The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron- 1stTimothy 4:1-2 NIV
I have a love-hate relationship with the internet.
I love that the internet allows me to keep in touch with friends and family all over the world. I love that I can ask my magic google machine anything—anytime—of the day or night and the internet will give me a response to my inquiry in literally seconds. I love that the internet has made it possible to share the gospel with every tribe and nation on the earth (Matthew 24:14, Revelation 14:6). There are also some things I hate: I hate that the internet is a safe space for weirdos, evil people, and exploiters. I hate that bad ideas spread faster than good ones on the internet.
But more than anything else I hate that the internet has become a safe haven for false teachers and heretics to spread bad/incorrect/stupid ideas about God and the Bible. Recently, I was sent an appalling Facebook page. Most of it was so off-the-wall biblically it would have been laughable if the stupid page didn’t have fifty-eight thousand followers and the author a book deal with a well-known Christian who really ought to know better.
Such is life in our modern age.
The good news is the experience got me thinking about false teachers and how to spot them. The Bible teaches there are two basic varieties of false teachers Christians should be on the lookout for. The first is a false prophet. These folks were more of an Old Testament issue, though I suspect there will be a resurgence of false prophecy in the near future (Matthew 7:15, Matthew 24:11, Mark 13:11).
A false prophet shares made-up predictions concerning God and what He is going to do in the future. False prophets were famous for proclaiming peace and blessing while all the legit prophets were promising devastation and ruin unless there was some valid repentance (Lamentations 2:14, Ezekial 13:9, Jeremiah 8:11-12). It was quite common for the bogus prophets to have more disciples and more prestige than the real deal.
The other type of heretical teacher is called a false teacher. False teachers are a common New Testament theme. A false teacher is a church leader or teacher who claims to be a Christian but teaches things that causes folks to stray from biblical truth (2nd Peter 2:1, Titus 1:10-11,1st John 4:1). False teachers are typically self-deceived. They believe they have it right and everyone else has it wrong. False teachers and prophets typically come in in four different varieties, including:
The omiters-
For the record, I am aware that omiter is not a real word. I made it up to describe a variety of false teacher who only tells half the gospel story. These guys (and gals) have a lot to say about mercy, grace and deliverance but are weirdly silent on the subjects of repentance, holiness and living a life that pleases the Lord (Matthew 3:8, Luke 13:3, Acts 3:19, 2nd Peter 3:9, Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 1:10, Revelation 9:20-21). These pastors and teachers appeal to the flesh by peddling an intoxicating combination of cheap grace and easy believism. They either openly teach there can be salvation without sanctification and godliness, or more often than not simply omit any mention of those sticky wickets (2nd Corinthians 5:17, 1st Thessalonians 4:3-8, Romans 6:6, Colossians 3:5). Unless someone dies immediately after becoming a Christian, the pursuit of sanctification (holiness) is a requirement of all believers. Anyone who omits this reality is only telling half the story and should be avoided.
The enthusiasts of novelty-
These guys (and gals) put a new and much more palatable twist on teaching that has been settled since the days of the early church (Galatians 1:8). They tell believers it’s okay to be gay or practice some other sort of sexual immorality (Jude 3-4, Jude 17-18, 2nd Peter 2:18-20). They loudly proclaim forgiveness is unnecessary unless the offender is sorry for what they did. They tell eager listeners God has softened His stance on virtually every issue (1st Timothy 4:1-2, 2nd Timothy 4:3-4). Like the omiters, they appeal to the fleshly side of human beings by asserting that God has changed His mind on critical issues or the church has gotten it wrong until they came along.
The fault finders-
These guys (and gals) can be tricky to identify because on the surface they look more legit than some legit teachers. These folks spend their entire ministry pointing out the faults, sins and false teachings of other Christian teachers. They rarely—if ever go to those they accused of false teaching (Matthew 18:15). Instead, they spend an inordinate amount of time writing long blogs pointing out the sin in other ministries or churches. It is okay, even necessary at times to point out an incorrect teaching., we do not want Christians walking in ignorance or deceit. However, it is far more effective to teach the truth of God’s word so that people will know how to identify heresy for themselves. If someone criticizes more than they teach there is a problem.
And finally,
The twisters of scripture-
These folks rarely tell flagrant lies about Scripture. Instead, they twist truth in such a way it becomes both misleading and appealing to the flesh. These teachers always promise an easier path than the one laid out in God’s word (Matthew 7:13-14). They simply mislead the untaught and willfully ignorant.
It is critical false teaching is identified because wrong thinking and wrong beliefs always leads to wrong behavior. Contrary, too much modern teaching God holds people accountable for what they do and don’t do (Revelation 20:12-13). It is imperative we know the word of God and are able to discern God’s truth from the half-truths and outright lies of the world
