I learned that if there is one thing God is intolerant about, it is false teachers. A false teacher is someone who teaches religious things that are not based on the Word of God, or they may be based on the Word of God but they’re twisted.

There are several reasons why some teachers do that. First, they choose political correctness. It’s either because they are scared to offend or they want others to think they’re kind and accepting. They don’t preach the truth about God. They sugarcoat it. Second, they want to take advantage of others.

Third, it may be that they don’t really know God’s Word. They just teach whatever they feel like teaching and sprinkle it with the Word of God to make it sound legit. It can also be that they think what they are taught in their religion is the right thing and they don’t bother finding out if what they are taught is real or not.

Many people are sincere when it comes to their faith. They sincerely want to follow the Lord. The problem is, they are sincerely mistaken. Many of us say we love God, but, do we really know God? Who is God? What did He do? What is He going to do? What pleases Him? What displeases Him? We cannot say we love someone we don’t know.

True love is knowing who the person is. True love is seeking what pleases and displeases the other person. We cannot say, I feel that I love God. Feel. It’s a dangerous word. What if you don’t feel love for Him anymore? What if you don’t feel God anymore? Not feeling God doesn’t mean He’s no longer there. Whatever we feel, God is real. I am not attacking other religions. I am simply sharing my experience. I came from a Catholic background. I prayed the rosary, did the novena, prayed to Mary and the saints canonized by people, joined Marian feasts, etc. I was even a part of the choir in a local Catholic church before.

I practiced the traditions in the Catholic church because that’s what I thought was the right thing to do. When I came to know Christ, I saw how different the Word of God is from what is taught in Catholicism. When I understood His Word, I started following it because God’s Word is valid and reliable.

God and His Word should be our final authority. I understand that believers will be persecuted by nonbelievers. It will happen because it is written in the Scripture. What’s sad is when believers persecute other believers for teaching the truth.

Faith is not based on emotion. Faith should be grounded on the Word of God. Feelings are fickle. We can’t even trust our heart. It says in the Bible that the heart is deceitful.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

“God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.” 1 John 3:20

What is the basis of our faith? Is it emotion, other people’s opinion, or human tradition? Human tradition is created by humans. I love what pastor Jonathan Bradford said in one of the classes I sat in. He said, “Your opinion doesn’t matter. My opinion doesn’t matter. Only God’s opinion matters.” I couldn’t agree more. No matter what we feel, no matter what we say, no matter how we oppose the Word of God, at the end of the day, it’s God’s opinion that will prevail.