False teachers

As I was looking up Scripture verses I came across a blog post that sounded good. I read the article only to discover at the end that the author was a name it and claim it believer. The post had a good title, a good lesson, only it never delivered on what could have been so good.

The writer was someone that started out writing on something that could have been so good only to lead the reader astray at the end…and only touched the surface of the topic through the rest of the post.

As disappointing as that was I can’t help thinking that writer was just an ordinary person doing their best to share what they believe through their blog…much the way I am with mine…but as I think of that, think of that post, I also find myself thinking of the many, many preachers that do much more than that.

A preacher doesn’t just voice their thoughts and ideas to a few people, holding very little influence. They influence large numbers of people throughout their lives. Right or wrong, good or bad, whatever they’re teaching is often accepted and followed by large numbers of people. And like the author of that blog, some of them may start out with a good title, a good subject, only to lead their listeners astray at the end.

How many ‘church’ members and visitors put absolute faith in the preacher? How many of them walk through the door, babies in the learning of all things Biblical, ready to be taught and influenced. They walk in open to whatever is being taught and take it that they’re being shown and told of the truth of God.

And they get led astray.

Over and over in Scripture the Lord warns His church about false teachers. We are warned that they will lead the flock astray and teach false doctrines.

These false teachers may think they’re teaching the truths, they may fully believe what they’re preaching on, but if what their teaching isn’t straight from Scripture as it is written without their ideas, opinions, beliefs, thoughts, and stories influencing it then they aren’t teaching Truth.

How many preachers teach on tithing? How many encourage it? How many demand it? That is one very small drop in a big pond of false teachings in the ‘church’ buildings.

These false teachers, or false shepherds, are leading their flocks in a way that doesn’t teach the Truth of Scripture. Like a wolf in a flock of sheep these preachers lead their flocks down a path that takes them far from where the true Shepherd is.

This false teaching, this leading astray of thousands of people, is allowed and used by the Lord. He will save His people out of any kind of teaching, system, or doctrine. There is nothing a person can get into that the Lord can’t find Him in the midst of and get him out of it. If a person is one of the Lord’s elect than they will be saved no matter what they believe, follow, or want.

But even knowing that…there are still so many warning against these false teachers. Our Lord knew they would be there, He knew that we would encounter them and He warned us against them. The Old Testament is full of those warnings….

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the LORD. Jeremiah 23:1-2

But the Old Testament isn’t the only place those warnings can be found. The New Testament teaches against them too. Christ warned His disciples about them…

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Matthew 7:15

We are warned in other places also…

 “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” Acts 20:29

 “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies…” 2 Peter 2:1

The Lord knew these false teachers would be among us. He knew that with their false teachings and false doctrines that they would test His flock. His chosen ones will know these teachings for what they are, they won’t be led down those paths very far before they see the truth of what they’re encountering. Our Lord will keep us safe from following anyone but Him.

There are so many out there that don’t have that protection. They don’t know what they stand for and so they follow whichever ‘God’ sounds the best to them, they follow whichever preacher gives them the ‘God’ that works for their life.

These teachers lead the flock of God astray and teach false doctrines. They rely on their own works to bring about their salvation. And they teach those beliefs and doctrines to thousands of others, leading them far from the Truth.

I know someone that is easily influenced by others. This person follows a group no matter where they are leading. They follow the teachings, the lessons, right into whatever belief is being taught. This person is tossed about by whatever wind is blowing at the time.

But it doesn’t take someone easily influenced for a false teacher to lead them astray. So many people go into religion seeking…something…and they find whatever brand of ‘God’ is being sold by the preacher in a given ‘church’ building.

We are warned by God, by Christ, by the apostles that false teachers will enter the church. Scripture tells us that these false teachings will lead a great many people astray. Because of these false teachers many will find a brand of religion but they won’t find true faith. They’ll believe in lies.

2 Chronicles 18:21 tells not only how a demonic spirit went out and decieved the king but it tells us that God allowed it to happen.

Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ 21 And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be ia lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ 22 Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster concerning you.”

The people that were deceived weren’t deceived against God’s wishes but were deceived with his consent. The Lord not only said the spirit could entice them but He said they would succeed.

In Matthew 24:11 Christ said…

“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.”

These false prophets aren’t a surprise to the Lord, they aren’t working against Him. They are here, teaching the things that they teach because He has allowed them to do so.

Paul warned of these teachers in 1 Timothy 4:1

 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons

And in 2 Timothy 3:13…

But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived

 I’ve seen several different things online lately that have spoken about how many ‘Christians’ are leaving the ‘Church’. Some of these articles talk about how Christians are fed up with the system, fed up with the things that are being taught. Those articles say that those Christians that are leaving the ‘church’ aren’t abandoning God, they aren’t walking away from their faith, they are simply giving up on playing ‘church’.

I’ve played ‘church’ off and on my entire life. I can walk into a ‘church’ building and play along. I may not agree with what’s being taught but I know how to play the game. Years ago I read about how children in public schools are taught to be institutionalized. That the very nature of the public school depends on the children believing that they have to do certain things, on the parents believing that they have to make their child do those things even if they don’t believe in, or like, what is happening within the school. It’s a system that relies on each child falling into line in order for the single teacher in each class to be able to control so many children.

Imagine the chaos that would ensue if one day all the kids in a classroom, or entire school, decided they didn’t have to follow the rules. One teacher couldn’t control fifteen to thirty five kids, a hundred teachers and faculty couldn’t control five thousand kids. Everything depends on the fact that the children follow the rules and do what is expected of them.

‘Church’ is much the same way. There’s a system. One that draws the people in and usually keeps them coming back. Music, a sermon that pulls at the emotions of the people listening and lets them walk away feeling like they learned something. There’s visiting before, during, and after the service. People come in expecting a good time and usually get one.

Sometimes when I visit a ‘church’ building I wonder what would happen if during the sermon someone stood up and questioned the preacher. What would happen if someone used Scripture to correct him? But that never happens because there’s a right way and a wrong way to play ‘church’ and those in attendance know how to play.

But how does a person know when they’re playing ‘church’? How do they know when they’re being taught by false teachers? How do they know if they’re being led astray?

The answer to all those questions and more lie in the reading of one book.

The Bible.

It’s in the pages of the Bible that we’re taught of false teachers, warned of wolves in sheep’s clothing. How can a Christian recognize what is false if they don’t know what is Truth?

The sad thing is that unless a person is regenerate all the Bible reading in the world won’t keep them from false doctrines. Reading the Bible 24 hours a day won’t save them from the teachings of false teachers. Because until they’re saved by the Lord their eyes can’t see the full Truth of Scripture. They are blinded to so much.

They may read but they can’t see.

And because they can’t fully see they will fall victim to the teachings of false teachers because they don’t understand all of the Truth. But once they are regenerate, once they are saved, the word of God opens up to them like never before. At that point they see the Truth. And at that point they can read and understand it like never before.

 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. James 1:16

It is once they reach that point that they’re able to see false teachers for what they are. So many of them come in wolves clothing that it may take even the most discerning Christian a few minutes to figure out that the person they’re listening to is teaching something that doesn’t hold with the teaching of Scripture.

A while back I wrote a post titled Who is leading them astray, in it I questioned whether or not it preachers are responsible for leading could-have-been Christians astray so that they never find saving faith.

Whenever I come up against this very idea my mind wants to argue with what I’m thinking because on the one hand I know that the Lord has His elect and that they will be saved no matter what but then there’s the other hand…where I wonder if these people were being taught the Truth instead of lies and half lies would they have found saving faith.

It wasn’t part of the Lord’s plan for them. I know that. But all those false teachers, so many preachers in ‘church’ buildings that are teaching people to believe a certain way and claiming those beliefs come straight from the Word of God.

I grew up being taught that way and the Lord saved me despite the many false teachings I received. He will save every other person that is one of His. I know that. But…that’s where my mind wants to argue. Where these false teachings are leading people by the thousands to their own destruction and all while making them believe they have found a way into heaven.

It’s wrong.

Yet it’s in Scripture.

The Lord has it for a purpose and He will use it to carry out His plan even if my mind does sometimes have a hard time with it.

I read recently that a Christian should know the Word of God in such a way as to be able to defend themselves against all false teachings. Long before I knew Scripture well enough to be able to defend anything with it my mind had a way of blocking out Sunday services. For some reason, no matter how hard I tried, I simply couldn’t pay close enough attention to the sermon to be able to retain anything I had heard.

The Lord protected me from many of those false teachings even as I exposed myself to them week after week. And then one day He opened my eyes so that I could not only see Scripture for what it was but I could see the false teaching for what it was.

I have discovered many times since that day that the Lord has placed a discernment in me that I would never have expected. I have picked up books only to flip through a few pages and put them back because something in me recognizes with the reading of a few words or sentences that it is a false teaching. I’ve started to read a ‘christian’ blog only to discover a few lines in that something in me is pulling away from what I’m reading. I’ve started to listen to preachers, started to watch a ‘Christian’ movie… the list goes on but the reaction is the same.

The Lord keeps me from being deceived. He saves me time and again from wolves in sheeps clothing. And I’m not the only one He does that for. It is something in His children that only He could have given us, something that keeps us from being led astray.

but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. john 10:26-28