Before I move on to chapter 3, I want to write about false teachers today. I have struggled in my mind with how I want to go with this, and this is my second attempt. My first writing was on false teachers in general, but I realized I could write a book on that. Indeed, entire books have been written! Instead, I am going to look at some of the root causes and I may call out some names in the process. Please know that these are just my opinions. There are so many reasons for false teachers today. We read in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
The first reason that we tolerate false teachers is because we do not know our Bibles. We have not been taught to read them properly. These teachers take verses out of context. These things add up to us believing false doctrine. When we hear a Word of Faith pastor telling us that God wants us to be happy and rich by pulling one or two verses out of context, we don’t realize that most of the letters in the New Testament were written to encourage persecuted believers. There are entire passages that teach us that God grows us to be more like Him through our suffering. We are told to consider it joy when we go through trials, because this is how we grow in our faith. Today, we have grown averse to the thought of going through any type of difficulty. We want a comfortable existence, so we are drawn to the words of the prosperity gospel. But this is not what the Bible teaches.
Kindness is a big word today. We see it on bumper stickers, T-shirts, and mugs. Be kind! And of course we should. But we have carried it to the point where we are afraid to say anything negative, even if it’s the truth. So if we see someone preaching a false gospel, and someone calls them out for it, that person is not being kind! But what does the Bible say? Titus 3:10-11 says, “Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning. For you know that such a person has gone astray and is sinning; he is self-condemned.” We’ve already read what Peter has to say. “There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves” (2 Peter 2:1). And Jesus Himself warns, “Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Clearly, we are to be on the lookout for false teachers. We need to warn others, especially new believers about them.
Over the last century, and especially over the last 50 years, we have seen the rise of the mega-church. And with the rise of the mega-church has come the rise of the celebrity pastor. Unfortunately, with many of these pastors, there is not the accountability that there would be from a smaller, local church body. With the rise in popularity comes money, book deals, television appearances, etc. A cult of personality can develop around these pastors and when they see themselves as the object of praise and flattery, narcissistic behavior results. The people who put these pastors on a pedestal are guilty as well because the pastor can become an idol to them. I have seen this recently when a well-known pastor stepped down because of the molestation of a minor child, and people online were defending him, and accusing the victim of “wanting attention.”
Idolizing the pastors isn’t the only problem. Many of these pastors are false teachers and have such large audiences because they are teaching what people want to hear, not necessarily the true gospel (as we saw Paul write in 2 Timothy 4). For example, Joel Osteen has 45,000 people attend his services weekly. His television program is watched by 20 million people monthly. He has a book titled Your Best Life Now. He preaches a prosperity gospel and that you can speak things into existence. That is not what the Bible teaches. But because he tickles people’s ears and says it in a way that is engaging, he has developed a huge following. Benny Hinn has 1.2 million followers on his Instagram page. He claims to have spoken to 1 billion people at his crusades (face to face and through television). But here we have another false teacher. I would encourage you to watch Mike Winger’s recent 4 hour expose on him. You can watch it here. (3) The Victims of Benny Hinn: 30 Years of Spiritual Deception. – YouTube He has harmed so many people with his false teaching on healing.
The New Apostolic Reformation is something I have been writing about in my blog since I started three years ago in Ephesians. It’s a movement that claims God has restored the office of Apostle and Prophet to the church and that all churches must be under the authority of an Apostle and Prophet for God’s protection. There is much more to it than just this, and if you are interested, check out Holly Pivec and Douglas Geivett’s work. Here is a link for her website. Holly Pivec. I am covering it here because several of the “apostles” have recently fallen from grace. First, I want to remind you of what Paul tells Timothy regarding overseers and elders of a church. “An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy. He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and incur the same condemnation as the devil. Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil’s trap” (1 Timothy 3:2-7). And to Titus, he writes, “An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion. As an overseer of God’s household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it” (Titus 1:6-9). It’s good to have a reminder of these as we look at the apostles I’m going to list. These men claim that God appointed them as overseers of the church. In reality, they appointed each other. Todd Bentley was appointed an apostle during the Lakeland Revival in Florida. Then he divorced his wife and married a member of his staff. There were also accusations of sexual abuse. They removed his apostleship. Currently he claims to be “A healing evangelist, revivalist, and author.” Next, we have Mike Bickle, the founder of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. He is at the center of a group known as the Kansas City Prophets. Two of these, Bob Jones (not of Bob Jones University) and Paul Cain have well documented sex scandals associated with them. Mike Bickle, who is also considered an apostle, is the latest of these Kansas City Prophets to be accused of these crimes. And the last one I will bring up is Robert Morris of Gateway Church. Gateway Church in Dallas is the largest church in the United States with an average weekly attendance of 100,000 people over its many campuses. He claims to be an Apostle and Prophet. He recently has had to step down from ministry due to abusing a minor child in the 1980s. All of these men claim that God told them they were to be Apostles and then have had to step down. This is a false movement and I think God is cleaning house. None of these men meet the requirements to be an overseer or elder that Paul lists in his letters to Timothy and Titus.
I have used this analogy before, and I am going to use it again. The way that banks train tellers to distinguish real money from counterfeit is to count the real money over and over again. Then, when they touch the false money, it does not feel right, and they know it right away. In the same way, we need to read our Bibles. Read the whole thing. Know the overarching story of it. Know what God’s plan for humanity is. Know what the genres are- history, poetry, epistles, etc. Stand to Reason has a good class on this. It’s free and it doesn’t take long. Here is the website for STR University. There are lots of good resources there! STR U Another good resource is the book How to Read Your Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart. The more you read and understand, the less you will be taken in by false teachers!
Grace be with you!
Abundant Joy 