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"And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod." (Mark 8:15).
The Pharisees were part of the Sanhederin, these were the Jewish religious leaders in the days of Jesus. The statement made by Jesus to the disciples in Mark 8:15 is a lesson that we should always be aware of false teaching.
"Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." (Matthew 16:12).
The false teachings of the Pharisees were often based upon a love of power, materialism, the praise of men and the desire to conceal many truths of the gospel in order to suit their own personal "religious" agendas.
Sound doctrine is extremely important. Every believer must seek to teach God's word correctly, being as faithful to the Bible as is possible. When a false doctrine is accepted, this can be a grave danger as often one false doctrine will lead to others, often eventually leading to a domino effect, spiraling out of control.
False doctrine often is caused when an individual incorrectly adopts the teaching of a church or teacher that is not in harmony with the Bible. When this occurs, the person's church then becomes their final authority and not God and His pure Word; even though many false churches and teachers claim the bible as their final authority. This is unfortunate because human wisdom cannot be trusted, yet many will continue to hold to tradition without taking the entire Bible into account; but God tells us that He does not act through human wisdom:
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9).
"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:27-31).
When Jesus told the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod, He was telling believers to beware of false gospels.
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