But I fear that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve through his trickery, so your minds might be led astray from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might submit to it readily enough.

2 Corinthians 11:3–4

This is a warning against gullibility. Paul is teaching us to be circumspect and not immediately tolerant of other ideas without inspecting them throughly. There are other versions of Jesus being preached. There are other spirits you can receive.

These false teachings use the seemingly right-religious words. These often seem to be pious, and even Christian in nature. Yet the idea being offered in then may not necessarily align with the truth of Jesus Christ.

The strategy is to get the false ideas into the body. Whether that body is the corporate church or the individual believer. This is how the enemy a foothold. It’s an entrance inside the armor, a permission slip that gives him rights to exploit.

Do not give place to the devil. Let him who steals steal no more. Instead, let him labor, working with his hands things which are good, that he may have something to share with him who is in need.
Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is good for building up, that it may give grace to the listeners. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you are sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outbursts, and blasphemies, with all malice, be taken away from you. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.

Ephesians 4:27–32

When false ideas enter the body of Christ, the strategy employed is to savagely destroy that body from the inside. The seduction of false doctrine hoodwinks many.

How can you be certain you’ve not succumbed to such a subtlety?

Pray to God to give you discernment. And when He shows you what it is, disavow it out loud in Jesus’ name. And then don’t do those things that give the enemy a place.