If you study the Bible and church history, you will find that many of the false teachings and movements that are threatening the church today are really nothing new and are simply repackaged false teachings and movements from long ago with different teachers and different packaging. That’s because Satan is not an author or originator. He’s nothing more than a counterfeiter of truth and the father of lies.
And he’s counterfeiting the truth successfully in many parts of the church today because the
shepherds and sheep alike have not taken the time to study these threats found in the Bible or church history. Thus, false teachings and movements are alive and well in many churches today due to a lack of Biblical discernment.
If you do your homework, you can trace many of the current false teachings and movements that are threatening the church today back to the teachings of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Norman Vincent Peale, which trace all the way back to the early church and to the Garden of Eden where all false teachings and movements have their root source in unbelief.
Many Christians are unaware that Norman Vincent Peale (Positive Thinking Movement) influenced Robert Schuller (Self-Esteem Movement) who influenced Bill Hybels (Seeker Sensitive and Church Growth Movement) and C. Peter Wagner (New Apostolic Reformation and Church Growth Movement) who influenced Rick Warren (Seeker Sensitive and Church Growth Movement) who influenced our latest movement in the church Brian McClaren (Emerging Church Movement).
And mixed in with many of these movements is of course a movement that has been around for a long time and that’s the Word of Faith movement-better known as the health, wealth and prosperity gospel that was started by Kenneth Hagen, who plagiarized the writings of E.W. Kenyon and who’s teachings are being carried out today by people like Kenneth Copeland, Oral Roberts, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Todd Bentley, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar and many other Word of Faith teachers.
Discernment in the church today has almost disappeared because many Christians are no longer Bereans, who, if you remember, in the book of Acts studied the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was saying was true. The Bereans were even more noble than the Thessalonians. They received the word with all readiness of mind. And yet sadly, much of the church today is Biblically illiterate and have stopped using their minds.
Let’s be honest. How many of us go home on Sundays after hearing our pastor preach and at some point during the course of the following week take time to study the scriptures at all, let alone daily, to see if what our pastor was saying is true? This is precisely how deception has come into the church today and why it is alive and well. Somewhere along the line we stopped being Bereans, we stopped receiving the word with all readiness of mind.
And if this in fact is true, it begs an interesting question: How is Biblical discernment being exercised in many parts of the church today? Here are just a few: Experiences, feelings, emotions, manifestations, number of followers, numbers of people who claim to be saved, the size of the movement, signs/wonders and miracles (true or false), subjective testimonies, hearsay and rumors, how successful and rich a teacher is, if a person speaks with authority, the atmosphere of the meeting, the ends justifies the means, they talk about Jesus, they sound like Jesus, they look like Jesus, they feel like Jesus, they taste like Jesus, they smell like Jesus or they have a website that talks about Jesus.
You may be interested in knowing that the Bible teaches none of these as a way to Biblically discern whether teachings or movements in the church are from God or not. Yet sadly, this is what many Christians are practicing.
My current favorite though is this one (which by the way is an old German proverb and is found nowhere in the Bible): Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater! Have you heard this? Maybe you use it yourself. The basic concept is that there is truth in the teaching or movement (baby) and there is false teaching (bathwater) all mixed together. Thus, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” And the end result is that the teaching gets to stay in the church because it has some truth in it, even though some of the teaching may go against some of the major doctrines of the Bible. I don’t know about you, but I have a problem with that.
I understand that none of us who are pastors and teachers get everything right, but I would hope that we get the major doctrines of the Bible right. The problem is many church leaders have determined that, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” is the best application when discerning teachings and movements in the church today that go directly against some of the major doctrines of the Bible. They ask questions like, “So is there any truth to be found in these teachings and movements or are they all entirely unsound?”
In all due respect, I think many of our church leaders are asking the wrong questions. The bigger questions we need to be asking are questions like this: Do the core doctrines of these teachings and movements line up with the Bible? Where are the core doctrines of these teachings and movements leading people in general? Are these teachings and movements teaching the True Gospel or a False Gospel? Are these teachings and movements generally causing unity or division? Confusion or clarity? Self-denial or self-fulfillment? Are they leading people towards Jesus or away from Him? Who are their leaders? Who has influenced them and what core doctrines do they believe that they are teaching others? Are these movements bearing good fruit or bad fruit? Those are the questions we should be asking.
There are multiple warnings in the scriptures that false teaching will be prevalent in the church in the last days and that some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. The scriptures clearly warn us in the last days that many false apostles, prophets and teachers will appear and even dwell among us teaching another gospel that will lead many into apostasy.
Let me give you just one example from the scriptures: 2 Peter 2:1-3 says, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of the truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them and their destruction has not been sleeping.”
The scriptures are clear on what we are supposed to do in the last days with false apostles, prophets and teachers in the church that lead people into apostasy and/or cause divisions. Let me just give you one example: Romans 16:17-18 says, “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.”
Did you catch that? We as Christians are supposed to stay away from false teachers that cause divisions and put obstacles in our way that are contrary to the teaching we have learned. 2 John 10-11 says, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house and welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.” We are commanded in 2 Thessalonians 3:6 to withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to teaching we have received from the apostles. Notice in these verses we are not commanded to apply, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
The scriptures are also clear on the dangers that exist if false teaching is left unattended in the church, acting like yeast, spreading through the whole batch of dough. Let me give you just one example: Galatians 5:7-9, “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”
Jesus never tells us to use the popular German proverb cliche, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” as a measuring stick to discern teachings and movements in the church that go against some of the major doctrines of the Bible. I’m not even sure that’s possible. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 7:15-20, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
Jesus is saying that a teaching or movement at it’s core root either bears good fruit or bad fruit, but not both. Thus, if the teaching or movement bears good fruit that agrees with the major doctrines of the Bible, it should be allowed to stay in the church. If the teaching or movement bears bad fruit and does not agree with the major doctrines of the Bible, it needs to be rejected and has no place in the church.
Let me be clear that there is truth in these teachings and movements and that there are a lot of well intentioned people including some of the leaders. But make no mistake about it, Satan’s no fool. He mixes in some truth to create deception in order to cover up the false teaching. That’s how the Devil works. He doesn’t come right out and say, “Here I am!” He mixes the true and the false all together for the purpose of deception. And if a shepherd doesn’t guard his flock against false teaching or movement coming into or already in the church, it will spread like yeast and work it’s way through the whole flock causing great harm to the sheep. Maybe it’s time to take Paul’s advice and just keep away.
And so if we are going to adapt the un-biblical German proverb, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” as a measuring stick to discern teachings and movements in the church that go against the major doctrines of the Bible, I think we’re in trouble. Because the real issue in discerning whether or not there is in fact a baby in the bathwater is to first discern whether or not there in fact “is” a baby in the bathwater. Just because truth, along with a lot of well intentioned people exist in the teaching or movement, does not mean that the teaching or movement is from the Lord.
I know this to be true as a person who spent many years in the New Apostolic Reformation,
Word of Faith, Seeker Sensitive and Church Growth movements. I am not just making an observation from the outside. I have seen these movements from the inside and I will tell you that there is a lot of truth and a lot of well-intentioned people in these movements, but most of them have absolutely no idea where the core doctrines of these movements originated and where they are really leading them because much of the church today is biblically illiterate and lacking discernment-all key ingredients for deception to be hitting on all cylinders.
I wonder had our church leaders been applying Biblical discernment such as testing everything (1 Thessalonians 5:21), testing the spirits (1 John 4:1) and testing the fruit (Matthew 7:15-20) against the Bible instead of applying the unbiblical “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” if these false teachings and movements would be so alive and well in so many parts of the church today, which would eliminate the need to repent from them.
As it is, maybe it’s time for the Evangelical church to repent from the many false teachings and movements that are alive and well in the church today that are leading many into apostasy, that go against many of the major doctrines of the Bible. And maybe instead applying “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater,” it’s time for the Evangelical church to rediscover the lost art of true Biblical discernment.
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Donate $45 or more to Great Adventure Ministries and we will send you The American Apocalypse: Is the United States in Bible Prophecy?,Bankruptcy of Our Nation: 12 Key Strategies for Protecting Your Finances in These Uncertain Times and Inside The Revolution: How The Followers of Jihad, Jefferson and Jesus are Battling to Dominate the Middle East and Transform the World. Shipping available to United Sates only.
The American Apocalypse by Terry James: Does America, the most powerful nation on Earth, appear in Bible prophecy? Some people believe the United States will be wiped out in a nuclear attack. Others say it’s where the Antichrist will rise. And many people wonder what life will be like in America during the seven year Tribulation. But what can we know for sure? And what events are setting the stage for the last days, not only in America, but globally? Terry James, who has spoken and written extensively on Bible prophecy, addresses these issues and more as he examines the pivotal role America will play in the irreversible move toward one world government, the rise in world spirituality yet hatred toward true Christianity, the danger signs in America’s faltering economic system, the new world superpower on the horizon and the peace that will lead to the world’s greatest war. The American Apocalypse is a fascinating survey of what is to come! Release date is February 1, 2009.
Bankruptcy of Our Nation by Jerry Robinson: With insightful clarity, Jerry Robinson identifies and examines the five dangerous trends currently impacting the U.S. economy and your financial security. Complex topics such as the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the rising levels of U.S. consumer debt are broken down into simple English for the average consumer, empowering readers to protect their assets and profits with twelve straightforward strategies. This book exposes the immoral financial excesses of the American economic empire and explains the impending danger that awaits a nation built entirely upon debt. The book also includes twelve powerful strategies that you can use to protect you and your family from the economic storm and strengthen your faith. It is filled with charts, graphs, and illustrations to help bring clarity to the chaos. Jerry Robinson is the president and founder of JRMI (Jerry Robinson Ministries International), a Christian ministry that challenges believers to think, and thinkers to believe.
This is accomplished through cutting-edge teaching on geopolitical, economic, and cultural trends and how they relate to the Church. Jerry holds a degree in Economics from the University of Tulsa and is a conference speaker, columnist, and economic consultant. Release date is February 28, 2009.
Inside The Revolution by Joel C. Rosenberg: Inside the Revolution takes you inside the winner-take-all battle for the hearts, minds and souls of the people of the Middle East. It includes never-before-seen profiles of the Radicals, the Reformers and the Revivalists. It explains the implications of each movement and the importance of each leader, not only through the lenses of politics and economics, but through the third lens of Scripture as well. Today, wars and revolutions define the modern Middle East and many believe the worst is yet to come. How real and serious is the threat of Radical Islam to American national security eight years after 9/11? Are there any Muslim leaders who oppose the violence of the Radicals and is there any hope that such leaders will come to power in key countries in the Middle East? What is God doing in the Middle East and is there any hope that Muslims will find faith in Jesus Christ? How can we as Christians help strengthen our brothers and sisters who love Jesus in the Muslim world and how can we reach out to Muslims here at home? Release date is March 10, 2009.
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The Truth War by John MacArthur: Right now, Truth is under attack and much is at stake. In a postmodern culture, Christians are caught in the crossfire of alternative Christian histories, emerging faulty texts and a cultural push to eliminate absolute Truth altogether. As a result, many churches and Christians have been deceived. Worse still, they propagate the deception that poses itself as Truth! In The Truth War, John MacArthur reclaims the unwavering certainty of God’s Truth and anchors Christians in the eternal, immovable promises found in His Word.
Epicenter 2.0 by Joel C. Rosenberg: In his first groundbreaking nonfiction book, now with updated content, New York Times best-selling author Joel C. Rosenberg takes readers on an unforgettable journey through prophecy and current events into the future of Iraq after Saddam, Russia after Communism, Israel after Arafat and Christianity after radical Islam. You won’t want to miss Joel’sexclusive interviews with Israeli, Palestinian and Russian leaders, along with previously classified CIA and White House documents. New content includes the most up-to-date information since the hardcover release in 2006, a new poll about American attitudes toward the Middle East and prophecy and transcripts of interviews conducted during the interview process for the Epicenter DVD-video.
Isralestine by Bill Salus: Set to explode in the not so distant future is a devastating war in the Middle East. The Jews will fight off Arab aggression and end terrorism once and for all! Isralestine: The Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East, boldly unveils significant Bible prophecy that has eluded the discernment of today’s great scholars. Once upon a foretold time the Jewish people were to meet with a holocaust type condition, out from which they would return back to their ancient homeland of Israel. They would begin as refugees, but promptly emerge into an exceedingly great army. As per Psalm 83, destiny’s design for this great army is a head to head confrontation with a formidable Arab confederacy consisting of Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians, Saudis, Egyptians and associated terrorist groups like the Hamas, Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda. This Arab coalition has been developing in its fledgling stages since 1948 and will climax and officially confederate in the very near future. The Israeli Defense Forces will decisively defeat this offensive and prove to be the “exceedingly great army” of Ezekiel 37:10. They will expand territorially, become regionally superior, take prisoners of war and exploit the resources of these conquered Arab nations. In that condition they will become one of, if not the wealthiest nations on earth. It is from that position of empowerment that the Jews will dwell securely in the Middle East. Subsequently the world stage is set for the Russian–Iranian led coalition of nations, which will form against Israel as prophesied in the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39. This non–fiction thriller is carefully designed to cautiously navigate the reader through the end time’s calendar.
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