Some members of the body of Christ feel the need to distinguish themselves by concocting “new and daring” teachings that challenge the views of some strong, popular teacher. The motivation may be envy, or it may just be restlessness with the status quo. It’s not enough for such a person to toe the party line, even if that party line is solidly Scriptural. Maintining sound teaching is boring. Years and years go by and we all still believe the same things. This disturbs the person who I call “The Maverick,” who throws a hand grenade into our mild and quiet lives by introducing a radical new departure from established teaching.

Even in the body of Christ there is such a thing as established teaching. I know we all hate the term “mainstream,” but the mainstream I’m talking about is the tried and true Scriptural teaching brought to us by our apostle Paul. The Maverick, however, so hates mainstream that he can’t even abide mainstream within the tiny group known as the body of Christ.

There are many examples of these so-called maverick teachings: 1) the second death is figurative, 2) half of Paul’s letters belong to a primitive, extinct body of Christ, 3) there will be an Israel kingdom BEFORE the millennial kingdom, 4) Jesus Christ did not pre-exist His birth in Bethlehem, 5) there is another way to be saved apart from faith in Christ, 6) the flood of Noah was not worlwide, 7) God is not quite sovereign after all, 8) the snatching away is not for us, 9) prophecy is not meant to predict the future, 10) the judgments of Revelation will affect only Israel—and on it goes. None of these things are true, but they sure bring color to our drab lives, right?

The Maverick is then followed by The Joiners. These are not as strong as the maverick, but they gravitate toward his rebelliousness (much as everyone wanted to be Fonzie’s friend on Happy Days) and want to be part of “the new movement.” These become sycophants to The Maverick.

But now—here comes trouble. Introducing The Corrector. The Corrector is a strong person with a depth of Scriptural knowledge and an aerial viewpoint who can see through The Maverick’s ulterior motives and pinpoint the many places where Scriptural accuracy has been compromised. Because The Corrector exposes the false teaching and rebukes The Maverick, The Joiners, or both, he is accused of being a Divider. He is not a Divider, but is simply correcting the departure from truth started by The Maverick. Nevertheless, because The Corrector clearly distinguishes the false from the true, he can’t help but draw a line in the sand. Thus, people take sides. It is when people take sides that the Corrector is accused of being a Divider.

Ironically, The Maverick is often the person accusing The Corrector of being a Divider when, in fact, it is The Maverick who is the Divider. If The Maverick is dead, The Joiners take up the cause of The Maverick by sullying the character of The Corrector.

Now comes The Appeaser. The Appeaser, oddly enough, is oftentimes The Maverick. Having witnessed his pet teaching demolished Scripturally by The Corrector, and unable to intelligently defend his position (his position is inherently emotional and personal), he will then make a statement such as, “Well, this is a complicated topic and we just can’t know the truth. We must all just get along and not make doctrine the thing that divides us.” This is naked retreat, yet is deceptively cast as an appeal for unity. It has nothing to do with unity, however, but with The Maverick (and The Joiners) saving face.

I can now see this pattern manifested over and over again, even in the first century with Paul. And even in the Old Testament days with Moses. The Maverick comes to resent the strong leader. Were this phenomenon to be submitted to a psycholost, the prime motivating factor—I am certain—would be envy.  

Allow me to point out one more thing. For the Maverick to make his stand against established, Scriptural teaching, he must weave a complicated, difficult-to-grasp scenario. (Bucking truth is tough sledding.) It helps if he is a good writer. By means of complicated concepts, incomprehensible reasonings, and fabulously-worded philosophies, he can mesmerize the weak, turning them into Joiners. Neither The Maverick nor The Joiners can explain their new belief system, and so the appeal becomes emotional and personal. To deflect attention from the false teaching, The Joiners invariably level their worthless weapons, not against the Scriptural teaching (they haven’t a leg to stand on in that department) but against the "evil” Corrector.

History keeps repeating itself.