10 TELLS OF FALSE TEACHERS: #6

Every book in the New Testament addresses false teachings or false teachers but one (Philemon). This series of blog posts will outline ten biblically sourced "tells," shared to help you discern truth from error and to determine if you are dealing with someone spreading deceptive doctrine.

Note: These posts are designed to share Truth, complete with scriptural references. While examples of modern-day false teachings are provided in general terms, know that in any given season, false doctrine will change. It transforms with the culture. Therefore, it's most beneficial to understand Truth rather than spend energy debating specific false doctrine or calling out specific false teachers. New false teachings and generations of false teachers will rise and fall, like fads. So we must stay focused on Jesus, contend for the faith, and read the Bible for ourselves to be grounded in Truth.

Tell #6:

False teachers believe and teach that God and truth can change and that His Word is subject to the times, giving more power and leverage to culture than to Jesus Himself (The Word).

The apostle Paul warned the elders in Ephesus, saying, "I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock" (Acts 20:29). They arrived then (see the book of Jude), and they're here now.

False teachers are subtle in how they twist the gospel, mixing God's Word with error-filled messaging in ways that make their teachings appear true, even biblical. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:13–15, false teachers "disguise themselves as apostles of Christ," and "even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

Many of these apostles (i.e., teachers) claim to have new understandings, new interpretations, and new information that are more relevant than the "ancient text." But truth cannot change because God and His Word do not change (Malachi 3:6).

We would be wise to learn from history so we might discern modern heretics.

Historical Examples:

(1) Leaders in the church at Thyatira (read Revelation 2:18–29) were actively teaching things contrary to the Bible, namely that sexual freedom (including long-held beliefs around sexual immorality) is acceptable to God. If you twist the meaning of the Bible enough, you can make it say anything you want. God has never approved of sexual sin—adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, or any other behavior apart from sex between a husband and wife. God says the woman teacher leading the charge is as wicked as the Old Testament queen known as Jezebel (from 1 Kings). She killed many Old Testament prophets, brought the worship of the god Baal and the goddess Asherah to Israel, and installed prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:4–19).

The leadership and many of the people in the church at Thyatira "tolerated” her. The Greek word for “tolerate” is aphiemi meaning to “not forbid.” This means those in the church were unwilling to stop her. Maybe they didn't want to “judge her” or “be unloving” or hurt her feelings. Maybe there were scared of what others might say about them. Unfortunately, some Christians are more concerned about others' feelings than about God’s feelings.

(2) Gnosticism taught that the material world was evil and that salvation could only be attained through secret knowledge (gnosis). It denied the true incarnation of Jesus Christ, claiming instead that He was a purely spiritual being who only appeared to have a physical body.

(3) Antinomianism was the twisting of God’s grace to give permission to sin. Paul refuted this distortion in Romans 6, declaring that Christians, having died to sin because of Jesus's work on the cross (atonement), should not willfully continue in it. If filled with the Holy Spirit, our sin will produce godly sorrow and repentance. Peter, likewise, condemned those who promised freedom while being slaves of corruption (2 Peter 2:19).

Do these three categories, prevalent during the early church era, sound familiar? They should. False teachers of today vary little in their doctrine from the false teachers of the past. Sexual freedom, the demotion of Christ, that many ways can lead to Heaven or that all religions lead to God, and having the freedom to continue to live in sin are common lies of nearly all false teachings today. And they're all embedded in one wicked foundation: a deceptive definition of love**.

I conclude with a quote from former professor of Theology and Philosophy at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC, Harold Brown (1933–2007).

** Check out Loving Them to Death: How a Deceptive Definition of Love Fuels False Teachings' Fast Spread, an Amazon best-seller in Christian Discipleship.

*** Images created with the help of Grok to avoid identifying real people and create symbolic illustrations.