Series on the Modern Lukewarm Evangelical Church – No. 4
In Part II we learned:
• The reasons Christians should be concerned about false teachers and false teaching in our supposedly more enlightened modern times
• The definition of False Teaching
• Not all who disagree with us on some biblical doctrines and other interpretations of Scripture are false teachers
• Identifying marks of false teachers
Examples of False Teaching and False Churches & Movements
Before we name false teachers in the evangelical church or claim some association therewith, it seems appropriate that we identify many of the teachings that are being taught, more or less, by various false teachers. This list of false teachings include (1) specific teachings that are false and (2) movements and denominations that teach false doctrines and practices based on the philosophies that are diametrically opposed to, placed above, or are substituted for the truth of God’s Word. Any church that teaches false doctrine is considered a false church.
Not included in this second group are religions that do not claim at least some association or connection with Christianity (e.g., Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism). By their denial of Christianity altogether, these religions are without doubt classified as being false religions. The list below is not meant to be inclusive of all false teachings found in the evangelical church. Also, many of the false teachings identified have various subcategories or variations not listed here.
False Teachings:
• Doctrine of a Divided Christ (Christ is accepted as one’s Savior but not followed as the Lord of his or her life, i.e., does not lead a pure and holy life.
• Cheap Grace (Non-judgmental love and acceptance without the requirement of repentance).
• Universalism (There are many paths to God other than through Jesus.)
• Prosperity gospel
• Dominionism (Dominionism, Kingdom Now, Latter Rain theologies, and similar philosophies.)
• Ecumenism (Merging of Christian denominations and doctrinal persuasions. Unity overrides doctrine, i.e., truth. Unity is supposedly achieved through compromise and consensus and not truth.)
• Replacement theology (The belief that the Christian church has replaced Israel, and Israel no longer has any significance from a biblically prophetic point of view.)
• Mind over matter (Power of positive thinking, possibility thinking, positive confession.)
• Contemplative Prayer (Various New Age techniques of meditation in which the mind becomes thoughtless, empty, silent in an attempt to draw closer to God. Similar to centering prayer.)
• Grave Soaking or Grave Sucking (A process by which someone lays on the grave of a deceased Christian in order to absorb their mantle or anointing which supposedly still resides in their physical remains.)
• Emergent Christianity (Churches that promote a redefinition of Christianity. They focus on social justice, cultural relevancy, and mysticism among other non-biblical practices.)
• Progressive Christianity (Beyond Emergent. An advanced “Christian” who has shed the old stale ways of traditional Christianity.)
• Toronto Blessing (One of several false revivals that focus on one or more counterfeit manifestations of God’s presence but which are not inspired or poured out by the Holy Spirit, e.g. holy laughter.)
• Social Justice (Shifts emphasis from repentance and righteous living to humanistic concerns of equality/racism, entitlement, empowerment, esteem-building, the environment, socialism, etc.)
• Seeker-friendly (More emphasis placed on making people comfortable in church and less on salvation and discipleship. Practical Christianity.)
• New Age Spirituality (Elements of the beliefs and practices of the occult and mystical religions that have been incorporated into various aspects of Christianity and the church.)
• Spiritual Formation (Non-scriptural disciplines and practices used to supposedly become more Christ-like.)
• Spiritual Awakening (Awakening the God within, i.e., pantheism.)
• Interspirituality (God is in all things, and the presence of God is in all religions, i.e., pantheism and universalism.)
• New Apostolic Reformation (Apostles and prophets in the church today are equal to or greater than the apostles and prophets who wrote the Bible.)
• New Thought (Merger of classic occult concepts and practices with Christian terminology, e.g., Christian Science and Unity Church.)
• Mindfulness (Buddhist meditation technique adapted to many areas of human endeavor, e.g., stress reduction, education, medicine, religious practices, etc.)
• Alpha Course (Evangelistic course designed to bring an easy-going method of exploring the “big questions” of life from a Christian perspective. Very emergent, ecumenical, and mystical.)
False Churches:
• Christian Science Church
• Church of Scientology
• Eastern Orthodox Church
• Jehovah’s Witnesses
• Most Liberal-Progressive Protestant Churches
• Roman Catholic Church
• Seventh Day Adventists (denial of an eternal Hell)
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon Church)
• Unitarian Universalist Churches
Naming names — Identifying and marking false teachers, both present and past, in the 20th and 21st centuries
In these three articles about false teachers in the church, the author would have been remiss, if not hypocritical, in failing to obey the numerous New Testament commands to expose false teachers. This list generally includes men and women that have some degree of affiliation or connection with the evangelical church as loosely defined. For each false teacher named herein, there are hundreds of others that could have been added. In this list I have included many that are widely known in Christian circles and/or whose names are widely known in in the secular world.
It should be stated that the below named false teachers may fall anywhere on the wide spectrum between those who are generally faithful in correctly teaching God’s Word except for one or a two false teachings and those who teach multiple full-throated and wild heresies and outright lies. This last group may be so deeply involved in numerous false teachings that they have been given over to a reprobate mind (degenerate, debased, decadent, immoral, and perverted).
As noted above, some false teachers may be only peripherally involved with one or two false teachings; however, most false teachers fall into this category. Bear in mind the comment made in Part II that most people are deceived by Bible teaching that is 95% biblically correct and only 5% that is false teaching. A few former false teachers not given over to a reprobate mind have in subsequent years discontinued, disavowed, and/or repented of their false teaching.
Some readers may disagree with the author’s designation that one or more of the preachers and teachers listed below are false teachers. However, in naming a teacher as false, I have attempted to follow the standard as presented in Part II: False teachers are those who teach false doctrines that oppose or deny (1) some fundamental truth in the Bible or (2) some doctrinal truth that is essential for one’s salvation.
Space and time does not permit presentation of a detailed connection between the false teachings listed above and the names listed below. However, the author has studied and written about the false teachings listed above and most of the men and women named below. These writings which make this connection have appeared in various articles posted on CultureWarrior.net and in two of two of the author’s books: Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity and True Revival – Reviving the Church in Every Generation.
False Teachers – Past and Present (listed in alphabetical order by last name)
Todd Bentley, Ruth Haley Barton, Mike Bickle, Jack Canfield, Tony Compolo, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Jesse Duplantis, Tony Evans, Richard Foster, Bryan Furtick, Benny Hinn, Brian Houston, Rodney Howard-Browne, Bill Hybels, T. D. Jakes, Bill Johnson, Bob Jones, Rick Joyner, Carl Lentz, Bryan McClaren, Joyce Meyer, Thomas Merton, Beth Moore, Larry Osborne, Henri Nouwen, Doug Pagitt, Norman Vincent Peale, Eugene Peterson, Frederick K. C. Price, Joseph Prince, Joel Osteen, Priscilla Shirer, Andy Stanley, Leonard Sweet, C. Peter Wagner, Dallas Willard, John Wimber, Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, Robert Tilton, Sarah Young, William P. Young
This list contains over forty names, but there are many more false teachers that could have been added. Also, the author believes there are several names that perhaps should be considered for inclusion on the list. However, the author did not believe his sole judgment was sufficient to make that decision because those teachings are so close to the borderline between false teaching and denominational differences.
Origins of false teachers
As mentioned in Part I of this three-part series on false teachers, we must remember that false teachers do not all have the same origins.
• Some false teachers started out as born again Christians who faithfully taught the truth of God’s Word. But over time their teaching gradually became questionable and eventually was unquestionably false.
• A second group contains those false teachers who never taught the unadulterated truth of God’s Word from the beginning of their careers. These cannot be said to be apostate (fallen away from the faith) because they were never a part of the body of Christ to begin with.
There is a third group of teachers who faithfully teach or have taught the truth of God’s Word throughout their entire careers but made their ministry a lie by their hidden, deep-rooted, and on-going moral failure. Upon exposure, they brought great shame to their followers, supporters, and admirers and great harm to the reputation of Jesus and the body of Christ. Since this series deals with inherent or basic false teaching, those that fall into this third group have not been named.
Reasons why the evangelical church tolerates false teaching in its midst
It appears that there is a deafening silence in most evangelical churches with regard to exposing and avoiding false teachers and false teaching. The following is not an exhaustive list of reasons and excuses as to why these leaders do not expose and avoid false teachers.
1. The evangelical church is in the time period of the lukewarm church as prophesied in the Bible.
The characteristics of the Laodicean period in the Church Age are found in the synonyms for lukewarm: tepid, warm, hand-hot, cool, unenthusiastic, half-hearted, unexcited, indifferent, subdued, apathetic, and uninterested. Because they are lukewarm, they aren’t excited about exposing and avoiding false teachers because such is disruptive and may interfere with their status quo of being comfortable, prosperous, and well-satisfied.
2. The evangelical church is also in the period of the Great Apostasy as prophesied in the Bible (the great falling away of many of the faithful at the end of the last days before the Rapture of the Church).
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. [2 Timothy 3:4-5. NKJV]
3. Worldliness
Because of an accommodation of the spirit of the world in many evangelical churches, Satan and his followers have been allowed to find a home in those churches. False teachers are messengers for their father, Satan, and there is no truth in his message for he is a liar and the father of lies.
41 You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. [John 8:41-44. NKJV]
4. An incorrect understanding of Matthew 18:15-17.
Many people point to Matthew 18:15-17 as the correct method to resolve differences between Christians with false teachers. However, this passage in Matthew does not deal with heresy but private and personal differences, grievances, and misunderstandings between two or more people that are Christians.
Christians should have dialogue with other Christians with whom they disagree about matters that concern denominational disagreements and other scriptural issues. These disagreements deal mainly with secondary issues that are not biblical doctrines, practices, and interpretations considered critical fundamental doctrinal issues and those that deal with one’s salvation.
Jesus never dealt with false teachers in the manner described in Matthew 18:15-17 for they were not brothers and sisters in the faith. Jesus dealt with false teachers harshly, publicly, and immediately. He never pulled the false teacher aside for an amiable and pleasant private conversation about their differences of opinion or scheduled an appointment for a more convenient time. Paul and other disciples followed Christ’s example in these matters. “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” [Galatians 1:8. NKJV] [emphasis added]
5. The unbiblical quest for unity through ecumenism (which is sought through compromise and consensus rather than truth).
Many evangelical denominations and churches fail to expose and avoid false teachers because of a fear of offending those with whom they wish to be unified. In this they have followed the path of Catholicism and the liberal-progressive Protestant churches in seeking unity through ecumenism. Under duress from a secularized culture heavily saturated with humanistic concepts of relativism, tolerance, and inclusion, many evangelical leaders and Christian organizations have embraced an ecumenism that reaches beyond the boundaries of the Christian faith. In their efforts to be ecumenical and culturally relevant, they have wrongly attempted to find common ground with organizations and false religions that stand in opposition to God’s word.
6. Other excuses for failure to expose and avoid false teachers
There are many other excuses that may be listed: cowardice; laziness; fear of retribution; fear of being accused as intolerant and judgmental; fear of being culturally exiled; desire for acceptance; etc.
The evangelical church’s failure to expose and avoid false teachers
Perhaps the principle cause or reason false teachers and false teaching has exploded in evangelical denominations and churches is the failure of many in leadership to expose false teachers and their teachings (identified, marked, noted) and failure to avoid false teachers and their associates (do not have fellowship or association with false teachers). This failure is occurring in almost every denomination and the majority of evangelical churches and associated religious organizations throughout America.
If one doubts this assertion, the author challenges the reader to research the internet and other sources. The reader will discover that almost every week there many denominations, churches, or other religious organizations that are having conferences and convocations throughout America whose programs feature a number of Christian speakers, many from solid, conservative Christian denominations and churches. But a closer examination of the featured speakers will usually reveal one or more blatant false teachers (wolves in sheep’s clothing) that are sprinkled throughout the program. This is an unequal yoking of light and darkness that gives credibility to false teachers and brings confusion to the faithful. This mixing of the truth with the lie is an affront to God and a violation of the scriptural command to expose and avoid false teachers.
Preachers, pastors, evangelists, teachers, and laity—now is the time to repent and begin exposing and avoiding false teachers.
Larry G. Johnson
