We learn from verse 15 that this man's name was Nehor. He had been going up and down among the congregations of the Church teaching five false doctrines. First, he said the elders of the Church should be selected because they were good speakers and popular like himself. Secondly, he said those who labored in the Church should make that their official occupation. Third, they should not have to go out and labor with their hands for a living. Fourth, they should be paid for their services as elders of the Church. Fifth, they should teach only popular doctrines.
Instead of teaching repentance and obedience to the strict commandments of God they should teach that God had not only created all men but he had also redeemed all men and guaranteed every person eternal life. Amazingly, these theories of Nehor did away with the doctrine of hell, the doctrine of divine judgment, the doctrine of God's just punishment of the wicked, and the doctrine of repentance and baptism for the remission of sins. One would have thought the members of the Church would have immediately seen through these apostate doctrines but here is what happened.