“He replied, “Don’t let anyone mislead
you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and saying,
‘The time has come!’ But don’t believe them.” ”
—Luke 21:8
Over the last few weeks we have heard
alot about false teachings and prophets. Recently we have heard that Andy
Stanley, son of the late Charles Stanley, and Pastor of the Atlanta megachurch,
Northpoint Church, has held "conferences" to promote inclusion of the
gay lifestyle in church. Trying to wrap
it in a "diversity" bow, Stanley has committed the error (sin) of
changing the Word to conform to the world. The Church is to be the opposite. We
are to be a bulwark against the pro-Sodomite and anti-religious sentiment of
the world around us. Stanley is just one of many that I could list. But this should not surprise us. The Bible has
warned us of this for thousands of years. Jesus warned us of the false prophets.
So did the Apostles Paul and Peter.
If we look at Revelation 13:11-18, we are
given seven (7) signs of a false prophet. Some of those signs are that they
promote the teachings of Satan, not God. Another is that he deceives people to
follow false teachings. Those are just two but they can be applied to what we
see in many Churches today. The "feel-good" philosophy of Joel
Olsteen comes to mind. The "prosperity gospel" of Creflo Dollar to
name another.
I am going to delve into this more in a
future article, but I have included the musings of Pastor Greg Laurie, of
Harvest Church, on his thoughts on false teachings and prophets:
"In the times in which we’re living,
we should be aware of religious deception. Jesus said that in the last days,
there would be an explosion of it, culminating in the appearance of the
ultimate deceiver, the Antichrist.
We should look out for cults and groups
who say they’re the way to God and that their leader, guru, or teacher is the
Messiah. Today, in addition to relatively established cults, newer groups have
sprung up. There has been a literal explosion of mysticism and spirituality in
recent years.
But for the most part, it has not been a
return to biblical Christianity. Rather, it has been a New Age mixture of
everything under the umbrella of so-called spirituality.
People basically have a do-it-yourself
divinity. They say things like, “I don’t believe in organized religion, but I
am a very spiritual person. I draw a little from this belief and a little from
that belief. It all will get us to Heaven or closer to God.”
However, the Bible tells us that in the
last days, Satan will use every kind of wicked deception to fool those who are
on their way to destruction because they refuse to believe the truth that would
save them. They will be condemned for not believing the truth.
We need to realize that whenever there is
the genuine, there always will be the counterfeit. The devil is the great
deceiver and the great counterfeiter. Jesus said of him, “He has always hated
the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent
with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44 NLT).
The devil is an expert at offering
substitutes for the real thing, with enough truth to make it believable and enough
error to destroy us.
That is why we must be students of
Scripture. The Bible tells us to test the spirits to see if they’re really of
God (see 1 John 4:1). We must stop believing the false teachings that come our
way. Far too often, we in the church are gullible because we allow our feelings
and emotions to direct us instead of looking at things through a biblical lens.
We must learn to think biblically and compare everything to what the Bible
teaches.
We also need to understand that all
religions do not teach the same thing. To believe otherwise is to ignore what
the Bible teaches. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one
can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT).
If you are a true Christian, then you
must believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God."
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