False Teachers and How to Unmask Them
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
Strange new cults multiply exponentially as we draw nigh the new millennium. Each new group vies with the last to see who can sell gullible followers the strangest and most outlandish beliefs. We wonder how otherwise normal people could be so simple as to purposely ingest an overdose of drugs and alcohol, arrange to burn their bodies, or find some other innovative way in which to kill themselves. Perhaps the greater question is how a church of our Lord, a harbour of freedom, safety and truth, could surrender her independence and security for slavery, fear and error.
The multiplication of doctrines in evident conflict with one another which is resident within the professed Bride of Christ should give us each pause. Each of us should hold our beliefs with deepest humility, carefully submitting to the teaching of the Word each doctrine held dear that we might determine the mind of the Father. That there are false teachers is no surprise; exposing those who have so insinuated themselves into the life of the Body is, however, fraught with danger. Discovering those promoting error and demonstrating their error invites strongest condemnation from casual minded saints. Yet, the servant of Christ is charged with precisely that task of exposing the fruitless deeds of darkness and with confronting those teaching such destructive error.
The Apostles were each compelled from earliest days to confront false teachers. Paul joined combat with the Judaisers even before his first missionary tour was complete. John found it necessary to expose the Gnostics lest the young churches be decimated. Sandwiched between these two combatants were Jude and Peter. Each mounted an offence directed against false teachers. Each endeavoured to expose the error associated with false teaching. If we will continue in the apostolic train, we must likewise expose error and uncover those who work under cover of darkest night. Focus today on the opening salvo Peter launches in his second letter as he takes aim against false teachers.
A Dark Continuum of Deceit – But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. No doubt in reference to the assertion concerning biblical prophecy which he had just made, Peter acknowledged the presence of false prophets – yeudoprofh'tai. There is an old saying attributed to Daniel Defoe which says:
Whenever God erects a house of prayer,
The devil always builds a chapel there[1]
False always proves authenticity. The devil never innovates; he always copies.
What I find interesting about the false prophets of the Old Testament is that they said what the populace wanted to hear. They seem to have studiously avoided any reference to disaster or defeat. Consider just a couple of examples.
Throughout his ministry, Jeremiah was confronted by and he himself confronted a steady succession of prophets prophesying peace for Jerusalem despite God’s Word that the land would be conquered because of the sin of its people. In Jeremiah 28:1-17 is the account of one such confrontation between the false prophet Hananiah and Jeremiah, the prophet of God. Jeremiah had been wearing a yoke such as ox might wear on his neck and prophesying that the King of Babylon would burden the people of Israel with a yoke of bondage. This conquest was, however, from the Lord as punishment for the sin of the people. Therefore, Jeremiah urged the people to submit to God’s discipline.
Hananiah, however, prophesied that God would spare the people and break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah, in apparent confusion and questioning whether he had perhaps misunderstood the message God gave him, spoke these cautious words. Amen! May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfil the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the LORD’s house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognised as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true [Jeremiah 28:6-9].
Hananiah took the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it, saying, This is what the Lord says: In the same way will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years [Jeremiah 28:11].
God Himself intervened and instructed Jeremiah to respond by telling the people that God would replace the yoke of wood with an iron yoke and that all the nations would serve Nebuchadnezzar. Furthermore, Jeremiah was given a message for Hananiah: I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord [Jeremiah 28:16]. The word of God simply states that in the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died [Jeremiah 28:17].
In the final chapter of 1 Kings is the account of the death of Ahab, King of Israel. The book tells how Jehoshaphat, the godly, though naïve, King of Judah, visited Ahab. Ahab incited him to unite in an unholy alliance against the Arameans who had seized Ramoth Gilead. Jehoshaphat, though already having entered into the unholy alliance, asked that prophets be brought in to provide the counsel of the Lord. Four hundred strong, the prophets of Israel united with one voice in urging battle which would surely lead to victory. The prophets, appearing in their big opening show, went so far as to dress one of their number with iron horns and then declare that the king would gore the Arameans until they were destroyed.
Apparently there was something of their true character which showed, however, since Jehoshaphat asked whether there was a prophet of the Lord [1 Kings 22:7]. He was uneasy and longed for true counsel from God.
There was one prophet, Micaiah son of Imlah, but Ahab did not want him present, because, he said, he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad [1 Kings 22:8]. Where is it written that the preacher must say what the congregation wants to hear? Where is that text which says we must only listen to pleasant things?
Micaiah was duly fetched by the king’s messenger, and urged to agree with all the other prophets. After all, four hundred prophets couldn’t be wrong! But Micaiah was apparently familiar with the Law: Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong [Exodus 23:2]. Thus, the brave prophet stated that he could but speak what God revealed.
Ahab put the question to Micaiah, Micaiah, shall we go to war … or shall I refrain? Permit me to interject that you will find it interesting to note the phrasing of the question. Shall we go to war … or shall I refrain? What a coward! What a toad!
Micaiah spoke in line with all the others. What is missing from the written text is the tone of voice or the body posture. Something in Micaiah’s response revealed his sarcasm. Perhaps it was a dismissive wave of his hand, a slow shake of his head with eyes revealing disgust, or a tone which said, “Anything you want, you toad.”
Ahab, apparently in some anger, adjured him to tell the truth, and eyes flashing, Micaiah responded with a message of defeat and woe. His message was delivered at considerable cost, for he was placed in prison and fed nothing but bread and water because he refused to play the liar.
You recall the rest of the story. Ahab attempted to disguise himself only to be struck dead by an arrow shot without a particular target in view. All Israel was defeated and the armies of the two nations were scattered by the Arameans.
Throughout the days preceding Peter’s second letter, the professed people of God sought out men willing to say what their itching ears wanted to hear. That tendency will only accelerate as the end of the age draws ever nearer. Peter foresaw that day and said there would be numerous false teachers. They were even then becoming apparent among the people of God. Listen to the Word! The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron [1 Timothy 4:1,2]. The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths [2 Timothy 4:3,4].
Interspersed throughout the history of the Faith is a dark continuum of deceit which shall become more pronounced as we near the end of this age. False teachers shall proliferate and increase in influence. Psychic hotlines offer easy answers to life. People willingly cross the palms of a wizened old hag with silver and permit her to spread fanlike before them a deck of cards. Can it be that the drawing of a card will signify what career he should pursue, or whom she should marry, or the family she shall have? Channelers and mediums, warlocks and wizards and worshippers of strange gods which were previously bested and which have lain dormant for millennia abound in these closing days of the second millennium. All this is with the tacit consent of silent Christians who have adopted the view that tolerance is a virtue and silence is golden. Silence is not always golden, however; sometimes it is just plain yellow.
The Methods False Teachers Employ – Peter exposes the methods of the false teachers, pointing to two characteristics normally witnessed in their lives. The first method employed is Secrecy. In verse one Peter states that these pseudo-teachers will secretly introduce destructive heresies. False teachers work insidiously, covertly, under false guise. Like cockroaches, they creep out from the woodwork under cover of darkness. Like termites, they undermine the work of God away from the sight of those affected.
False teachers do not stand in the pulpit and openly declare themselves liars. They assure you that they speak the truth and that they believe as you do. Spies do not openly and boldly wear a sign declaring themselves to be infiltrators; they operate covertly, secretly. Just as false brothers infiltrated the ranks of early Christians to spy out the freedom enjoyed in Christ Jesus that they might enslave them [Galatians 2:4], so false teachers today stealthily insinuate themselves into the ranks of believers to enslave them.
What does the preacher believe? Let him speak openly and boldly that the people may compare his words to the Word of God. Whenever you hear a preacher, before you give your allegiance to that man or to the cause he espouses, you should ask what he believes. Examine his doctrine. What lies hidden within his heart?
It is a tragic truth that ordination is reduced to an economic issue in our day. The preacher cannot get government sanctioned perks unless he is ordained. Consequently, examining councils do not probe too deeply concerning the ordinand believes. Yet the Word admonishes the churches that the overseer must be able to teach and he must not be a recent convert [1 Timothy 3:2,6]. The preacher must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it [Titus 1:9].
Let the preacher live an open life, that all may see Christ at work. The minister of God need not be a plastic saint, for his weaknesses will reveal the grace of God if he but lives honestly that which he preaches. If you discover the preacher speaks one thing and lives quite another, you may be assured that his message is suspect and merits watching. Such a one will soon endeavour to undermine the work of God.
Again, false teachers employ Denial. In verse one again, Peter warns that the false teachers will introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord. What is a heresy? We would not wish to be guilty of tossing the term about in a cavalier manner, yet in this late day it is perhaps appropriate to again examine the concept of heresy. In Galatians 5:20 this word is used and is translated by our English word factions. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, the same word is translated by our English word differences [1 Corinthians 11:19]. In normal use, the Greek word ai{resi" meant sect or party or faction; the noun was derived from a verb which meant to choose. However, Peter is careful to insure that we are not misled into accepting this as a mere issue of choice.
False teachers introduce destructive heresies, the adjective destructive speaking of ruin. This is the common term employed for the consequence of condemnation by God. Sentenced to hell by refusal to receive God’s grace in Christ the Lord, the sinner is said to be ruined or destroyed. In fact, the false teachers, having introduced destructive heresies shall bring upon themselves swift destruction. Thus, heresy came to imply teaching which was destructive. In particular, a heresy is a teaching which denies foundational truth. Those truths which are fundamental to the Christian faith and centred around Christ the Lord are the doctrines in view.
To strengthen the case that this is no mere issue of choice, Peter names what must be to the child of God the most abhorrent of heresies – the false teachers in question will even deny[] the sovereign Lord who bought them! It is unimaginable to think that anyone could claim to speak in God’s place and yet question the salvation offered in Christ the Lord. Yet, I have heard too many preachers so-called, read too many sermons by these parasites, and seen the result of too many lives ruined to deny that this has become an all too common occurrence in this day.
Dear people, either Jesus is God, or He is not. Either salvation is by faith in Him, or there is no salvation from our sin. Either Jesus the Lord was crucified, buried and raised from the dead, or His body lies mouldering in a Palestinian grave. Either the Master has ascended into Heaven and is coming again, or we look for a groundless hope. Either the revelation of the Word is trustworthy and accurate, or it is utterly false. We shall not make the Word more effective by denying what is written therein. Neither can we improve on what has been given us by inventing new stories.
The Motive Driving False Teachers – We need not wonder what motivates false teachers; Peter informs us that false teachers are motivated by Greed, and in the grip of greed they will exploit believers with stories they have made up. It is not a great surprise to me that they will endeavour to exploit believers, employing stories they have made up. What is amazing to me is that believers seem eager for such exploitation to occur.
What motivated Jim and Tammy Sue Bakker? Surely it could not have been the mansion in which they lived, the multiplied luxury cars, the air-conditioned doghouse, or the lifestyle of ostentation? What motivated Jimmy Swaggart? Surely it was not the Lincoln Continentals or the bags of money which rolled into his headquarters in Baton Rouge? What motivates Oily Roberts? Surely it would not be the Lear Jet or the Jaguars and Mercedes Benz automobiles? Surely it could not be the Rolex watches or diamond rings? Surely these teachers are motivated to seek what is best for their followers?
I find that among the faithful, those who teach error in ignorance are malleable. Like Apollos, once instructed in sound theology, they rejoice in the opportunity to do what is right. However, those who are deliberate in disseminating error and who are in the grip of greed, will react with choler against every attempt to correct their teaching. Jimmy Swaggart at first stated that he would submit to denominational correction, but when his income was threatened he withdrew from the Assemblies of God denomination and declared that he was henceforth independent of their oversight. Likewise, all false teachers will resist efforts to correct their excesses and their heresies.
What is interesting is that on several occasions in the Word of God, greed is portrayed as idolatry. Paul warned Christians to put to death … whatever belongs to [the] earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry [Colossians 3:5]. In Ephesians 5:5 he insists that a greedy person is an idolater. Idolatry lies at the heart of the heretical teaching of false teachers. There is another other than the Lord Jesus enthroned in the life of the false teacher.
We need not think that the greed of false teachers must be restricted to inordinate desire to possess wealth or material goods, though this is certainly central to any such thought. People may be greedy for position, for power, for pleasure. What is perhaps essential to Peter’s exposure of false teachers, and what is most easily overlooked, is the effort to exploit others for personal gain. This is the great tragedy of the false teachers. People are reduced to objects and are thus used to gratify the false teacher.
The great sin of the pornographer and pornography addicts is that fellow humans are exploited for their own perverted lust. The great sin of those guilty of gouging borrowers or charging excessive interest is that they exploit their fellow humans. The great sin of one who abuses her or his spouse is that the spouse is reduced to a mere object. It is this exploitative aspect of relationships which is most horrifying and most offensive and most characteristic of the sin of the false teachers.
This is the reason why even believers are liable to be exploited by false teachers – they choose to live in the flesh and are thus rendered susceptible to being deceived. Recall that Peter began this letter with a plea for believers to adhere to the goodness of Christ, to grow toward His high calling, and to base their faith and practise on the Word which we have received from God. When we forget our goal and neglect His Word, we are open to being deceived, even accepting the stories pseudo-teachers have made up which are now foisted off on the unsuspecting and unwary.
The Danger of False Teaching – The danger of false teachers is twofold – they do attract followers even from among the saints, and by their actions they bring the way of truth into disrepute. It is an awesome task which has been assigned to the undershepherd. He is responsible to instruct the people in righteousness even as they are bombarded with messages opposed to righteousness. For every message you receive from this pulpit you will have received twenty opposed to it from other sources during the week. We grow to adulthood in a cultural context which is set in opposition to God and which is intolerant of righteousness, and we are not left unaffected by that milieu. To resist the messages of this world requires constant vigilance, constant vigour, constant discernment. To honour God requires greater vigilance, greater vigour, and greater discernment still.
False teachers are incredibly Persuasive. The Apostle, in verse two, states that many will follow the shameful ways of false teachers. False teachers will always obtain a hearing from the gullible, as they are persuasive. Jim Jones was able to dupe hundreds, deceiving even leading politicians, including mayors, governors, congressmen, and even the President of the United States. Marshall Applewhite was able to gather about himself an incredibly diverse array of intelligent people willing to commit their very lives into his hands. Father Divine duped an astonishing number of women into being his celestial wives. Mormon prophets still manage to lead an amazing array of otherwise intelligent people into deciding to base their faith on a tale of two brothers named Jesus and Lucifer.
It is a shameful fact that an unconscionable number of cult adherents are former members of evangelical churches. I tend to be scathing in my condemnation of those members of various cults who come to my door telling me they were once Baptists. “You never were Baptists,” is my response, “for had you understood the freedom we enjoy in Christ you would never have surrendered that liberty for the chains which now hold you in bondage.” As caustic as my response is to such people, my condemnation of those who failed to teach them is stronger still.
The Word warns that the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. That verse continues by noting that they perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness [2 Thessalonians 2:9-11]. To reject the truth is to make oneself vulnerable to deceit. Thus the false teachers are most persuasive to the untaught.
Were false teachers not convincing, who would follow them? Were the eyes of the lost not blinded by the wicked one, would they not see? Because of their persuasive powers, these False Teachers will Bring the Way of Truth into Disrepute. The church of this day is not despised by the world because it is too strict; the church of this day is despised because it is indistinguishable from the world!
We have brought into the church the appearance of the world. We are careful to appeal to the man of the world by adapting the message of the church to his expectations. We are confounded when such efforts fail to attract the world to our diluted message. We adopt the attitudes of the world and permit those attitudes to influence our faith and practise; then we are astonished that the world takes such scant notice of us.
We Christians are expected to tolerate the immorality of Sodomites, covering their sin with euphemisms such as “alternative lifestyle”. I stand with the Word of God in saying that homosexual practise is a sin, not because someone has decided it is offensive, but because it is against the natural order and thus condemned by God. We cannot condone what God has condemned. Though we reach out to that one enslaved by her own lusts, we cannot ignore the consequences which follow in the wake of this sin.
Last year the Prince George Ministerial Association was under fire in the media because it opposed homosexuality. Their spokesman said they were trying to find a middle ground between the extremes of intolerance and the “anything goes” attitude. Not to fear, the provincial Minister of Education and a minister at St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church organised a rally to oppose the Ministerial.
Murray Krause, Prince George city councillor, said in an interview: “They’re spouting old rhetoric. There’s nothing new or ground breaking.” I should hope not! I should hope that those ministers were about two thousand years out of date! I should hope that they were utterly and unalterably opposed to the spirit of this age; but I fear that the seeds of accommodation are already sown in other areas of Christian life in this day.
We are expected to hail the choice of a woman to kill her baby under the pretext that it is her body. It is not her body which is slaughtered! We Christians are pro-choice! We believe that the mother did have a choice … before the child was conceived! Will promoting the greater evil of murder correct the initial evil of immorality?
The sins of homosexuality and abortion are well nigh universally recognised and rejected among evangelical Christians. Should the preacher be silent concerning other, more socially acceptable sins which have invaded the church in our day? Shall we not speak against that which is error and ultimately must wreak spiritual havoc?
Since the natural order excludes women doing with women what is against nature, and also condemns homosexuality and loss of natural affections, what shall we say about sins harboured in the church which likewise challenge the created order? Do we really believe that we can improve upon God’s teaching that the natural order testifies against women serving as pastors of the God’s churches? Will we really reinterpret the Word of God to suit the modern mindset? Having first questioned the Word where it speaks on this issue, will we be content to stop there? Will we not rather find it necessary to continually reinterpret the Word at each new bloom of the popular imagination? Have we no commitment to practise the Word in this day?
Shall we be silent when false teachers occupy not only our pulpits but also teach bad theology in our seminaries and schools of higher education? Shall we be mute in the face of such defiance toward Holy God emanating from these destructive theologians? McMasters has on the faculty men who openly question the justice of God, men who openly doubt whether it is necessary to trust Christ for salvation, men who openly embrace error. Sin cannot be excused simply because those sinning are nice people or because they are members of a Baptist church. Let those who profess to teach the Word of God live by that Word!
Did the United Church grow when it rejected the Word of God as authoritative? Have the Anglicans prospered because they embraced the message of the feminists and the sodomites? When the Methodists unionised in the United States, did they grow? Neither shall Baptists prosper through forsaking the Word of God and attempting to remake the Gospel in the image of the modern world. Such efforts shall only bring swift and certain death even as the world studiously ignores us. It was sin which brought our world into this present condition, and we cannot remove the opprobrium of sin through adopting the methods of sinners. Even the best thoughts of sinners are utterly unworthy of the mind of God or of adoption by His people.
Though the preacher may not be a rhetorician, and though he may not always speak in a manner calculated to excite the impulses of listeners, let each Christian determine to listen carefully to the message delivered, whether from this pulpit, from another pulpit, or by means of modern media. The message of life is exciting enough, and that message merits our fullest attention. Don’t fall into the trap of being so enamoured by the delivery that the message is ignored. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking as the world thinks, and thus taking the first step toward destruction. Learn to think critically and to apply spiritual insight to that which is taught in the Name of Christ. Refuse to permit the world to squeeze you into its mould.
If the destruction of the false teachers has long been hanging over them, and if their destruction has not been sleeping, neither shall those following their pernicious ways escape. The great tragedy is that when God finally says “Enough!” to the culture which has embraced error, even the righteous must suffer. Jeremiah wept because his people were destroyed. Though he had warned them through the long years of ministry, the pain experienced when God finally fulfilled His Word was very real and most intense.
Have you heard the message of life? Are you determined to adhere to that message? Are you following Christ? Are you interpreting the world about you in light of the Word? Or are you interpreting the Word in light of the world about you? Christian, it is time to hear the words of the Apostle and to apply them to your life.
You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is [Ephesians 5:8-17].
May God grant us wisdom and make us strong. May He enable us to hold fast to His Word and to make a difference in these last days. May He equip us to do great deeds in His Name and for His glory. May He save many through our witness. And may our lives be distinguished from the world about us. Amen.
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[1] Daniel Defoe, True Born Englishmen (1701), Part I