The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Jude 1:3-4, “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Were you ever deeply involved in something when, all of a sudden, something else occurred that took your mind completely away from what you were doing and refocused it on something else? It happens to all of us. What’s more, it need not be a simple change of thought; it can well be a disaster that jolts the mind, effectively erasing those original thoughts that were intended.

That’s exactly what happened to Jude. He intention was to write concerning salvation, deepening their trust, no doubt. But, as Jude wrote, the Holy Spirit altered his intention, turning it toward those who had to this time been largely unnoticed. So clever were these false leaders that their forthright intentions had escaped the notice of the congregations. The situation was largely like that addressed by Peter.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also
be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive
heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift
destruction upon themselves” (2 Pet. 2:1).

Unless churches today are structured so that false teachers, who may reside within it, can be more easily known, the ministry from the pulpits may be being countermanded by others within the church. In one church I knew the Minister of Education and a another teacher taught the structured Bible lesson to the teachers prior to Sunday. That kept everyone on the “same page” and avoided contradicting the theology of the pastor.

How vital it is that we get it right! Souls are at stake, as are we, with all respect to heavenly rewards for “accurately handling the Word of Truth” (2 Tim. 2:15c).

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom