Whenever Jan and I attend a movie theater or a gathering of any kind, the first thing I do is to look for the exit. I do this because when life hits the fan, it may be too late to escape the resulting confusion.

Some prominent leaders in the Church have abandoned the Lord. They have succumbed to an anti-Christ spirit. What amazes me is that people still attend their meetings and follow their teachings without any fear of spiritual repercussions.

The books of I and II Corinthians were written to a Church that is similar to the Church in the United States and other developed nations. Because we have so many blessings in our lives because we live in what remains of a free nation, we can get soft regarding our faith and too easily abandon the distinctiveness of Jesus Christ because we have been insulated from the pains of life. 

With much grace, but with needed correction, Paul told the Corinthians, “I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed” (II Corinthians 11: 3-4). Paul was saying the Corinthians had once followed the truth but now some had left the truth to follow a lie.

Three words in Paul’s warning to the Corinthians are important – corrupted, deceived, and different, referring to a distinction with the Gospel Paul had originally preached. That change of direction in their faith had dangerous spiritual consequences.

If you are part of a church or a denomination under the influence of a different spirit or if you continue to follow the teaching of leaders who have removed the distinctives of the true Gospel, find the exit and take it. To remain under such teaching will eventually deteriorate your faith and you will become one with that teaching.

Paul’s parting words are important for us to hear, “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you. If not, you have failed the test of genuine faith” (13:5).

We will become the result of the teaching we sit under and accept. The examination of our faith is always an examination of our relationship with Jesus and the distinctives of His Gospel. To realize we are sitting under a presentation of a different gospel means it is time to find the exit and take it.