Screen shot of the Justin Peters’ title card for his talk at G3 2023 National Conference
I have returned home to digest the edifying material I absorbed at the recent G3 National Conference in Atlanta. This is a 3-day conference featuring stupendous music (solid hymns accompanied by orchestral instruments), and wonderful preaching all around a theme. This year the theme was The Sovereignty of God.
Many different sermons were offered on the topic. There are endless ways to plumb the topic. You could do so for a thousand years and not even come close to scratching the surface.
A common question heard around the convention hall was “Which one was your favorite?” Every man who was selected to preach or woman who was selected to lead a breakout session has the skill to exegete their portion of scripture, and do so expertly. It isn’t a question of personality. It’s a question is which presentation spoke to your mind, which session that the Holy Spirit convicted you with or that He encouraged you with. It’s a spiritual question.
Emotions do play a part, yes. When one is convicted or encouraged on the basis of the preached word, it not only illuminates your mind but it expands your heart. The word does something to you. It is living and active after all.
The material presented to me at the G3 conference which most affected both my my mind and my heart, is Justin Peters’ talk on how false teachers attack the sovereignty of God.
False teachers attack God’s sovereignty through His omniscience, through His use of suffering and sickness, through His solitariness, through His work in salvation, and through him in general. Justin culled clips from some of the most popular of the heretical speakers of the day who demonstrated these points.
It’s one thing for a speaker to say the quotes, it is quite another for us to watch these people say them. AND have their audiences by the masses…applaud.
Their heresies were jaw-droppingly blasphemous. They were unutterably sickening. They were unrelentingly scandalous.
When Justin presented a clip featuring one of these false teachers saying one of their heresies and blasphemies, the G3 audience at Justin’s session would groan or exclaim involuntarily. We could not help it. Truly, it is amazing how deeply the false teachers hate God.
So, why would I bask in this session? Why would I say it was my favorite? Why would I even want to come close to a presentation featuring this cesspool of abyss-worthy hate?
Have you ever gone to a real jewelry store? Or seen someone on TV or a movie go to a jewelry store? Maybe you’re looking for fine jewelry for your mother, or you’re a man looking or an engagement ring for your girlfriend. You peer down into the glass case and see a jewel you like. You ask the clerk to please take it out of the case so you can get a better look. What does he do?
He takes it out for you. You anticipate looking at the sparkle and brilliance. But that is not all he takes out. He places a square of black velvet on the counter too, and lays the jewel on it. Why?
The black backdrop of the velvet enhances the brilliance of the diamond. It can be seen more clearly. Its sparkle is brighter. The jewel remains sharp and well-defined against the dark background.
And so it is. When a heretic’s words issue forth into the air, they become the black backdrop to the Lord’s brilliance in holiness and purity. The contrast makes me see the Lord as exalted even higher. My love for Him increases, and my hatred of my own sin grows. Seeing black sin for what it is against the purity of our Holy God is a contrast I always want to keep present in my mind.
Now, I don’t recommend a steady diet of purposefully seeking to contrast heresy vs. Truth. Swimming in heretical waters is a risk and not one that we take lightly. The Lord has done a superlative job of keeping Justin Peters sane and spiritually safe as he researches these items to bring to his audience’s attention. For me, it’s not a risk I want to take very often. But once in a while when the opportunity presents itself, like it did at G3, reminding myself with knowledge of the hatred these false teachers have for God, and refreshing my own soul with reminders of God’s brilliance as THE jewel of the universe, is good for me.
It also propels me into a desire to always be a precise steward of the truth. Falsity begins somewhere. These heretics didn’t start out at the bottom of the abyss. Sin is incremental, and it grows. I don’t ever want even a germ of falsity in my writing or speaking the glories of Jesus. I know there will be at times, because I’m not glorified and I have a mind that needs renewing every day. But the goal is to minimize it and to cast it out when its presence is brought to my attention. Heresy is a death sentence. But it begins with a small waver from the center line of orthodoxy.
So that is why I liked the conference session about false teachers best.
RightNow Media is “A streaming library of more than 20,000 Bible study videos for leaders to share with their people.” The organization says the streaming, virtual app will “help you equip and disciple your people every day of the week.” They also offer streaming libraries to various ages in schools, from elementary to High School. And they also have programs and platforms for work environments that include training programs on leadership and teamwork, and so on. RightNow has “more than 25,000 Christian Bible study videos for church leaders to share with their people and small groups. The app and video content supports 9 languages and serves more than 25,000 churches around the world.”
Reviewers and users call RightNow Media “essentially the Netflix of Christian media”, “a useful tool”, “wonderful, Bible-based content from Christian leaders throughout the world” and more.
This would be an acceptable thing, if the app wasn’t stuffed with so many false teachers.
In addition, the media outlet says that “Everything we do at RightNow Media is rooted in Jesus’s promise that God will use his people to change the world.”
The modern, progressive church likes that mantra- ‘change the world.’ We are not called to change the world but to call people to repentance and belief in the Gospel, and to make disciples. The world is going to end in fire and be made new. Meanwhile, we seek souls to share the Gospel with before GOD changes the world.
I’m wary of virtual church anything, first and foremost. I understand the temptation to rely on streaming networks for small groups in discipleship, but it’s best to have live leaders using the Bible, present and engaged with you.
I watched carefully when RightNow Media initially came along. I was dismayed when it was soon flooded with teachers who teach either falsely or have serious issues with their theology with great parts at variance with the New Testament.
Here is a sampling of some of the teachers at RightNow Media I not only don’t recommend, but urge you to mark and avoid: Rick Warren, Patrick Lencioni, Chris Lowney (Lencioni and Lowney are both practicing Catholics), Ann Voskamp, Matt Chandler, Stormie Omartian, Beth Moore, Lisa Harper, Max Lucado, Jen Wilkin, Kay Warren, Louie Giglio, Kyle Idleman, Andy Stanley, John Maxwell. Mystic Dallas Willard’s series “Hearing God” is on there.
Yes there was Alistair Begg and RC SProul and Stephen Nichols, solid men, and probably a few other more solid teachers I didn’t see among the vast listings that I’d recommend, but that’s all. A few drops in the face of a tsunami of teachers and ministries I would not recommend is not a good balance. And yes, there appears to be a feature for church administrators to ‘hide’ media they do not wish their flock to be exposed to. But there are so many, the Admin would be spending all his time vetting and hiding rather than using.
Here is a more explicit look at a few of the teachers at RightNow I would not recommend, and why:
Jennie Allen: She founded “If:Gathering” a parachurch organization which is separate from any church oversight, and in addition to online teachings and an annual conference, encourages female real life fellowshipping around some studies distinct from their own churches, which actually ends up competing with local churches. The online gatherings and the annual conference is hosted by many false teachers. Jennie founded IF:Gathering when in her own words, “a voice from the sky” told her to “gather and equip women for this generation”. However, the gathering and equipping was a charge given by the Apostles to local churches, not free-wheeling women responding to a voice from the sky.
Anne Voskamp is a mystical panentheist who uses sensual language to describe her relationship with Christ. Bob DeWaay is a super good writer and discerner who wrote about the troubling beliefs of Voskamp here:
Andy Stanley preached in a Christmas message (!) that “Christianity doesn’t hinge on the truth or even the stories of Jesus (!?Stories?) it really hinges on the resurrection of Jesus.” He downplays the virgin birth, 90-second explanation here, from Pastor Gabe Hughes, who also runs the Ministry When We Understand the Text (WWUTT). https://youtu.be/pXj-qoEQpW8
Andy Stanley also famously preached that the church includes unbelievers, that one can and should “unhitch” from the Old Testament, and more. A roundup of his heretical views is here: “Polite Leader” Alan Hunter who included a few famous folks in his video rebuttal of Andy Stanley’s errant views and included more links to critiques of his heresies. https://youtu.be/DENmtufQvhk
JD Greear: A known plagiarist (he stole/borrowed/took sermons from Tim Keller and gave his own sermons to SBC President Ed Litton), and buys his sermons from Docent, an organization that prepares sermon materials for a wide range of Evangelical pastors regardless of doctrinal convictions. He also preached that God only whispers about homosexuality…
Mark Batterson: known for his ‘Circle Maker’ books (a practice with no biblical precedent but lots of witchcraft precedent) is reviewed here, negatively, by respected book reviewer and pastor, Tim Challies. https://www.challies.com/book-reviews/the-circle-maker/
John Eldredge: known for his ‘Wild at Heart books’, Tim Challies said he’d intended to review it but found it “was so full of error and absolutely ridiculous nonsense that I just didn’t have the heart to document it all. Honestly, I was frustrated and discouraged to see that a book like Wild at Heart could make it to the top of the Christian best-seller’s lists.” Nevertheless, Gary Gilley of Southern View Chapel and ministry Think on These Things, did write a respected review, here-
Derwin Gray of Transformation Church regularly has women preach the Sunday Service, including Beth Moore.
Tim Keller: had a woman teach a co-ed course on Catholic practices in a class called Way of the Monk; he has embraced the “social justice” movement, talked about the ‘corporate guilt’ of white America as being ‘systemically racist’. When asked if there was one God and only one way TO that God, Keller did not answer forthrightly, saying ‘IF Jesus is who he says he is…” and it got worse from there, and pressed again by the interviewer, Keller said he is on a “need to know basis”. See the clip here-
I do not know every teacher on Right Now Media but enough of them are OBVIOUSLY troubling to the max, that no person – especially one new to the faith or undiscerning – should be exposed to them.
I’d offer a streaming alternative for individuals wanting some solid teaching. Sproul’s Ligonier Ministry, offers courses long and short, some free and others for low cost. RefNet, an outreach of Ligonier of streaming media includes hymns, devotionals, and teachings. It’s free. The website Exposit the Word has different teachers teaching every book of the Bible and as far as I know they are solid, and that website is free. Justin Peters Ministries has a free daily reading through the entire Bible, plus many other discernment videos for your edification. Answers.tv is a new Streaming Service from AiG (Answers in Genesis). Subscribers get exclusive livestreams of conferences, science programs for kids and the family, creationist documentary programs, and much more. There is a kids’ music stream too. Its cost is $4.99/month or $39.99/year.
I’m sorry so many churches are using RightNow media. I do not recommend the streaming outlet RightNow Media for churches or for individuals. Though there may be a few teachers on there that are solid, there is too much temptation for the false to creep in, and that is not a good thing.
False teachers creep into the church almost unnoticed. They hide their true faith, which is faith in themselves, propelled by satan and satanic desires. In other words, they oppose God in every way. They aren’t believers, but God knows this and has already marked them out for condemnation.
They think that if they adopt the right outer garments, speak the right things, adopt the right behavior and perform the right postures, they will blend in. Some do, for a while. But sin always reveals itself eventually. Either their false doctrine or their sinful lifestyle will expose them to the discerning believer. The inner becomes outer.
They think they blend in, but God has stationed discerning faithful at his watchtowers of His churches. We can spot them. This is what they look like to us. Their faces betray the twisted inner self of their nasty soul.
AI generated
Nathaniel Jolly has written an essay for G3 Ministries about the danger false teachers pose. I urge you to go to the link below and read the piece in its entirety. He goes through the book of Jude and explains the five metaphors Jude uses to illustrate the danger of false teachers. And they are dangerous.
These false teachers are hidden reefs, clouds without water, autumn trees without fruit, waves of sea foam, wandering stars.
Their aim is to corrupt your soul. If you are not a genuine believer yet, their goal is to draw you away. If you are a genuine believer, you cannot lose your salvation, but you can lose time in producing fruit for the glory of the Lord. You can be swayed from the center line of the doctrines, and minimized in your effectiveness for His church during the time you followed such and such false teacher.
Therefore, false teachers pose a very real danger to you and your local church. Many safety officers advise being situationally aware:
situation awareness conscious knowledge of the immediate environment and the events that are occurring in it. Situation awareness involves perception of the elements in the environment, comprehension of what they mean and how they relate to one another, and projection of their future states. In ergonomics, for example, it refers to the operator’s awareness of the current status and the anticipated future status of a system,” According to the American Psychological Association.
In all the definitions I read, the ultimate goal of good situational awareness is so that the person can make good decisions. You gather intel from all the situations around you on a constant basis, being aware of locations, events, atmospheres. After collecting those elements, make your decision. It’s sometimes not even a conscious process, but it always an ongoing one. Or should be. In the case of the Christian in church, first we test all things, (1 Thessalonians 5:21), so that we can make good decisions. We collect information on teachings, hymns, concepts, of whatever comes across our path in church or out that has the name of Jesus attached to it. Then we make our decisions whether to follow that teacher, sing that hymn, watch that show. We decide whether to raise an alarm with elders, share with the spouse, or protect the kids.
As always when I speak of discernment, be vigilant. Be sober. (1 Peter 5:8). And read Nathaniel’s article! 🙂
Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. (1 Peter 4:9).
Hospitality in Bible times in Palestine was a serious matter. There were cultural expectations, protocols, and traditions. The word host or hospitable is from a Greek word philoxenia meaning “love of strangers”.
• a greeting with bow or kiss (Gen 18:2; 19:1) • a welcome for the guest to come in (Gen 24:31) • an invitation to rest (Gen 18:4; Judg 4:19) • an opportunity to wash (Gen 18:4; 19:2; 24:32) • a provision of food and drink (Judg 4:19; 19:5) • an invitation to converse (Gen 24:33) • a provision of security (Gen 19:8) Source- “Hospitality” from The Lexham Bible Dictionary
We read much in the Old Testament about hospitality. It was expected to offer shelter and grace to those sojourning among them, because back in the day the Israelites were sojourners themselves. It was considered almost a sacred duty! Lack of hospitality was condemned. (Numbers 20:14–21; Deuteronomy 23:3–4).
In the New Testament we read Jesus’ parables urging believers to be hospitable even outside the 4 walls of one’s home, with the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the Parable of the Midnight Visitor. Jesus was the recipient of much hospitality since He had no place to lay His head, and relied on the hospitality of others (such as Mary/Martha/Lazarus) when he lodged for a period of time.
Lydia was quite hospitable. A native Thyatiran, living in Philippi, the first thing she did after her conversion was to press upon the band to come lodge at her house.
A woman named Lydia was listening; she was a seller of purple fabrics from the city of Thyatira, and a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. 15 Now when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us. (Acts 16:14-15).
The first New Testament missionaries would have had to rely on this Palestinian tradition of gracious lodging, made all the more sweet because of the message the missionaries carried.
As the first Christian churches were founded, the exercise of hospitality took on a new aspect, esp. after the breach with the Jews had begun. Not only did the traveling Christian look naturally to his brethren for hospitality, but the individual churches looked to the traveler for fostering the sense of the unity of the church throughout the world. Hospitality became a virtue indispensable to the well-being of the church—one reason for the emphasis laid on it (Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2). As the organization of the churches became more perfected, the exercise of hospitality grew to be an official duty of the ministry and a reputation for hospitality was a prerequisite in some cases (1 Timothy 3:2; 5:10; Titus 1:8). Source- The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia.
That is why John’s words were shocking. In some cases, believers were instructed to DENY hospitality to another. It was a big, countercultural step. 1 Corinthians 5:11 instructs the believer thus:
But now I am writing to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or greedy, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
Believers were to DENY hospitality to anyone who teaches false doctrine. These false teachers were entering homes and abusing the graciousness of hosts to captivate weak women and lure them into the falsity. (2 Timothy 3:5).
Thy were also told to DENY hospitality to intentional deceivers:
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting, (2 John 1:10).
This is why John’s words (and Paul’s) were so shocking. You can imagine how this behavior would be so startling. It isn’t so shocking today, we don’t entertain strangers in our homes. We don’t go house to house in fellowship much anymore either. It isn’t shocking to deny entertaining so-and-so when they never even came to your house in the first place. But to close the door against someone in Bible times, with thousands of years of a deeply embedded tradition in hospitality, would be shocking.
Times nowadays have completely changed the notion of hospitality. We do not and should not entertain unknown traveling itinerants. We have hotels. Unannounced guests knocking on our door is rare and rather scary. We aren’t nomads anymore either. But in today’s times we do have TV, radio, podcasts, and streaming entering our home. Do you allow false teachers and deceivers into your home via technology? Are you ‘hosting’ them daily, or weekly? Do your children see you offering your time to these false teachers, by offering them money by purchasing their materials?
Hospitality has changed definitions since John’s day, but today we can still host gatherings of believers from church, craft a celebratory party or dinner for struggling folks, or practice hospitality one-on-one with those whom we know.
DENY these false teachers entry to your home. Do not expose them to your family or to your own soul. Even though such ‘hospitality’ in today’s times is second hand through a screen, still, do not entertain them. And when or if a person in your church is disciplined as per Matthew 18:17b, and reaches the last stage, “if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector” are you strong enough to obey and DENY them hospitality?
We know that Acts 17:11 tells us to compare what a teacher is teaching to the Bible. Paul was not offended when the Bereans did just that. Instead, he called them noble! The main way you can tell if a person is teaching rightly, is by comparing what they teach and how they behave, with the Word.
Ladies, here is another way to begin detecting if the person you follow as a Bible teacher is false or true-
I see many Beth Moore defenders defend Moore’s teaching with emotional words and familar nicknames, such as ‘Auntie Beth’, saying they “grow closer to Jesus” through her lessons, and state other warm fuzzy type defenses of her teaching. But HOW do we grow closer to Jesus? There is only one way.
Any Bible teacher, if teaching rightly, will extract from the Bible its truths, including truth about sin and our need for repentance – not just upon salvation, but every day. He or she will then teach those truths. You will know you are “growing closer to Jesus” if said teaching-
reveals unknown sin in your heart, or if you are convicted of your sins, or if you drive yourself back to the Bible to seek Jesus, or if your affections change from carnal to holy, or if you learn more about Jesus, or if you desire to pursue holiness, or if you want to treat others above yourself, or all of the above!
Those are a few ways you can tell if you are ACTUALLY growing closer to Him.
This will happen because the true Bible teacher will be extracting truth from the Bible, which is living and active. Its writ thus delivered to you will knit conviction of sin, self-denial, and love for Jesus for who He is (not how He makes you feel or what you can get from Him).
If a teacher is false,
you will feel good and warm and have fuzzies during and after the lessons. But you know full well that emotions are fickle. They evaporate. or when the buzz of the teaching dissipates, you still feel the same, or if your knowledge of Jesus is less but your knowledge of that teacher is more, or if your prayer life isn’t energized, or your conscience isn’t pricked toward repentance, or if your affections haven’t changed, or if you still pursue carnal things at the expense of your conscience, or if you’re in a rut and decide to grab ANOTHER ‘study’ from that teacher because you need to feel good again, and not because you want to know more of Jesus, or all of the above!
then that teacher is false.
Why is she called “Auntie Beth” by so many? She makes people feel good. They enjoy her funny and charming personal anecdotes that makes them feel close to her in some way, a connection. She makes them feel cared for- but a false teacher’s love is a false love and a carnal love. It’s a carnal love because its origin is fleshly, which includes overlooking sin, love of self, and pursuit of a different Jesus than the one the Bible presents.
As for the cutesy nickname the flat screen admirers give Beth Moore, just think on this. We don’t call a Charles Spurgeon ‘Uncle Charlie’ or John MacArthur “Daddy John” or Paul Washer “Paulie dear”. Why not? Not that nicknames and familiar terms for people we admire are necessarily bad. But these men have a dignity in teaching that comes from their devotion to and teaching of the holy Word of God. Likewise older women are supposed to have a dignity as well, (Titus 2:5) exhibiting deep knowledge of doctrine and living a lifestyle that results in inhibiting such over-familiarity and pet nicknames from people.
Amy Carmichael’s sickroom was called The Room of Peace. China Missionary Gladys Aylward was called The Virtuous One. Spurgeon was called The Prince of Preachers. They received respectful nicknames and not cutesy ones because these teachers were unashamed of the Gospel. Remember, most people who call Beth Moore “Auntie Beth” don’t even know her personally, but know only the persona Beth chooses to present through a screen.
These concepts I’ve outlined in this brief blog stand for any teacher, but especially celebrity teachers such as Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Christine Caine, etc. Technology’s constant presence and our ability to stream material at-will 24/7 means that we tend to think that our favorite celebrity teachers and preachers are closer to us than they really are. True Bible teachers have students who learn and grow in holiness.
“[T]he true prophet must preach what he believes to be the truth, uninfluenced by any considerations of what will please others or profit himself, and must accept no man’s conscience as a substitute for his own, and must be ready to go on a diet of bread and water for a testimony to his sincerity-above and beyond all these, he must have laid hold of the eternal principles of divine government, and whole truths, not half-truths, must be the basis of his preaching.“
Source of above quote: True and False Prophets in 1 Kings, Chap. 22, Author(s): Dean A. Walker, Source: The Biblical World, Oct., 1902, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 272-277
One of the most surprising things to me after my salvation was that there were people claiming to be Christian who would try to draw me away from the truth. I had been relieved to enter the kingdom, and I felt literally like I was stepping into a safety zone, an oasis of calm after having lived in turbulence and chaos for 42 years. It was a jolt to my system that though peace reigned between me and God, turbulence between false professors and true believers was abounding.
False professors are people who profess Christ but do not possess the Spirit. I.e., false believers.
Colossians is a tremendous book. Of this verse in Colossians, let’s first focus on the first five words, Paul’s warning, underline mine-
Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, (Colossians 2:18, NASB).
Other translations say let no one disqualify you from the prize.
There were some spiritual elites going around Colossae, intimidating the new believers there. They threatened them with disqualification from the faith, and the newbies were buying it. Now, a true believer can never actually be separated from Christ, but the elites claimed the newbies were under a threat of failure in the faith if they did not believe and practice things in addition to Christ. This is what the book of Colossians is about- Paul re-teaching that Christ alone is sufficient.
Christ was not all-sufficient to these elites. They said the new believers must also practice one or more of three things: self-abasement (humility), worshiping angels, and visions.
True humility is a true virtue. The elites in Colossians were not practicing it though. They evidenced a prideful humility that pointed to themselves. Which isn’t humility at all, of course. They delighted in their humility, in effect, saying, ‘Look how humble I am! I’m sooo godly! I’m sooo faithful!’
Secondly, worship of angels in Colossae was an issue well into the fourth century. Worship of angels destroys the one thing believers are commanded to do: “worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” (Matthew 4:10b).
And visions. Oh, my, let’s talk about visions. They were a problem in the first century and they are a problem in the twenty-first century. People who are errant in their beliefs and know there is no biblical support for these beliefs, (if diligent believers go looking) the false professors instead try to buttress their beliefs with experiences and visions.
John MacArthur preached,
What is he [Paul] saying? “Don’t let anybody tell you you’re disqualified from attaining the prize of spirituality because you haven’t reached the level of self-abasement, you haven’t understood the worship of angels, you haven’t had the right visions.” … They’ve said, “It’s Christ plus my visions; plus my experiences with the angels; plus my deeper experience, my higher experience.” (MacArthur, “Spiritual Intimidation, part 1“)
No. Just…NO. Christ alone. Satan’s wiles have always been to sway a believer from the path to Jesus feet, and bundle belief with other beliefs, actions, rules.
THERE is an allusion here to the prize which was offered to the runners in the Olympic games, and at the outset it is well for us to remark how very frequently the Apostle Paul conducts us by his metaphors to the racecourse. Over and over again he is telling us so to run that we may obtain, bidding us to strive, and at other times to agonize, and speaking of wrestling and contending. Ought not this to make us feel what an intense thing the Christian life is—not a thing of sleepiness or haphazard, not a thing to be left now and then to a little superficial consideration?
These elites have “fleshly minds” as the verse indicates. They were puffed up with their visions and boasting of humility and spiritual pride of ‘knowing more’ (mysticism). They had no reason to be secure. Their minds were flesh, not of Christ.
“There is a tendency in human nature to move from objectivity to subjectivity-to shift the focus from Christ to experience. This has always intimidated weak believers and threatened the church.” (MacArthur, Commentary on Colossians & Philemon.)
False doctrine is not only a corruption in the church, it does damage to you individually. One way false teaching and false teachers harm you is that following them even temporarily and certainly for a longer period disqualifies you for the prize. It is the false teacher’s intent to try and disqualify you. Even if they make you doubt, they have succeeded. Even if they make you wander, thus diminishing your effectiveness for a time, they have succeeded. That is why Paul wrote such a strong warning.
For the strong believer, what is inferred is a stronger believer’s responsibility to our brethren who are following a false teacher. How will it be when they are judged, when told to give an account of themselves (Romans 14:12, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15) and we hear Jesus say that a friend has lost some prizes because they followed a false teacher and thus were disobeying Jesus, while we knew all along and never said anything.
Jude says, But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.
Catch that. They are devoid of the Spirit. This means they do not possess the Spirit. i.e. unsaved. But Jude goes on in Jude 1:22-23,
And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
This means, snatch them from wandering, grab them to prevent disqualification, help them understand in love and in discernment the person they are following will lead them AWAY from the prize.
Let’s end where we started. Don’t let anyone defraud you of the prize. The ultimate prize is Jesus, His faith, His comfort, faith in Him and Him alone.
A reader took issue with me recently, saying that me pointing out things related to a teacher’s lifestyle is hitting below the belt, is wrong, and now she has to wonder at my heart motivations.
This kind of discussion often comes up when I post about a false teacher’s lifestyle. People seem to think that their lifestyle is off-limits while only comparing their doctrine is acceptable. That is what being a Berean is all about, look at doctrine only, they say. Lifestyle is off the plate and not our business.
For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into indecent behavior and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4).
For context, Jude is opening his letter by saying he’d wanted to speak of the faith and their common salvation, but must change his intended topic to one of discernment. He warned against false teachers in the next verses, including the one above.
There are so many parts to this verse to explore and chew on. Today, let’s look at the first phrase, ‘certain people have crept in unnoticed’. The question is, WHY was it unnoticed? Why didn’t the people notice the false teachers among them? It all starts with destructive heresies, ungodly men creeping in unnoticed. And why aren’t they noticed?
Because Christians today all too often fail to be familiar with the real thing, foregoing Bible study, quiet time, prayers, and worship, so that when the counterfeit shows up, being only subtly different from the Truth, it goes unnoticed.
Where do they creep into? They creep into houses, as was the custom of that day, and today, by television or podcast or books. They creep into the church as a tare. They creep in to the ministry as a false teacher. They creep in, and the majority of the population of the place are unaware.
At night, especially if you live in the south, or in a city apartment building in the north, cockroaches scamper about. While you sleep, they creep in to your cupboards and nibble on your food. They scuttle in, while you are sleeping unaware. They come out at night to eat and cavort over your clean counters, they creep in and you don’t notice them…until one day you spot a dropping. And another day another dropping, then a pile of droppings. Likening false teachers to cockroaches is an apt metaphor.
They creep in, they are unwelcome, they hide as long as they can, until the putrid fruit of their presence is detected. Southerners, knowing the frequency with which cockroaches like to invade, will protect the house. They have regular pest control measures. Do you want cockroaches crawling over your baby as he sleeps sweetly in the crib? Of course not! So protective measures are taken to keep the house free of pests.
So it should be with churches. Jude is a protective measure, dispensing wisdom from experience and a purity of truth from the Holy Spirit
Peter also is a protective measure against the pestilence of false teaching and the people who bring it. There is a parallel verse to Jude,
But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. (2 Peter 2:1).
Barnes’ Notes on Peter’s verse: “[T]here were artful and wicked men who had crept into the church, pretending to be religious teachers, but whose doctrines tended to sap the very foundations of truth. The apostle Peter, describing these same persons, says, “who privily shall bring in damnable heresies.” See the notes, 2 Peter 2:1. Substantially the same idea is expressed here by saying that they “had crept in unawares;” that is, they had come in “by stealth;” they had not come by a bold and open avowal of their real sentiments. They professed to teach the Christian religion, when in fact they denied some of its fundamental doctrines; they professed to be holy, when in fact they were living most scandalous lives. In all ages there have been men who were willing to do this for base purposes.”
They creep in, and insinuate themselves into the minds and hearts of their prey. The prey, (us), are unaware they are being devoured by a predator, and when discovered can’t believe the wolf is really a wolf. “But he’s so nice!” they say. “She helped me!” they cry. “It can’t be true!” and they disbelieve this person or that certain person is really false. Like kudzu, overnight the tentacles have grown and clung on. Disentangling now is unworkable and difficult.
Meanwhile, as Barnes mentioned, what are the ‘base purposes’ for which they have crept in? We know one of them is greed. (2 Peter 2:3, 2 Corinthians 2:17). They have other appetites they want to satiate, too. (Romans 16:18). Whatever their base desires, they are immoral. Greed, lust, fame, pride…whatever it is that the false teacher seeks, they find it by preying on unwary Christians. They peddle His word for dishonest gain. They contradict holy precepts and upright living required by God of His people and especially of His ministers.
Too often we forget we are in a war. With all the talk of winsomeness and seekers and love…we forget that we give sin no quarter. We kill it. We forget that there are active and present enemies out to kill US, to draw us away, or to pollute our souls, or to deceive us. The enemy wants to destroy our witness. He wants to do anything against Christ that he can, and will stop at nothing short of God’s own boundaries to get it done.
We slay sin, we tear down philosophies, we anathematize false teachers. Those are fighting words. So, dear sister, fight!
Jackie Hill Perry (JHP) is the latest platformed/celebrity teacher to come out and claim that she hears directly from God. She was hesitant at first to claim this, she wrote on Twitter, because the saints “get weird” when you state such things.
[For good reason, says this saint].
Jackie Hill Perry
But she felt confident enough at last to come out and say that God prophetically deals with her through dreams. She quotes what God has allegedly said, and claims that he has given her information about other people for whom she has interceded. God had told her the gender of her baby.
Her thread is here in Thread Reader Unroll, and it is also below:
I really be wanting to share how the Lord deals with me prophetically but the Saints get weird about stuff like that.
Ok ok. I’ll say this. God primarily deals with me in dreams. I’ve been enlightened, warned, and led to intercede for others through them. But lately, I’ve had an increase of “inner unctions” by the Spirit, that arise in prayer, about people I know and don’t know. It’s deep.
At the beginning of my walk, I was in a Pentecostal church that gave me room and space to explore this part of myself but after leaving, I haven’t embraced the prophetic out loud as much. Out of fear mainly. But God really does speak to and through His church and I love it.
One scenario I’ve told folks out loud is how the Lord (through an inner knowing/unction) told me I’d have a son in 2019. Got pregnant w/another girl in 2020 and I was thrown because I was KNEW what God said but I just chunked it up to me being off…
After I had Sage, we scheduled Preston’s vasectomy because I had no intention of having 4 kids. The night before it, I had a dream that I was holding a boy that was “half dead”. Not because he was dying but because he was being kept from life. As I held him, I felt fear…
and literally, in the dream, God said “Do you trust me to have a fourth child?” I told the dream to Preston, who’d also had a similar one, we canceled the vasectomy and a few months later, I was pregnant with…a boy. I say all of that to say, we serve a LIVING and SPEAKING God.
Before this moment I said to myself “If I don’t see blue powder, I’m a false prophet and I’m never claiming to hear from God again.”
I have yearssssss worth of stories. Not even primarily about me either. God has placed me around a lot of prophetic people and trust me, if you get you some friends that are sensitive to the Spirit, life will forever be interesting.
end JHP Twitter comment
Let’s put this in a larger context than just ‘tsk tsk another one is going out from us’. Which in itself is worthy to note and very sad. There are four points here, maybe more but I want to address these four.
First, let us define terms. JHP uses the word “unction.” It’s an old-fashioned word meaning anointing.
UNCTION—(1 John 2:20, 27; R.V., “anointing”). Kings, prophets, and priests were anointed, in token of receiving divine grace. All believers are, in a secondary sense, what Christ was in a primary sense, “the Lord’s anointed.” Defined in Easton’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (p. 679).
We see the word used in 1 John 2:20. “But you have an anointing [unction] from the Holy One, and you all know.“
Barnes’ Notes on the Bible: But ye have an unction from the Holy One – The apostle in this verse evidently intends to say that he had no apprehension in regard to those to whom he wrote that they would thus apostatize, and bring dishonor on their religion. They had been so anointed by the Holy Spirit that they understood the true nature of religion, and it might be confidently expected that they would persevere. The word “unction” or “anointing” (χρίσμα chrisma) means, properly, “something rubbed in or ointed;” oil for anointing, “ointment;” then it means an anointing. The allusion is to the anointing of kings and priests, or their inauguration or coronation, (1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Samuel 16:13; Exodus 28:41; Exodus 40:15; compare the notes at Matthew 1:1); and the idea seems to have been that the oil thus used was emblematic of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit as qualifying them for the discharge of the duties of their office. Christians, in the New Testament, are described as “kings and priests,” Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:10, and as a “royal priesthood” 1 Peter 2:5, 1 Peter 2:9; and hence they are represented as “anointed,” or as endowed with those graces of the Spirit, of which anointing was the emblem.
So in fact, believers are ALL anointed. We ALL have ‘unction’. But we do not have special, direct revelation as JHP claims she possesses.
Now to JHP’s claims and my points-
JHP mentions her first “knowing” from God, calling it unction. But it was wrong. The first time, she “knew” she’d have a boy, but it was a girl. If her knowing was from God, then JHP does not address how or why God failed to deliver the correct information. According to Deuteronomy 18:22, this alone would be enough to disqualify her from prophetic service (which expired in the Apostolic age, anyway).
JHP mentions she has been hesitant to reveal her uncommon relationship with God, though it has been going on for many years, because the “saints get weird”. But note that now she feels comfortable to admit it. This is an indictment on the church and on husbands both of whom are supposed to have built for their families strong hedges against false doctrine. If a false prophet feels comfortable enough to reveal her revelations, it is not only the false prophet to blame, but her followers who have heaped her up (2 Timothy 4:3) and a weak church that lacks both discernment and discipline to maintain that hedge.
This is the other #MeToo Movement- “I hear from God too.” It is becoming a scourge. Numerous women with large platforms are running around waving prophecies, predictions, and revelations from a God they obviously don’t know, but still are deceiving many. (Matthew 7:15). Birds of a feather flock together, (1 Corinthians 15:33), so more and more women feel secure enough to add their voice to the clamor. Because, who’s going to rebuke them? No one, it seems.
Claiming private revelations displays a lack of discernment, declares the Bible insufficient, and makes the even ground at the cross among the saints a two-tiered hierarchy between those who hear God and those who don’t. It leaves them all open to accepting errant theology.
All of the above is a huge problem in the church. John MacArthur has said several times over the years that the greatest issue in the church is lack of discernment. This leads to biblical illiteracy, which in turn leads to false doctrines creeping in. Here is MacArthur:
Another way to approach the subject would be to ask the question, “What is the greatest need? People ask me this all the time, “What’s the greatest need in the church today? What is the most compelling need? What do you see as the biggest problem in Christianity, the biggest problem in the church?It’s simple for me to answer that. The biggest problem in the church today is the absence of discernment. It’s a lack of discernment. It’s the biggest problem with Christian people. They make bad choices. They accept the wrong thing. They accept the wrong theology. They are prone to the wrong teaching. They’re unwise in who they follow, what they listen to, and what they read. SOURCE
Ladies, God is living and He is speaking, but He speaks through His word, not in dreams telling you the gender of your baby, and other ‘unctions’ as claimed. We “get weird” because it’s false. Please do not feel left out if you also don’t hear from God as these other women claim. There are a lot of them, not just the fringe ones at the crazy edge of the faith, but women in the so-called conservative fold, like Jennie Allen (founder of IF:Gathering), Joanna Gaines (of Magnolia everything), Beth Moore (formerly of SBC & Lifeway), Sarah Young (of Jesus Calling), Priscilla Shirer (of the movie War Room), JHP, and many others. God spoke in His word through His Son. The same Son who descended from glory to live a perfect life on our behalf, die excruciatingly on the cross, be buried in a stinky tomb, and raised again to be ascended to the Father. Isn’t that enough? The Bible is enough.
When you claim the prophetic voice you hear is from God, you are saying “the Bible is not enough. I need more.” It’s as simple as that.
What can WE do?
Pray for JHP that the Lord would graciously deliver to her a discerning mind.
Pray for ourselves that the Lord would graciously keep us in our right mind and away from deceiving lusts and false doctrine.
Keep reading the word of God. It’s the only weapon against wolves and their doctrines of demons.
Be brave. Brave enough to point out false doctrine when it comes your way. Don’t be afraid of the “Tone Police” as Phil Johnson expertly encourages here (start at 22:40, sermon is aptly called “Fortitude“).
Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15
Yet in the same way these people also, dreaming, defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak abusively of angelic majesties. Jude 1:8
In this 9-minute video Spencer Smith opines about Jackie Hill Perry’s recent rejection of the American Gospel documentary and where she regrets her participation in it. (Sure enough we regret your participation in it, too!). Smith also opines about his bemusement as to why JHP was included in the first place, lol. His opinions were insightful to me. (Disclaimer: I do not know who Spencer Smith is, nor have I vetted the body of his work, but I liked and agreed with this particular video).
For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, 2 Timothy 4:3.
The verse says that they, meaning professing Christians, will refuse sound doctrine. Instead, they will heap up teachers to suit their passions…so, Jesus raises up an Osteen for those who want to suit their easy life, no speaking of sin passions; a Beth Moore for those who want to indulge their usurping passions, a Kenneth Copeland or Joyce Meyer for those who want to indulge greedy passions, and so on.
Far from being innocent victims of false teachers, followers of false teachers are guilty in their intentional accumulation of them to suit their desires. False teachers would not exist if people subdued their ungodly lusts and submitted themselves to God. Instead, He raises up people like a Beth Moore so that those who do have ungodly passions will be drawn to her. He raises up a Benny Hinn so that those who want attention and fame through false healing will suit their ungodly desire and it will become evident where their heart is. And it’s not a heart that tolerates sound doctrine. A false teacher exists to scratch their wicked itch.
What does a false teacher get out of it? Indulgence in his or her own ungodly passions- money, fame, attention, whatever it is in their heart that needs to perpetuate this appearance of Godliness, though they deny its power. (2 Timothy 3:5).
It’s a symbiotic relationship made in hell, the worm and the serpent, intertwined, rolling around on the stubble, indulging their wickedness in the name of Jesus. Woe to them all.
the-end-time.org 