Discerning Falsehoods
Time and again in Scripture, we are told to test all messages in order that we might not be deceived and misled. Paul commended the Bereans for searching the Word of God to see if what they were being taught was in fact true. If the apostle Paul made this a practice, shouldn't we? A friend of mine gave a Bible study once wherein he urged those of us present to know what we believe, because the sad truth of the matter is that most Christians have little knowledge of the Bible and a worldview that is only a couple of inches deep.
It is tragic when someone who professes a faith in Christ is unable to test anything because they are ignorant of what the Word says. Believers are sometimes starved for spiritual food in their own churches, because what they get fed amounts to pop psychological garbage and positive thinking reinforcement. As believers, we need to be in the Word every day. We need to learn to test doctrine by comparing it to Scripture. 1st Thessalonians 5:21 states; "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." Not to be able to do this could make one a target for deception.
Just as in times past---but with even greater numbers today, false prophets are all over the place. In my eschatology, they are a definite sign of the times and they point to the soon return of Jesus. He Himself warned this would happen in the end times. In fact, it is the very first end time sign He spoke of in the Olivet Discourse, most extensively recorded in Matthew 24. It is also the only sign He repeated in that discourse, and He could not have been more explicit; "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many."
Paul was strongly emphatic about this very thing. In the Acts Chapter 20, he said, "28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears."
John and Peter also warned of what false prophets, saying such men and women would; "secretly will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them," 2ND Peter 2:1. John gave Jesus' followers one way to test such men. He instructed, "2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God:....." 1st John 4 He followed that up by teaching that anyone who would not acknowledge that Jesus had come in the flesh had "the spirit of antichrist."
John's teaching is the starting point, because today we have cults who will make that confession. The problem is, their confession is false, because it means something completely different from what it is they are saying. For example if I say, "I love to fly," most people with common sense would know that what I am saying is that I love to ride in airplanes. However, when someone says, "I love to fly," they might literally mean that they believe that they can fly without any external aid, and that they love doing it.
The same thing is true of false teachers who use terms common to orthodox Christianity, but which mean something absolutely different from what the Bible declares. Mormonism for example, is full of such dualistic terms. When a Mormon says they "believe Jesus Christ is the Savior" and that they believe that "He came in the flesh", it sounds like it passes John's initial test, right? It does sound like that, but upon further inspection, they are talking about a completely different Jesus than the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus they believe in was born spiritually in heaven to a heavenly father and mother, who they believe in turn fathered and gave birth to Lucifer (making him the spiritual brother of Jesus) and the rest of the human race. When a Mormon says that he or she believes in "Heavenly Father", that sounds okay. The truth is that the "Heavenly Father" of Mormonism is a created being that was once a man like us who became a god, in a line of gods that stretches back ad infinitum.
When our spiritual 'nose' gets a whiff of falsehood, we need to delve further. We need (lovingly) to ask questions. False prophets often hold back information and they do so for a purpose. They refrain from elaborating on their doctrines, because not to do so will immediately define them and separate them from true followers of the Jesus of the Bible. This gives people an impression that they hold to Christianity, and it allows false teachers to push their deceptions until people unaware of the truth get indoctrinated into their system of falsehoods. Again, Mormonism is a perfect example of what is going on in a world full of false prophets and teachers today. They have a corporate and collective desire to be accepted as followers of the Jesus Christ of the Bible. The truth is, they are not. One simple question that you could ask your Mormon friend is this, "If I accept you as a Christian, will you accept me as a Mormon?" Chances are, that if they know anything about their own belief system, you will be rejected, and that is because they believe something completely different than we do.
Generally speaking, false prophets and teachers can be exposed by shedding light on two areas: 1) What do they believe about the identity of God? and 2) What is God's method of salvation? These two questions lay at the foundation of what John was telling us to do, because Jesus is the head of the body, and the foundation of the church. It is only through Him that we can come to the Father. When someone redefines who God is, and how we get saved, they are false teachers presenting a false gospel.
We need to be loving with people, but we need to be bold about the truth while being loving. In today's postmodern, politically correct and morally relativistic culture it seems that the biggest way to insult someone is to say that they are---wrong. But people are wrong, and many of them will go to hell for having placed their faith and trust in anything other than Jesus. So how loving would it be for us not to delve further, and once having discovered deception, not to lovingly guide someone to the truth? I don't think it would be loving at all. Sometimes, we have to realize that we will be going through some painful realities in order to give someone the truth.
The question is, does that matter to us? I think it ought to. Charles Spurgeon once said, "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that."
This is just one more reason to study the Word, and to be able to discern these things and to reach out to those who are willing to hear the truth. We need to be vigilant about our own spiritual laziness and apathy. It should never be that way with us. We ought always be ready and willing to to reach out to the lost, and if that means to be willing to lovingly confront falsehood and take the possible consequences, then so be it.
Time and again in Scripture, we are told to test all messages in order that we might not be deceived and misled. Paul commended the Bereans for searching the Word of God to see if what they were being taught was in fact true. If the apostle Paul made this a practice, shouldn't we? A friend of mine gave a Bible study once wherein he urged those of us present to know what we believe, because the sad truth of the matter is that most Christians have little knowledge of the Bible and a worldview that is only a couple of inches deep.
It is tragic when someone who professes a faith in Christ is unable to test anything because they are ignorant of what the Word says. Believers are sometimes starved for spiritual food in their own churches, because what they get fed amounts to pop psychological garbage and positive thinking reinforcement. As believers, we need to be in the Word every day. We need to learn to test doctrine by comparing it to Scripture. 1st Thessalonians 5:21 states; "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." Not to be able to do this could make one a target for deception.
Just as in times past---but with even greater numbers today, false prophets are all over the place. In my eschatology, they are a definite sign of the times and they point to the soon return of Jesus. He Himself warned this would happen in the end times. In fact, it is the very first end time sign He spoke of in the Olivet Discourse, most extensively recorded in Matthew 24. It is also the only sign He repeated in that discourse, and He could not have been more explicit; "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many."
Paul was strongly emphatic about this very thing. In the Acts Chapter 20, he said, "28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears."
John and Peter also warned of what false prophets, saying such men and women would; "secretly will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them," 2ND Peter 2:1. John gave Jesus' followers one way to test such men. He instructed, "2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God:....." 1st John 4 He followed that up by teaching that anyone who would not acknowledge that Jesus had come in the flesh had "the spirit of antichrist."
John's teaching is the starting point, because today we have cults who will make that confession. The problem is, their confession is false, because it means something completely different from what it is they are saying. For example if I say, "I love to fly," most people with common sense would know that what I am saying is that I love to ride in airplanes. However, when someone says, "I love to fly," they might literally mean that they believe that they can fly without any external aid, and that they love doing it.
The same thing is true of false teachers who use terms common to orthodox Christianity, but which mean something absolutely different from what the Bible declares. Mormonism for example, is full of such dualistic terms. When a Mormon says they "believe Jesus Christ is the Savior" and that they believe that "He came in the flesh", it sounds like it passes John's initial test, right? It does sound like that, but upon further inspection, they are talking about a completely different Jesus than the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus they believe in was born spiritually in heaven to a heavenly father and mother, who they believe in turn fathered and gave birth to Lucifer (making him the spiritual brother of Jesus) and the rest of the human race. When a Mormon says that he or she believes in "Heavenly Father", that sounds okay. The truth is that the "Heavenly Father" of Mormonism is a created being that was once a man like us who became a god, in a line of gods that stretches back ad infinitum.
When our spiritual 'nose' gets a whiff of falsehood, we need to delve further. We need (lovingly) to ask questions. False prophets often hold back information and they do so for a purpose. They refrain from elaborating on their doctrines, because not to do so will immediately define them and separate them from true followers of the Jesus of the Bible. This gives people an impression that they hold to Christianity, and it allows false teachers to push their deceptions until people unaware of the truth get indoctrinated into their system of falsehoods. Again, Mormonism is a perfect example of what is going on in a world full of false prophets and teachers today. They have a corporate and collective desire to be accepted as followers of the Jesus Christ of the Bible. The truth is, they are not. One simple question that you could ask your Mormon friend is this, "If I accept you as a Christian, will you accept me as a Mormon?" Chances are, that if they know anything about their own belief system, you will be rejected, and that is because they believe something completely different than we do.
Generally speaking, false prophets and teachers can be exposed by shedding light on two areas: 1) What do they believe about the identity of God? and 2) What is God's method of salvation? These two questions lay at the foundation of what John was telling us to do, because Jesus is the head of the body, and the foundation of the church. It is only through Him that we can come to the Father. When someone redefines who God is, and how we get saved, they are false teachers presenting a false gospel.
We need to be loving with people, but we need to be bold about the truth while being loving. In today's postmodern, politically correct and morally relativistic culture it seems that the biggest way to insult someone is to say that they are---wrong. But people are wrong, and many of them will go to hell for having placed their faith and trust in anything other than Jesus. So how loving would it be for us not to delve further, and once having discovered deception, not to lovingly guide someone to the truth? I don't think it would be loving at all. Sometimes, we have to realize that we will be going through some painful realities in order to give someone the truth.
The question is, does that matter to us? I think it ought to. Charles Spurgeon once said, "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that."
This is just one more reason to study the Word, and to be able to discern these things and to reach out to those who are willing to hear the truth. We need to be vigilant about our own spiritual laziness and apathy. It should never be that way with us. We ought always be ready and willing to to reach out to the lost, and if that means to be willing to lovingly confront falsehood and take the possible consequences, then so be it.
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