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Bible, doctrine, false christs, false prophets, false teachers, gospel, greed, Jesus Christ, last days, logic, Philosophy, predictions, reason, Scripture, theology
Jesus warned His disciples not to be led astray by false prophets and false christs. Most of the books of the New Testament were written to correct false doctrine. If we do not want to be hoodwinked by hucksters masquerading as ministers of the gospel we must know God and His Word. Scripture is the final authority on Christian doctrine.
Jude 1:3-4 ESV
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. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
We must contend for the faith against those who want to distort Christianity, twisting the plain meaning of the Bible to conform it to their worldview, rather than conforming to the Bible themselves.
How do we recognize these false prophets? They are the sort who can whip up a congregation, but whose preaching lacks any real substance. We must beware teachers who discourage Christians from thinking and studying the Bible for themselves. Their own preaching and teaching is lacking in logic, reason, or deep thought of any kind. Their sermons are shallow and rely on emotion, hype, and sensationalism, rather than appeals to truth.
Jude 1:10 ESV
But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
The other red flag is how they handle money. There is nothing wrong with pastors and evangelists asking for a love offering, or teaching on tithes and offerings. However, there is a certain class of minister that preaches “gimme-your-money” instead of the gospel. When pastors and televangelists mention “seed faith” more than salvation, we know these are false teachers we should avoid.
Jude 1:11-13 ESV
Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
Instead of following Jesus Christ, they do whatever feels right to them. They quickly rise up in church leadership positions by flattering people and giving large financial offerings.
Jude 1:16 ESV
These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
We must be on the lookout for these false prophets, teachers, and christs. I have so much more to say on this subject, but I’ll save it for another post.
“How do we recognize these false prophets? They are the sort who can whip up a congregation, but whose preaching lacks any real substance.”
I’m amazed when I see pastors on television give entire sermons without referencing Scripture.
On that note, nice job backing up your message with the verses from Jude!
Could not agree more. And I am pretty sure you are probably planning on delving into the other aspect of this problem that you kind of touched only briefly in the above post – those who manipulate the Word for personal belief validation. I would say that is almost beginning to be the new “prosperity” movement. In that it is the rising fad and the “give me money in hopes God gives you some” move is at least stalling or getting stale. It’s getting more and more common that people are manipulating scripture to allow themselves to feel validated in whatever worldly beliefs they may hold or wish to hold. For instance loads of socialists are now trying to manipulate Jesus’ words to make it sound as though He was also a socialist. For instance when he says that if we possess two coats we and our brother possesses none we are to give him one. I could not agree more. If a brother (fellow Christian) requires something I have an abundance of, I should gladly give it to him. However the requirements is that I choose to give the gift, not that it is taken from me, that I am the giver of the gift to that brother, not I give the gift to the government and they choose who to dole out the gift to, and that it is a brother or fellow Christian. Where as socialist ideals would allow a secular government to take money, possibly money I DO NOT have excess of, and then give it to an ungodly secular institute. That in no way matches what Christ talks of. Yet, these kind of churches are popping up everywhere and becoming wildly popular and prosperous. They are not Biblical, but they play to a popular notion, and an emotional feel good sense.
Just like churches that teach homosexuality is fine. Anyone with even a modicum of intelligence and reason can tell biblically that is wrong. The secular world system and secular society may deem it proper, but God does not. I will add God also never tells us to hate or persecute homosexuals, but we are not to allow IN OUR CHURCHES it either. Just because you do not support something that does not automatically mean you persecute it. Again a foolish secular ideology. In my opinion it is between them and God what they do in secret or even in public, but I demand that my church be conducted according to His Word. They can show up if they are looking to be healed, but if they want to merely flaunt their lifestyle, and mock God in the process they are not welcome in His house. Yet look at how many churches are bending under pressure to fold to the world’s system, and how many pastors are trying their hardest to manipulate scripture to agree with this lie in order to garner more proselytes to place more coin in the coffer. I believe this will be the new wave of “hucksters” as Paul calls them and this will be the new way to sucker people into giving money to something that is not of God. Of course it will be popular. That which attempts to sooth the conscience and yet does not demand true holiness often is. One requires work, faith, and a passion for God’s presence the other is an entitled lazy way to approach self-validation and self-righteousness.
Anyway just thought I would add a really long comment to echo what you were saying and deepen an idea that you were already providing. I guess I got bored at 3:30 AM and decided to flesh it out some lol. I appreciate you and what you say bro. Much love!
Indeed, I do plan on addressing the manipulation of Scripture in a future post. My overall plan is to go on from here to present essential Christian doctrines on the nature of God, the Trinity, salvation, sin, heaven, hell, etc. I also plan on writing an entire series of rebuttals against a growing faction of Messianic Judaism that advocates a return to the Mosaic Law. At some point I will probably address the prosperity “gospel” message directly, and I certainly have plans to take the homosexual movement head on. I actually originally intended for this post to deal with essential doctrines on God’s nature, but it didn’t work out that way, as you can see!