Naming False Teachers

[watchman00]

This is my first post so if I am out of line forgive me, but I have grieved for many years now at what I have seen in churches. The Lord has to keep reminding me in the last days there shall be a great falling away, people with itching ears-etc. I think being led by the Holy Spirit is imperative as to whether we should at any particular moment uncover anyone. I do believe we are to protect but we also have to decern if we are casting our pearls before the swine. I believe people are sick of the pointing finger; they just want Jesus, and there are many people that have whole "ministeries" pointing and uncovering. We are to preach the gospel and take that portion of Christ that he has given us and share it with each other. After all that is exactly how the faith movement the prosperity movement the healing movement and so on got started. A revelation that becomes the whole message instead of the presence of Christ in our lives being the living witness. We must keep our eye on the goal; lifting Christ up. What is true may not be the truth!

[Buzzardhut]

This is my first post so if I am out of line forgive me, but I have grieved for many years now at what I have seen in churches.

yes, apostasy is terrible as the church of Laodicea becomes more apparent, we share in your bereavement.

The Lord has to keep reminding me in the last days there shall be a great falling away, people with itching ears-etc.

We agree with you and Paul and we love protecting the sheep by warning them of error.

I think being led by the Holy Spirit is imperative as to whether we should at any particular moment uncover anyone.

We strive to expose bad doctrine and warn the sheep of pitfalls ahead, bad teaching causes lots of messes in people's lives, I'm sure you agree Jesus wants us to warn and feed His sheep

I do believe we are to protect but we also have to decern if we are casting our pearls before the swine.

yes we do warn and there are lots of pearls we sometimes hold back

I believe people are sick of the pointing finger; they just want Jesus, and there are many people that have whole "ministeries" pointing and uncovering.

We are grateful the Online Discernment Ministries keep true to God's Word and keep bad teaching to the test of scripture.

We are to preach the gospel and take that portion of Christ that he has given us and share it with each other.

Yes, evangelism is very important and comes with good teaching, a lot of that false teaching just produces loyal converts to men of clay and not of Jesus, many choose the men of clay over sound scripture and we need to be good watchman, as your name suggests

After all that is exactly how the faith movement the prosperity movement the healing movement and so on got started.

yep, they start off with greedy agendas sowing in false doctrine to support themselves numerically and financially, once again, Paul agrees with you about the filthy lucre and building up followings of the flesh.

A revelation that becomes the whole message instead of the presence of Christ in our lives being the living witness. We must keep our eye on the goal; lifting Christ up. What is true may not be the truth!

AMEN!

[F.R.O.G]

Hello everyone....

It's been a long time since I've gotten on the site, so I need to do more reading and seeing what is going on here and get to know everyone again.

I am glad to see this thread, we really need to be "salt and light".....we need to expose the darkness within the church.

I believe the invisible church is inside the physical church, what it truly heart breaking, is to to see how much the new age has infiltered the church. We need to speak up and out, so many Christians do not know the Word of God, because many of whom I've met, don't like to read. So they end up taking what the pastors or ministers say as if it was the Word of God, taking it for granted that they are being taught Biblical doctrine.

The church is under attack, the wolves are in the pulpit, and social justice and collective salvation is being preached. The world has come into the church.....the church is no longer a place for the Christians, but a place preaching to unbelievers to what they "want" to hear.

They need to hear about sin, repentance, the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, and the gift of salvation. How sad. These people are being taught "another gospel" and will believe that they are going to heaven, and Jesus will tell them that He doesn't know them.....what a shock. How sad.

God Bless <><

[Lvanett]

I was going to watch the YouTube video on MacArthur and it was removed!!!! This message now appears:

"False Teachers: Naming Name..."
This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated due to multiple third-party notifications of copyright infringement from claimants including:
Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

[gradywhite]

I saw last week here, where someone mentioned about this "ra-el" guy who claims he's the Jesus. And he's back. I never heard of him, I couldn't wait to hear his spill.
I don't know if any of you have checked him out, but in one of his youtube vids., he is getting on every one for not following his word about love. Then it's America's turn for a chastising: Get this...........

He says in his big voice "YOU HAVE PUT MORE OF MY CHILDREN IN PRISON, THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THAT IS NOT LOVE!!!!!".


If those are his children, then I'm pretty sure I know who he is taking orders from.

But what I don't get, if this guy is truely of Satan, and is trying to get people to go his way, Why would Satan have let this guy say something so stupid?

Maybe some people are just off their rocker, and not really false preachers?

[gradywhite]

Have any of you seen this little Phillipine guy, who says he is Jesus's son? I think his church is called "the kingdom of Jesus".
He claims to have 6 million members. I saw him on National Geo this morning, then pulled up his web sight. He is rather impressive, and seems to be convincing a bunch.

Now, to me, this guy is not like the Ra-el dude. I think he's just nuts, but this one seems to be in it for the money.
His speach is that Jesus has turned over all his powers to him, so he can build his kingdom here on earth now.

[Steve53]

http://www.gotquestions.org/judge-te...s-leaders.html

Question: "Should Christians judge the teachings of their leaders?"

Answer: As Christians, we are commanded against following teachers blindly, but are told rather to “Test everything; hold on to the good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The apostle Peter warns us in 2 Peter 2:1-3 that there will be false teachers in our day just as there were false teachers in his day. Among their false teachings is a denial of the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross to take away sin, which is a common theme among cultists today. Another characteristic of false teachers is the greed which motivates them in everything they do. Paul offers a similar warning to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:29-31, calling the false teachers “savage wolves” who mercilessly attempt to destroy the faith of the sheep and draw them away from the Shepherd. Paul warned them continually, pleading with them night and day to be on their guard against such deceivers.

From these passages, we see clearly that we are to distinguish between true and false teachers. How then are we to do that? First, as Paul instructs the Ephesians, we are to “no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14). Rather, we are to “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” and we do this by “the knowledge of the Son of God” (v. 13). The knowledge of Christ can only be obtained through the Word of God, and it is by that Word that we distinguish between the true and the false.

In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus offers some critical advice in discerning who is a false prophet: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruits you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruits you will recognize them.” Plainly stated, is the teacher’s life marked by a progressive conformity to the likeness of Christ? Is the teacher bearing the fruits of the Spirit? Just as only good trees produce good fruit, so do only true teachers of Christ display the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23), whereas false prophets and teachers display the acts of their sinful natures (Galatians 5:19-22). By these fruits, we recognize true and false teachers.

Secondly, does the teaching that is being presented conform to the message as proclaimed by the early church and the Apostles? As Paul writes to the church in Galatia: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” These are harsh words indeed that Paul has for the false teachers, but eternal condemnation is what they store up for themselves until the day of God’s wrath (Romans 2:5-6).

The apostle John tells us in his first epistle (1 John 4:1-6) how we are to discern which spirits are from God. “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”

It is of utmost importance that Christians are well-grounded in the Scriptures so that they are able to discern which teachers speak from God and which are false in their proclamation. Only then can we reject what is false and “hold on to the good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

http://www.gotquestions.org/false-teachers.html
Question: "How can I recognize a false teacher / false prophet?"

Answer: Jesus warned us that “false Christs and false prophets” will come and will attempt to deceive even God’s elect (Matthew 24:23-27; see also 2 Peter 3:3 and Jude 17-18). The best way to guard yourself against falsehood and false teachers is to know the truth. To spot a counterfeit, study the real thing. Any believer who “correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) and who makes a careful study of the Bible can identify false doctrine. For example, a believer who has read the activities of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Matthew 3:16-17 will immediately question any doctrine that denies the Trinity. Therefore, step one is to study the Bible and judge all teaching by what the Scripture says.

Jesus said “a tree is recognized by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33). When looking for “fruit,” here are three specific tests to apply to any teacher to determine the accuracy of his or her teaching:

1) What does this teacher say about Jesus? In Matthew 16:15-16, Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and for this answer Peter is called “blessed.” In 2 John 9, we read, “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” In other words, Jesus Christ and His work of redemption is of utmost importance; beware of anyone who denies that Jesus is equal with God, who downplays Jesus’ sacrificial death, or who rejects Jesus’ humanity. First John 2:22 says, “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son.”

2) Does this teacher preach the gospel? The gospel is defined as the good news concerning Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). As nice as they sound, the statements “God loves you,” “God wants us to feed the hungry,” and “God wants you to be wealthy” are not the complete message of the gospel. As Paul warns in Galatians 1:7, “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” No one, not even a great preacher, has the right to change the message that God gave us. “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:9).

3) Does this teacher exhibit character qualities that glorify the Lord? Speaking of false teachers, Jude 11 says, “They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.” In other words, a false teacher can be known by his pride (Cain’s rejection of God’s plan), greed (Balaam’s prophesying for money), and rebellion (Korah’s promotion of himself over Moses). Jesus said to beware of such people and that we would know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-20).

For further study, review those books of the Bible that were written specifically to combat false teaching within the church: Galatians, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, and Jude. It is often difficult to spot a false teacher/false prophet. Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and his ministers masquerade as servants of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:15). Only by being thoroughly familiar with the truth will we be able to recognize a counterfeit.

[Cindy S.]

Just came across Marilyn Hickey.
I watched her 2 days in a row and today she mentioned an upcoming trip to see the Pope.
That raised my eyebrows.
No coincidence that she comes on when I usually read my bible.

[LeafyTree]

I am hoping God will show the truth about Andrew Womack. That man is like teflon. Once people start listening they cannot be torn away. He has such a gentle demeanor and talks about love in that soft voice... yet his version of the gospel is so deformed and dangerous. His followers are so loyal and they have no idea what he's all about. What about these guys who on the surface DO preach the gospel, but then twist it disgustingly once people are hooked? AW appears to be producing abundant fruit, but preaches horrible untruths, I don't get it.

[Batman]

When my brother was closing in on death from cancer someone in his charismatic realm actually typed on his health update webpage that they asked for prayer from Womack; like he was a modern day apostle and could heal my brother once he knows about it. I already knew about Womack but did a little more research to be ready if more stupidity of the same kind was going to be posted on this. It wasn't............and my born-again brother wasn't healed either.

[burlo]

Is there a list of false teachers available? I wonder about Joseph Prince. A pastor of a church I just started to attend thinks he is just wonderful, but I feel he is a name it, claim it teacher.

[OnceWasLost]

Is there a list of false teachers available? I wonder about Joseph Prince. A pastor of a church I just started to attend thinks he is just wonderful, but I feel he is a name it, claim it teacher.

http://rr-bb.com/showthread.php?1549...=joseph+prince

[Chaya]

Perhaps the issue with the UK Christian station has to do with different laws in the UK. I understand that there are much lesser standards to charge one with slander and libel, so the station was probably afraid of a lawsuit. Regarding Youtube, I don't know if they could argue it under fair use, depending on how much of the clip was used.

[gradywhite]

John Smallman thinks he's Jesus.

Or maybe just speaks for Him. I can't tell.

[ddo2013]

Satan twists the Word of God into making the church (and the world) believe it should NEVER exercise judgment or name falsehoods. "Judge NOT that ye be not judged" is well known by the rebellious and used to judge the church LOL.

The Lord Jesus warned the disciples (church) of the Pharisees (Matt 7:15) and called them out face to face (Matt 21:31-35). In His Revelation letters He approves of calling out false teaching, apostles, prophets etc.

Paul said “MARK THEM which cause divisions and offenses CONTRARY TO THE DOCTRINE which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17) and called out false teachers (2 Cor.11:13, 2 Tim.2:17-18, 2 Tim. 4:14)

John ditto (1Jn.4:1, 3Jn:9-10)

The early church fathers named heresies after the false teachers (Arianism after Arius, Pelagianism after Pelagius, etc.).

If the shepherds do not name both the lie and the preacher of lies then it is the mark of a worthless shepherd who offers no protection for the sheep, and if they teach the "no judging" heresy they oppose both the Word and God.

Praise God for Justin. Didn't Paul rebuke Peter in public for coming back under the law? But Peter was deceived and repented immediately.

These men that Justin names twist the Word of God for their own sakes. I like how Wm MacDonald puts it...

“It is an ungodly tolerance that has allowed so many pulpits in America to be filled with ‘false apostles and deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ’. Detecting a resemblance to conditions in Elijah’s day, J Sidlow Baxter writes ‘Such are the people who today, with sickly kindness, will tolerate teachers of errors in our pulpits because they are such smooth-mannered and amiable gentlemen. They would rather allow error to be preached and souls to be deceived than hurt the preacher’s feelings. Let Baal be worshipped rather than drought come! Let the cancer kill its victim rather than the cruel surgeon use the knife!…The best thing that could happen to some so-called Christian ministers of today is that they should be denounced in God’s name by their hearers’.

It is a sinful tolerance [1] that refuses to castigate a false church system that leads millions to eternal destruction with its perverted gospel. [2] That honours its head as a great evangelist at the same time that he is condemning evangelicals as wolves. [3] That labels God’s prophets as divisive when they denounce its idolatry, its mariolatry and its other heresies. [4] That sends converts back into its deadening clutches.

What has happened to the church of the martyrs?

We have an enormous craving for popularity. This is the stuff of which false prophets are made. We have a desire to avoid unpleasantness at all cost. A desire like this keeps us from confronting, from intervening when we should.

We have a distaste for being different. We find it easier to move along with the crowd, to drift with the tide. It is all too easy to remain silent when we are in an adverse theological climate. We are ‘slaves who dare not to be right with two or three’.

We have lost the capacity for being angry. We are not easily enough disturbed. We are in the sorry state of having no capacity for indignation. We are experts at putting off decisiveness simply because we don’t want to act.

Sometimes we are too blinded by friendship to stand against wrong. When a Christian spoke out against E. J. Carnell’s book ‘The Case For Orthodoxy’ because it argued against the inspiration of the Scriptures, a friend of the author said ‘Well you do not know him personally as I do. He is a gracious gentleman, a godly man’.

Jay Adams was right when he said ‘In some circles, the fear of controversy is so great that preachers and congregations following after them will settle for peace at any cost - even the cost of the truth - God’s truth. The idea is that peace is all- important. Peace is a biblical ideal…but so is purity. The peace of the church may never be bought at the price of the purity of the church. The price is too dear’.

Ecumenism and catholicity are two great buzzwords today. Let’s all get together. Don’t do or say anything to rock the boat. Doctrine divides, they say. What we need is unity.

What we really need is to contend earnestly for the faith in a day when it is being attacked, diluted and denied. We will be tolerant in matters of indifference but intolerant of departure from the truth of God. With Luther, ‘Here we stand. We can do no other’.”

Disciples of Christ are held accountable for progressively learning and proclaiming the whole will and counsel of God, which includes warning others of false teachings and those responsible for them (see also Isa. 58:1; Ezek. 33:7-9; 34:1-10; Acts 20:26-32; Gal. 1:6-9; 2 Tim. 2:17-18).

Christ’s true representatives are known by their purity of character and doctrine (Tit. 1:5-9; 2:6-8).

“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove (EXPOSE) them.” Ephesians 5:11

“Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.” 1 Timothy 5:20
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:6-9

This is the protective love of the LORD. Here is the list of the 8 evil doers the great apostle was inspired to justifiably identify by name in 2 Timothy:

* 1) Phygellus 1:15
* 2) Hermogenes 1:15
* 3) Hymenaeus 2:17
* 4) Philetus 2:17
* 5) Jannes 3:8
* 6) Jambres 3:8
* 7) Demas 4:10 (apostate)
* 8) Alexander the coppersmith 4:14

See http://www.forgottenword.org/naming-names.html

See also Jn MacArthur
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfnCDAN1q9w

Praise God for Justin's obedience to the pure Word of God. Go Justin go!

I wholeheartedly concur and agree. How can we warn people if we don't call the name of the false teacher and their apostasy?

[ddo2013]

Thank you for posting this information. It has been very helpful. I'm form America. Please pray for my country. As a whole it is falling away from it's Christian heritage that founded it in the first place. Christians are being denied rights more and more every day. Some are even getting killed over it. You won't hear that on the news here because the Liberals are doing everything they can to pervert or stop the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No one or nothing can stop Jesus Christ anyways. I know it's a whole lot worse in other parts of the world. Pray for those brothers and sisters as well. Our government is letting terrorist groups fund mosques so they can spread their false beliefs (force) on others. They're actually building training camps to carry out terrorist attacks on us and our few true allies. No matter what God is going to take care of his Children. Pray for the lost that they may become saved. Pray that the muslims will have visions and dreams that Jesus Christ is the only way to the one and only real God. Pray that they'll have visions and dreams that Jesus Christ was (is) God in the flesh. Pray for Israel as it defends it's own borders from a determined enemy. Every true Christian will support Israel no matter what. If they don't then I know for a fact that they're not because they deny the words of Jesus Christ when he says pray for Jerusalem. It says the same thing in psalm or proverbs. I can't recall where but I know it's in there. Again thank you and take care and God bless. I'll be praying for the lost and other believers in Jesus Christ where your from.

So refreshing to see that those I associate with and those Christians I listen to across the country aren't the only ones who see and understand what's going on across our land. We can, in good faith, no longer ask God to bless our country but instead to turn those hearts who will listen to the Messiah. Time is running short, our God help us to get ready.