 3).
 
Hymenaeus and Philetus were in the church of Ephesus, forgotten for a reason. They “swerved from the truth” by denying the resurrection, minimizing God’s physical redemption by elevating Gnosticism, ultimately removed from the church (2 Timothy 2:16-19). The Church today must embrace the same vigilance, recognizing false teaching, removing it, and replacing it with God’s Word. Vigilance for God’s Word is fruit of knowing God’s grace and the path towards loving the Lord with all your heart!
 
Today’s Reading
“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.11 And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

12 “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, 13 that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known,14 then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you,15 you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16 You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. 17 None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers, 18 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.
 
Richly Dwelling
-Do you see the structure of the passage patterned after Moses’ warnings against false teachers (vv. 1, 6, 12)? What stands out to you about his words?
 
-Where does the church today embrace false teaching, and why are Christians afraid to call out false teachers?
 
-What false teaching do you need to address by recognizing it, rejecting it, removing it, and replacing it with God’s Word? Be specific and sincerely address it.
 
Key Verse
3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.