Series on the Modern Lukewarm Evangelical Church – No. 3
In Part I we learned:
• The modern evangelical church contains many high profile false teachers who call themselves Christians. These false teachers occupy various roles within the church including pastors, evangelists, teachers, missionaries, writers, and leaders of various para-church organizations. These false teachers are influencing uncountable millions of Christians in evangelical churches across America and around the world. This invasion has allowed many false teachings to infiltrate and lead astray the hearts and minds of individual Christians, the local church, denominations, and other Christian organizations from the lowest to highest levels.
• The source of false teachings (lies and deceptions) is philosophies and traditions of men, the principles of the world, and false religions.
• Finally, we looked at multiple warnings in the New Testament from Paul, Peter, Jude, and Jesus about false teachers and false teachings in the church. The essence of the warnings was that false teachings are a dangerous threat to the church and must be exposed and avoided.
Why should Christians be so concerned with false teachers and false teaching in our enlightened modern times?
One of the greatest dangers to the church recognized by the apostles and other leaders of the first century church was that of false teachers and false teachings. And one of the great appeals in the acceptance of false teaching is that many Christians have embraced the modern age of belief in man’s presumed enlightenment by which is meant that modern man is rational, progressive, open-mined, tolerant, informed, and educated. However, one’s supposed enlightenment is not a guard against false teaching. To the contrary, the various philosophies of the enlightenment era are the lures that Satan uses to draw millions of Christians into acceptance of false teachings that stand in opposition to God’s Word.
False teachers are addressed in almost every book of the New Testament. In Part I we saw that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and the epistles of Paul, Peter, John, and Jude among others warned many times about false teachers and the infiltration of false teaching into the church.
Almost 2,000 years after the New Testament was written, many Christians seem to believe that the church ought to be well-schooled in spotting false teachers and false teaching. That is not the case, and as biblical literacy in evangelical churches continues to deteriorate, false teaching has become a much bigger problem. Jesus said that at the end of the age many false prophets would appear and deceive people, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” [Matthew 24:10-11. NIV] Jesus was speaking of the time in which we are presently living—the end of the last days just before the Rapture of the church. Therefore, recognizing false teachers and avoiding them are even more important today that in the first century church.
What is false teaching?
Most religions and philosophies have a set of ideas or beliefs that are taught or believed to be true. These are usually referred to as doctrines and are often called principles, canons, dogmas, creeds, rules, codes, or teachings. Biblical doctrines are teachings aligned with the revealed Word of God, the Bible. False doctrine is any idea that adds to, takes away from, contradicts, or nullifies the doctrines given in God’s Word. A doctrine or teaching is false doctrine if it contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture.
False doctrines are those which opposes some fundamental truth or that which is necessary for salvation. The following are just a few of many examples of false teaching of certain beliefs that lead to the codifying or establishment of a false doctrine upon which false churches are built:
• Cheap grace that presents grace as a license to sin – This is a false gospel that leads to the doctrine of a divided work of Christ wherein one may accept Christ as their Savior but not
accept him as the Lord of their lives.
• Denial of the virgin birth of Jesus.
• Denial that Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross atoned for the sin of all mankind.
• Denial that Jesus arose from the grave on the third day after His resurrection.
• The Bible is not God’s Word.
• The teaching that there are many paths to God – This is the doctrine or teaching of universalism which means that there many paths to salvation other than Jesus.
• Teachings that change the nature and/or character of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
• Adding to or taking away from the Bible – Man’s philosophies, traditions, and teachings are often treated as superior to or to supplant God’s Word.
• Denial that there is a real Satan and a real Hell.
Just as there are false teachers within evangelical churches, there are evangelical churches that have been so corrupted with false teachings to the point that they must be judged as false churches along with the Catholic Church, the liberal-progressive Protestant churches, and those whose doctrines are fundamentally incompatible with the teachings of the Bible. That is not to say that all individuals attending those churches are lost and going to Hell. Some are truly born again and love God with all of their hearts. That is why God looks upon the heart and not church affiliation to determine who His children are. We can look upon their church affiliation, words and actions, and fruit of their lives, but we do not have the power to look upon the heart as God does.
Not all who disagree with us on some biblical doctrines and other issues are false teachers
Now, we come to what can be a more difficult assignment—the difference between false doctrine and denominational disagreements. These disagreements deal mainly with secondary issues which are not always due to false doctrine on either side of the disagreement. Some denominational disagreements are minimal (methods of baptism) and some can be very substantial such as eternal security (Calvinism) versus conditional security (Arminianism). All should be open for discussion and debate but not argument. Some denominational disagreements may be addressed in Scripture but are interpreted differently while some may not be directly addressed at all. These debates are between sincere, born again Christians who will spend eternity with each other in Heaven. Even those issues that are addressed in Scripture are often debated by equally sincere disciples, but differences in interpretation and/or practice are not necessarily evidence of a false doctrine, and they should not divide the Body of Christ.
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. [1 Corinthians 1:10. NKJV]
That is and should be our worthy goal as fellow Christians, but given our fallen nature, it will be one that is not likely to be universally reached throughout the body of Christ before we stand on those celestial shores in the New Heaven. Therefore, how do we conduct ourselves as we work toward that noble goal? Once again we look to the divinely-inspired writings of Paul.
Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. 2 For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. 3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. 4 Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. 5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. [Romans 14:1-6. NKJV]
Identifying marks of false teachers
Jesus warned His disciples about false teachers fourteen times in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. If Jesus was so concerned about false teachers in that day, ought we also to be very concerned about modern false teachers who mislead people by twisting the truth into a lie. As an evangelist (mentioned in Part II) recently said, it is not the obvious misrepresentation of the truth that seduces people away from Christ. Most people are deceived by Bible teaching that is 95% biblical and only 5% error. Rarely do they fall for teaching that is brazenly and profoundly in error. As evidence of the subtlety of false teaching, we again point to Satan’s whispered words in Eve’s ear. First, plant the doubt (Did God say…?”) followed by the lie (“You will not surely die…”).[1]
Donald Stamps wrote an article about false teachers in the Fire Bible-Global Study Edition which included steps that must be taken to test and evaluate church leaders and then identify, expose, and avoid those found to be false teachers.
1. Discern their Character: Observation points include active and consistent prayer lives; heartfelt and pure devotion to God; people of honesty, integrity, and moral discipline; show “fruit of the Spirit,” hate wickedness and love righteousness; and avoids and preaches against sin.
2. Discern their Motives: Observation points include (a) honoring Christ above all, and (b) leading the church into spiritual growth and holiness, (c) leading those who are spiritually lost into the light of forgiveness and a personal relationship with Jesus, and (d) proclaiming and defending the true message of Christ as revealed throughout the New Testament.
3. Evaluate the “fruit” of their lives and messages: People produce what they are. A person with an ungodly character will eventually show the fruit of ungodliness. Their message will hide the truth, confuse people, and cause division in the church. Sometimes the followers and converts of false teachers have little depth of character and are not totally committed to all of God’s Word.
4. Discern their level of reliance on God’s Word: This is the key factor in determining if someone is a false teacher. Is his or her preaching consistent with the Old and New Testaments? If not, their message should be rejected. Does he or she believe the entire Bible is fully inspired by God and that we are to submit to its teachings? If not, then their preaching and teaching can never be fully trusted.
5. Test their integrity (truth and honesty of character) in the handling of money: Do they handle all finances with the highest sense of truth and responsibility? Do they further the growth of God’s work in ways that are godly and in line with New Testament standards for ministry leaders? Do they take large amounts for themselves which reflects poorly on their integrity in handling of money?[2]
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In Part III we shall examine:
• Examples of False Teaching and False Churches & Movements
• Naming names: Identifying and marking false teachers, both present and past, in the 20th and 21st centuries
• Origins of False Teachers
• Reasons why the evangelical church tolerates false teaching in its midst
• The evangelical church’s failure to expose and avoid false teachers.
Larry G. Johnson
Sources:
[1] Tiff Schuttlesworth, “What does the Bible say about Eternal Security?” Lost Lamb Association, LostLamb.org. https://www.facebook.com/115658798450688/videos/665661097591646 (accessed August 8, 2021).
[2] Donald Stamps, “False Teachers,” Fire Bible-Global Study Edition, New International Version, Ed. Donald Stamps, (Springfield, Missouri: Life Publishers International, 2009), pp. 1806-1807.
