Welcome to a breakpoint a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of

unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Many of the New Testament epistles chronicle the significant temptations that raged

against the early church both from within and without.

You see from the very beginning,

the church was forced to deal with heresies,

false gospels and false teachers. For example, here's St Paul

writing to the church at Galatia, quote, I'm astonished, he said, that you're so quickly

deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different

gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort

the Gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be a cursed.

As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you

received let him be a cursed." And also externally the church at that time

faced the hostilities of living in a pagan culture,

along with the temptations of sexual perversity and idle worship and worldliness in various forms.

So Paul also wrote this to the church at Kallasy.

Quote, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit

according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world,

and not according to Christ.

And of course the Church has faced these very same kinds of challenges both from within and

without ever since and our day is no exception.

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