Beware The False Teacher
We live in a world today where anyone can put themselves in the place of a teacher of the Word of God. They will get up and start to suck you in with their knowledge of Scriptures and before you know it you’ll find they are teaching you things that do not line up with the Word of God including completely other religions like Buddhism or Islam. They’ll find parallels between the religions and try to make you believe that all religions are just as valid even if they do not profess Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior.
“False christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.” – Mark 13:22 (ESV)
The Word clearly shows us that we will have people who look good, seem to say all the right things and then at the very core are not followers of Jesus Christ. Some are easy to see and some can be very subtle and will go for years or even decades misleading people into thinking they’re teaching based on God’s word when in reality they’re just using God’s word to try and obscure their true meaning.
A good rule of thumb I use when looking at someone who is professing themselves as a teacher of Christians is how often they base their teachings from the Word and not off of some other source. I’m not saying that God can’t work through a book or a song or a movie. I am saying that if someone does a teaching mentioning a source that is not connected to Christ without tying it back into God’s word then you need to beware that this person is possibly a false teacher.
Let’s say you have someone who says they’re trying to share Jesus with others but ninety percent or more of the things they talk about come from Buddhist teachings. It doesn’t matter how much that teaching may line up with a Christian concept…it matters that instead of using God’s word as part of their teaching they only use a source from a religion that rejects Jesus as the Son of God. If you are a Christian then you better be ready to pull the concept you’re taking from some other source and be able to say “Jesus said” or “God said” or “The Word says” and tie it into scripture.
If you have someone teaching you who is not doing that then you need to seriously consider if you are in the presence of a false teacher.
Remember, the Bible tells us clearly they can even be appearing to you as a pastor or evangelist or teacher:
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 11:13 (ESV)
Of course, the best way to make sure you are on guard against false teachers is to read the word daily and if you hear someone teaching hold what they’re saying up against the Word of God itself. And, if they’re teaching in a Christian church or Bible study or even message board, ask them why they openly talk about other religions to guide Christians and not God’s word itself. If you’re talking to Christians then there should be no source that is more credible than God’s word itself.
Loading...
Some very good advice there
all4god - November 16, 2007 at 12:00 pm
The bible or at least the KVJ has many contradictions and impurities. One of them is from jesus himself… saying do not resist evil… jesus resisted evil… there are many claims not to judge at all, yet there are many scriptures that say to judge when the time is right to judge. Your bible also states… prove all things to yourself. Which i have been doing for over 12 years now and have proven way beyond a doubt that the so called… “god” that is written about in the bible is there is no way that I would be a part of or believe in it again.
Awahili Ayastigi - August 25, 2008 at 9:40 pm
You wonder why I say i will not ever follow the bible again. i watched a very good friend of mine suffer for over 14 years and i know in my heart she believed in God… knew the bible in and out, prayed til she finally died with different forms of cancer, allergic to many things, like grass, pollen from trees, she even mentioned she was allergic to dirt. She spent the last ten years of her life so ill that she did not go outside unless absolutely necessary. My adopted mother went through much of the same. I watched a man on thanksgiving get his leg broke from a simple action on that day, only to find out that his leg was shattered enough that he lost his job and he was a preacher and gave his life to this god who supposedly loves us. This is just a few events I have witnessed and it is enough to never believe again
Awahili Ayastigi - August 25, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Certainly it is difficult to understand suffering. I feel sorry for your loss. I know that suffering and loss often do make us doubt God and whether or not he exists.
Something I have come to know is that it is easy to think of God as one who will take away all of our pain, all of our suffering. For a long time, I believed this to be true myself, although I didn’t really have a reason to other than the thought that it seems that God would want things that way and the concept that God loves me.
But God does not take away suffering. Why? I think that it takes a different perspective as to why this is. Christ suffered and died on a cross. Why did he suffer? Couldn’t he have just had a quick and easy death, like beheading or something? In fact it was in his suffering AND death that we were redeemed.
We are called to accept our sufferings, to offer them up to God, to take part in our own redemption. Suffering purifies us, it prepares us for heaven, it changes us from the inside out, and when we endure suffering with faith we become new creations.
Your friend had cancer. Cancer is horrible. But what good did the cancer do? It seems that it brought you even closer to this person. It made you study the Bible and try to understand your faith more deeply. It caused others to also change because they had to care for a sick and dying person. They became better people, you became a better person, you started trying to understand your faith, understand more about the Bible. To TEST your faith.
Your other friend shattered his leg and he lost his job. I’m sure that was a really tough circumstance, and I certainly feel for him. But good came of it. You haven’t outlined it here, but I know that it has. It may not be this world’s version of good but it is certainly God’s version of good.
You seem to have a heart to desire understanding. You will find what you seek if you continue to look. But do not use your own interpretation of the Bible deter you from believing that the Bible is truth. We have a view limited by our own experience and interpret things in the view of the culture today. Remember when you are reading that the KJV is a translation, and it was translated by fallible men. The Bible is also not a history or science book. It is a book about Jesus, and faith, and morals, and revelation, inspired by God, written and maintained by men throughout the ages. It is a book written by Jews in a Jewish style that is very foreign to us today. It is hard to understand and easy to misinterpret.
Good luck in your journey. Test everything. Explore different faiths and beliefs. Explore the Catholic faith too. If you keep looking, God honors that and will deliver to you the Truth that you desire. God Bless.
Andre
Catholica - October 3, 2008 at 5:15 pm