SHOULD WE EXPOSE FALSE TEACHERS?

Should we expose false teachers? Last Friday I wrote a post titled do we live our best life now by speaking it into existence? The motivation behind writing that post was to expose the false teaching of the wealth & health doctrine better known as The Word of Faith Movement. Just a short recap the word of faith movement teaches that we are little gods with the ability to speak anything into existence, whether it be wealth, health, or even negative stuff like sickness disease or poverty, etc. I also gave a brief history of how the movement got started. Some of you may be wondering who is the author behind this positive confession little gods doctrine? Short answer satan. I have no doubt this type of teaching is a doctrine of demons, and why would I come to such a conclusion? Let’s take a look at Genesis 3:4 in the bible it states “Then the serpent said to the women, you will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, & you will be LIKE GOD, knowing good & evil.” So basically this was the strategy that satan used against Eve to disobey God & eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good & evil & caused the whole world to fall into sin. Many people today say if I was in a situation like Eve I would have not allowed satan to tempt me to disobey God. But ironically many people are not aware they are in reality doing exactly what Eve did by falling for the lie of a false doctrine.

Now there may be some who say why is this a big deal? Or what does it matter what this movement teaches as long as you believe what you believe? Well I like to submit as Christians it’s not an option to exercise discernment it’s our duty. God not only expects us to expose false teachers, but He also commands us to do it. May I also submit that if we do not expose false teachers we are not being obedient to His word? So let’s take a look at the scriptures to back this up. Romans (KJV) 16:17-18 states “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause division & offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; & avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; & by good words & fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” Basically, the Apostle Paul is writing a letter to the brethren in the church instructing them on how they are to treat false teachers. Simply put Paul is commanding us to mark/expose false teachers who cause division contrary to sound doctrine & to avoid them.

Sadly in many of our churches today exposing false teachers is portrayed as being unloving & divisive. There is a let's come together & all get along tolerant spirit in the church today. What’s shocking though is many believers tend to believe that teaching on sound doctrine is traditional which insinuates that orthodox teaching is for the older generation & now we should be upping our game to this new wave of church teaching. So how are we to feel about this new mindset & way to approach biblical sound doctrine? For starters let’s take a look at 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NKJV) it states “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; & they will turn their ears away from the truth, & be turned aside to fables.” Shockingly this powerful passage of scripture is saying it’s not the false teachers who are gathering the people, but rather the people who are going after them. Why? Well, it’s because they no longer want to hear biblical sound doctrine but would rather have a message that fuels their selfish lustful desires.

For instance, if a person loves money & always talking about getting it, They will seek out a teacher who will say exactly what they want to hear. It doesn’t have to be sound biblical doctrine because it’s not about the truth of God’s word, but rather it’s more about that person fulfilling their selfish desires. For example, one has to truly question how a man like Joel Osteen can pack out stadiums all over the world without ever having to preach on the sound fundamental doctrine of repentance, hell, or dying to self in Christ for the sake of the gospel. I recently saw him on Larry King live & when asked a question by Larry King about sin & hell, this man could barely bring himself to admit homosexuality is a sin or that people who die without Christ will spend eternity in hell. As Christians, we would all agree that Jesus not only was the only begotten son of God but was the most profound preacher/teacher ever to walk the face of the earth. So how did Jesus present the gospel to the world? Jesus's central mission was that all men would repent of their sins & believe in him to escape the judgment of hell.

But sadly that’s typically not the message being preached today, Jesus understood people’s souls were at stake & to give them a superficial watered-down message was not doing them any favors. The heretical teachings of The Word of Faith Movement have crept into many of our churches today. The vast majority of churches have been infected by this doctrine & you can hear it clearly in the way the gospel is presented on Sunday mornings. The messages are usually about God granting you favor to be a success in life, or God bestowing money on you, or God healing you of some alignment. Now I’m not against God providing any of these things mentioned, but they must not be the central means by which we present the gospel to sinners.

In conclusion

Many churches would claim to love the truth but what they love is a man-centered Christianity that helps them obtain success in their marriage, finances, family & positive attitude that produces health & successful personal life without the pain of dying to self, picking up the cross of Christ & being persecuted for proclaiming the truth.