By PAUL C. JONG

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber (2 Peter 2:1-3).

Pseudos and Heretics within Christianity

<> “But the word of the Lord was to them, ‘Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,’ that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught. Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem.”

BIBLICAL HERESY

How does the Bible define the word "heretic?"

The Bible defines a heretic as one who has sin in his heart even though he believes in Jesus.

There are many pseudo newswriters these days, especially in developing countries. They are the ones who pretend to be newswriters but usually extort money from their victims, threatening to expose something their victims have done. Pseudo means something that looks genuine but is not the real thing. In other words, it refers to something whose outside is completely different from its inside.

The words “heretic” and “pseudo” are used quite often, especially in Christian churches.

But there are few clear-cut definitions of what a heretic is and what it is to be termed “pseudo,” nor are there many who teach these concepts in strict accordance with the Bible.

Under these circumstances, I feel duty bound to disclose what the Bible defines as “heresy” and shed some light on the subject. I also want to point out some examples of heresy in real life and thus have us think about it together. Anyone who believes in God has to think about heresy at least once in their lives.

Titus 3:10-11 defines a heretic as a divisive person who is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. A heretic is someone who condemns himself as a sinner. Therefore those who believe in Jesus but have sin in their hearts are heretics before God.

Jesus took away all sins through His baptism. But heretics refuse to believe in the true gospel that brings salvation to sinners and thus condemn themselves to join the ranks of sinners.

Are you a heretic? We have to think about this if we want to live an upright faithful life.

Aren’t you condemning yourself as a sinner even though you believe in Jesus if you have not yet heard the gospel of the water and the Spirit? If you consider yourself a sinner, then you are doing a disservice to Jesus by slighting His perfect salvation and the gospel of the water and the Spirit.

To call oneself a sinner before God is to admit that one is not a son of God. Those who confess to Jesus, “Lord, I am a sinner,” have to reconsider their own faith.

How can you believe in Jesus and still claim to be a sinner when Jesus took away all the sins of the world and saved you perfectly from eternal damnation? How can you deny His free gift of salvation and define yourself as a sinner when Jesus took away all your sins through His baptism and was judged thoroughly for them on the Cross?

Such people are heretics because they volunteer to be sinners apart from the word of God. You have to know the gospel of the water and the Spirit to avoid committing heresy before God.

Anyone who believes in Jesus but is not born again is a heretic because he still has sin in his heart. Because God took away all the sins of the world including our own, we are heretics before God if we ignore this blessing of salvation.

Because God is holy, we are heretics if we have sin in our hearts. If we really want to become righteous, we have to believe in the gospel of the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the Cross.