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False TeachersThessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 1:3-6; 4:16; 6:20-21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Titus 1:916; 2:6-8; 3:9-11; 2 Peter 3:17-18; 1 John 4:1-6; 2 John 7-11; etc.). The earlychurch was not oblivious to the kinds of perils we see in our day. They wererepeatedly warned, and yet still, many fell (e.g. Philippians 2:19-21; 3:17-19; 1Timothy 1:5-7, 18-20; 5:11-15; 6:10, 20-21; 2 Timothy 1:15; 2:17-18; 4:10;Titus 1:10-11).In 2 Peter, Peter came right out and said, "there will be false teachersamong you," and that "many will follow their destructive ways" (2 Peter 2:12). False teachers are nothing new, and the reality of "many" following them isalso not peculiar to our times. False Christianity has been active since that firstcentury.Does Scripture describe an abundance of real, true, Spirit-filled believersfor our days? No, on the contrary, just the opposite is depicted (2 Timothy 3:15; 4:3-4; 2 Peter 2:1-2). In fact, Jesus asked a similar question, and by it,indicated the possibility of little to no believers on the planet in the last days.I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, whenthe Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?(Luke 18:8)Literally, in the Greek, Christ says, "will He really find the faith on theearth?" The question here is not whether or not Christ will find people of greatfaith when He returns, but rather, will He find anyone who truly believes inHim when He comes back! Will He find the faith on the earth? Will the faitheven be on the planet? The fact that Christ even asks this question impliesperilous times for the last days, particularly those last days immediately beforeHis return.To press this point home even further, when was the last time you heard ofa Christian praying for justice and vengeance? This is the context in whichChrist spoke (Luke 18:1-8), and this is the kind of faith that describes the faithof the elect. As Christ said in this same text,And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day andnight to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that Hewill avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Mancomes, will He really find the faith on the earth? (Luke 18:7-8,NKJV with "the" added before "faith" in keeping with the Greek)Therefore, in keeping with the Word of God, what should we expect to find inthese last days? Should we expect to find many believers, or very few?Actually, with the Words of Christ in mind, we might even expect to find none!Yet, 1 Thessalonians 4:15 & 17, indicate that there will be, at the very least,two or more.In 1 Thessalonians 4:15 Paul writes, "we who are alive and remain untilthe coming of the Lord," and in verse 17 "Then we who are alive and14

Prefaceremain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds." These, "wewho are alive and remain" dictate that there will be true believers who arealive on the planet when Christ returns. How many? Paul doesn't say. But,nonetheless, there will be some, at least two, because he says "we."From 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 4:3-4, 2 Peter 2:1-2, and Luke 18:8, it is apparentthat few indeed (Matthew 7:13-14), even among the "Christian" population,will be true believers up until the time of Christ's return. Sometime in the nearfuture (Revelation 1:1-3), Elijah is suppose to come back upon the scene(Malachi 4:5; Matthew 17:11; Mark 9:12), and God's two witnesses will bepresent (Revelation 11:3-12). But, Elijah and these two witnesses are notanyone new. Elijah has already been on the earth, and these two witnesses arepeople who have been in heaven for quite some time (Zechariah 4:11-14;Revelation 11:4).Once the day of the Lord hits (1 Thessalonians 4:15-5:3), the Word revealsthat there will be specifically 144,000 Jews who will be saved (Revelation 7:18; 14:1-5), and also a mass number of people "of all nations." This number isso great that the Lord calls it "a great multitude which no one couldnumber" (Revelation 7:9-17). From what we have recorded in Scripture, thistime, that is, during the great tribulation (Matthew 24:21; Revelation 7:13-14),is a time unlike any in the history of mankind in which untold thousands, if notmillions, are saved. God does a great work of salvation in the final days.Yet, our days are the perilous ones (2 Timothy 3-4) in which we have aheap of false teachers. The names mentioned in this book barely scratch thesurface compared to the multitude of hypocritical liars that abound.Nevertheless, we give these as examples that you might beware.May God have mercy on you and save you from those who speak perversethings (Proverbs 2:1-12).15

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How To Identify False TeachersHow To IdentifyFalse TeachersTo begin with, if the teacher is caught within the prevailing falseChristianity that is described in the appendix in “You Think You're Saved, ButYou're Not!” you can know they are not in the truth based on that alone. Beingon the broad way leads to nowhere but hell (Matthew 7:13-14).Moreover, the following is not exhaustive, because, no doubt, other factorsmay come into play that would clearly identify a person as a false teacher, likea homosexual teacher, or an adulterer who is a teacher, or a female pastor (1Timothy 2:11-14; 1 Corinthians 14:34-37; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). But, here areseven identifying marks from Scripture. If any one of these points can honestlydescribe a man, that they are characteristic of his life, any one of these alonemarks him as false. This is not to say that these marks stand alone, that is, thata man would have only one mark and not any others. But, for the sake ofsimplicity and to help in identification, one mark is all it takes.I. False TeachingWhoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christdoes not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ hasboth the Father and the Son. (2 John 9)Since Christ is the Word of God (i.e. the Scriptures, John 1:1, 14; Hebrews4:12-13; Revelation 19:13), the doctrine of Christ is not just His teaching foundin Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but rather, His teaching is the entirety ofScripture. Therefore, a teacher can be found to be true or false based on the17

False Teacherssimple fact as to whether he abides within the confines of the word of God, ordoes not (John 8:47; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; 2 John 9).Jesus said,Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, butinwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by theirfruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs fromthistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad treebears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a badtree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cutdown and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you willknow them. (Matthew 7:15-20)What are the fruits that Jesus speaks of by which we may identify falseprophets? Matthew 7 doesn't tell us what the fruit is, but Luke does.For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree beargood fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men donot gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from abramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heartbrings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of hisheart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart hismouth speaks. (Luke 6:39-45)So, what is the "fruit?" The fruit is what comes out of the mouth.Now, even though Jesus speaks specifically of false prophets in Matthew7:15-20, in Luke 6:39-45 he speaks in more general terms ("man"). Therefore,Christ's words about knowing them by their fruit is applicable to both prophetand teacher, or anyone else for that matter. You can know a person by whatcomes out of their mouth (Proverbs 20:11). Yet, this is so often missed.When the false teaching of highly respected men in the Christiancommunity gets exposed, it is amazing some of the arguments we hear. Peoplewill see the false doctrine, and still they say, "But do you know the man? Haveyou ever talked to him? Have you spent some time with him?" Jesus didn't say,"You shall know them by spending time with them." If what is coming out oftheir mouths is deceit, bad fruit, on a consistent basis, then you know the manis false! It's that simple! You don't have to personally know the man.If we were to follow some of the folly we have heard, then we could neverstudy a man's teaching (his fruit) and know if he's a false teacher or not,because we have not called him first, made an appointment with him, sat downwith him, and really gotten to know him. We could not take to heart Christ'swords, ". . . by their fruits you will know them."Typically, people seem to think the fruit (good fruit) is the big ministry, likethe ministries of someone like Billy Graham, or Promise Keepers, or JamesDobson, or John MacArthur, or Chuck Swindoll. Or, they might think the fruit18

How To Identify False Teachersis all the masses of people following them, as if this was good fruit. Theproblem with this kind of thinking is that these very things (a big ministry withmany following them) expose them for what they are, ungodly men (Jude 1415)! Besides Luke 6:26, 2 Peter 2:2 says,And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom theway of truth will be blasphemed.In these last days (2 Timothy 3:1; 4:3; Luke 18:8) a following of many is asign of a false teacher, not a true teacher. Few follow truth. Many (2 Peter 2:2)follow lies (Mt. 7:13-14). And, even in this, the context of many and few iswithin the context of the "people of God" (2 Peter 2:1-2). Jesus' warning inMatthew 7:13-14 is to those who are called "the salt of the earth" and "the lightof the world" (Matthew 5:13-14). His warning is in the context of the correctreligion, as is exemplified by the following verses (Matthew 7:15-27).So, how much false doctrine makes a man a false teacher? It doesn't takevery much. 1 Timothy 1:3 says, "teach no other doctrine." What is thestandard? It is "no other doctrine." It is not, "Well, you can be off on somethings," as if to say, you can continue in false doctrine. Scripture says no suchthing. 1 Timothy 6:3 says,If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesomewords [Genesis to Revelation has very wholesome words], even thewords of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine whichaccords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, . . .If anyone teaches other than the Word of God, it is false teaching. Those whohave the Holy Spirit in them will hear God's Words (John 8:47). They willconsent to wholesome words. Those who do not know God, will not consent(John 8:47).Now, what about confrontation? What about giving a man an opportunity toconsent to wholesome words? If there are no other signs of him being a falseteacher (like those mentioned below), then Scripture gives both instruction anda warning to safeguard the believer.1 Timothy 5:19-21 gives instruction in how to confront an elder (pastor)who is sinning. False teaching is sin, therefore it should be dealt with publicly("in the presence of all," 1 Timothy 5:20). If the man has an identifying markof a false teacher, Jesus warns not to confront him privately (Matthew 7:3-6).False teachers are to be dealt with publicly. Jesus did this in both Matthew 23and Luke 11.Now, if you suspect someone is a false teacher and you want to confrontthem on false teaching, do it Biblically. Do it publicly. If he is simply a sinningelder, then he should be confronted "in the presence of all" (i.e. publicly, inthe presence of the assembly of believers, 1 Timothy 3:15; 5:19-20). If he turnsout to be a man who simply was in error (like Peter, Galatians 2:11-21), then he19

False Teacherswill consent to wholesome words (1 Timothy 6:3). If he turns out to actually bea false teacher, he will not consent (1 Timoth

For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.