Look Out for the Dogs

“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 

“Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:1-3 ESV).

Now, in context, Paul was speaking of the Judaizers who were trying to get Christians to believe that they had to follow some of the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, and dietary laws and restrictions, including circumcision, as part of their salvation. So Paul was making it clear that they were now under the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant, and so they did not have to conform to those Old Covenant liturgical and ceremonial laws.

But nowhere does Paul teach that we are free from God’s moral laws or that we don’t have to obey the commandments of God under the New Covenant. He very much stresses that we must obey God if we are to be saved from our sins and to have eternal life with God. So please don’t believe the lies which are telling you that faith in Jesus Christ requires no works, no obedience to God’s commandments, and no forsaking of sins under the New Covenant. Paul taught the opposite of that. So please know what he taught:

[Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 1 Co 15:58; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 2 Co 9:8; Gal 5:6,16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:9-14,21-23; Col 3:5-11; 2 Thess 1:11-12; 2 Tim 2:21; Tit 2:11-14; Tit 3:8; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31]

Now, not any of us who are living in this generation were under the Old Covenant, because Jesus did away with the Old Covenant liturgical and ceremonial laws via his death on the cross when via his death he made Jew and Gentile one people by faith in Jesus Christ. But the people of Paul’s day were those who were being transferred from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, so that was a “hot button issue” in his day, for sure.

But there are definite carry overs from that, for there are still people today who are insisting that Christians must be more like Jews and that they should participate in some of the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, and dietary laws to enhance their salvation and to make them closer to God. And they are speaking at church gatherings and they are deceiving many people into believing their lies. And this is of definite concern! So watch out!

They have also convinced Christians that they must “worship” (of sorts) the Jewish nation, and that they must give their undying trust, loyalty, and devotion to the Jewish nation, which is antichrist. For they, as a people group, have rejected and denied Jesus Christ to be their Messiah-Christ who was promised to the people of Israel. But we are being told to “worship” this nation without question and even above or in place of loyalty and devotion to Almighty God, and regardless of what the Scriptures teach. Ouch!

So, please be students of the Scriptures and read what Paul wrote about these Judaizers, who obviously still exist today, for they are “the dogs” he was specifically referring to in this passage of Scripture, although “dog” was a term used to describe false teachers in general, too, who were teaching any kind of doctrine contrary to the teachings of Jesus and of his NT apostles, regardless of the topic in question. For the “dogs” were spiritually unclean. And we are to be people who test the spirits, not who obey them.

See: [John 8:18-19,38-47; Romans 9:4-8; Romans 11:17-25; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:6; Hebrews 8:8-10; 1 Peter 2:9-10; 1 John 2:22]

So, if we are to look out for the dogs, this means that we are to be on the lookout and testing everything and everyone we read, hear, or think we see, in prayer, in the study of the Scriptures (in context), to make certain that what we are hearing or reading or seeing is actually the truth and not lies that people are spreading, particularly lies that have been around for many years and have become culture and tradition without question. 

So, I challenge you to take these noted Scriptures and read them, in context, and in prayer, and that you seek God’s face for the truth. For it is us who believe in Jesus Christ who are God’s chosen people and heirs of the promise God made to Abraham and to his seed (Jesus Christ), whether Jew or Gentile by physical birth. The physical nation of Israel, as a unit, do not believe in Jesus Christ and so God has cut them out of Israel, and he has grafted into Israel believers in Christ. But unbelieving Jews can be grafted back into Israel by genuine faith in Jesus Christ (see Scriptures above).

But this is not the only issue we are dealing with today which is coming from the mouths of these “dogs,” as Paul referred to them as. But we are also dealing with dogs who are teaching people a diluted and altered gospel and character of God/Christ and character of who God’s people are today, and by a false criteria. So we need to be people who are searching the Scriptures (in context) for the truth, not to prove some doctrine we were previously taught, but to truly hear from the Lord and to let him speak truth to us.

And with regard to the gospel of our salvation, Jesus taught that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, then we have eternal life. For he said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father in heaven.

[Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23; cf. Romans 6:1-23; Titus 2:11-14]

A Shield About Me

By Thomas Donn Charles / Williams Charles Henry

Thou Oh LORD, art a shield about me

You're my glory and my lifter of my head

Thou Oh LORD, art a shield about me

You're my glory and my lifter of my head

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

You're the lifter of my head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPCUmT6mj48

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