How many different alerts do you have set up in your life? 

Many people purchase identity theft protection which alerts them when someone steals their Social Security number and begins using it illegally.

You may also have alerts set up on your credit card, your financial accounts, your personal email, and on social networking sites.

We set up alerts to warn us of danger and to protect ourselves from financial or personal harm.

Do you have a spiritual alert in your life? Do you have something that will alert you to spiritual lies that will lead you down the wrong path and rob you of the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ?

John's second letter is a spiritual alert to Christians at the end of the first century. He writes to warn them of the dangers of itinerant false teachers who are seeking to spread religious lies.

John writes, "Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son" (2 John 9).

As concerned as we are today about someone causing us financial harm by using our credit card, we should be more concerned over truth and falsehod. False views of the Lord Jesus Christ and Scripture can do infinitely more harm than credit card fraud.

Robbers can steal your money, but false teachers can steal your hope of eternal life.

Today, we need to be ready to defend the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ against false teachers who propogate a message which is opposed to historic Christianity.

An effective way to combat false teaching is to be rooted in the truth of Scripture each day. As you spend time reading and studying Scripture in a local church that is following the Bible, the Holy Spirit will mature you in your faith and in your understanding of the truth of God's plan of redemption.