Satan has been in the business of opposing the true gospel from the time of the early church. He does this through false teaching within the church. To avoid his tricks, we need to be discerning by abiding in the Word and in Spirit (1 John 2:24-27).
The true gospel is revealed to us through the written word and its central message is the love of God for sinful humanity as opposed to strange revelations by the false teachers. These teachers tend to emphasize instant blessings to those who accept their message. This is contrary to the biblical teaching of waiting upon the Lord and allowing Him to operate within His time frame to provide for our needs.
False teachers start out with orthodox teaching then gradually turn away from the truth. They build up a following to uphold their ideas and are usually motivated by a number of things. There are those who are looking for fame and financial gain. They feel the more famous they are, the more power they wield, and the more people they will get. They will form new groups and throw the entire congregation into confusion as to where the truth is. Others will simply want to bring in a new experience such as spiritualism so that church members may think they are closer to God than others.
True believers know that they have been regenerated by the spirit of God and are not merely corporate church members. They recognize that there is no perfect church and can persevere amid difficulties. They are usually committed to work through the problems that arise in church in the same way a family irons out their issues through constructive dialogue. In instances where there are huge doctrinal differences, true believers recognize the importance of preserving purity of faith in Christ as opposed to unity or church growth.