What Was "The Gainsaying of Korah" of Jude 11?

Kore (Engl. Core) [2879] is the Greek for the Heb. Qorach (Engl.
    Korah) [7139,7141] --to make bald.

Ex 6:21,24 And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri...
And the sons of Korah; Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these
are the families of the Korhites. (KJV)
I Chr 6:22-24 22 The sons of Kohath; Amminadab his son, Korah his
son, Assir his son,
23 Elkanah his son, and Ebiasaph his son, and Assir his son,
24 Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his
son. (KJV)
     Here are listed several generations of the descendants of
Kohath and of Korah.  Korah's father, Izhar, was the brother of
Amram, the father of Moses and Aaron (cf. Ex 6).  Korah seems to
have become jealous of the leadership of Moses and the Priesthood
of Aaron, though his was also a position of honor.

Nu 16:1-4  1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the
son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the
son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
 2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of
Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in
the congregation, men of renown:
 3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against
Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all
the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is
among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the
congregation of the LORD?
 4 And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face: (KJV)
     Korah was of the Tribe of Levi; the others of the chief con-
spirators were of the Tribe of Reuben.  Num 4:1-20 describes the
assigned duties of the Kohathites.  They were the porters whose
job was to transport the tabernacle and its furniture under the
direction of the priests.

Nu 26:5-11  5 Reuben, the eldest son of Israel: the children of
Reuben; Hanoch, of whom cometh the family of the Hanochites: of
Pallu, the family of the Palluites:
 6 Of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Carmi, the family
of the Carmites.
 7 These are the families of the Reubenites: and they that were
numbered of them were forty and three thousand and seven hundred
and thirty.
 8 And the sons of Pallu; Eliab.
 9 And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is
that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who
strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah,
when they strove against the LORD:
10 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together
with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured
two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.
11 Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not. (KJV)
     The Reubenite genealogy goes: Reuben--Pallu--Eliab--Dathan
and Abiram.  On is also a descendant of Reuben, though his exact
genealogy is not given.  Korah incited Dathan and Abiram, along
with On.  They "...strove against the Lord: And the earth opened
her mouth and swallowed them up."  They also incited two hundred
and fifty of the princes in Israel to join their rebellion.

De 11:1-8a  1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep
his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his
commandments, alway.
 2 And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which
have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the
LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched
out arm,
 3 And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of
Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;
 4 And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and
to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to
overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath
destroyed them unto this day;
 5 And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into
this place;
 6 And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the
son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them
up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance
that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:
 7 But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he
did.
 8 Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you
this day...(KJV)
     God destroyed the land of the Egyptians, and, of the children
of Israel, "...afterward destroyed them that believed not" (Jude 5).
The Lord sent destruction into the camp of Israel in the incident
of the golden calf (Ex 32:8-10, 26-33) and of the spies (Nu 11:1-9),
for example, as well as here in the instance of Korah's rebellion
(Nu 16:49).  God sent another plague upon Israel when it became
necessary to quell the idol worship of Baalpeor, the nefarious
doctrine of Balaam and Balak (cf. the file on Balaam).  The plagues
God sent were punishment for following after false religions.

Nu 16:5-7  5 And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company,
saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is
holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he
hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.
 6 This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company;
 7 And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD
to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose,
he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.
(KJV)
     Only the Aaronic priests were qualified to burn incense unto
the Lord.  These conspirators might have remembered that the Lord
was very particular about who burned incense before Him and the
manner in which it was done (cf. Lev 10:1-11).  They had set them-
selves up in rivalry against the priesthood of Aaron, so Moses
appeals to God to show who are His true ministry.

Nu 16:8-11  8 And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons
of Levi:
 9 Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel
hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you
near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD,
and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them?
10 And he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren the
sons of Levi with thee: and seek ye the priesthood also?
11 For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered
together against the LORD: and what is Aaron, that ye murmur
against him? (KJV)
     Korah and his fellow conspirators had set themselves up as
a rival priesthood against the priesthood of Aaron which had been
consecrated by the Lord (Lev 8:33).  Here is the gainsaying of
Korah written of by Jude (Jude 11).  The Lord would show them
whom He had chosen as His consecrated priesthood.

Nu 16:12-14 12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons
of Eliab: which said, We will not come up:
13 Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land
that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness,
except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us?
14 Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth
with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and
vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not
come up. (KJV)
     The rebels accused Moses of not keeping his promises, as
though they were his words and not those of the Lord.

Nu 16:15 And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD, Respect
not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them,
neither have I hurt one of them. (KJV)
     Though Moses was the meekest of men (Num 12:3), he could also
become very angry.  God's enemies had better stand by when they
cause the meek of the earth to cry out to Him for justice.  Moses
asks God to respect not their offering, as He had not respected
the offering of Cain (Gen 4:5).

Nu 16:16,17 And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company
before the LORD, thou, and they, and Aaron, to morrow: (KJV)
17 And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and
bring ye before the LORD every man his censer, two hundred and
fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of you his censer.
(KJV)
     The ringleaders of the conspiracy were Korah, Dathan, Abiram,
and On.  The two hundred and fifty were various discontented lead-
ers of the children of Israel whom they had stirred up against
Moses and Aaron, indeed against the Lord, as they soon found out.

Nu 16:18-19 18 And they took every man his censer, and put fire in
them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron.
19 And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory of the
LORD appeared unto all the congregation. (KJV)
     Korah and his organization were able to gather all the con-
gregation of Israel against Moses and Aaron.  They were false
teachers, false prophets, a false ministry or priesthood come to
offer incense before the Lord.  The children of Israel were able to
muster an army of some 600,000 men, so that their total population
at that time must have been on the order of two to several millions.
One may well imagine the kind of organized "Work" that would have
been required in order to propagandize and subvert all Israel, as
Korah and his conspirators were able to do (cf. Num 1:46; 26:51).

Nu 16:20-24 20 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron,
saying,
21 Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may
consume them in a moment.
22 And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the
spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth
with all the congregation?
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24 Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the
tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. (KJV)
     Though it appeared that the entire congregation of Israel
were against them, the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh
[a phrase pregnant with meaning], was with Moses and Aaron.  They
sought unto the Lord and received His counsel.

Nu 16:25-27 25 And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram;
and the elders of Israel followed him.
26 And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you,
from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs,
lest ye be consumed in all their sins.
27 So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and
Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood
in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and
their little children. (KJV)
     Moses warns of the coming destruction of the rebels, and the
congregation heeds his warning and withdraws from them.  The sur-
viving sons of Korah also obviously must have believed Moses and
withdrawn.

Nu 16:28-34 28 And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD
hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of
mine own mind.
29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be
visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not
sent me.
30 But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth,
and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they
go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these
men have provoked the LORD.
31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all
these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and
their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all
their goods.
33 They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into
the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from
among the congregation.
34 And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of
them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. (KJV)
     What a display of divine retribution, that the earth opened
its mouth and swallowed up the ringleaders of the rebellion with
all that appertained unto them in a few moments of time!  Probably
all that was left was a big cloud of dust where their tents had
stood.  The "new thing" that God did was a sign that He had in-
deed sent Moses.

Nu 16:35-40 35 And there came out a fire from the LORD, and
consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
36 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
37 Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up
the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder;
for they are hallowed.
38 The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them
make them broad plates for a covering of the altar: for they
offered them before the LORD, therefore they are hallowed: and
they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel.
39 And Eleazar the priest took the brasen censers, wherewith they
that were burnt had offered; and they were made broad plates for a
covering of the altar:
40 To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger,
which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense
before the LORD; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as
the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses. (KJV)
     The earth had not swallowed the two hundred and fifty who
had presumed to offer incense before the Lord; they were con-
sumed by a blast of fire from the Lord.  Their censers became
a sign and a memorial in Israel of false worship that the Lord
would not accept.

Nu 16:41-45 41 But on the morrow all the congregation of the
children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron,
saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.
42 And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against
Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of
the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory
of the LORD appeared.
43 And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the
congregation.
44 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
45 Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume
them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. (KJV)
     It is a wonder that the Lord put up with this rebellious
people as long as He did.  He could have wiped them all out and
started over with Moses and still fulfilled all the promises He
had made to the fathers (cf. Ex 32:10).  They accused Moses and
Aaron of killing "...the people of the Lord..." apparantly as
yet unable to forego the idol worship of the conspirators, who
had set up their false priesthood in rivalry against not only
Moses and Aaron, but as a corporate idol in the place of the Lord
(cf.the Nicolaitane file).

Nu 16:46-50 46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put
fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go
quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for
there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun.
47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of
the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the
people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the
people.
48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague
was stayed. (KJV)
49 Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and
seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah.
50 And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation: and the plague was stayed. (KJV)
     Rather than wiping Israel out, the Lord punished them by
this plague.  They may be said to have gotten off easy.  By the
means of this plague the Lord finally put down the rebellion
stirred up by Korah and his false priesthood.

I Chr 6:31-38 31 And these are they whom David set over the
service of song in the house of the LORD, after that the ark had
rest.
32 And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle
of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the
house of the LORD in Jerusalem: and then they waited on their
office according to their order.
33 And these are they that waited with their children. Of the sons
of the Kohathites: Heman a singer, the son of Joel, the son of
Shemuel,
34 The son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the
son of Toah,
35 The son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son
of Amasai,
36 The son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the
son of Zephaniah,
37 The son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the
son of Korah,
38 The son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son
of Israel. (KJV)
     Here is listed some more of the genealogy of Levi in which
the line of Korah appears down to the time of King David.

I Chr 9:19 And Shallum the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the
son of Korah, and his brethren, of the house of his father, the
Korahites, were over the work of the service, keepers of the gates
of the tabernacle: and their fathers, being over the host of the
LORD, were keepers of the entry. (KJV)
     The descendants of Korah are here fulfilling their proper
functions in the service of the tabernacle.

II Chr 20:19-20 19 And the Levites, of the children of the
Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to
praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the
wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and
said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe
in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his
prophets, so shall ye prosper. (KJV)
     Korah's descendants were gifted singers of psalms of praise
to the Lord.  Note that Psalms 42, 44-49, 84-85, 87-88 are songs
for the sons of Korah.

Jude 1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain,
and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and
perished in the gainsaying of Core. (KJV)
     Part of Jude's indictment of the false teachers who creep un-
awares into the church of God.  Gainsayers speak against, teach
against, preach against the way of God, but present themselves as
ministers of righteousness (II Cor 11:15).

Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were
before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning
the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only
Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (KJV)
     These are the ungodly men who creep into the church of God,
and who are ordained to perish in the gainsaying of Core.

Jude 1:19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having
not the Spirit. (KJV)
     These ungodly gainsayers are imposters or false ministers
who have not the Spirit of God, otherwise they would fear to set
up false ministries to exploit God's people, and they would under-
stand that by so doing they make themselves prime candidates for
condemnation (Jas 3:1, Jude 4).


Comment

     The word "gainsaying" is the Gr. antilogos [485] - con-
tradiction, strife, from the Gr. antilego [483] - answer
again, contradict, deny, speak against.

     In the gainsaying of Korah, he and his party rose up and
gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron, actually
against the Lord (Num 16:2-3).  God obviously did not call
them; they rose up of their own will and volition.  Like all
false prophets, they ran, though God had not sent them (Jer
23:21).

     Korah's motivation for rebellion must have been emotional
in nature, because one cannot logically oppose God.  He appears
to have grown envious of the important positions given to his
cousins, Moses and Aaron, and to have rationalized this emotion
into conscious arguments that seemed plausible to him.  Since rat-
ionalization takes place largely at the subconscious level, he
may even have convinced himself that he was serving God.  False
religions are always illogical at bottom, but they throw up a
cloud of religious doctrines to obscure this fact, and employ
enough truth to obfuscate their error.  The false priesthood
raised up by Korah and the conspirators had the entire congre-
gation of Israel bamboozled for awhile, just as the many would
later follow the pernicious ways of the false teachers who would
creep into the church (II Pet 2:1-2).  Uninformed people may
allow themselves to be led like dumb sheep, but woe betide the
false ministers and false prophets who rise up to decieve and
exploit them, as Korah found out in the end (cf. Jude 11).

     The gainsaying or opposition of Korah gives us some in-
sight into the genesis and formation of a false religious
ministry or priesthood, somewhat by way of contrast to the
way of Cain and the error of Balaam.  The Bible does not tell
us whether Cain instituted a false religion, though he of
course lived hundreds of years, and who knows what all he may
have done?  Balaam was a high priest of the ancient Babylonian
Mysteries, long since established, and we have to look to sec-
ular history and classic studies in order to augment our un-
derstanding of it, and its influence on the activities of the
prophet.  In the history of the rebellion of Korah, however,
we are given an outline of the method he employed in the
establishment of a false priesthood in rivalry against that of
Aaron.

     The sense of Num 16:1 (cf. Bullinger, "The Companion
Bible") is that Korah took Dathan, Abiram, and On, of the
Tribe of Reuben, and used them to carry out the activity in
verse two, which was to organize the two hundred and fifty
malcontented leaders or princes in the congregation of Israel
for the purpose of opposing Moses and Aaron, actually God.
They disparage the priesthood of the Lord, and proclaim that
they are equally holy.  In verses five through seven, it be-
comes apparant that they have set themselves up as a rival
priesthood to that of Aaron, so that Moses has to appeal to
the Lord to show whom He would choose.  Moses reminds them
(v.9) that God has already separated them for important work
about the tabernacle, and then he asks, "...seek ye the
priesthood also?  For which cause both thou and all thy com-
pany are gathered together against the Lord: and what is
Aaron that ye murmer against him?"  The conspirators then,
were obviously in process of establishing themselves as an-
other priesthood to supplant that of Aaron.  Moses appeals
the decision to God, and the next day the organization of
Korah musters the entire congregation of Israel against the
Lord (v.19).

     In the history of Korah, we see a sort of natural pro-
gression in the genesis of a false priesthood, which may be
applicable to the development of false religions in general.
The process begins in Korah's mind when his envy of Moses
and Aaron is rationalized into plausible sounding reasons
why he himself is as well qualified as they, perhaps better
qualified, to lead the congregation of Israel.  The next step
is to confer with Dathan, Abiram, and On and plot together
with them the course their rebellion should take.  Korah's
inner circle then branches out by recruiting the two hundred
and fifty rebellious, malcontented princes of the assembly
to join them in opposition to Moses and Aaron.  They no
doubt organize themselves into a pecking order or hierarchy:
Korah--his three Reubenite lieutenants--the princes of the
assembly.  With this incipient organization of power brokers
in place, their work becomes the subversion of the entire
assembly of Israel by means of a campaign of advertising, or
teaching of their religious propaganda and false doctrines,
throughout the congregation, for they constitute in fact a
false religion as well as an alternate political system to
that establised by God though Moses.  Their work was de-
signed to influence the entire congregation of Israel in the
wilderness to side with them in their rebellion, and like a
bunch of dumb sheep, the people seem to have followed their
pernicious ways, no doubt providing financing as well--this
false religious priesthood would have required material assis-
tance from the people to support themselves and to carry on
their "Work."

     Korah's rebellion would thus have bifurcated itself into
priesthood and laity, leaders and followers, into a hierarchy
of false teachers or priests and a multitude or laity of de-
ceived followers to support them.  The system worked so suc-
cessfully because it based itself on the manner in which the
natural or carnal mind operates apart from God's Spirit.  A
mind bereft of the Spirit, or that elects not to follow its
lead, has ultimate recourse to its own unconscious and un-
reasoned emotional or intuitive desires; it elects to do as
it pleases first, and to rationalize its feelings later by hook
or by crook.  It elects to do what feels right.  "There is a
way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death..." (Pr 14:12; 16:25).  The rebellion of
Korah ultimately became so successful that the Lord had to
intervene in order to preserve the work He was doing through
Moses and the Aaronic Priesthood.

     There are doubtless many other lessons to be learned from
the gainsaying of Korah, and many parallels that may be drawn
to it in subsequent similar instances, both anciently and in
our own day, but that task may be left to the reader in his
personal study.


In Perspective

     In three separate files I have taken the pains to trace
out in the Scriptures the threefold indictment made in Jude 11
against the ungodly men, the false teachers who have crept in
unawares to deceive the church of God: "Woe unto them, for they
have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error
of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah,"
(Jude 11).

     The Balaam and Nicolaitane files are concerned with trac-
ing out the error of Balaam.  I began there because both the Lord
and the apostle Peter join with Jude in condemning the error of
Balaam (II Pet 2; Rev 2).  His way is shown to be a singularly
self-willed determination to use his religious position and
prestige in the pursuit of personal gain, of reward or of money,
though one cannot serve God and mammon, but must choose one or
the other.  The pursuits are mutually contradictory.  It is a
matter of setting one's priorities, a matter of where one places
one's faith, whether in the Lord or in the profit to be gar-
ered by the promotion of the false tithing doctrine they invar-
iably employ.  Balaam failed the test as do the ungodly men of
whom Jude writes--with them, money wins hands down.  They some-
how manage to rationalize the conflict that arises in the mind,
and to convince themselves that they can serve God and still
make lots of money doing it, as Balaam tried to do.  It doesn't
work that way, as they will learn in the end.  Such Nicolaitanes
may not be expected to change their ways, but we need not follow.

     Next I looked into the Scriptural references to the way of
Cain, a short study, because the Bible doesn't record very much
about him.  He too was strongly self-willed and determined to
do his own thing.  He does not accept correction from God.  He
manages to rationalize his envy of his brother and his righteous
life into what he thinks is justification for murder, and seems
to have thought he was getting away with it until God called
him on it, "...Where is Abel thy brother?" (Gen 4:9).  Cain tries
to lie out of it, and then complains that his punishment is too
severe, though he was worthy of death.  He may have thought he
should acquire Abel's possessions upon his death, but God sends
him away.  The way of Cain was a way of self-willed rebellion
against the Lord, and of jealousy and hate against his brother.
Of course we have only the merest outline to go by.

     The speaking-against or gainsaying of Korah was also a
matter of self-willed rebellion against God, as we have seen.
He too rationalizes his envy into a feeling of justification
for inciting rebellion by means of the rival priesthood he
raises up to oppose the Aaronic Priesthood established by
the Lord.  His motivations parallel those of Cain and of
Balaam.

     Self-will, self-deception, deceiving of others as accom-
plices and supporters, desire for power and prestige, the love
of money, rebellion against the Lord and the restraints He
places on their personal conduct, the determination to do what
one feels like doing--these are brought out as motivating fac-
tors in the way of Cain, the error of Balaam, and the gainsaying
of Korah, as well as in the ways of the ungodly men who creep
into the church in order to exploit God's people.  All such have
in common that, despite all their pious religious protestations
to the contrary, they have not the Spirit of God (Jude 19), as
becomes apparant when we research their false doctrines.  The
lesson for us is, if we have the Spirit of God, let us by all
means be led by it (Rom 8:14).