Who Are The 'Grievous Wolves' That Paul Warned About?

Tom:

In this our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts, chapter 20, and Dave, here we have the apostle Paul addressing the elders in the church at Ephesus, and I am going to pick up with Verse 29.

Dave:

He’s called them to meet him at a place called Miletum.He’s on his way to Jerusalem, and eventually that’s going to take him to Rome.

Tom:

And he has a very sobering, alarming in a sense, statement to make to them.He says Verse 29:“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.And of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.”

Dave:

Well, Tom, we talked about last week, my departing, not his departing from this town, but his departing from this life, and he knew that he would not be taken in the Rapture.People often say, Well, the Rapture, the apostles thought they would be taken in the Rapture.No, they didn’t, and we explained that last week, they all knew they would die.As special witnesses they had to die, they were appointed unto death in a way that no one else has ever been appointed, they had to die testifying the facts.No one is fool enough to die for what he knows is a lie, and we have the most powerful witness you could ever have.Muhammad had nothing like that, Buddha had nothing like this.We’ve got these men, eleven apostles, and there was another one who was voted in to take Judas’ place, so twelve plus Paul and others who died saying, It is true, He did rise from the dead. He did raise the dead. He did heal the sick, everyone that came to Him.He opened the eyes of the blind, even those who were blind from birth, it’s all true.Okay.So that’s the departing that he’s talking about.When we’re gone grievous wolves will enter in to the church and it’s going to just rip this flock apart.Now why will they be doing that?Well, Jude says there are certain men entered in unaware, and they are bringing false doctrine.And then the next verse he says:Of your own selves.That must have broken Paul’s heart to say that.These are his hand trained elders, he spent 3 years there training them, he picked them and trained them, and now he has to say, Some of you, some of you—you’re going to speak perverse things.Why?To draw away disciples after you.So now we have an understanding of why those false teachings come into the church.I remember Benny Hinn, I’m sure you remember as well, Benny Hinn saying to his church when it was in Orlando:We don’t come here just to hear what you’re going to get everywhere else.Well, does he have a different Bible?Oh, no, no, he’s got different revelations, he got some real revelations.And that was when he dropped the bomb about the Trinity:Oh, there’s not 3, there’s 9, Father God, He’s got a body, soul and spirit, Holy Spirit has body, soul and spirit, Jesus had body, soul and spirit.There’s 9 of them, folks, Wow!Let’s flock to this church and get some more of these revelations.Speaking perverse things—Why?You want to have some truth, you want to be on the cutting edge that nobody else has attained to, so people are going to come to hear you.Well, Paul laid it all out.

Tom:

Well, there it is, Dave.Why?To draw away disciples after them.

Dave:

Right, Paul laid it all out.

Tom:

Verse 31:“Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears.”When’s the last time you heard a message like that, Dave?

Dave:

Well, I’ve given a few, but you know, I often say, Tom, that you know, one of the main criticisms we get, You guys are too concerned about apostasy.I used to speak at—well, not any more, but we had, you remember, Tom, we had these conferences, the watch dogs of the church, the cult watchers and so forth, and my last talk I said, Look, we come here we talk about the Mormons, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Muslims—well, we didn’t talk much about Muslims those days, but the New Agers and Hindus and so forth.You’ve got the same thing inside the church, and until we are willing to talk about this thing that’s happening in the church, I’m not coming back.I never did come back because they never got quite willing to talk about it.

Tom:

Yeah, they’ve moved a little in that direction, Dave, but it’s amazing, there are some issues which most of the ones that we have respect for, they avoid psychology for one thing, Roman Catholicism another.I say you want to talk about those subjects you can’t even get arrested, nobody is interested, which is sad because the influence upon the church, just as Paul is laying this out.

Dave:

Another one of the things I was criticized for in those days—well, you want to talk about cults, we asked you to come and talk about cults.Well, lay off of this prophecy stuff, this last days stuff.I’ve heard that many times.Well, I would say, I can’t talk about cults and error without mentioning the last days because this is a major sign of the last days.How can we get around that?

Tom:

These verses here, this is prophetic.He’s not saying, Oh, it happened last month, or don’t you remember the time when.He’s saying these things are going to happen, they are going to come into the church.And Dave, one of the things that really surprises me about this. Paul didn’t have to deal with Christian media, with TBN.We have heresy so blatant, so pervasive in the church—what did Paul have? Yet, I believe that certainly these things were fulfilled in his time, maybe a generation after him within the church of Ephesus, but today is the fulfillment of these verses to the max.

Dave:

Absolutely, and that brings me to something else that I’ve often said from the platform.So, you think I’m too negative, or I’m too concerned about apostasy, I haven’t begun to be concerned.Look at Paul, three years, night and day I cease not to warn every one of you with tears.You haven’t seen me crying and warning like that, night and day.Think it’s got a one track mind, this is just one message?No, I talk about all kinds of things.But when I consider the concern of Paul, because grievous wolves are going to enter in. Some of you are going to speak perverse things to draw disciples after yourselves.Tom, it’s very much on my heart, but I must confess I fall far, far short of the concern that I ought to have, and it really is a matter of concern.The purity of the church, the purity of sound doctrine, because this is the container of truth.And, If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples, indeed you will know the truth, the truth will set you free, Jesus said.And we’ve gone away from the Word of God.

Tom:

Dave, you’re eighty, I’m in my early sixties, and one of the things that really grieves my heart—well, first of all, we talked in the earlier segment about the Rapture. My cry is, Maranatha, come Lord, come quickly.

Dave:

Amen.

Tom:

On the one hand, but if the Lord tarries I wake up at night thinking about the next generation, what they are going to go through, what they are going to have to deal with, and I agree with you, we’re not doing enough in terms of what Paul is saying here, in terms of warning, and so on.But we’re not the only ones, we would encourage, exhort others to have the same heart and mind.I have 5 children, they are from age 18 to almost 30, and I think about those 5, if the Lord tarries, what they are going to have to deal with, and it really grieves me.It keeps me on my face before the Lord crying out to Him continually, for them and for their friends and so on.

Dave:

Tom, most of the epistles were written to correct error in the church.Is that not a concern that we ought to have today because it’s far worse than it was in Paul’s day.Not that we just want to hammer away on bad news, but we have a concern that is on the Lord’s heart, He prayed for His own.I hope that we can arouse that concern in more people out there.Write letters, talk to your pastor, do something. Don’t just take it in but do something to help in this area of the slide into apostasy.Let’s try to have something against the tide, okay?