One of our cats killed a rat and brought it into our home. We saw the dead rat sometime after the cat made her deposit on our dining room floor. This wasn’t a little mouse. It was a rat, a long slimy tail included. Jan called me with the sound of urgency in her voice, “Garris, come, get this rat!” I picked up the corpse and put it in the garbage. The rat in our house reminds me of what can happen in a church.

Jude warned his readers of those who were bringing error into the Church, ”I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4). In this case, Jude was addressing a single issue – telling people it’s OK to live an immoral life. This wasn’t a lightweight issue. To tell someone it is fine to live an immoral life is linked to someone who has denied the Lord.

After reminding his readers of the fate of wayward angels and the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jude wrote that people in those cities were filled with “every kind of sexual perversion” (Jude 1:7). Jude went on to say, “But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction” (vs. 10).

Jude describes these people as dangerous reefs that are hidden within our fellowship, “These people are grumblers and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires” (vs. 16). Jude finished his thought by saying, “In the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them” (vs. 18-19.

When we find a rat of deception is influencing the morality of a house of worship or a church movement, its influence must be treated like a dead rat. Left unattended it will expand its rotting sphere of influence among those who are naive and biblically uninformed. Its influence must be removed.

Jude described the spiritual attitude that is required of those involved in the removal: “You must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives” (vs. 22-23).

If we don’t have the aforementioned spiritual qualities being expressed by our words and actions in the removal process, we will be seen as a judging presence, not a redeeming one.