Last week I wrote a warning about false teachers. Sadly we in the church put up with a lot of stuff we should really be putting out of the church. Of course I realize that having written what I wrote last week really leaves me open to the charge of “being a false teacher.” That charge certainly has been leveled at me in the past by some false teachers I know. One such person warned his congregation, “You have to be careful of that John Pearrell, he’s dangerous! He believes that the Bible is actually the Word of God!” When I heard that, I took it has a compliment rather than a criticism.
I tell my family at Gateway, “I will never purposefully mislead you, but I am a man and I can and do make mistakes. When I discover them, I will be quick to correct them and let you know that I was wrong. I always try to tell you truth, but don’t accept what I say, check it out in Scripture for yourself, because I am a man and I will, at times make mistakes.”
So if I claim someone else is perhaps a false teacher and they turn around and accuse me of being a false teacher, how is an individual to determine which of us is telling the truth? The simple answer is, check out what is claimed against the standard of Scripture. Does it fit with what the Bible says?
Do you recall the famous quote by O.J. Simpson’s defense attorney, the late Johnny Cochran? “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.” Same is true in determining if someone is a true preacher of the Gospel or a false prophet of the Gospel. If what is says fits with what is recorded, you can be certain that it is truth; if it doesn’t, if it appears to be a forced interpretation, you can be certain that it is a false interpretation. Paul wrote about some of the false teachers of his day, “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!" (Galatians 1:6-9, NIV).
Let’s make a quick practical application of that statement. There is a group today that is desperately trying to pass itself off as simply another denomination within the Christian faith. They have high morals, clean lifestyles, and show a lot of what we might label the Christian compassion. However, a study of their theology shows a great deviation from the Biblical record. For one thing, they claim that their new message was delivered to them by an angel (see Galatians 1:6-9 above). Furthermore they claim an infinite progression of gods. Their claim that the faithful can become gods of their own worlds certainly is appealing to our fallen natures (remember the first sin was the temptation that we could become like God), when you compare the claim to Scripture such as Isaiah 43:10, it becomes instantly apparent that the claim of multiple gods before our current God and the claim that other gods will follow, is clearly a false claim–if you believe Scripture that is. Therefore, as unpopular as this next statement will be with some, its truthfulness stands: the claims of this group are false when compared to Scripture and no amount of explanation really matters. Either the Bible is true or it is not. If it is not, then yes, anything goes. But if it is true, then we have a standard by which we can judge the truth or falsehood of a claim. That is how you can tell whether a person is a true minister of the Gospel or a false teacher looking to gather a following after themselves.
If I were to tell you that 2 plus 2 equaled 3, you would probably think me strange. According to the accepted rules of mathematics, we know that 2 plus 2 equals 4. Successful space missions are possible only because of our grasp and submission to the rules of math, in all its fields. My ability to understand it all, doesn’t change its validity one bit. The same is true spiritually. If a spiritual leader tries to convince you that 2 plus 2 is 3 or 5 or any other number beside 4, you can be certain that the leader is either woefully ignorant of the truth he is trying to convey or they are purposefully deceiving you for some personal gain. In such case, run, don’t walk away!
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