In November of 1978, in a jungle clearing of Guyana, more than nine hundred people committed suicide by drinking cyanide-treated punch. Those too young to act on their own, were given the punch by their parents. The Jonestown massacre sends a shudder through all Christians—and well it should—because Jim Jones, who prescribed this "White Night" of death, at one time claimed to be a Christian.

Jim Jones grew up in the forties in a rural town in southern Indiana. He practiced and preached among Methodists (his family’s church) and Pentecostals. In 1964 he was ordained in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, a denomination of over 1.3 million members. On the civil front, in 1961 Jim Jones was named director of the Indianapolis Civil Right’s Commission. As late as 1977, he received the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award.

Yet in spite of these credentials, Jim Jones left numerous clues throughout his life that his teachings and way of life were not quite Christian. Eventually, he led nine hundred of his followers to an apostate faith and eventual suicide. It’s enough to cause Christians to take a hard critical look at the life and faith of their leaders—and themselves. The book of Jude shows us how.

1. How do you think that people get tricked into perverted versions of the Christian faith?

2. Read the book of Jude. What do the first two verses tell you about the writer of this letter and the people he wrote to?

3. What can you know of the circumstances of the people receiving this letter and of Jude’s purpose in writing to them (vv. 3-4)?

4. Find as many words and phrases as you can in this letter that describe those "certain men" who have "secretly slipped in among you."

5. What harm could people like these do within a body of believers?

6. Why would it be hard to resist their influence?

7. Notice that one of the problems of these false teachers was that they denied "Jesus Christ our only Sovereign Lord" (v. 4). Study each word of that name for Jesus. How can the beliefs behind each of those words keep a Christian from straying into theological error

8. Note eight references to characters of Jewish history and literature. What appears to be Jude’s purpose in pointing out these characters and events?

9. Jude used a series of six metaphors in verses 12-13. How does each illustrate the danger of teachers who have perverted the gospel?

10. In the face of this problem, Jude gives his readers two sets of instructions: "Remember" (v. 17) and "Build yourselves up" (v. 20). Notice the specific instructions under each of these. How would remembering, in the way Jude describes, help believers keep the essential ingredients of the Christian faith?

How would building ourselves up in the ways Jude outlines (vv. 17-23) help us keep on living in a way that is true to our faith?

11. The doxology of verses 24-25 frequently closes Christian services of worship. Notice its description of God’s power and his character. How might a group of Christians troubled by infiltrated false teachings of life and doctrine take courage from these words?

12. What errors in faith and life do you see as subtle dangers to today’s Christians?

13. How can you protect yourself, and other believers whose lives you touch, from falling into these errors?