Let us beware of the insidious nature of false doctrine. Like the fruit of which Eve and Adam ate, it looks at first sight pleasant and good and a thing to be desired. It is not labelled ‘poison’ and so people are not afraid. Like a counterfeit coin, it is not stamped with the message ‘bad’; it passes for the real thing because of the very likeness it bears to the truth.
Let us beware of the very small beginnings of false doctrine. Every heresy began at one time with some little departure from the truth. There is only a little seed of error needed to create a great tree. It is the little stones that make up the mighty building. It was the little timbers that made the great ark that carried Noah and his family over a submerged world at the time of the flood. It is the little leaven that leavens the whole lump.
J.C. Ryle
1816-1900