False Teachers - Why and How Should We Respond?

When we as Christians are faced with a teacher spreading a false gospel – what are we to do? Is this something unique to our time?

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing... Matthew 7:15 (KJV)

False teachers and false prophets have always existed, since Old Testament times, carrying on their destructive work. “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” 2 Peter2:1-3(NIV)

In Matthew 7:15-20 it says - “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise, 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 fruit you will recognize them”.

So, who is responsible? Who is to blame when one of these fake preachers arises to lead the sheep astray?

False teachers are responsible for their own actions – and they bring their own destruction upon themselves.  Matthew 13:41-42 tells us - “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” They do not have to teach false doctrine; (false doctrine being, of course, any teachings that go against the teachings of God as recorded in the Bible). Yes, it is true that these false teachers have fallen because Satan found in them some sinful weakness such as doubt, greed or lust and is exploiting that sinful weakness to use them against God. But they have allowed themselves to fall into this sinfulness. The false teachers have chosen to teach what they have wanted and will most assuredly be judged by God for it because their hearts are black and heavy with sin, if they don’t repent and turn from their wicked ways. Though there have been false teachers and false prophets for centuries, even before Jesus came to earth, after Jesus conquered death and rose again, this angered Satan, causing him to move into overtime and create the havoc with false teachers as we see to this very day. But he can’t make a person do anything they don’t want to do. Temptation to sin is not the same thing as committing sin. The person who commits the sin is uniquely responsible for doing so.

[How does someone become a false teacher anyhow? By misinterpreting the Scriptures and/or twisting them with their own opinions and fueled by personal greed and lust – the person then becomes a false teacher. (I doubt if most actually set out to become such quite so baldly, (though some may, I don’t know), but the end result is the same – false teaching that leads souls to Hell instead of Heaven. Some may fall into it due to being corrupted by money, material possessions and the like. However it happens, the end result is the same – a false gospel that leads souls to Hell.]

As I said, we do need to confront these people because false teachers do two terrible things. First, false teachers encourage people to live immoral lives. This is what is meant by shameful ways. Shameful means the ways of immorality and of the flesh (sinful nature). How do false teachers lead men to live worldly and fleshly lives? False teachers take the love of God and twist it. They say that God so loves that He would never condemn man to an eternity of hell. False teachers take the grace of God and faith and pervert them. They do say that a person must believe in Jesus Christ. (This, of course, is true. We are saved by believing in Jesus Christ and repenting of our sins.) Scripture teaches that we are saved by grace through faith alone, but false teachers add that once we believe, we are okay forever and ever - even if we do return to the world and live in sin. Thus, you do not have to live by faith. False teachers say that God accepts us even if we live like the devil and live after the world and flesh. These false teachers say that faith exists without ever producing spiritual fruit: that a person can believe in Jesus Christ without repenting, changing his life, separating from the world, denying and controlling his flesh and following Christ. Most of these false teachers will tell you instead that the actual fruits of the Christian life are that you should expect to have wealth and perfect health, great success in your career, etc. The picture here is that false teachers say that God’s love and grace are so inexhaustible that a man is free to sin just as long as he believes in Jesus Christ and that God will then subsidize those fleshly desires! Well, Jesus Himself said that even the devil and his angels believe in Him – and tremble! The end result of this teaching, of course, is the indulgence in and license to sin and the complete ignoring of the essential truth of the gospel – that man is sinful and is in need of salvation from those very fleshly indulgences and desires. This, then, leads to seeking to gratify those desires of the flesh such as greed for material possessions, lusts and so forth rather than seeking to glorify God and to do His will in our lives.

Second, false teachers cause the name of Christ to be abused. They cause people to slander God, Christ, the church, believers and Scripture. The very name of God is blasphemed because of hypocritical living and false profession. How often do we hear comments such as, “those hypocrites?” Note that the blame lies at the feet of the false teachers. It is they who mislead people: “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; But glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism” Romans 5:2-11(NIV).

False teachers exploit people. They are in the church supposedly ministering and teaching, but they are covetous, full of greed and lusts. Romans 16:18 (NIV) says, “For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people.” The people they exploit are either then led to believe in a false gospel, which will lead them to hell because they have not believed on Jesus Christ and repented of their sins and turned their lives over to their Lord – or those who have been “burned” by these false teachers wind up turning their backs on God completely, with the same end result.

It is important for us as Christians to not just sit idly by - letting them teach and mislead our own brothers and sisters with impunity, but we must “run interference”, confronting their false teachings and countering them with the true Gospel that God has given us. If we sit by and do nothing - we are no better than the false teachers themselves. But how we do this is just as important – we can’t go charging at them and screaming at them.

So, what should we do?

Firstly, we need to pray for them - pray that the Holy Spirit touches their hearts and brings them around to the right Gospel and save their souls and those of the ones they have misled.

Second, we need to make sure that we ourselves are fully grounded in the Word and are walking with the Lord. Too many people confront heresy and false gospel teaching with equally false teaching of their own – though they may believe they are right. We need to know Scripture, be filled with the Holy Spirit and walking with God ourselves before we can even begin to come up against these strongholds of heresy.

Third, we need to recall what we are told in Scripture about how we are to approach and deal with these people. We are told that the second greatest commandment is that we love our neighbors as ourselves. If we go running and screaming at these people, what effect will that have? Yes, we are to stand firmly and speak boldly – but we are to do so with love, not with hate or ridicule. Too often Christians fall into the same trap as those whom they are confronting by using hate-filled words or mockery – which is completely against Scripture.
Jesus gave us a commandment, commonly known as the Great Commission, to make disciples out of every nation by teaching them what He taught us. This means we need to not only preach and teach to non-believers but to the misled as well, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” Luke 15:7(NIV). Now, it may be easy for us to judge false teachers and those that were misled by them, to place ourselves in a superior position over them and mock their deceptions and sinful ways. But, in so doing, we lose sight of what the gospel tells us we must do. Yes, we are to confront and point out error – but we are to do so in love, not with hate or derision. These false teachers are paving their very own roads to hell themselves - we don’t have to “grease the skids” for them.  Though we cannot allow heresy, apostasy and blasphemy – we also must look at these people as God looks at them – as sinners in need of salvation, just like anyone else. We must, as Christians, do what Jesus told us to do: Love our neighbor more then we love ourselves. They need our prayers and our love, not us laughing or mocking them.


Proud to be a child of God,                                                                                                               Pastor Tim Roberts                                                                                                                                  06/07/2011