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The false teaching of false teachers of our time

Documentation Published on Saturday, 16 March 2024

The false teaching of false apostles

Part Three: It is time to study the Word and identify false teachers in our midst


I ask that you study the following article carefully. Just as is the case with [ false apostles ] and [ false prophets ], all of us have the responsibility to point out false teaching.

Read Matthew 23. The theme of this is Jesus' attack on the Jewish scribes. Look carefully at verses 38 and 39.

Now read Matthew 24. Just before his crucifixion, Jesus leaves the temple, never to return there again, until one day when He will rule again as King for the Jews. His disciples show Him the temple and the buildings, and He mentions that nothing of it will remain standing. Indeed, in AD 70 the Romans destroyed the temple. They then ask Him later when these things will happen, and what is the sign of His coming and the end of the world. Check out his answer:

4And Jesus answered and said to them: Take care that no one deceives you. – Matthew 24:4

Why would you deceive someone? You do this to lead someone away from the truth. Deception has never had a positive effect on its target. The sign of His coming is the deception that takes place. Jesus then mentions a few aspects that qualify the deception:

  1. Many people will come "under my Name" and say that they are the Christ ("I am God" - see further in the document.) and deceive people (verse 24). It is the norm for them to speak on behalf of God. False teachers easily throw around the Name of the Lord to sound credible;
  2. The rumours of wars. This is not the deception, but is simply a precursor to the deception (verses 6-7);
  3. Tribulation and persecution follow the wars and rumours thereof, but this is not the deception either (verse 9);
  4. However, many will be made to stumble, betray each other (deception), and hate each other (verse 10); and
  5. Many false prophets will arise and deceive many people (Refer to our previous discussions about false prophets and apostles) (verse 11). Note that nowhere in the New Testament are true prophets and apostles spoken of, because these two ministries no longer exist.

The deception comes in the form of false teachers, people who bend the Word to fit their twisted theology and pockets, and who mislead thousands of others. I am not going to attempt to write about everything they do, but I refer you to the following video, with commentary by one of the most respected students of the Word, Justin Peters. First see his website at [ www.justinpeters.org ] for background on his special ministry. In particular, watch the introductory video, which very clearly indicates that the Word of God is sufficient for our total existence. We do not need anything more or different than that. Nor does it promise untold monetary wealth; only spiritual wealth and growth.

Visit [ https://www.so4j.com/false-teachers/ ]. Watch the first video, Clouds without Water. See Jude verse 12 for the reference to clouds without water. Think about the purpose of a cloud. A cloud holds water, and clouds in the sky are for many people the prospect of rain. Sometimes, however, they produce no rain. This is how false teachers are. They add no value to your life, only disappointment.

I ask that you look at this objectively, and you will see that many of the so-called pastors whose names are so easily passed around from the stage to congregations, and who we often see or watch on YouTube, are nothing but false teachers. Of course, you are free to listen to these people's teaching, but to your own detriment when you yourself are deceived.

My intention is not to offend anyone. However, I have a responsibility to present the Word unfiltered, to combat false teachings, and warn people against them. The reason many people follow these wrong teachings is because they do not know the Word. False teachers are smart enough not to quote an incorrect verse, but to quote a verse incorrectly. Do you see how fine the line is between right and wrong? I repeat it:

False teachers are smart enough not to quote an incorrect verse, but to quote a verse incorrectly.

If you are not familiar with English grammar, let me give you a quick lesson.

  1. “an incorrect verse” consists of an article (a); an adjective (incorrect); and a noun (verse). The adjective describes the noun. It tells how the noun is – the verse is incorrect.
  2. “a verse incorrectly” consists of an article (a); a noun (verse); and an adverb (incorrectly). The adverb describes the verb. It tells how the verb is performed – the verb is quoted incorrectly.

This is an example of a half-truth, and a half-truth is as good as a lie.

There are some of them whose statements are blatant, directly against what the Word teaches:

  1. "I am God" – the words of one of the new generation of false teachers who run around on stage, screaming and shouting, and have lost masses at his feet. See Isaiah 45:5.
  2. Another thinks God comes to him to ask him for advice. See Job 38:2.
  3. There is the laughable false teacher who says we can control the weather. See Psalm 148:8.
  4. Another says that 99.9% of people are actually good people. See Romans 3:10; and 3:23.
  5. Many of them teach that it is God's will that you will be rich (have a lot of money). See Luke 14:33.

If these were exceptions, or perhaps accidentally misquoted, we might still forgive them, but they do it over and over again. Nor do they know the Word. Stay away from these people and their teaching. If you do not believe me, look at 1 Timothy 6:3-5, and especially the last sentence in verse 5. This is the warning to us as believers. We must withdraw from such people:

3If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. – 1 Timothy 6:3-5

The "wholesome words" are Jesus' original words which are the healing of the soul and spirit. The "doctrine" is the resulting teaching of the New Testament, especially Paul's teaching, to a larger audience. See how the "someone" is described:

  1. They are proud (haughty). We see this with most of these false teachers. Just look at how they behave. The focus is always on themselves.
  2. They do not understand anything. They do not understand God's message to man.
  3. They have a sick craving for contentious questions and word wars and look for trouble.
  4. They have been robbed of the truth. This is an interesting one. They have already been deceived by other false teachers, but do not even realise it. See 2 Timothy 3:13. They seduce (other people) and are seduced (by satan and other false teachers).
  5. Godliness is profitable for them. Just look at the wealth of many of these false teachers. I am convinced that it is not necessary for ministers of the gospel to zip around in private planes; the traffic police are needed to escort them when they arrive for their "sermons"; and whether they should use private bodyguards to protect them. They boast of the wealth they have acquired by exploiting and deceiving other people.

Timothy

Paul's message is clear: Withdraw from such people. You do not need to further enrich them with the money they demand from you, nor do you need to be exposed to their false teaching. I give some verses that Paul wrote to Timothy, which point out the dangers of false teachers:

  1. 1 Timothy 4:1-3

Some (fortunately not all) will fall away from the faith. They cling to seducing spirits and teachings (doctrines) of devils. It comes as a result of teachers who are liars, hypocrites (maintaining double standards), whose consciences are branded, and who impose laws on people that are directly against God's will for us.

  1. 1 Timothy 4:7

Reject fables (made up stories) and instead practice godliness. Many preachers do not even use a Bible anymore. Their messages are simply stories and here and there a verse, often quoted out of context, is seized upon so that it sounds as if the Word is the source.

  1. 2 Timothy 3:1-8

Stay away from people who fit the description given here. The teaching is false because it is not the truth. These false teachers' teaching is not inspired by the Holy Spirit. They are against the truth.

  1. 2 Timothy 3:13

Not only do these false teachers seduce people, but in turn the false teachers are seduced by the devil, so that there is no way out for them. They are damned.

  1. 2 Timothy 4:3

The word "them" refers to the false teachers from point 4 above. The reason is that Paul explains to Timothy what is happening to these people (1 Tim 3:13). Then he interrupts the explanation by focusing on what Timothy must do (1 Tim 3:14 to 1 Tim 4:2). After this he returns to the wicked people ("they") of whom he spoke in 1 Tim 3:13.

This verse is interesting and can be interpreted in two ways.

  1. "They", the deceivers, are false teachers and will not tolerate the sound teaching, because it does not fit with their misleading teaching. To substantiate their misleading teaching, they will ensure that they find other false teachers who think the same as them (The Word of Faith Movement is a good example of this.). They move away from the truth (John 14:6 – Jesus is the Truth!) and turn to fables, against which Paul warns Timothy (1 Timothy 4:7).
  2. "They" are also the wicked people of 2 Timothy 3:13. If we take the thought further to 2 Timothy 4:3, we see that "they" are those who are influential people who can afford to appoint pastors in congregations who preach what they want to hear. When was the last time you heard preaching about sin, confession of sin, and repentance? If pastors preach this nowadays, people reject them, leave the congregation, and the church council loses their income. Remember the article, It's All About Money, published [ here ]. Maybe you should go read it again. Just look at the books they write: "Ten ways to be rich"; "Nine ways to be successful"; "Eight Ways to Make You Matter"; "Seven ways how to..."; "Six ways to...". All these books are man-focused, how can YOU be a better this or that. Why can they not instead write a book with the title "Ten ways to live in a better relationship with God"? It is not going to work for those who have already deceived themselves because the focus is no longer on themselves.

Why are the warnings that Paul gives to Timothy so important? Timothy was Paul's successor, the one to whom Paul left his entire ministry. Go read 2 Timothy 4:6-22 and experience the heart of someone who gave up his whole life for the preaching of the gospel. This gospel is important enough to him that he wants to let it live on in Timothy. See 2 Timothy 3:10. Timothy became Paul's imitator in everything that fell to Paul himself.

Peter

Also look at what Peter writes:

  1. 2 Peter 2:1-2

In his own time there were false teachers already, just as there will be in the future. Seen from Peter's perspective, it was still future. The future is here, and these things are happening in our time. See how Peter describes the false teachers. They will "secretly" (without people noticing) bring "pernicious" (false, leading to death) "heresies" into the church. They deny the same Lord who bought them with his blood. Their destruction is swift. They seduce others, and so they do not look bad or get caught, they truth is presented as a lie. A well-known example is this one:

A God of love would never be so cruel as to burn people alive, just because they did not choose to follow his path to salvation. Man has a choice.

Unfortunately, they used another half-truth and attached a lie to it. Go and read:

16For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life. – John 3:16

That He is a God of love is true, but there is a condition for me and you so that we are not lost. The result of being lost is the lake of fire. See Revelation 20:14-15. Every choice we make has a condition and a consequence. The world's way of thinking is that you can choose as you wish, without consequences.

  1. 2 Peter 3:3-4

The scoffers, who act according to their own wrong dogma, say there is no second coming. The Greek word used for "coming" is παρουσίας (parousias). It refers to the second coming. Many false teachers deny the dogma of the second coming.

Jude

Here are the words of Jude:

  1. Jude verses 4, 18, and 19

Did you know there is a book called Judas? It is a short one, with only one chapter, just before Revelation. In verse 4, Jude describes the false teachers as "certain people" who have crept in (sly), who are wicked and who have turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, according to the Cambridge Dictionary the following: "behaviour that expresses a strong desire for sexual activity". They denied Him!

In verses 18-19, Judas explains, just like Peter, that there will be scoffers who act wickedly. They bring division in the church, and do not have the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Summary

The link to the site I have given indicates with authority who the false teachers are, and there are many of them. Do not follow them or follow their teachings. Withdraw from these people. Jesus Christ alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

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