woensdag 8 juli 2015

Beware of false prophets and teachers in your life

A false prophet/teacher can be anyone in a position of spiritual authority over you. Of course their authority is not truly spiritual in a biblical sense but they are in a position where they seek to influence your emotional and spiritual well-being in such a way that they can benefit. Sheep are concerned with following the Good Shepherd and trust Him to provide for their needs. Wolves on the other hand look at the sheep and how they can feed of them. Wolves can be in an influential position in church but also in the family or in marriage, or at your workplace. They can be found anywhere, prowling round looking for whom they can feed off emotionally, financially , sexually or otherwise. They are not truly interested in obediently following Christ, they are interested in themselves and their needs and are willing to manipulate, coerce, flatter, seduce and deceive to get what they want. Wolves rarely attack other wolves, but rather avoid them and go after sheep.

They bring destructive teachings and lies into the church, often, by telling people what they want to hear (cf. Jer. 23). They provide layers of truth mixed with error, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. The wolves are often very aware of what the sheep need and want to sheep to listen to them and depend on them for their needs. Once the wolves have successfully isolated the sheep by seducing them from depending on the Good Shepherd to depending on them, they will start feeding off the sheep until there is nothing more to gain. Then they will abandon the carcass, the emotional shell that’s left of the exploited sheep.

We must teach people to be rooted in Christ, to understand His enormous love for them and His desire to provide for them an abundance of life so that they eagerly follow Him and joyfully obey all His teachings in the sure knowledge it is good for them (Matt. 28:19). So we should courageously preach and teach, rebuke and encourage people to follow Christ alone!!!!

In 2 Timotheus 4:2-4 Paul says:

2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For 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. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Jesus warned us, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits" (Matt. 7:15-16b). It is the daily lifestyle out of sight, out of the limelight that will reveal the true nature of the wolves. This is why many wolves tend to operate away from the supervision of spiritually mature leaders and prefer to start their own church or ministry that is not accountable to anyone except maybe a token board of flatterers.
The wolves Jesus talks about do anything to avoid detection and try to "look" like sheep. They copy godly behaviour and speech but inside they are ferocious wolves only out to get what they want. They often look the same as everyone else and appear sincere in faith but when they get the chance they will subtly challenge the authority of the teachings of Christ in Scripture, or they may add to His teachings, or subtract from it. Most of all they want to put themselves forward as a spiritual authority as they want people to depend on them and not be independent followers of Christ. They often adopt titles to profile themselves such as apostle, prophet, bishop and so on. One must belong to their in-group, society, Institution or Church in order to be a good Christian. This is a false gospel.

Jesus encourages His followers to be fruit inspectors. Get to know people personally, watch their lifestyle, listen to those who know them intimately!!! Do you see Christ-like behavior, attitude and actions? One of the ways to find out how someone truly is, is to see how they deal with people who disagree with them. Also how do they relate to people who are needy and dependent, people whom there is nothing to get from? Do they favor the rich, famous, powerful and neglect, ignore or worse insult and oppress the poor and needy?

Peter says, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 1:16). And then he says the false teachers exploit you "with stories they have made up" (2 Pet. 2:3). So the true teacher sources what he says from the Bible. The false teacher relies on his own creativity.  For the true teacher, Jesus Christ is central. "We have everything we need for life and godliness in Him" (2 Pet. 1:3). We don’t need less than Jesus as revealed in scripture and we don’t need more. For the false teacher, Jesus is at the margins: "They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them" (2:1).

Notice the word secretly. It's rare for someone in church to openly deny Jesus. Movement away from the centrality of Christ is subtle. The false teacher will speak about how other people can help change your life, but if you listen carefully to what he is saying, you will see that Jesus Christ is not essential to his message but that he/she puts himself in the centre as Gods mouthpiece.

Also consider in what position will their messages/prophecies leave you? The true Christian "escapes the corruption in the world caused by evil desires" (1:4). Listen to how Peter describes the counterfeit Christian: "They promise ... freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity, for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him" (2:19). The true believer is escaping corruption, while the counterfeit believer is mastered by it.

Consider what kind of character their messages produce? The true believer pursues goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love (1:5). The counterfeit Christian is marked by arrogance and slander (2:10). They are "experts in greed" and "their eyes are full of adultery" (2:14).  What result does the message have in people's lives? The true believer is effective and productive in his or her knowledge of Jesus Christ (1:8). The counterfeit is "like a spring without water" (2:17). This is an extraordinary picture! They promise much but produce little.

Where does their message ultimately lead them and those who go astray after them? Here we find the most disturbing contrast of all. The true believer will receive "a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1:11). The false believer will experience "swift destruction" (2:1). "Their condemnation has long been hanging over them and their destruction has not been sleeping" (2:3). Jesus tells us that there will be many who have been involved in ministry in his name, to whom he will say, "Depart from me; I never knew you" (Matt. 7:21).

See also "7 Traits of False Teachers" by Colin Smith: thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/03/19/7-traits-of-false-teachers

Geen opmerkingen:

Een reactie posten