How should you behave with the church members who begin to teach heresies?

Question:

I live in a small village, with a smaller church. Some people with serious problems have come to the church. One thing is that they always fix dates of the second coming of the Lord, and the second, and more serious, they do not believe in the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Godhead. I am young and without experience in such a serious area. I want to prepare myself well to talk to them, otherwise our little church will go in a bad direction. Thank you in advance. The Lord be with you in the wonderful work you do.

Dear brother, I am sorry that you are facing such a big problem in the church and that these people have come to trouble you. I would like you to relay my answer to the pastor, for he urgently needs to take an attitude and stop them. In Paul’s Epistle to Titus, he writes that he must shut their mouth, that is, forbid them to speak those teachings in the church. First of all, he should counsel and urge them to come to themselves and follow the sound teaching of Christ, but if not, then he must forbid them to speak in the church and urge all Christians not to maintain relationships with those people and to beware of them, for heresy is far more dangerous than it seems at first glance, because heresy corrupts the minds of people, as it is written:

To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. (Titus 1: 15-16)(NASB)

The above words belong to the apostle Paul, and they were told about those who took the heresies, and thus became defiled, unbelieving, because their mind and their conscience were defiled.

I advise you to begin to deeply study the Scriptures and to have this discipline for the rest of your life, but you do not need to quarrel or have controversy with these people. To be able to talk to them, you must be able to face them, you must be strong in the Word of God. That is why the pastor must confront them, and if they want to listen, they will repent, but if they will not, then the pastor should not spend too long talking to them, for with such people you can no longer reach a desired result, as it is written:

This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.  But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned. (Titus 3: 8-11)(NASB)

I advise you to get the course  “God, are you there?”, which is an inductive study of the Gospel of John. Studying this course carefully, you will learn a lot about the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and you will acquire skills for studying deeply the Bible. May God bless you.

Translated by Didina Cravcenco