The “Hidden Reef” of False Teachers

“These are ‘spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wondering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” Jude 1:12-13

Greetings to you, my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ! Please accept my deepest apologies for the absence of my weekly “thoughts,” over the past months. I greatly appreciate your patience, loyalty, and forgiveness. In January, God called me to dive into the Book of Jude in the Bible. He placed it on my heart to put together a Bible Study / Devotion on this powerful, tiny Book of the Bible. As I am working through the beginning of my research for that upcoming video, I had this spin off ‘thought’ bubble up. I don’t know if you should call this a ‘teaser’ of the upcoming devotion / study or if it’s a standalone lesson, but let’s dive in. 

My Study Bible explains part of today’s verses, particularly zoning in on the beginning: “spots in your love feasts.” Here’s the brief, deeper dive directly from my Thomas Nelson New King James Version Study Bible.

“The people of God had been deceived by people who appeared to messengers of God but instead were ministers of Satan (see 2 Cor. 11:4, 13-15). The Greek word for “spots” may also be translated “hidden reefs”; it serves as a strong warning to be on guard against deceivers.” 

Whoa! I know, there is SO much to unpack in the tiny Book of Jude, but today we are going to zone in on the, ‘hidden reefs,’ we all encounter in our spiritual journey. As soon as I read, “hidden reef,” I was reminded of a snorkeling tour I was blessed to embark upon in Hawaii many years ago. We went out on a catamaran, that is a large-ish boat that is kind of a cross between a pontoon and a sailboat. We visited two different coves on our half day trip. One cove was called protected, it had a natural barrier that kept it hidden from the open ocean. The other was unprotected from the large, harsh waves of the windier season. In both coves, there was coral growing. Additionally, both coves had water so crystal clear that you could see, I think it was, forty feet down from the surface of the water. In the exposed cove the coral was limited, only growing a very short height off the bottom. As we swam and snorkeled in that cove, we were safe from this coral, as long as we stayed near the surface. In drastic contrast, the coral of the sheltered cove was able to grow high enough to nearly touch the surface of the water, creating a reef in this area. 

The proximity of the coral reef to the surface, in the cove that was hidden from the waves, made this cove more attractive, colorful, and vibrant in appearance. However, it was more dangerous to snorkel in this hidden cove than it was in the exposed cove. 

You see, coral reef is a living creature. The edges of it’s exoskeleton (the coral we love to look at) are jagged. These sharp edges can quite easily cut open your skin, even upon the briefest or most accidental contact. I learned this the hard way! I don’t even really remember my lower extremity brushing against the coral, but when we were in the pool later that day I realized I had a nasty abrasion from the encounter. By the grace of God, I was able to quickly treat my injury, staying consistent with applying an antibiotic ointment while it took its time healing (it was weeks!). I was very blessed to avoid an infection. It turns out, that coral reefs can transfer substance or toxins to the flesh of the injured. If left untreated for too long this can cause an infection which can spread fast. In addition, the open wound can also leave one vulnerable to other dangers, such as bacteria and other invasive organisms. 

Back to the Hawaiian reef for a moment…while the hidden reef was indeed visible once you entered the cove, it was difficult to truly perceive its danger due to the clarity of the water. This crystal clear water made depth perception a bit skewed. In turn, it was difficult to determine how close to the surface, or to the swimmer, that the coral reef actually was. Especially from within the water, when you were closest to the danger. Conversely, back at the exposed cove, the coral was clearly far away, and the danger of it was minimal because of its distance from the swimmers. 

The fourth verse of Jude warns, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Study Bible further adds to this, “The heretics were subtle. Their primary tactics were to pervert God’s grace and to deny the authority of the Lord. They were clever enough to have infiltrated the Christian community…” So, like the coral reef I encountered, they were sort of hidden in plain sight. 

False teachers in the church know God’s Word very well. Sadly, they twist this to their benefit. They lead people astray from the truth of God’s Word by sprinkling enough Bible verses along their way to make it seem like they’re leading folks to God. All the while, they are only wearing sheep’s clothing (see Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7:15), and are in fact wolves. The false teachers in the church - in Jude’s time and also in the present day - have an ultimate goal of leading as many people as possible away from Christ before the final days. This is why it is always so important to learn the whole Bible. Likewise, it is important to test all things claiming to be from God against His true Word, the Bible. Do not take verses quoted out of context as fact. Do not fall into the temptation that because it is wrapped up in a shiny bow than it must be from God. 

Much like the hidden reef can appear to be this beautiful thing that must be a gift from God, the teachings of false prophets can appear to bring us beautiful promises that must be from God. We must look deeply for the hidden dangers of fake doctrine. Again, the hidden reef was difficult to perceive its full danger from within the water, likewise many times it can be difficult to perceive the hidden danger of false teachers from within the world. The quotes they use from the beautiful Word of God can make their skewed message hard to perceive as being a close and imminent threat. And like the exposed coral, when we expose the heresy by using the full Word of God, we can more easily distance ourselves from the danger to avoid nasty infections. 

We need to study God’s Word, daily, hiding its truths within our hearts. We have to equip ourselves, through prayer and time with God, against the ungodly persons who are infiltrating the body of the Church as a whole. 

I am not calling out any individual church. Jude is not calling out one ‘denomination’ over another. (I don’t know that they had denominations back then, but the different churches in different locations each had their own identity while also being part of “the church” as a whole.) Through Jude, God is issuing a warning to the church as a whole, to the unified children of God - the Brothers and Sisters in Christ - all over this world. We, His children, are not called to single out these heretics. 

We can and should pray for those who fall victim to the wolves…without judgement nor condemnation. We should set our hearts on spreading the truth of Christ to everyone. Verse nine actually shows the example of leaving this in God’s hands, “The Lord rebuke you.” I am not pointing fingers at anyone or at any particular denominations this morning. Simply, this is a church-wide warning to be pursuers of the truth of God. This is a call to action to guard our hearts against false teachings. If in doubt, we should always seek God out. In other words, let’s open our Bibles as we shelter our hearts from the dangers of the hidden reefs. 

May God lead us all on His path, holding firmly onto us as we pursue Him with all our hearts, minds, and strength. God will take care of the rest.

To God alone be all the glory, always and forever.