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Christians Aware Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 2 "In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, and in all things charity." The Bible is clear that there will be false teachers among us. Maybe you haven’t thought about whether or not you are being duped by them. How do you determine the truthfulness of a message you hear or read? Maybe you say to yourself, “If there is an error, it will probably jump out at me when I see it.” Maybe you say, “I’m not concerned with what I read because I only pay attention to the good parts.” Maybe you think, ”We need to be more accepting of others who hold differing beliefs.” I’ve heard these very arguments and I must say that they are naïve at best; at worst, they are purposefully ignorant. The way people are trained to tell true currency notes from counterfeit ones is to become so familiar with the real that the counterfeit will be obvious. In order for us to stay true to essential Christian doctrine, we need to become more familiar with it so that the counterfeit will be obvious. This means that God's Word, worship, and prayer will need to be a consistent part of our spiritual diets. If you are not studying God's Word regularly, not praying regularly, or not worshiping regularly, you are a prime candidate for being duped. With today’s emphasis on tolerance above truth, a plethora of Christian self-help books, and televised Word of Faith teachers and prosperity preachers, we need to be very aware of what essential Christian doctrine is and who the false teachers are who are distorting the truth. Allow me to introduce you to some points about false teachers in the book of Second Peter, chapter two. Note that to be a false teacher, one does not have to display ALL of these characteristics. ABOUT FALSE TEACHERS…
THE JUDGMENT OF FALSE TEACHERS…
Here is the full text of 2 Peter 2:1-3, 10-19
from the New Living Translation. "1 But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach their destructive heresies about God and even turn against their Master who bought them. Theirs will be a swift and terrible end. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of them, Christ and his true way will be slandered. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction is on the way. 10 He is especially hard on those who follow their own evil, lustful desires and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at the glorious ones without so much as trembling. 11 But the angels, even though they are far greater in power and strength than these false teachers, never speak out disrespectfully against the glorious ones. 12 These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, who are born to be caught and killed. They laugh at the terrifying powers they know so little about, and they will be destroyed along with them. 13 Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They revel in deceitfulness while they feast with you. 14 They commit adultery with their eyes, and their lust is never satisfied. They make a game of luring unstable people into sin. They train themselves to be greedy; they are doomed and cursed. 15 They have wandered off the right road and followed the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. 16 But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice. 17 These people are as useless as dried-up springs of water or as clouds blown away by the wind—promising much and delivering nothing. They are doomed to blackest darkness. 18 They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With lustful desire as their bait, they lure back into sin those who have just escaped from such wicked living. 19 They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves to sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you." Wherever the truth is found, there will always be those who discount it, or try to explain it away, or twist the message for their own gain. Notice the false teachers' method of operation: A. They will "secretly introduce destructive heresies." Notice each of those words:
I learned some things about the word translated "heresies." One commentary on 2 Peter says it means "opinions destructive of true faith." It went on to say: "In Pauline writings, divisiveness (Gal. 5:20; 1 Cor. 11:18f.) and arrogant independence (Tit. 3:10) are the significant heretical emphases."1 William Barclay in his commentary writes, "A heretic then becomes a man who believes what he wishes to believe instead of accepting the truth of God which he must believe."2 B. They give truth a bad reputation. Notice how The Message Bible says verse 2, "They give the way of truth a bad name." False teachers have a way of twisting truth or mistelling the story so that it looks silly or sounds ridiculous. That is happening in our society. People who believe strongly that life is a gift and should never be taken by means of abortion or assisted suicide or other ways are often portrayed as out-of-touch people with no heart or understanding of situations. Nothing could be farther from the truth. C. A third thing about false teachers is: They will "exploit" people with made-up stories (v. 3). They will try to take advantage of our naiveté. Remember what Jesus taught us in Matt. 10:16: "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." D. A fourth thing describes the false
teachers: They will seek to entice people away from the truth (v. 18).
They will try to convince us that we need to go a different way and
that their way of thinking is correct. They will place special
emphasis on new anointings, new truth, new miracles, new
experiences--all explained with convincingly sounding Christian
terminology. They will especially prey on those who are new to the
faith, those who are not stable in their commitment to Christ and the
truth, and those that feel they need a new physical or emotional
experience. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Christians Aware" realizes that in our increasingly complicated society, characterized by information overload, there simply is no way everyone can be expected to stay abreast of the ever-changing world of the cults and religious belief systems. Therefore, we exist to help layperson and pastor to define and defend the historic, biblical Christian faith. To this end, we heartily support the efforts of the Christian Research Institute. CRI provides pastors and parishioners with the facts and knowledge needed to defend the historic, biblical Christian faith against the attacks of pseudo-Christian cults, the occult, new religious movements, world religions, atheism, and the plethora of other threats both from within and without the church that attempt to undermine the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Contact them at:
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