From the earliest days of the Church, the battle for truth has raged.

Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote to the believers in Tralles with a fervent warning against heresy—false teachings that masqueraded as truth but ultimately led people away from Christ. His words resonate as a clarion call even today, reminding us that deception often comes wrapped in familiarity, mingling just enough truth with error to lead the undiscerning astray.

Take A Look at the Ancient Writing by Ignatius of Antioch:

Abstain from the poison of heretics:

“I therefore, yet not I, but the love of Jesus Christ, ‘entreat you that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment.’

For there are some vain talkers and deceivers, not Christians, but Christ-betrayers, bearing about the name of Christ in deceit, and ‘corrupting the word’ of the gospel; while they intermix the poison of their deceit with their persuasive talk, as if they mingled aconite with sweet wine, that so he who drinks, being deceived in his taste by the very great sweetness of the draught, may incautiously meet with his death.

One of the ancients gives us this advice, ‘Let no man be called good who mixes good with evil.’ For they speak of Christ, not that they may preach Christ, but that they may reject Christ; and they speak of the law, not that they may establish the law, but that they may proclaim things contrary to it. For they alienate Christ from the Father, and the law from Christ. They also calumniate His being born of the Virgin; they are ashamed of His cross; they deny His passion; and they do not believe His resurrection. They introduce God as a Being unknown; they suppose Christ to be unbegotten; and as to the Spirit, they do not admit that He exists. Some of them say that the Son is a mere man, and that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but the same person, and that the creation is the work of God, not by Christ, but by some other strange power.”

Ignatius’ warning is not just a relic of the past but a prophetic insight into the challenges we face today. In an age of diluted doctrine, progressive reinterpretations of scripture, and a culture that seeks to redefine truth, his words remind us to remain anchored in the pure full-gospel of Jesus Christ.

The call is the same: to be united in the mind of Christ and the Word as our standard for godly judgment, discerning the poison that masquerades as new knowledge & wisdom, and standing firm in the unshakable truth of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection and the power of His Spirit at work in and through those who believe.