As Christians we are taught to love and to accept — within reason, of course.  The point of "within reason" is to emphasize the fact that there are times when we are not to accept someone as they are.  In fact, that happens a lot more often than we may realize.  And if you're a naturally caring person like me, sometimes you lose sight of the difference between acceptable and unacceptable.

Acceptance and tolerance, as a Christian, are two things that should be handled with care.  Regardless of what you have been taught, the simple fact is that we are not to be tolerant of sinful behavior.  We are to recognize and deny it in our lives.

We need to be diligent in our efforts to identify those who seek to drag us down — and that can be difficult at times.  The strongest weapon Satan has against us is deception, and this is where the caring, trusting people are at a huge disadvantage: we seek to help all, and to be compassionate to all, and as such we let ourselves get close to the wrong people.

Paul listed a handful of the types of people who would deceive and destroy us in 2 Timothy 3:2-7 as he says, "People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with them.  They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning, but never able to acknowledge the truth."

God's instruction through Paul was in reference to the end times.  While we never know when those times will be, the one thing we know for sure is that these same things have happened all throughout history.  These are the works of Satan and his charges, who only desire to steal, kill and destroy.

Your best protection is to simply follow Paul's advice and have nothing to do with them.  But Satan is the great deceiver, and is good at what he does.  It's often difficult to see the difference between sincerity and deception.  Your only defense is to pray, and pray regularly.  Pray for God to protect you from deception, to keep you on the path he has set before you, and above all pray that God will open your eyes so you can see the deceivers for who they are.