Tag Archives: false teachers

Are You Talking To Me?

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1 Timothy 6:20-21

Paul ends this letter to Timothy with a warning I think too many Christians don’t think applies to them. And I believe the Church is seeing a negative effect as a result.

Paul says to guard your heart because if you don’t, you are in danger of walking away from the faith. He doesn’t say guard your heart because if you don’t, that means you were never really saved in the first place. He doesn’t say guard your heart because if you don’t, you won’t have an effective testimony.

Some translations say Paul begins verse 20 with the words, “Oh, Timothy.” Don’t you get loving Father vibes from that? Isn’t this the voice of someone who dearly loves and is pleading with his loved one to hang on, make good choices, be careful because the one who loves sees danger ahead? Even if verse 20 in your translations simply says, “Timothy” you can hear Paul’s love for and concern for young Timothy throughout the letter.

Here’s the thing. If Timothy was in no danger of wandering or walking away from the faith, there would be no reason for Paul to say anything. There is clearly a warning concerning a very real danger. For Paul to end his letter this way tells me this is urgent

I say the Church is seeing the negative effect of Christians not heeding this warning because of the false teaching that has infiltrated our ranks and is being accepted as truth. Too many Christians seem to think that because they are saved, God won’t let them go no matter what they do, or believe. So they accept the “godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge” and don’t consider the consequences. They not only do not guard their hearts, they freely give their hearts to the lies.

We Christians, you and I, need to guard our hearts. How? Read the Bible. Do a word search and find all the verses that use the word you choose. Faith? Truth? Repentance? Sin? Hell? Money? Tolerance? Do you know for yourself what the Bible says about these things?

Find a Bible believing church and hold your pastor and teachers accountable for what they say. Ask questions. Research for yourself. Guard your heart.

Turn off the religious channels on your TV. I can confidently say there is more false teaching than truth there. Guard your heart.

Stop spending more time reading about the Bible than you do opening the pages of God’s Word and devouring it for yourself. It’s not up to an author to guard your heart. Guard your own heart.

Quit thinking God forgives all your sin because one day years ago you accepted Jesus as your Savior. Friend, it is true God forgives your sin… if you confess. You ought to be confessing and repenting every time God brings to mind a sin you are committing in the present. Don’t assume He turns a blind eye to any sin. Guard your heart.

I will say this: if Timothy, the young preacher entrusted with overseeing the Church, the spiritual son of Paul needed to guard his heart, I most certainly need to guard mine. I ought to be reading these verses and ask God, “Are you talking to me?”

Do you honestly think He would reply, “No. You’re the exception?”

Why Do You Believe It?

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John 20

The disciples had been with Jesus for three years. They saw the evidence that what Jesus said was true. They asked questions. They listened. They watched. Up to and including the crucification their belief was still in progress. Then He died.

That Sunday they heard the tomb was empty. Rather than simply taking someone’s word for it, Peter and John ran to the tomb to see it for themselves. The tomb was empty! They walked inside and looked around. They knew for certain the body of Jesus was not in that tomb.

But what did it mean?

They went back to their friends and discussed it among themselves. So they were together when Jesus appeared to them alive and well. It was then their belief turned into cement. A personal encounter with the risen Savior changed everything. They were able to hold on to the truth for the rest of their lives, based on what they had seen, and heard, and believed.

People don’t often take the time to question, or listen, or watch for evidence these days before they believe something. They base their beliefs on what is posted on social media and on news outlets with an agenda. They believe what they are told to believe without giving it much thought.

Case in point: the Democratic party. Yes, I am going political here the day before this important election. It concerns me the Democrats are simply voting for the person they are told to vote for.

They willingly gave up their constitutional right to choose a candidate through debates, and campaigns, and a primary vote. They didn’t ask questions, didn’t listen to the meaningless rhetoric of the candidate forced on them, and they refuse to observe the tangible evidence that she is a threat to freedom. Most Democrats can’t tell you what she stands for, what her accomplishments are, or what issues she supports that align with their own informed convictions.

But they will vote for her because they are told to hate her opponent.

Now, before you accuse me of the same, let me just say I know Trump can be a jerk. I know he talks like an adolescent sometimes. I know he’s not a poster child for morality. But I have done my research and can tell you his stand on abortion lines up more closely with mine, his stand on illegal immigration and open borders, his stand on energy independence, taxes, importing/exporting, and peace through strength line up more closely with mine. And his position on religious freedom, the constitution of the US, and free speech line up with my own beliefs much more closely than the Democrat candidate’s.

But it’s not just in the political arena where people don’t ask questions, listen, or watch. The Church is full of lazy, gullible, mindless people who believe what they are told to believe. They let the preacher read the Bible for them. They let the songs dictate their worship. They close their eyes to the evidence of false teaching and simply believe what they are told to believe.

You and I might believe differently on some things. But unless our beliefs are based on our own research, asking questions, listening with the intent to learn, and taking time to look at the evidence, what we believe is meaningless. Maybe even dangerous.

The disciples spent their whole lives sharing what they knew to be true because they had done the research. They spent time with Jesus, listening, questioning, observing. They knew that what they believed as a result of the years of research was the TRUTH.

So what do you believe? What do you believe about this country and democracy? What do you believe about the Church – your church? What do you believe about life, eternity, sin, grace? And why do you believe what you believe?

What do you believe as a result of your personal time spent asking questions, listening, and watching. What do you believe as a result of your personal encounter with the risen Savior?

Why do you believe it?

(Jeremiah 14) Accountability

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Let me make something perfectly clear: I have never seen a sixty foot Jesus, I have never heard God’s audible voice, I’ve never received a new revelation from God. This blog, my entire walk with the Lord is based solely on the words God inspired men to write thousands of years ago – the Bible.

That being said, I am a teacher. I read God’s Word every day, and do so with an ear to hear God speak to me through it’s pages, to teach me what I need to know for today. God’s voice is heard in the written Word as a verse that stands out as I read, or when I read something in a passage that applies to me in the moment, or when a parallel Scripture comes to mind and reenforces what I need to consider.

Then I often share what I’ve learned in this blog, or when I teach a Bible Study or Sunday School lesson. But I take the sharing of those lessons very seriously, because God takes it very seriously. And judgment is severe for those who claim to speak for God but are “prophesying to you a false vision, worthless divination, the deceit of their minds.” (14:14)

Makes a person think twice before taking on a teaching ministry. Or it should!

But as always, I encourage you not to read the “them” as you read the Bible. God has a warning for all of us who sit under the teaching, or read the opinions of Bible scholars, teachers, and preachers. God is very clear to tell us that when the false teachers are judged for their lies, those who believe their lies will be judged as well.

Brian Houston, Brian Johnson, Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, Jospeh Smith, Peter Popoff, Joyce Meyer, Buddha or Krishna or Mohammed, etc. Do you know what they preach? Do you believe what they say?

You are responsible for what you believe. God told Jeremiah it didn’t matter that the people were being fed lies. The problem was the people believed the lies.

Dear One, there are a lot of lies being tossed about these days under the guise of Christianity. They are being preached and sung in churches all over the world. Maybe in your own church. Don’t just sit there and accept it just because it sounds Christian. A lie is a lie even if it makes you feel good.

And you will be held accountable for what you do with that lie.

Thank you for reading my blog. Now put it away, and open up your Bible to Jeremiah 14 and read for yourself what God says. If my opinions align with Scripture, accept them. If they don’t, throw them away and let me know why you did. I need to know so that if I am wrong, I can recognize it as sin and repent of it.

Whatever you do, don’t accept everything I say, or what your preacher says, or what that praise song says without first checking it for yourself in the pages of Scripture. Because you will be held accountable for what you believe.

And you won’t be able to blame someone else if you believe the lie.

June 12

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I Kings 14:1-18, 22-28; 2 Chronicles 11:5-10, 18-23, 12:1-12; Psalm 89

Judah, under King Rehoboam, began living like the ungodly people God had driven out of the Promised Land. So when the king of Egypt attacked, God removed his protection over Judah and the Israelites were defeated.

The enemy invaded the temple and took the beautiful gold pieces Solomon had commissioned. What Solomon intended to serve the temple for generations were lost because of his own son.

Rehoboam probably didn’t have the resources his dad had. Or maybe he didn’t think temple utensils were all that important. Whatever the reason, he hired craftsmen to make replacement shields. The ones that were stolen were gold. Rehoboam’s replacements were bronze. Polished up, they probably looked like gold from a distance. But closer inspection couldn’t hide the fact they were not the original. They just couldn’t compare.

I might be grasping at straws here, but I wonder if some of our churches have replaced the gold of the Bible for the bronze of a politically correct, feel-good replacement. It still looks like a church, but upon close inspection you can tell it isn’t the original.

God’s holiness, his demands for our holiness, his law and the consequences for breaking those laws don’t always leave us feeling good about ourselves. Proclaiming Jesus as the only way to the Father doesn’t always sit well with non-believers. Holding the Bible up as the standard for living upsets people who think they have a better idea.

But any other gospel is no gospel at all. It’s a poor imitation. And, in the end, it cannot stand up to closer inspection. 

What is your church made of? I pray you are involved in a solid gold fellowship where Jesus is honored and God is worshiped in all his holiness. I pray, like Paul, you stand united, not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it alone has the power to save. 

Let’s toss out the bronze and hold on to the gold.

June 11

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I Kings 12:1-13:34; 2 Chronicles 10:1-19, 11:1-4, 13-17

God had told the man of God exactly what to do. Go to Bethel and tell Jeroboam that God punishes disobedience, then get out. Don’t eat or drink anything. Don’t even go back the way you came. Just walk away and keep walking. The man of God didn’t have to guess at any of the details because God had spelled it all out for him.

But when someone who claimed to have received a special message from God that contradicted what the man of God knew to be true, the man of God changed his course. After all, didn’t the old prophet say he had received the message straight from God? So it must be true, right?

Wrong.

Dear one, it’s important for you to know what it is that God has spelled out in his Word. The Bible and ONLY the Bible is God’s instruction manual. It’s ok to read blogs (I’m glad you read mine) or commentaries or books about God. It’s good to listen to preaching and teaching. But you must always measure what you hear with what you read in the Bible. Always.

God will not ever, ever give a word to anyone that contradicts what he has already said in his Word. The Bible is God’s truth. Not the Bible plus anything.

And beware of those who would take a verse and use it to justify their own agenda if that verse, taken out of context, doesn’t agree with the rest of the Bible and who God is as revealed in the entire book.

The man of God died for his disobedience, even if the old prophet sounded like he had a revelation from God. The warning here for us is that if we accept a religion or a theology that contradicts what God said in his Word, we too will die for our disobedience. 

So I hope you continue to read my blog. But don’t take my word for it. Read the Bible for yourself. I hope you go to church and soak up the message from your pastor. But read the text for yourself and the chapters before and after the text. Is what you read or hear consistent with the entire Word of God?

The Bible is God’s instruction manual. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Hold it close. Study it. Live it. Know it so that you can discern when something you hear isn’t consistent with God’s truths written there. We have such a treasure in these pages. Don’t miss out on the blessings of reading God’s message for yourself. Let him speak to you through his Word today.

Dear God, thank you for the written Word, your message to your people in 2013. Help us to read it, love it, use it every day. Help us to know what you have said in it’s pages so that we recognize when someone’s message isn’t consistent with Scripture. Give discernment to your people as we study those precious books we call the Bible.