Spotting False Teachers and Dealing With
Them
Barbara Henderson
There they were knocking on my door –
two little old ladies looking kind and sweet.
I spotted them right off as silly misguided women out proselytizing for
Satan. These two were quite cunning as
they opened the conversation asking about flowers growing in the yard. Having strong southern influence in my
background I knew it was my duty to offer to dig them up a Trilium
specimum. The dirt our yard is a
gardener’s paradise – so I knew I could do it.
However I knew if I let them talk they would get around to their true
purpose in their visit. These two were
actually even more tricky – they said they were looking for hearing impaired
people so they could preach the gospel in sign language. That’s good – when the truth of Jesus Christ
is preached. Unfortunately these two
women had an utterly false version of Christianity on their minds.
I absolutely never invite people like
that into my home because they are being watched over and assisted by the god
they worship. IT is not the triune God
of the Bible. My grandad’s approach was
to tell them politely to leave and if that didn’t work his next plan was to
turn to water hose on and let them have it.
I am not kidding. He hoped they
wouldn’t leave until he hosed them down – because he really enjoyed watching
them scream and holler while he let them have it. I have never had to resort to that but I
definitely like to have a nice water hose by the front door just in case. I suppose if a water hose is not possible for
you that keeping a super soaker squirt gun by the front door would be a good
alternative. You can even get a battery powered super soaker with a reach of
over 30 feet – and no comment on how I know about those. Let me just say that I am not going to let
myself get drenched without putting up a good fight. Anyway – back to the subject …..
I always tell them quickly that I am a
fundamentalist and that if they are ready to convert I can tell them how. IF that doesn’t get rid of them I move on to
quoting scripture like ‘heaven and earth shall pass away and the elements shall
melt with a fervent heat – nevertheless we according to his promise look for a
new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness’. I taught my kids those verses when they were
little – and they even ran off a few of these women with those verses all by
themselves. I told them never to use the
water hose tactic unless it was a dire emergency. Anyway – the elder of these two women was the
spokesperson. She said she loved that
verse but it was obviously not meant literally – but figuratively. I said of course it is literal – why wouldn’t
it be? And she simply said goodby - thank you for the trillium and left. I didn’t get a chance for my final word when
dealing with these people which is simply – ‘let me say a quick prayer before you go’ and the pray is this – Dear Jesus – please
help your truth to be known to everyone here and to all the world’ – or
something like that.
You may be wondering why I even talked
to them in the first place. The answer
is fairly simple. It gave me a chance to
speak the truth. The truth of God is
very powerful – it converts and makes wise the simple. Also – the second member of the team is
probably an apprentice – so they may be more open to the truth. I never go out hunting for cult
preachers. I never initiate conversation
with them, but if one turns up at my door I do have a plan of what I will do
and what I will say.
People tend to lump all groups
labeling themselves Christian into the realm of true Christians and expect us
to all try to get along. Our job is not to either get along or not get
along. Our job as Christians is to speak
the truth. Our job is not to fellowship
with people who are preaching gross error.
Of the two who ladies who visited us I would say the elder is extremely
good at what she does. As I already
mentioned she observed our yard as being a well cared for yard with rare forest
flowers growing all over the place. She
assumed the flowers were a good opening point for a conversation. What she didn’t know is that the previous
home owner planted every single flower and our fondest hope is that we don’t
kill everything the first summer! She
was tricky though. Next she mentioned
wanting to take the gospel to the hearing impaired – which would have gotten
her a response from many people who actually knew someone who actually
communicated through American sign language.
We all need to be careful that we never direct anyone to give the gospel
message to someone unless we are know exactly what gospel message they plan to
take! No true Christian wants to be a
party to sending false gospels to lost people.
I want to encourage each of you to
have a game plan when you are approached by those who proselytize for
Satan. It would include that they are
not welcome into your home – it is going to be a yard conversation. They will not be allowed to preach their
false-gospel. You will speak the truth
of God. You will invite them to
leave. I have never had anyone offer to
convert or come back to ask me any questions.
I usually only see people like this a couple of times a year at most –
so my experience is not that great.
The initial approach of these two ladies
was a lie – because they acted like they stopped because they liked a flower
growing in the yard. They also didn’t
carry the usual literature in their hands, so to the un-churched they would
have given the impression of two little old ladies out admiring local
flowers. I sort of wish I had my
trillium back but since there are at least 1000 of them growing in the yard it
isn’t really a big deal. These two had
the best tactics I have seen so far from that particular cult of approaching
people as though they were interested in one thing – while something else
entirely was on their minds. That is an
obvious tactic of the devil – but it is harder to spot the more camouflage that
covers it.
Cults are often referred to as
different than ‘mainline’ Christianity.
This title cedes to them an automatic credibility that they do not
actually have. It is sort of like saying
– while we may not be mainline Christians – we are still Christians. No they aren’t. This is where the fundamentals of the faith
become very important. Remember the
fundamental – the pre-existience and deity of Jesus Christ? They don’t pass.
Another cult – Jesus is not the only
begotten son of God – and this cult actually believes Jesus and Satan are
brothers. They don’t loudly or proudly proclaim this belief – but that is
definitely their belief. If you turn
from this false religion you are shunned and risk losing your family, friends,
social connections, and possibly even your job. You can write this cult off
entirely simply by strictly adhering to another fundamental of the faith is
that the Bible is without error. Their book ‘corrects’ God many times.
Another so called world religion has a
book full of corrections to the Bible – and disrespects Jesus Christ.
Their god is so obviously different from the God of the Bible it is
utterly stupid or intentionally deceptive to say they are the same god.
So – in the case of these cults –
there is no place for dialog that looks for commonalities between the faiths because
these are not faiths in God Almighty.
Cults are not separated from
Christianity by little errors. They have
major obvious flaws in theology and doctrine that cannot be made compatible
with the straight forward teachings of the Bible. These differences should make it immediately
obvious that they are not actually Christian.
Remember – inerrancy of scripture – preexistence and deity of Christ,
bodily death burial and resurrection, to name a few. However – their approach to Christianity is
to set little differences as the main obstacle to fellowship. What they actually want is the endorsement of
fundamental Christianity – they do not want to find commonalities because there
are none.
One of the biggest errors cults teach
– is ‘we believe in Jesus’ – but their version of Jesus is clearly nothing even
close the Jesus Christ revealed to us in the Bible. When you hear a so-called religion –
Christian or otherwise – claiming they believe in Jesus Christ – ask them to
define Jesus Christ. If they tell you
something like Jesus is a one-eyed prophet waiting for permission from Mohammad
to ride an old donkey into the world and proclaim that Mohammad was correct all
the time – you have a very large ‘clue’ that they are not talking about the
same Jesus who promised to come again!
Unfortunately – like all liars – cults
do not approach with the truth. They
approach with ‘look what we have in common!’
and ‘look what we can do for you’.
Just like the two ladies who came to my door asking for a trillium and
primrose plant - cults approach with deception.
They want you to think the subject is one thing when it is actually
something else entirely. They are not
always easily spotted, but their true agenda cannot be concealed for long.
Remember – if they step outside the
fundamentals of the faith or the five solas – send them down the road as fast
as their legs can carry them. If they
seem willing to hear something of the truth of Jesus Christ – then have
something to say. If they are unwilling
to listen – don’t waste your time being polite or listening to them. You know they are lying whether wittingly or
unwittingly – so you have no obligation to listen! Furthermore – you don’t want the evil that
travels with them to linger long around you. Do keep in mind that ultimately
those who refuse to water down the truth of Jesus Christ will not be well
received by those who reject Him. An
example of this is Cain. 1 John 3:11-13
gives us this sad story.
11. ‘For this is the message that ye
heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
12. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked
one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works
were evil, and his brother's righteous.
13. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world
hate you.’
In refusing to accept ‘forced
tolerance’ of teachings that are diametrically opposed to the teachings of the
Bible, you will not gain worldly popularity.
The reason is clearly given in verse 12. ‘Because his own works were
evil, and his brother’s righteous.’
It is most likely correct that Cain
and Able had discussions regarding the path to God many times before Cain
actually killed his brother. In the end
instead of admitting his error and turning from it Cain chose to murder the one
whose very existence reminded him of his own error. Killing Able didn’t stop Cain’s conviction of
his own wrong path. Cain’s conscience
wouldn’t shut up.
You may be thinking – well those
verses also told us to love one another.
The best way to love one another is to tell the unedited truth according
to Jesus Christ. If we truly love others
as Christ loved us – we will tell them truth according to Jesus. It is neither loving or kind to avoid the
truth.
Keep in mind that if you are a
Christian faithfully clinging to the fundamentals of the faith then you personally
are a target for cult leaders. The more influence you personally have the more
of a target you become. If a false
teacher can form some sort of relationship with you personally – then they have
an inroad to Christians less informed regarding doctrine and theology that is
faithful to the Bible itself. You see
this with some preachers of mega churches or television personalities. They don’t want to offend anyone, so they
refuse to condemn theology that is incorrect according to the authority of the
Bible. This is not confined to mega
churches and well known personalities. I
know of a small so-called main line Christian church that actually
fellowshipped on Sunday with a very liberal large area church that had a large
fellowship hall and lots of programs for the youth of that church! The small church actually bussed their kids
over to the other church for activities they were unable to provide in their
church facility. Now let me think about
this – kids were given a nice place to play on Sunday instead of a simple sermon
on the truth of Jesus Christ. How do you
think that worked out in terms of actual conversions for their youth? Like they
couldn’t come up with enough accidental errors in their own church – they had
to bus the kids over to a church that was one centimeter away from outright
apostasy! It is horrifying isn’t it?
As a committed Christian you want to
be as well prepared as possible for what the world has to throw at you. In the area of false teachers it is
imperative that you:
Know what the Bible teaches regarding
the fundamentals or simple basics of the faith.
Have a definite game plan regarding
what to do when approached by false teachers.
Refuse to look for commonalities
between truth and lies in the name of getting along.
Make encounters with these people as
brief as possible.
Remember the power of the truth of
God’s word. You don’t have to have
anything smart or witty to say. Just
speak the truth. If you were lost and
going to hell you would want someone to tell you the truth. That is obedience to the golden rule – treat
others the way you want to be treated.
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