There are plenty of dramatic warnings in the Bible. You know the kind, the ones that warn about the dangers of taking revenge against someone who has wronged you, or about keeping your vows to God. But some of the most important ones get ignored. Here are nine spiritual warnings in Scripture that many modern Christians miss.
1. Anger is like murder
In Matthew 5:21–22, Jesus treats anger as something that’s as morally bad as murder. He claims that unchecked anger & insults, as well as contempt, are as much of a sin as killing someone. But most modern Christians simply stop reading this passage once they get to the commandment line. They tend to believe that anger is a more private and temporary issue, rather than a spiritual one.
2. Don’t do good to be seen
Matthew 6 states quite clearly that doing good things so that other people see you doing them comes with no reward from God. The issue is less about trying to attack generosity or prayer. Rather, it’s the habit of publicly performing faith that’s a problem, but many modern Christians lose this detail. They think that public religion is normal. They hear a few snippets of verses in church, without understanding the full context.
3. Drifting away is dangerous
Many modern Christians don’t realize how much the Bible warns against drifting. Hebrews 2:1-3 has a passage where the writer asks, “how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?” and speaks about why they shouldn’t “drift away.” But modern Christians usually overlook such wording. They don’t take into account how drifting can be an open rejection of belief, and instead see it as something relatively harmless or familiar.
4. Fool me twice, then we separate
Some Christians think the Bible encourages people to always “turn the other cheek.” Yet that’s not quite accurate. Titus 3:10–11 talks about how you should warn a divisive person once, then twice, and then finally step away from the conversation. It’s not a section of the Bible that many churches tend to preach from, and that’s why quite a few modern Christians don’t even know anything about it.
5. Threats from your own number
Paul talks to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, and he talks about how problems aren’t always created by outsiders. Sometimes, the problems come from those already inside your group. It’s easy for modern Christians to ignore these warnings because they think that the only dangers are from those who may not be Christian. Yet the Bible tells us to be mindful of people within our flock.
6. The dangers of an evil, unbelieving heart
Hebrews 3 has a similar message, as it has warnings about hearts turning hard through the deception of sin. It directs these at the “brothers,” AKA fellow believers, and warns Christians to be wary of dangers that may be inside their own church. Yet many people ignore the warning. They associate non-belief with those who have left the church, rather than with those who are present.
7. Deceiving yourself is a spiritual problem
It’s quite clear in James that hearing Scripture without doing anything about it is a kind of self-deception. It treats deceit as a person’s spiritual failure, rather than something that comes from a lack of discipline or motivation. James makes the distinction between being exposed to the truth and obeying it rather obvious. Sadly, many Christians read the section quickly because it sounds practical, and they ignore the warning.
8. Teachings need testing
Yes, the Bible warns that you shouldn’t believe every spiritual claim. 1 John 4 starts with a section where John talks about how you need to test spiritual teachings. He said there are far too many false prophets already, so Christians should avoid believing everything that they hear. Unfortunately, many of them aren’t aware of this message. Confident speakers sound convincing, and a large number of Christians assume that sincerity is the same as accuracy. They don’t check what they’re being told.
9. Wanting to be rich puts you in spiritual danger
Paul’s warning in 1 Timothy 6 makes it clear that the desire to become rich is as deadly as one’s income level itself. He claims that wishing to get rich will lead to you getting tempted by the devil. You’ll then wander from the faith. Yet so many Christians fail to recognize the warning, thinking that Paul is merely warning about having money. They don’t see that the warning is a spiritual one that’s connected to loyalty & trust, not a mere financial one.
A lot of the most important spiritual warnings are in parts of the Bible that most modern Christians tend to skip. These include short letters & last chapter lists, along with sections that church leaders don’t tend to read aloud very often. But perhaps they should.
