Category: false doctrine

Posted in false doctrine, false teachers

20 Characteristics of false teachers

Posted on by elizabethprata

In Brannon House’s this week’s Worldview Weekend Hour TV Program Topic he covered 20 Characteristics of False Teachers. The teaching was one hour. I wrote down the points and their attendant verses which support the point he was making. Here is the link to the video but the WVW videos are only live for a few days and then they go behind a paywall. He put up half the teaching to the public, and that’s why if you count them, there are only 13 and not 20.

The bible says, “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.” (Romans 16:17). The KJV says to “mark them.” To those who claim we are unloving to point out false teachers, or that a true Christian is not supposed to do that, I refer you to the Romans verse. Also we read another instruction from the Apostle John, found in 2 John 1:10-11, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” And again, Paul instructs in Ephesians 5:11, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”

20 characteristics of false teachers, Here are Mr Howse’s points:

–False teachers are insincere and use the Word for personal gain. 2 Corinthians 2:17 says, “For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”

–False teachers appeal to the flesh and the sin-nature of people in order to build their following. 2 Peter 2:18 says, “For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.” Acts 20:30 says “and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

–False teachers deliberately take verses out of context to attract a following.

–False teachers have a form of Godliness but deny God. 2 Timothy 3:5 says, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

–False teachers openly reject truth. 2 Timothy 4:4 says, “and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

–False teachers willingly embrace unbiblical philosophies. 2 Timothy 4:4 says, “and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths (philosophies).” Colossians 2:8 says “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”

–False teachers are arrogant and self-righteous. 2 Timothy 3:2-5, “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

–False teachers embrace mysticism. (Mysticism is the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. Mysticism usually centers on practices intended to nurture those experiences. The seek after experiences by Contemplative Prayer, soaking prayer, visions, dreams, labyrinth, yoga etc…) Colossians 2:18, “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind.”

Note that the people promoting mysticism often speak of their regular angel visits (Todd Bentley’s ‘Angel Emma’, Rick Joyner & his ‘talking eagle of wisdom’, William Branham and his supposed visit from an ‘angel of the lord’…). Angel visits figure very prominently in many false visions/dreams. This attachment to angels easily veers to worship of angels. Satan is satisfied whenever our object of worship becomes anything except Jesus.

–False teachers sound educated and speak with persuasive words. Colossians 2:4 says “I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.”

–False teachers are flippant in their attitude and dealings with demons. 2 Peter 2:9-12 says “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.”

“Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction.”

 Jude 1:8 says “Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.”

These false teachers go on about how they have power to capture or bind satan and his demons, crowing about how they are going to banish demons, or re-take territory from them, or make rants against them. Yet Archangel Michael only said to his foe, “The Lord rebuke you.” (Jude 1:9) and dared not make an accusation against him.

–False teachers promise liberty and freedom from spiritual bondage but they are themselves in bondage as children and servants of satan. 2 Peter 2:19 says, “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves.” There are only two camps, the children whose Father is Jesus (John 8:42) and the children of corruption whose father is satan (John 8:44). 

–False teachers have heard the Gospel, but reject it. 2 Peter 2:21 says “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope that this list will be a starting point for you to delve further into the Word. Compare what is said here through Mr Howse and see if these things are so. False teaching can be powerful, plausible, smooth, and easily ensnaring. Please be wise and always cling to Him who has prevailed against every lie (Colossians 2:15), in whom deceit was not found in His mouth!  (1 Peter 2:22).

Posted in examine yourself, faith, false doctrine, false teachers

Why I get so upset at false teachers and false teaching, why I focus on the end time

Posted on by elizabethprata

Someone asked me this week why I focus on the end time. I answered that the end time is the time between Jesus’ ascension and His return, the Age of Grace. I focus on encouragement, discernment and the end time. With Jesus’s return as backdrop, I employ Spiritual gifts to exhort for a higher standard of witness and adherence to doctrine.

The point is, He could return at any time, and those left behind will face Tribulation such as no man has ever seen, no nor will ever again. (Matthew 24:21). This haunts me.

Alternately, lost people could die at any moment, their end time coming instantly and unexpectedly, and the spiritual things they put off will be forever sealed off to them. Their lost state will be the state they remain in for all eternity. This haunts me. Why wouldn’t a person want to continually remind people that this Age will not last forever and the Day prophesied will arrive?

Worse, there are many people who believe they are Christians and are going to heaven. They professed Jesus. They worked in His name. They sang hymns and proclaimed Him and prophesied (preached) in His name. But they fooled themselves. They weren’t saved.

“I Never Knew You: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Mathew 7:21-23)

This haunts me greatly.

The Lord sends His Spirit to deliver gifts to believers as He sees fit. (1 Corinthians 12:4). For me, he saw fit to give faith, prophecy, teaching and discernment. I’m extra-sensitive to false doctrines and teaching. I have a super-sensitivity to those who come under its sway. It is like I can see them falling off the cliff as they apostatize. I can see it. It is like this picture, which I haven’t been able to get off my mind since I came across it.

Art by Borislav Sajtinac

I hate false doctrine. I hate with with a holy, righteous passion. False doctrine is from hell. It kills. It destroys. It is a blasphemy against the precious person of Jesus, Savior and King. I hate it every day. I hate it because it sends people to hell. I hate it worst of all when it is tolerated in a false church, making false converts who bring up second generation daughters of hell twice as worse as them. (Matthew 23:15,  Revelation 2:22-23).

When we are glorified and the time comes for Jesus to line up the goats, and the dramatic scene from Matthew plays out, I will hear so many cry out, “Lord, Lord…” Many people will be shocked that they are in the goats line and not the narrow road to heaven following the sheep to eternal glory and rest. They’ll try to convince the Lord to let them in. But He will say “Depart from me, I never knew you…”.

If the moment when Jesus cried out to the “Father, Father, why have You forsaken me?” is the loneliest moment in the universe for all time…then the moment when the Lord tells those who cry and plead, “Depart from Me, I never knew you” has to be the most devastating.

I will be grateful that by then I’ll be glorified and completely in tune with the mind of Christ and understanding His holiness and justice, otherwise I would explode from grief. As it is at that moment I know I’ll praise Him.

For now on earth in the flesh, I feel grief. Exploding with grief that false teachers entice false converts to believe false doctrines, and they are all on the broad road. I want to cry out, shake them, “No, NO! Come back!” I feel their apostasy acutely. I feel it and I see it. It’s not just an intellectual exercise with me but a heart ministry.

Won’t it be great to be able to discuss true doctrine in the age of eternity.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab 2:14)

“They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9)

For a prophetic-doctrine lady like me this will be heaven! And if anyone has any questions, they can walk up to Jesus and ask Him! Looking forward to being free from satan’s lies is right up there in my list of ‘things that will be great about heaven.’

“and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. ” (Revelation 20:10)

Good. Torment the bugger.

Back here on earth in this time of grace mixed with apostasy, so many are going away from us. John told us that would happen.

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19).

I praise the Lord for telling us ahead of time. It doesn’t make it any easier when I spot one who is going, though. It’s worse when they reject advances and sharing of truth. How devastating knowing that moment is fast approaching for millions who thought they were saved but were not, and will be rejected by Christ. They thought they had accepted Him but they had not! O, false doctrine, you deceiver! There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

“While the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12)

“behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.” (Isaiah 65:14)

I know that the ones who will be rejected by Christ are not victims. It was because they chose to follow their lusts that they fell into the snare. (2 Timothy 4:3). Still, I feel for them, now and in their moment of shocking eternal condemnation.

People, examine yourselves to make sure of your faith.

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Examine Yourselves Whether You Be in the Faith, Part 1
Examine Yourselves Whether You Be in the Faith, Part 2
Examine Yourself

 How do we examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith?

What Kind of a Christian Are You?

Posted in discernment, false doctrine, genesis 3, satan

Discerning The Circle Maker’s advertising techniques and how they match Genesis 3

Posted on by elizabethprata

Just two days ago, I published a piece about the book, The Circle Maker, written by Mark Batterson and released in 2012. I’d left the issue alone until then, choosing not to do a book review or a discernment essay on it because it seemed so obvious that this was something Christians should not be involved in. But at the end of 2012 it became clear that Batterson’s concept of casting a circle to claim God’s promises to unleash our dreams was saturating even the most stalwart bastions of the faith, when the organizers and participant of the True Woman conference including Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Joni Earicksen Tada, promoted it. These are elder woman who should be leading us women into a deeper faith, not into occult and pagan practices that originate from outside the bible. I was pretty shocked.

Many other fine essays exist on the internet that show you in biblical terms why Batterson’s circle making is unwise and even dangerous, including a review by pastor and Christian book reviewer Tim Challies. In the piece I linked to above, there is a set of links at the bottom to some of those writings.

So I developed a piece from an angle that demonstrated in pictures that the practice Batterson promotes is not new and it is not Christian.

However I’d like to write about it one more time, this time as a discernment piece to unpack the way he presented it. Something that Mr Batterson said sticks in my craw, and though I’d planned a piece today examining an uplifting verse from Matthew, I am switching to get this down first. It’s like what Jude said,

“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:3)

I am contending. Hopefully this will help someone be discerning, not just of The Circle Maker but in general and armed for the future by unpacking the techniques used to attract people to the book and its premise, and how they are the same that satan used in the Garden against Eve.

See, in his promotional video and in the book’s advertising blurb, Mr Batterson said:

“Do you ever sense that there’s far more to prayer, and to God’s vision for your life, than what you’re experiencing?”

This is how successful advertisers always begin their pitch.

It is how satan began his pitch. He approached Eve and made her doubt what she knew, so she would be open to hearing a solution to a problem she didn’t know she had.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)

Then satan, taking a cue from Ron Popeil, said, ‘but wait, there’s more!’ And satan presented to her a solution to her problem she didn’t know she even had until satan pointed it out.

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5)

Eve wanted to fill the lack that she now understands she has in her life,

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate”, (Genesis 3:6a)

And like all false doctrine, it spreads quickly, corrupting others right away.

“and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6b)

So there was Eve, the only sinless woman to ever live and she dwelled in utter perfection. The air temperature was perfect. Her surroundings were beautiful. Her body was perfect inside and out. The animals were perfect. She was never hungry or cold or angry or had any ache whatsoever. She had perfect harmony with her husband and perfect unity with God.

And yet satan was able to convince Eve that somewhere out there, there’s more. He told her that her life lacked something, and she believed it. Taking the fruit, she ate, rationalizing all the way. Now read Mr Batterson’s pitch again:

“Do you ever sense that there’s far more to prayer, and to God’s vision for your life, than what you’re experiencing?”

I mourn daily that so many Christians forgo the praise that is due the Lord and forget how glorious a life we are actually living. Though we do not dwell in perfection like Eve did, we have perfection inside us.

First, let’s stop a moment and thing of how full our lives really are. We have been saved by grace. This is monumental! As Dr MacArthur preached, we should be “adoring God for our eternal inheritance.” When did we become discontent with the universe’s most glorious act, the salvation of a sinner to the holy breast of God!?

But wait, there’s more! God dwells inside us!! Wow! What a gift!

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” (Romans 8:9)

Jesus Himself deemed that He would send us a comforter, teacher, friend, and guide. Jesus said,

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”… (John 16:7). “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26).

But wait, there’s more! If all that wasn’t enough, we have the opportunity to pray to Him, and He listens. Have we become inured to the fact that God is God, He who calls Himself I AM, will listen to our petitions and pleas? Far from being disinterested or inattentive, Jesus is monumentally interested in bringing about Good for our sakes. He didn’t save us just to wander off and sit on another planet contemplating His navel. He is involved with His people. He accepts praise and worship, and He ordains good for us. He listens to our prayers!

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6)

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26).

But wait, there’s more!

Jesus sent the Spirit to inspire men to write His words down, so that we could always have its wisdom and comfort to guide us also. The Spirit makes the words come alive and since they are eternal and come from the holy place, the words in the bible are eternally good.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16).

There is so much more, too. We are justified, sanctified, have the privilege of prayer, have the incredible word, have the daily opportunity to serve Jesus, have treasures stored up in heaven, have an eternity awaiting us in glory…and yet satan comes along and says-

“Do you ever sense that there’s far more to prayer, and to God’s vision for your life, than what you’re experiencing?”

My answer is no. No, I don’t sense there is far more to prayer. I trust that there is and I trust the Lord to take care of things whether I “sense” it or not. No, I do not sense there is far more to God’s vision for my life, I know there is. I trust Him to unfold it in His timing and in His way. No, I do not sense there are more experiences to have, I know that there are. I trust the Lord to bring me along in sanctification whether I ‘feel’ it or not. I trust the promises in the bible about what my daily life will be like.

I trust what God hath said.

I get sad when adults are so undiscerning. I get upset undiscerning adults taint the children.

Jesus is very protective of the children. They are the means by which the successive generations carry the faith. (Joel 1:3).

“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.” (Luke 17:2)

“but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)

And yet on August 6, 2013, The Circle Maker for Kids will be released. An undiscerning generation will be teaching the next generation to rely on sensing, personal experience, and wiccan circle casting for their worship.

Within two years of the original book’s release, do you see how quickly we have been made merchandise of? For kids, for students, the daily journal, the curriculum, prayer challenge, it goes on and on.

Do you see the original book’s cover in hardback, ‘the solution to 10,000 problems”? Did you know there were 10,000 problems that Mark Batterson can help you solve? I thought the bible was the solution to 10,000 problems!

A classic advertising technique- you have a problem, and here is the solution. My prophet’s heart cries out, why, o why, aren’t the bible’s solutions good enough for people?

The blurb says “The Circle Maker will help you bring your God-given dreams into being through tenacious prayers that honor God and make the impossible come true.”

You…your… my prayers will make my dreams come true…let’s cut the middle part from the sentence and just say what is really his truth: “The Circle Maker will … make the impossible come true.”

It is God who answers prayer a God who does the impossible. Not my prayers, not my faith in my prayers not my method of prayer, and not my tenacity.

Jesus, please come soon and save the children from this ruinous generation!

Below I’ve pasted “Efficient Advertising Techniques“. Be aware when you are being sold a bill of goods and being made merchandise out of. It begins with a question, and intimating you have a problem you didn’t know you had.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Advertising techniques can be of many kinds. All creative advertisers use some of the following techniques and tricks to grab the potential consumer’s attention and turn it to sales.”

Arouse Curiosity
“Nothing works better than this technique. Humans, by nature are always drawn towards the unknown, or in this case something new and advanced. Arousing curiosity with words, prints, images or visuals will definitely make an impact. On an average, an individual spends less than 5 seconds to go through an entire ad. If your subject does not arouse curiosity immediately, it is a lost opportunity. A well-crafted ad should be eye-catching, and difficult to ignore.”

“Do you ever sense that there’s far more to prayer?”

Hath God really said?

Promise a Benefit
“Most brands are associated with some pre-defined character, and they need to be re-emphasized with every new service advertised. The headline must promise a benefit for the consumer, because in most instances it is the headline that sells the product more than the copy, images or the celebrity. Advertisements should also carry general information about the service center address, phone numbers, credit cards that the business accepts, and the name of a person to ask for when calling for more information.”

“In this powerful booklet, excerpted from THE CIRCLE MAKER, Batterson helps you uncover your heart’s deepest desires and God-given dreams and unleash them through the kind of audacious prayer that God delights to answer.”

Emotional Appeal
“Many advertisers attract attention by pulling at the heart stings and triggering emotions. An emotional response is by far the most powerful reason for making decisions. Emotional and rational thoughts are interdependent, as the ability to decide rationally is determined by issues that drive the emotions. We get more attracted to products and services that make us feel good and safe. The concept of emotional appeal are best seen in insurance ads made world over, and also companies that associate their sales with social upliftment causes.”

“How big is your God? Bigger than a positive MRI or a negative evaluation? Bigger than your secret sin or secret dream? Is He big enough to heal your marriage or your child?“

Children
“In most houses, children have a say in every big or small purchase made. Most parents just give in to the tantrums, a fact well-known to the advertisers. Out of ten commercials one sees through any medium, 8 have children featured in them who are generally a little more perfect than the target audience. These perfect children then go on to become role-models that have to emulated by other children.”

“The Circle Maker for Kids: Basing this story on his adult bestseller The Circle Maker, Mark Batterson shares the ancient Jewish legend of Honi the Rainmaker with children to teach them about the power of prayer. Ages 4-8.“

Posted in false doctrine, false teachers

Here is one of the ten bazillion reasons Jesus is altogether lovely

Posted on by elizabethprata

Our glorious Jesus is such a prize that satan tries constantly to snatch Him away from us. He is glorious, perfect, beautiful and wondrous. Our most excellent Holy Spirit always points to Him. (John 15:26). The Spirit dwelling inside believers will guide us into all truth. Not just some truth. All truth. (John 14:26.

However, satan and his minions hate the truth. They try to confuse the brethren, cause division, add false teachings, preach a different Jesus, and divert the people from the narrow road of Jesus. (Romans 15:16-18; Matthew 15:9; 2 Corinthians 11:4; Colossians 2:4; 1 Timothy 1:3; Galatians 5:10…and so on.) The number of verses in the New Testament regarding false teachers and false doctrines abound.

Yet many Christians today don’t heed the warning. If they do, they allow the warnings to remain abstract and never diligently be a Berean to check if what they are learning on the ground is consistent with what the bible says.

Think about it this way. Jesus spent much of His time cleansing the Land from demons, puncturing false teachings, condemning false teachers (from the Pharisees) and instructing the people in truth. When He ascended, the land was clean spiritually and physically.

Yet right away, satan came back in. Paul, Peter, Timothy, James, Titus, Paul, well, most of the Apostles mentioned some kind of false teaching or teacher to watch out for. (Judaizers, Nicolaitans, Legalism). False teachers were named (Hymenaeus, Alexander). If the vacuum of the Presence of Jesus on earth allowed all the falsity to return within months to a few years, what do we think the level of falsity 2000 years later is like? Satan is having a field day.

“It is possible for real Christians to be taken in by false prophets. When believers are careless about study of and obedience to the Word, lazy about prayer, and uncritical about the things of God, it is easy for them to be deceived by someone who pretends to be orthodox-especially if he is pleasant, positive, and permissive. … Judging the fruit of false prophets, of course, is not nearly so easy as judging fruit in an orchard. But from Scripture we discover at least three primary tests we can apply in order to know. They are in the areas of character, creed, and converts.” (source). I recommend the source material to learn further how to spot false teachers.

He is so wonderful. He teaches us about falsity and gives us the bible and the holy spirit to help us so we won’t be taken in by them. “After warning about false prophets, Jesus tells us what to watch for in identifying them. Because they are so extremely deceptive and dangerous ravenous spiritual and moral wolves in sheep’s clothing-the Lord would hardly have left us without means of determining who they are. Jesus assures us that we will know them by their fruits.” (source)

We usually focus on the fruits part of the verse, but look at the assurance. “You will know them.” You will.

The best way to spot false teachers is to keep your eyes on the ONLY real teacher, God/Jesus/Holy Spirit. I hope you think He is altogether lovely, too:

Posted in false doctrine, therapeutic gospel, trevin wax

Summary of the Therapeutic Gospel: Trevin Wax’s "Counterfeit Gospels"

Posted on by elizabethprata

In listening to Todd Friel’s Drive By Discernment, lecture 55 and 55 today, I was introduced to Pastor Trevin Wax. He has written two books, one is called Holy Subversion and the other is called The Counterfeit Gospels. The two lectures in Drive By Discernment are on one of the six kinds of false gospels Wax writes about. It is called The Therapeutic Gospel.

Here is Pr. Wax being interviewed by Christianity.com on his book. Its short explanation offers an overview of the 6 false Gospels Wax identifies in his book. The 6 are,

1. The Judgment-less Gospel
2. Therapeutic Gospel
3. Moralist Gospel
4. Quietist Gospel
5. Activist Gospel
6. Churchless Gospel

Here is a chart summarizing the 6 false Gospels Wax writes about-

Source, The Gospel Coalition

In a session of the discernment series Drive By Discernment, Trevin explained “The Therapeutic Gospel”. We hear much of this Gospel today. It is all about us. It is about our self-esteem. our feelings. What God can do for us to make us happier.

I’ve included extended excerpts below, but understand that his 2 lectures totaling 30 minutes was tight, well-articulated, and built to a powerful point. It was hard to extract segments and have them make as much sense on their own than the entire lecture did. Even extended excerpts cannot do it justice. But here is a bit of what Pastor Wax said:

The Therapeutic Gospel at its root confuses spiritual symptoms with spiritual disease. Whatever it may be, a troubled marriage, maybe it’s anxiety, maybe it’s anger issues, perhaps an addiction, we take these symptoms and we confuse the symptoms with the disease – which is sin. Our own evil. Our rebellion. And because the diagnosis is superficial, the treatment is superficial as well.

So what are some of the superficial diagnoses we see in our world? Well here’s a few we can spot. One is the Happy Meal Gospel. … [He talks of his young son here] We realized fairly rapidly that it wasn’t the soggy McNuggets and the French fries that our son liked so much but it was enjoying but the happy meal toy and the playground. That’s what captures the heart of a child- promise the toy.

I’m concerned that we package the Gospel in a way that makes God out to be a Ronald McDonald type who wants to give kids a Happy Meal. … When ‘God wants me to be happy’ becomes the measuring stick for making our decisions, we have fallen for a counterfeit.

Here is the irony in all this- God does want us to be happy. The Therapeutic Gospel takes the right words and puts it in the wrong context. God does want our joy and happiness, but to be found in Him- not in a way that’s defined by 21st century American culture. God’s desire for our joy goes beyond the Happy Meal.

[In the emphasis on our feelings and the craze for preaching on self-esteem] Notice what has taken place. Instead of understanding that sin may lead to a lack of self esteem, sin has been re-defined as a lack of self esteem. See the difference? It’s subtle, but all counterfeits are subtle. It is a confusion of symptom as the real problem. … Scripture is clear, our biggest problem is not that we feel guilty- it is that we are guilty. We don’t have empty hearts in need of fill-up, we have deceitful hearts in need of replacement.

If low self esteem is the problem, then therapy is the solution. But the question for us as Christians is why does this version of Christianity need Jesus? Why is a bloody cross at the center of our faith? If our biggest need is for someone to tell us we’re all right, he could have sent Oprah. If our biggest need is to have peace in our family, then God would have done fine sending Dr Phil. No, God sent His son to die a brutal, horrifying death as a payment for human sin. Surely that is the sign that our sin is much more heinous than just, “We feel empty inside.” The Therapeutic Gospel can never deliver what it promises because it doesn’t recognize the severity of the problem.

The Therapeutic Gospel does something else that’s devastating. It leads us to believe that it is our worth that motivates God’s action to save us. The thinking is, Jesus came to save us because we are so valuable to God. There is some truth in this. We have an inherent dignity, because we’re created in His image. It is a true concept that has a gradual drift. It is more Gnostic than anything else. A good example comes from comparing two parables. [see below]

The true Gospel is Christ centered. The Therapeutic Gospel ultimately fails to satisfy because it switches out the great reward of knowing God for the lesser reward of receiving something from God.

Pastor Wax compares the subtle shift in a counterfeit Gospel from being Christ-centered to man-centered, by comparing the parable of the sheep as they are presented in Luke and in the false Gospel of Thomas. Here is the Gospel of Luke:

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:4-7)

The other is from the non-canonical, false Gospel of Thomas.

“Jesus said, “The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them, the largest, went astray. He left the ninety-nine sheep and looked for that one until he found it. When he had gone to such trouble, he said to the sheep, ‘I care for you more than the ninety-nine.'” (FALSE, NON-CANONICAL “Gospel of Thomas”)

What has happened here, said Pr. Wax, is that in the counterfeit Gnostic gospel the writer has shifted the emphasis. The point of the parable in the counterfeit is about the worth of the sheep, instead of the work of the Shepherd.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christ is the ultimate possession. Nothing that the Therapeutic Gospel offers can ever satisfy. Anyway, consider this blog entry a kind of whetting your appetite for being on the alert for false Gospels. I’ve written and written about staying in the Word. Knowing His word in the bible is the best defense for spotting a false Gospel. Make sure you know the real thing!

Trevin Wax’s book is called Counterfeit Gospels.

Here is Tim Challies’ review of The Counterfeit Gospels.

Todd Friel’s Drive By Discernment is available on instant download, for $19.99. It contains 72 lectures that are under 15 minutes each.

Don’t fall for a therapeutic Gospel. Resolve to keep Jesus as the center of everything this year. With Jesus as your glory and your hope, it is the best start for the New Year and every year thereafter. Thanks to God’s grace, there will be an eternity of them for the believer.

Posted in false doctrine, gnostic, gnosticism

Gnosticism: Conclusion

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is the conclusion to a series exploring the ancient philosophy of Gnosticism. Gnosticism was the main source of heresy in New Testament times. The Apostles’ writings in John, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Jude, and 1 John all combat various elements of it.

The philosophy of the Gnostics is re-emerging today, and it doesn’t look that much different from the Gnosticism in the former days, either. It is a wide-ranging philosophy, with different aspects appearing in Hinduism, Buddhism, New Age, Liberal Christianity, Catholicism, Wicca, Psychology, and many other false religions and secular practices. However, there is a set of main elements that do regularly appear in Gnosticism. They are:

1. secret knowledge,
2. asceticism,
3. depreciation of Christ (lowering Him in name and in glory),
4. strict rule-keeping, ceremonies, or rituals
5. worship of angels,
6. and reliance on human wisdom and traditions

In my opinion, the most telling element is the promotion of secret knowledge. After all, Gnosis means knowledge.

“Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.” (1 Cor 8:1). Strong’s explains the word knowledge as used here, “Gnostics boasted of their “applied knowledge” gained by their personal spiritual experiences – and it was (is) disastrous!” Gnosticism is literally, “the cult based on having special, personal knowledge.”

Many people today boast they have personal knowledge gained directly from God, and they have been charged with sharing it. Even some so-called reformed or Southern Baptist teachers, preachers and authors do this in these apostate days. There is no religious corner, no denomination, no church that is free from the possibility of this infection.

Such false doctrine will spread like gangrene, as Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:16-17. Gangrene spreads fast. If you believe that your church can withstand a false teaching once it has infected, Paul’s deliberate use of the word gangrene via inspiration of the Holy Spirit should shake that notion right from your head.

The Spirit didn’t say false teaching is like leprosy, or like influenza, or like syphilis. He said gangrene. So what are the properties of a gangrenous infection?

First, the medical definition states, “Gangrene is the death of tissue in part of the body.” We know the global born-again church is a body. Jesus uses the metaphor of us being the body and He being the head. (Colossians 1:18). Gangrene is literally the death of some of the living tissue. How much gangrene does it take to kill living tissue? A pinprick. Further, gangrene is described as occurring when the affected tissue loses its blood supply. In the metaphor, when a person is apart from Jesus they do not have His blood covering, washing them clean from sin. The wages of sin is death, and gangrene is a disease that kills if left unattended.

Third, gangrene spreads fast. If you have been reading about the ‘new’ flesh-eating bacteria that has killed several people, this disease is really a form of gangrene. Within a day or so of the infections’ spread, large amounts of tissue must be excised in order to save the body. So in continuing the metaphor, if the infectious doctrine is not excised immediately, it will spread like a toxic wildfire and consume the flesh of all who absorb it.

The most famous recent example of this is the sermon Pastor Jim Murphy of First Baptist Church of Johnson City NY last July. One blogger summed up his sermon this way,

“Murphy clearly traces the disintegration of Christianity and its falling away from the truth of the gospel and into more and more error through history – from the attacks on the authority of scripture in the late 1940s, through 1960s liberalism, to modern day mysticism and contemplative spirituality. But in the final ten minutes of the message it becomes crystal clear that this is not mere academics for Pastor Murphy, he is brokenhearted by the error he sees within his own church body and frustrated by the lack of discernment which is due entirely to people not knowing and studying the Bible.”

In his sermon, Pastor Murphy said, “I’m here to ask your forgiveness. I expressed my concerns along the way in several areas but there were some things that I heard and saw that I was not comfortable with and I thought well, let’s just roll with this. It may be not that bad.”

It is that bad. Pastor Jim lamented that left unattended, the vines of false doctrine began choking their church library, the teaching curricula used in Sunday School, and eventually infected the minds and hearts of those in his congregation. They were being strangled by the kudzu tendrils of mysticism, gnosticism, paganism and every other -ism inching their way around their necks, stifling the life out of them. Pr. Murphy said he was rooting all that stuff out, and he was starting right then. I wrote about him and his sermon, The Subtlety of Satan, here, and here.

We started this series by mentioning the first Gnostic, satan, and his deception in the Garden. We end with it too. MacArthur said in his sermon The Danger of False Teaching,

“The people of God have always been plagued with false doctrine. The invasion of false prophets, false teachers, false apostles, false Christs has been something which the people of God have endured through all the ages of time. Satan attempts to oversow the truth with lies. He attempts to confuse the world so that they cannot perceive the truth of God by drowning them in a sea of deceit. It was Satan’s evil intended and clever misrepresentation of truth to Eve that plunged the whole of the human race into sin.”

People all want to be ‘in the know.’ The quest for secret knowledge is alluring, hence the success of satan in the Garden, and the success of Gnostics around the world. Yet what did the LORD say?

He says “the secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)

For example, John the Revelator was caught up to heaven and shown the things of the Day of the Lord. We know this as the book of Revelation. Because the Lord showed John, told John to write these things down, and they are now in the bible, we are supposed to know them. (Revelation 1:1-3). As a matter of fact, a person who hears the things in Revelation and takes them to heart is blessed. Therefore, we do not need to run after modern day prophets or Neo-Gnostics who claim they have an additional word to share, or a special prophecy about the end time, or have had a visit to heaven and must now tell others. I’d much rather stick with the promised blessing Jesus gave than some internet person or Christian celebrity who says he had an experience that is as authoritative as divine revelation.

Secondly: as to the secret knowledge, what is secret is secret! Even though John was given a thoroughly detailed prophecy, there is still a secret in Revelation.

“And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” (Revelation 10:4)

If it is secret, it belongs to God. If it is revealed in the bible, it is for us to know. Period. How rebellious it is to continue to seek what is God’s!

I hope this series has illuminated to you the importance of seeking knowledge from Whom the one who has all knowledge. His knowledge does not puff up, but instead awes us and humbles us. The truth is in the Word, not a person’s experience … not secret knowledge privately gained (2 Peter 2:20), not an emotional response to an event. At root, Gnosticism is a self-religion, and isn’t that exactly what the first lie is, anyway? Hath God said…? indicating that his word is not sufficent and we must do other things to gain the knowledge that will make us be like Him. (Genesis 3:4-5).

How wrongheaded this is!

If someone tells you they have the secret key to anything regarding God, run in the other direction. We are not God and no amount of secret information will make us be like Him. The saving knowledge is only repentance and trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus is, and that’s the Gospel truth.

——————-

For further study related to this topic:

What Is Spiritual Formation and Why Does It Matter?
John MacArthur on Spiritual Formation and Biblical Sanctification
The Steps of Biblical Sanctification
The Importance of Careful Bible Study
The Pitfalls of Biblical (Mis)Interpretation, Part 1

Pastor Jim Murphy’s sermon The Subtlety of Satan

Previous Gnosticism entries:

Introduction
Part 1: Secret Knowledge
Part 2: Asceticism
Part 3: Depreciation of Jesus
Part 4: Ceremonies & Rituals
Part 5: Worship of Angels
Part 6: Human traditions

Posted in discernment, false doctrine, the subtlety of satan

How a Pastor guards his flock: Jim Murphy’s sermon "The Subtlety of Satan" Part 2: God takes away the discernment of the elders

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Earlier today I wrote of a pastor in Johnson City NY who had preached a raw and compelling sermon to his flock on Sunday. The sermon is called The Subtlety of Satan, and it is a blessing and an encouragement to Christians who are fainting at the Tsunami waves of falsity swamping us, and the lack of reaction from brethren, leaders, and pastors who either don’t comment or worse, purposely allow it. In these dangerous times Paul wrote about, we know wolves will infiltrate the church, bringing with them poisonous teachings, false doctrine, myths of men, and much more.

But where are the discerning leaders who are protecting their sheep, speaking out against the false and wrong and dangerous? They are out there, laboring in corners of the nations, in home churches, in large churches, in small churches. Most of the time they are unacknowledged, and in many cases, unappreciated. The strong brother in a church sliding to apostasy may feel lonely, but there are still strong members of the body speaking for truth out there. The Lord is good to raise up strong, discerning, unafraid pastors who stand for truth in a dying, lying world. In this case, one of these strong pastors came to our attention. Thank you Lord.

Pastor Jim preached a sermon that was full of raw faith and strength, fierce for the truth and potent in warnings. It is called The Subtlety of Satan, by Pastor Jim Murphy at First Baptist Church of Johnson City, NY.

Deception is subtle. How do I know? Because satan is the liar and the father of lies, (John 8:44), who is out to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10). That is what the Word of God tells us. Further, it tells us that satan is the most subtle creature in the garden. (Genesis 3:1). We must not ignore the many warnings in both testaments about falsity. There is one True God and He is to be held above all else. He died to bring us the true testimony of the Gospel that saves.

Speaking against deception is speaking for Jesus.

Some may ask, OK, that is all well and good, but why does the pastor, or anyone, have to name names? Isn’t that unloving? No. Here is an analogy. We’ll use food. The word feeds us. (I Peter 2:2; Matthew 4:4; Job 23:12). Jesus is the bread of life. We thirst and He is the living water. There is good leaven and bad leaven. Food is the analogy.

So Baptists are known for their covered dish suppers. In the north they’re known as pot luck suppers. Long tables laden with food groan under the weight of all the covered dishes atop them which people brought. Church members gather to have fellowship or to celebrate. They eat together.

Source Decatur Daily

Scenario A: (names are made up)

Pastor Joe Smith is completely undiscerning. He has no idea that some of the food his flock are about to eat contains worms, dung, and poison. He does not warn them that wolves brought that food, because he does not know they are wolves. Why? If a pastor, teacher or elder fails consistently enough to pursue truth and learn to discern wheat from chaff, and fails to teach his flock how to discern good from evil, sometimes God takes away the discernment of the elders.

“He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.” (Job 12:20, ESV).

Gills’ Exposition, “Speech is proper to mankind, and a benefit unto them, whereby they can converse together, and communicate their minds to each other; this is the gift of God.” One of the Spirit’s gifts to men is that we are brought into the Light of His truth by seeking Him through His word. If He gives the gift of discernment, He can also take it away- and He does.

Geneva Bible Study warns of the results of the Job verse, “He causes their words to have no credit, which is when he will punish sin.”

These sheep under Pastor Joe Smith are at great risk. Not only are they not being warned, but they are through passive means being taught not to discern. And so, the students will become like their teacher. (Luke 6:40).

Scenario B1:

Pastor Pete Jones organizes a covered dish supper in his church’s fellowship hall. He knows that some of the people bringing food to the table are wolves, and he knows that some of the food will make his people sick, or even poison them. He has discernment, but he has a skewed view of what being “loving” is. His people eat heartily, pray, and sing, then they go home. Reports start to come in that this one is in the hospital, or that one fell away from church because they got sick, or this one died. Tearful congregants approach the pastor, and bitterly ask him, “You knew some of the food was bad! Why didn’t you warn us?” Pastor Peter replies, “Well, I didn’t want to be unloving. I thought that the wolves would be struck in their heart by our loving and tolerant attitude, seeing that we accept all food equally and in love, and they would convert.”

Scenario B2:

Mindful of the disaster at his previous church, pastor Pete, at a new church now, has grown a bit (a tiny bit) in his discernment. He organizes another covered dish supper. He knows that some of the people bringing food to the table are wolves. He knows which ones are wolves, too. He knows that some of the food will make his people sick, or even poison them. The potato salad has been left in the sun for hours, the hamburgers have e coli, and the apple pie was laced with cyanide. He knows which food is bad but he sees all the good food too. However, not wanting to have a repeat of the disaster that happened before, He prays over the food, and he warns his flock.

“People! Listen! Some of this food is bad for you! Some of it will make you sick. Some of it will kill you. Some of it will be delicious and fill you up. There. I have warned you.”

“But pastor, which food is bad? Who brought the poisonous dishes?”

“People. It would be unloving of me to name names. We might hurt that person’s feelings. It would be unloving of me to point to which food is bad, because they spent a long time making it and they brought it here sincerely today. We must not judge! OK, enough said, Buon Appetit!”

Scenario C:

Pastor Lupus organizes a covered dish supper. Over the course of the week, he had called his Canis friends and asked them to bring poisoned food to the supper. He sees that there are too many people in his congregation loving the Lord. He hates this. He wants to weed those Christians out. So he brings diseased food and knowingly feeds his flock with it. He knows that those strong eaters of the food will soon be gone and he will need his pews filled up. He doesn’t care that the strong ones go away and the weak ones die. He just wants replacements to fill his pews so he will look good. Feeding them evil food is the best way to do it. But he does it slowly and on the sly. He is the wolf, baying to his wolf friends to come into the church. The covered dish supper is the means to break his church because direct poison kills swiftly.

Many people were surprised that John Piper made Pastor Jim Murphy’s list of those who are failing their duty and who are bringing a false word. Piper has been a towering man of the faith for many years. But he is slipping. Not possible you say? Not Piper! Really? Look what happened to Solomon. The wisest man who ever lived became foolish in his old age. Is Piper different, or excused, or immune to the same fate? Are any of us? No.

The Lord God organizes all the affairs of men. He does what He wills. Discernment is a gift from Him, and a  mercy and a help. When He sees fit, He takes it away.

Matthew Henry comments on the Job verse about when Lord takes away the discernment of the elders. Think of John Piper when you read it. Or substitute any voice which once was strong but now is not.

“Those that were famed for eloquence, and entrusted with public business, are strangely silenced, and have nothing to say. He removeth away the speech of the trusty, so that they cannot speak as they intended and as they used to do, with freedom and clearness, but blunder, and falter, and make nothing of it.”

“Those that were bold and courageous, and made nothing of dangers, are strangely cowed and dispirited; and this also is the Lord’s doing: He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people, that were their leaders and commanders, and were most famed for their martial fire and great achievements; when any thing is to be done they are heartless, and ready to flee at the shaking of a leaf. Those that were driving on their projects with full speed are strangely bewildered and at a loss; they know not where they are nor what they do, are unsteady in their counsels and uncertain in their motions, off and on, this way and that way, wandering like men in a desert.”

Is John Piper excluded from this danger just because he is an elder of the faith, so successful for so many years? No! As a matter of fact he is more at risk. “The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands.” (Psalm 76:5).

That is why I keep saying, pray for our pastors! Pray, pray, pray; and then pray some more. He is a gift from God! And the pastors who are not discerning, not bold, not warning us? They are a judgment from God. Which pulpit do you want to sit in front of? Just think about that the next time you go to a covered dish supper. Which food are you being fed? Good healthy food (doctrine)? Or poisonous food (doctrine)? Don’t you want a pastor who will love you enough to feed you good food and to teach you how to tell if the food is good? And don’t you care enough about yourself- you who Jesus died for-to then go out and practice that discernment and growing in strength to detect good doctrine from bad, so you can then turn around and teach others?

Pray for Pastor Jim, if you would. God has blessed him with discernment, strength and fire! Do you see from this lesson how that is a gift and a blessing straight from God? Pray for the ones Pastor Jim named who are false. Pray for each other, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (1 Timothy 2:1 ESV). In all things, pray. (Phil 4:6)

Posted in beth moore, false doctrine, false teachers

Beth Moore: a type of false prophetess of the church at Thyatira?

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

There was an actual woman Jesus designated as a false prophetess who was corrupting the church at Thyatira. He also condemned the church for tolerating her! We know from the previous Bible examples that there will be again a type of false prophetess who corrupts the church.

Jesus’s letter regarding Thyatira was the longest of the seven. It enumerates a number of issues with that church. I’ll focus on the teachings of the false prophetess who was corrupting the sheep.

This Thyatiran church was tolerating sin and idolatry (also sexual immorality). Worse, it was tolerating a woman teacher who was promoting idolatry and not only were they tolerating it, but she had risen to such a point of prominence so that Jesus called her “Jezebel” (who was a queen who led the people into idolatry and immorality, and an eternal emblem of embodied rebellion). She was also prophesying in His name- falsely!

Now, it should be noted that this corruption was coming from a woman inside the church who was teaching the brethren, not from an outside influence. She was regarded as a sister in the faith. A prominent sister. So much so that she was given to teach and had gathered quite a few around her who were followers of her false teaching. The rest were tolerating it.

God wants a pure church. He wants Jesus to have a holy and virginal bride, and toleration of idolatry and false teaching is the opposite of that. This church at Thyatira was mightily besmirched.

However, to complicate matters, the verse in Rev. 2:19 says “as for your works, the last are more than the first.” They were loving, working and doing more that they had at the first. This makes it incredibly hard to separate the sinful idolatry from the loving works. They were not loveless, but they were tolerating sin, which is loveless. The unaddressed sin would eventually eat them up. By the second century there was no church at Thyatira any more. It had died. So obviously loving works alone are not enough to carry a church through. There must be solid doctrine and discerning elders properly identifying false doctrine and rooting it out.

In Thyatira, they were tolerating a false teaching and false propheying. They were accepting of a woman who had taken a place of leadership in teaching, she was preaching and prophesying which is forbidden to women in the church. The church congregation was tolerating these evils. Though the verse above calls them out for eating foods sacrificed to idols, nowadays, we do not sacrifice food to idols. However the notion there was of spiritual adultery, and spiritual adultery is certainly an issue today.

Can you think of one woman who perhaps fits the type that is described in the Letter to Thyatira?

Beth Moore, perhaps?

I think we can see that in Beth Moore’s fans, they exhibit what is called the idol worshiping excessive devotion to her that goes beyond a simple preference for one teacher over another. This is idolatry.

John MacArthur, in his sermon The Pathology of False Teachers, defines what false teaching IS: “It could be error about Christ, error about His lineage, error about His virgin birth. Someone who teaches contrary to the sinless perfection of Christ, contrary to His substitutionary atoning death on the cross, contrary to His resurrection, contrary to His miraculous life and works, His perfect teaching, His Second Coming, His high priestly ministry of intercession, His eternal reign, any of that. Anyone who teaches differently than that. It could be a denial of the authenticity of Scripture, the inspiration of Scripture, the authority of Scripture, the inerrancy of Scripture. It could be a denial of the work and ministry and person of the Holy Spirit as revealed on the pages of holy Scripture.”

In Mrs Moore’s case her falsity comes in her denial of the authority of Scripture by de facto writing her own. She also denies the authority of scripture by rebelling against it. She denies the sufficiency of Scripture by de facto claiming to write scripture herself. She also denies the sufficiency of scripture by teaching her own visions instead. If you are just reading for the first time that there are concerns with Mrs Moore’s teachings, please note that I have many examples of these concerns on the sidebar to your right. Other bloggers have also listed their concerns here, here, and here. I state unequivocally that through spirit-led study and discernment that my proposal is she is currently Christianity’s greatest counterfeit.

Her teaching denies the inspiration of Scripture, the authority of Scripture, the inerrancy of Scripture by inserting herself as another authority by reception of divine revelation outside the Bible. She has been subtle. However, her false teaching is rapidly becoming more bold. She says that she hears God personally telling her to do things or to teach things, this is a denial of the authority of scripture when you receive direct revelation and teach it as authoritative. She said recently she was lifted up to another dimension to see the church from Jesus’s perspective through Jesus’s eyes and returned to tell what she saw. This is prophetess. She says a book was delivered to her heart in toto by God with a force as compelled to put ink on paper. This is spirit writing, an idolatry that consorts with the devil. She says if she had not written her book that the rocks in her yard would have cried out, which is not only a claim that her writing is scripture, but is actually blasphemy.  More here.

All false teachers gather to themselves followers who exhibit excessive devotion. These followers defend their favored teacher almost violently. Many call themselves a “Beth Moore groupie.” The word “groupie” is … a derisive term used to describe a particular kind of female fan assumed to be more interested in sex with rock stars than in their music.” In Mrs Moore’s case it is the emotional intimacy they seek, because Mrs Moore is a self-help guru using the Bible as a platform from which to read ourselves into the text for temporal help with astray emotions, rather than a sacred text to discern more about Jesus. In the groupie’s mind they seek more intimacy with the false teacher than with Jesus. Any person who has become the substitution of adoration aside from Jesus is worshiping an idol.

Many female fans are more interested in following this false teacher than the One whom they are supposed to be learning about. Like this lady who titled her blog entry “Confessions of a Beth Moore groupie“. Or this lady, who calls herself a BM groupie and says that if Mrs Moore is anywhere within driving distance, she goes to see her. Or this lady who made tank tops and took a photo of the self-admitted groupies in her group to send to the object of their adoration. Or this lady who calls herself a groupie and jokes that she amazingly strayed once from Mrs Moore to take a study under someone else (Priscilla Shirer, another false teacher). This lady calls herself not only a Beth Moore groupie, but a Beth Moore addict. I can go on with the myriad of ladies online who self-profess excessive devotion to a person who is not Jesus, but you get the idea.

The verse from 2 Timothy 4:3 applies best here: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears...” Let’s unpack this phrase by phrase.

First, these ladies do not want sound doctrine. They have already rejected it.

Second, they want to suit their own desires. There is nothing in the universe more powerful than satisfying our own fleshly desires. It got Eve, then Adam. 1 John 2:16 applies here: “For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world.” It is one reason for the vehement defense of Mrs Moore and the violently verbal rejection of anyone sharing concerns about Mrs Moore.

Third, they ‘heap up teachers.’ This part of the verse always reminded me of a child at the beach, heaping up sand next to themselves, or a child at Christmas, heaping up toys.

Fourth, their ears itch. An itch MUST be satisfied. The Greek word for itch here is knéthó, itch, rub, tickle, or from a late word meaning ‘scrape.’ This brings to mind the extreme scene of itching Job experienced when he had boils, and used a pot sherd to scrape them. He didn’t care if his very skin was scraped off, he had to satisfy that tickle so badly, even if it hurt him. (Job 2:8).

It is not simply a difference of opinion in one Bible teacher over another. Where satan has successfully installed a false teacher who is drawing many away from sound doctrine, he will fight to the death to keep it that way. Here is a great short essay in Why Idolatry is so Attractive. If you read it, you will see why the ladies react the way they do, and why it is so hard to get a Beth Moore lover away from her teaching.

No, she does not call herself a prophetess, but she acts in the prophetess role when she says she received a word from God audibly, directly, or through a vision and was ‘told’ to go out and speak it to the people. Defenders of Mrs Moore pick at points such as the aforementioned, but in looking at false teachers and the type of false prophetess described in the letter to Thyatira, we look at what they do, not just at what they say. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck.

I have shared with you an interpretation specific to Thyatira of what Jesus warned, and of which we discern also will happen to the churches throughout the age. I applied an understanding of how Mrs Moore may be filling a type of role Jesus prophesied will occur. I ask you to ponder it, pray, and decide for yourself. I believe that Beth Moore is a type of false prophetess so deeply embedded in the body of the true church that her deep things of satan are corrupting it. That is my opinion, based on research, discernment, and prayer.

Meanwhile, Jesus said to those who do NOT hold to this false prophetess’s teaching, this or any false teaching, I remind us of Jesus’s words, “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come.”

Hold fast to the truth! He knows who does not fall to the deep things of satan, and has their reward in mind. One stays fast to the truth by continually studying the real thing, praying, and submitting to the Spirit’s generous leading into discernment. If you know the real thing, then you can spot the counterfeit. Watch out for popular false prophetesses, Thyatira, and hold fast, Jesus is coming!

discernment1

Posted in false doctrine, the daniel fast

If you have concerns about The Daniel Fast…

Posted on by elizabethprata

Here are scriptures that address the issue. In my opinion, the verses clearly show that The Daniel Fast cannot be supported by Scripture. Information about the Daniel Fast here & here.

Comparing The Daniel Fast to Scripture:

Matthew 6:16-18
“Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Jesus taught us to go out of our way to conceal the fast. he said to keep it secret. How much clearer can it be?

Colossians 2:23 says:
“These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

Mark 7:19 all foods are declared clean.

1 Corinthians 8:8: “Food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat.”

Therefore, food is neither spiritually good nor bad. So the more a teacher insists on imposing fasting on me the more concerned I become. Fasting is a private, Holy Spirit inspired activity usually and traditionally associated with grief, repentance, or for a specific purpose that Jesus relegates to a private matter between a believer and God, vertically. A fast is never presented as a spiritual activity in and of itself. There is no scripture in the NT that I have found that supports fasting as a church activity used as a mechanism for growth.

In churches that take up this fad, there is often a public contract to sign to declare one’s intention to maintain the fast for the three week period. It is legalistic to me to sign a public contract. To consult a man-made list of foods deemed acceptable or unacceptable is a doctrine of men. The Daniel Fast promoters and Jentezen Franklin have made it an activity on some name it-claim it spiritual check-off list, a horizontal display of public piety laden with potentials for hypocrisy and pride, exactly what Jesus said not to do.

1 Cor 8:9-13 goes on to say be careful you do not cause a brother to stumble, (in being careless with the new liberty to eat all foods). I believe the principle is the same in its opposite sense, do not set the new brother up on a legalistic restriction of foods by artificial means because his new conscience can’t take that either.

Verse 9: “And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.”

Eating one kind of food, and abstaining from another, have nothing in them to recommend a person to God. So Paul cautions against putting a stumbling-block in the way of the weak by entangling them in guilt. Presenting a list of approved or non-approved foods that the weaker brethren may partake in is a recipe for causing a brother to stumble when/if he fails this artificial food fasting test. The verse says doing this to the weaker brothers not only causes injury to the brother but is a sin against Jesus. Put simply,

Don’t force on a brother what God is not forcing on him by his conscience!

1 Timothy 4:1-5 says in part:
“But the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will [a]fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”

That verse says clearly that men in the latter times who advocate abstaining from foods are following a doctrine of demons.

Romans 14:17 says:
“The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Colossians 2:20-22
“Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men?”

The Scriptures are clear. So when a leader belabors fasting to me, it’s time to stand up and using the scriptures, say STOP! Shame is on the teacher or pastor who falsely claims any biblical authority whatsoever to restrain my diet. I reject efforts to impose non-biblical standards on my conscience. No man has permission to go beyond what is written in the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 4:6). God is specific in His will. We cannot presume that we can take the smallest detail and ignore it. This fasting program ignores the clear scriptures and I reject it for that reason.

FALSE DOCTRINE

Protecting the Gospel from false doctrine is the theme of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus and issues regarding it appears in Jude, Ephesians, Colossians, Acts…suffice it to say the NT is permeated with warnings of false doctrines and instructions on what to do about it throughout much of the NT.

2 Tim. 4:2-3 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine”.

2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires:”

Hebrews 13:9 “Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with foods, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.”

Therefore, if I interpret rightly, what is my duty to Jesus and His Word if my church promotes this legalistic and worldly fad?

THE DUTY TO POINT OUT FALSITY

The main thing that Paul has in mind in the writing of 1Timothy 1:7-11 is to encourage Timothy to bring the church to a place of sound doctrine and godly living. He is concerned about the impact to the brethren of false teachers, as we all should be.

1 Timothy 5:20: “Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.”

Titus 1:13: “This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith.”

Titus 2:15: “These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.”

There are many more verses related to the duty of the Christian in pointing out false teaching. Paul rebuked Peter at Antioch. This shows us that anyone can fall under a false teaching, even Peter, and that anyone can and should oppose it to their face, as Paul did. (Gal 2, Acts 15).

In many cases when a false teaching is pointed out, the reaction will be of anger, but always remain calm, and insist that the scriptures be shown that supports their opinion. We are all responsible to Jesus for what we believe and for what we allow to occur in His name. Be strong and kind when pointing out that your understanding of the scriptures does not support the Daniel Fast, but do not hesitate to do so if that is your understanding and if led by the Holy Spirit. Be a Berean!
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Posted in bible, false doctrine, false teachers

Why we name false teachers

Posted on by elizabethprata

Christians are called to love one another. However foremost and primarily we are called to live in truth and protect the truth. So many times John rejoices over the new Christians walking in the truth, in 1 John, 2 John, 3 John… Do not mix up loving the brethren with remaining silent when false teaching comes for the sake of peace. If you love them you will speak up.

The Word is a precious gift, bought with the blood of our own Savior so that it could be inspired by the Spirit to men whom God loves so dearly. It is God’s own revelation of Himself to us for Godly living and proper worship. 2 Timothy 4:2 tells us to —

“preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

I submit to you that the Word is out of season at this present time. It is very hard today to cut through the accumulated baggage that is American Christianity. There are fads, books, ridiculous doctrines, liberalism, and attacks on the very foundations of the most basic truths of the faith. Under most attack today are the notions of hell as a place for eternal punishment of the unrighteous, that Jesus died for sins and rose again on the third day, and that Jesus is the only way to heaven. One out of season approach to the Word that particularly grieves me is when people say “take God out of the box” we have put Him in and they stay away from conviction of their convictions. No, God is not in a box, He is infinite. But He purposely revealed  Himself in the 66 books of the bible and that is the God He wants us to know at this time. He didn’t make Himself uninterpretable and He didn’t make Himself unclear in that revelation. There is more to God, but for now, we work with what we have, and that is the God in the bible. Which ironically often comes in a box.

Paul warned that a major end times sign is that they will not endure sound doctrine. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires:” (2 Timothy 4:3).  It doesn’t say that they will not endure doctrine, but sound doctrine. The Greek word “sound” in the part of the verse ‘sound doctrine’ means healthy, pure, well as in not-sick. It means as opposed to a debilitating sickness. And that is what unsound doctrine is, sickness.

It reminds me of the verse in 2 Timothy 2:17. Paul urged the workers in the faith to remain strong, refuting the words of false teachers such as Hymenaeus and Philetus, and Paul said something interesting here. He said that their teachings will spread like gangrene. The Greek word used here gangraina means gangrene, just as we know it today. A cankerous, spreading, oozing sore sickness. The US National Library of Medicine defines gangrene as “the death of tissue in part of the body.” The church is the body of Christ. Does that resonate with you, or what?

Paul is saying that false teachings kill off parts of  the body in oozing, putrid, destructive manner. Worse, the method of death of this tissue is defined as happening “when a body part loses its blood supply.” Jesus paid for the body with His blood so when we are cut off from the blood of Jesus by false teachings we are in very severe danger! That is what false teaching does, causes destruction to a part of the Body. The Holy Spirit was so apt in using gangrene as a metaphor! How wonderful He is!

So how do doctors treat gangrene? If it is caught before the infection goes too far, it is removed through a medical term called debridement, a medical word meaning the precise removal in an exact surgical procedure excising just the infected tissue. (I don’t want to get carried away with stretching metaphors too widely, but the body of the church is called the Bride…) However, if gangrene is left untreated for too long, a larger part of the body may need to be amputated. Finally, if left untreated for too, too long, the whole organism dies.

As far as the Word goes, I submit to you that failure to correct false teaching in firm manner over the last few decades has led us to the very brink of this apostate time, when Jesus said asked if, when He returns in His second coming, will He find faith upon the earth? (Luke 18:8.) One can almost imagine the gangrenous, disgusting thing that religion will have become by then, left untreated. And the pure parts that are left will have been amputated do deeply there may only be one finger or one toe remaining in light and in truth. Sorry for the gross images, but Paul started it!

So what are we to do when coming across a false teaching? Now I admit it is easier to point to a false teaching when finding a false teaching like Jentezen Franklin or Joel Osteen, or Beth Moore or Billy Graham because they are far away and we can simply turn the channel, walk by their table at the book store without purchasing, or say no to taking up their simulcast. But what happens when the false teaching comes to your church and you have to endure it week after week? Now there is a problem and I tell you up front is the hardest thing in the world to handle. Many, many people won’t, can’t, or don’t. And that is why we are in this apostate situation. Brothers and Sisters, you have to point it out!

But before you do, make sure that you have prayed, loved, walked, studied, waited, watched, and prayed some more. Then and only then when the Spirit assures you the time is right, go public. Be ready for blowback of satanic proportions!

People will question your authority to point out a false teaching, especially if your pastor is promoting it. This is very good, we should be questioned when we say a church leader or pastor is promoting a false teaching. (That is why you have to be very sure that the Spirit led you to the right conclusion). Read these following verses but be sure to read them in the context of the chapters later so you have a thorough understanding of the mandate and burden to publicly exhort against a false teaching.

1 Timothy 5:20: Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.

Titus 1:13: This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith

Titus 2:15: These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

But am I sure we are to do this to a brother? Yes. When Peter went off the rails in Antioch, Paul opposed Peter to his face. “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” (Galatians 2:11-14). What? Wasn’t Peter saved? Not condemned? Well John 3:18 says we condemn ourselves by what we believe and Peter had condemned himself by accepting a false teaching. It also could mean that the Gentile believers at Antioch were condemning Peter already. There was a ruckus and it was known that a division was happening in the church there because of the divisive nature of the Judaizers’ false teaching.

It was particularly hard because the co-pastor at Antioch, Barnabas, Paul’s beloved Barnabas! was now also being carried away too. Gangrene spreads, and Paul must have been grieved to see he was losing Barnabas to the hypocrisy dividing the church there. Peter was the most highly thought of in all of Christendom. But that didn’t stop Paul, because Jesus is even higher than that and it is His name we defend. He got to the point in Gal 2:14 where when he “saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the Gospel.” Paul waded in, knowing that the truth was more important than keeping peace. He opposed Peter to his face. The Spirit saw fit to include that in the record so we must use that as a pattern for today. When public sin against the Gospel encroaches on the church, there must be immediate and unequivocal church discipline to rectify it. Otherwise when we preach holiness and purity but don’t get rid of unholiness and impurity, we destroy our own credibility.

Now to the other point. Many people say not to name names. However, throughout the New Testament, we are told who was sinning and why. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, Saducees, Scribes and Herodians. (Matthew 16:6-12 and Matthew 23:15). Paul rebuked Peter in Gal 2. Paul dealt with Hymenaeus, Philetus (1 Tim 1:20), and Demas (2 Tim 4:9-10). Peter dealt with Simon the Sorcerer and Ananaias/Sapphira (though these last two were not false teachers bringing false doctrine, but liars bringing hypocrisy to the tithe or grieving the Spirit). Names were named.

We know the names of the false doctrines too, not just the people perpretrating them. There were the  Judaizers/Legalists, (Acts 15:1), Gnosticism (1 Timothy 6:20-21, and likely was what Paul was dealing with in 1 Cor 8),  Asceticism (Colossians 2:18-23), Antinomianism (2 Timothy 3:2-9). There are other false doctrines, but suffice to say, why do we know the names of these false doctrines now? Names were named.

Most of these false doctrines are still around today, and indeed it is a blessing that they were named, so we can identify them and combat them in same manner as the forefathers of the faith did.

I have tried to show you that false doctrines and teachings are a gangrenous cancer that must be opposed and excised. It is uncomfortable to do this and it seems excessive to name names. But let me put it to you this way. Knowing now that false teaching kills the body, let us think of false teaching as a runaway train hurtling toward your town and potentially crashing into the houses and businesses lining the track.

The first thing to decide is, IS there a runaway train, and is it on our track? Have we heard the report correctly? Paul saw that they were not straighforward, and to me this means he had examined the issue up close and had proof. It doesn’t say “Paul heard…” or, “Paul wondered…”If it is a true report of a runaway train, would you stand by and say nothing? Would you say, “Well, the people in the houses are asleep, they will get mad at me if I call them at this hour. I better stay quiet for the sake of peace.” Of course not! But that is what people expect us to do when we spot a false teaching.

Secondly, do you make the call to the house owners in the path of destruction and say this:

“Get out! there is a runaway train coming!”
“Where is it?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
Well, from what direction is it coming?”
“I can’t tell you that either.”
“What is the name of the train? Which train?”
“Sorry, I can’t tell you.”
“What time will it get here?”
“I can’t tell you that as well.”
“Why can’t you tell me the specifics???”
“Because I don’t want to offend the train.”

What good is sounding the alarm if you won’t go into specifics? Failure to be specific on behalf of not wanting to cause trouble for the perpetrators of false teaching is actually saying you prefer to besmirch the name of Jesus because you don’t want to offend satan!

It is not easy to do this though. It is not easy to discern false teaching, it takes prayer and study. It is not easy to stand up to the spiritual leaders and say they are wrong. It is not easy to maintain your convictions in the face of blowback. They will make you quail and they will make you doubt.

But look at our gracious God:

Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD. (Jeremiah 1:7). He was true to Jeremiah and He will be with you as well,

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20). We are to go forth teaching and protecting the sound doctrines of the Gospel in the disciples and He will be with us to the end.
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