Many preachers, teachers, and prophets teach falsehoods instead of the truth.
This reality has been devastating for large numbers of people who unwittingly follow them down a path of ruin. The Lord Jesus gives the following warning:
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
To “beware” of these false prophets means to know they are there and know how to spot them. It is of the utmost importance that every true follower of Jesus Christ be able to identify false teachers and to warn others of the danger involved in appropriating untrue teaching into life application.
Why Are There False Prophets?
Answer 1: Narrow Truth = Narrow Teaching
In the prior two verses (13-14) Jesus indicates the two ways people can travel- namely, the broad path that leads to destruction and the narrow path that leads to life. Both of these paths have their teachers. Both of these paths have their prophets who are predicting what will become of those who travel the respective paths.
The teachers on the broad path have a broad range of teaching available to them (as broad as falsehood is broad). So one false teacher for example might teach that 2+2=5. Other might disagree and teach that 2+2=7. Still another might say that 2+2=15.
As you can see from this example, some false teachers are further from the truth than others, but all of them are the same in the sense that what they are teaching is false.
Truth Is Always Narrow
2+2=4. That’s it.
There are no other options. This is why Jesus says that His pathway is a narrow path. There aren’t any other options except to go through Him, having one’s sins forgiven by His atoning death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. As He said, “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
So if someone is going to be a teacher of truth, then there is a very narrow spectrum of what can be taught as true. The true math teacher cannot get a wild hair and one day tell her students that 2+2 actually = 15.
She has stay on the narrow path of truth or else she will be jeopardizing the lives of her students. If the students actually believed her and embraced the false teaching that 2+2=15, they could end up in a lot of trouble.
What if some of the students went on to become architects or home builders or civil engineers? If they have embraced the false teaching that 2+2=15 they will not be able to design safe buildings or bridges. What they put together will lead to destruction and ruination precisely because it does not accord with the truth.
But That’s Math
Someone might argue that math and beliefs about God are not in the same category and in a sense they would be right but not in the way they are thinking. They actually mean that math is more knowable and more important than faith issues. Actually it is the other way around. False teaching about math can be devastating but false teaching about faith issues can be eternally devastating.
If it is important to know the truth of math it is infinitely more important to know the truth about God.
This truth about God is a narrow truth (just like all truth). Take the following proposition for example:
God raised Jesus Christ physically from the dead.
Either that statement is true of false. If it is true than its a narrow truth meaning even the slightest variation from the proposition would make it a false proposition.
If a jet varies even slightly from its course, it might end up in Chicago when it was destined for Mexico City. Even slight variations from the truth can lead to huge problems for those who embrace the falsehood.
So if someone, for example, says Jesus Christ did not exist (and some say this contrary to an overwhelming mountain of evidence otherwise), then the proposition “God raised Jesus Christ physically from the dead” cannot be true. Either 2+2=4 or it doesn’t. Can’t have it both ways.
Or if someone says that Jesus Christ rose from the dead but not in a physical body, it was a spiritual resurrection (many liberal “Christians” teach something like this), then the proposition “God raised Jesus Christ physically from the dead” cannot be true.
Jesus Christ and the Word of God Are Truth
In order for Jesus’ teaching to make sense (“Beware of false prophets”) there has to be such a thing as actual truth. You can’t say 2+2=15 is false unless it is actual objective truth that 2+2=4.
Likewise, I can’t say Muhammed, Richard Dawkins, Joseph Smith, L Ron Hubbard, Deepak Chopra and Jim Jones are all examples of false teachers unless what they teach are contrary to a standard of absolute, objective truth.
That standard of objective truth is recorded for us in the Bible and is personified in the person of Jesus Christ. The Bible itself (of course) teaches us this reality and so did Jesus.
Psalm 18:30 This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true.
John 14:6 [Jesus said] I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
God teaches us through His self-revelation that His Word is the standard of objective truth by which every teaching must be measured. It is the 2+2=4 reality.
Someone might ask But how do you know this? And the answer is too long for me to write about here. But to summarize, essentially there are 2 ways we know this:
- Because Jesus (who rose from the dead) tells us so
- Because the truth of the Word of God corresponds to reality
Let me point you to a short article - Basic Apologetics: How Can I know the Bible Is True – that unpacks these realities a little. Many other books and articles have been written on this topic, but suffice it to say, we have every reason to believe the Word of God provides the objective standard of truth by which we can measure all teachers. [if you are really interested my book Contend contains an entire chapter defending the objective truthfulness of the Bible]
If a teacher adheres to the narrow truth as revealed in the Bible then that person is a teacher of truth. If a teacher varies from the clear teaching of Scripture on any topic, that person is a false teacher.
No doubt this is part of the reason James wrote this:
James 3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
If we lived in a world without sin there would be no such thing as false teachers. But because of the Fall, Jesus says people are “ravenous wolves” who disguise themselves in “sheep clothing.” This is why James gives this warning to teachers. We have to realize what we are made of, our rebellious ways, our desire to take the place of God, our desire to control others, and even our illogical desire to twist truth and make it our own.
This leads to answer 2.
Answer 2: Religion / Philosophy Sells and Controls
We are trying to answer the question “Why are there false prophets.” The first answer is because truth, by definition, is narrow and because of our sin natures (“wolves”) many desire to vary from the truth and even deny that it exists.
But there is more to this. A “ravenous wolf” wants something. It isn’t as though false teachers are committing accidental sin in teaching things contrary to the Word of God.
Just like a hungry wolf stalks its prey so false teachers have unholy motives in teaching falsehood and leading people astray. Usually their motives have to do with money and control.
False Religion Sells Really Well
False teach L Ron Hubbard is famous for saying that a lot of money can be made if one starts a religion. He was right and indeed made a lot of money off those he led astray with his false teaching called Scientology.
But why does false teaching sell so well? The answer lies primarily in the way God made us and the fallenness of our natures. God made us to desire Him, need Him, and be incomplete with Him.
Our Fall into sin leads us, however, to hate him and attempt to live independent of Him. When you bring both of these factors together (a desire for God and a desire to live independent of Him) you have a field ripe for harvest as far as false teaching is concerned.
Any teaching that helps a person feel connected to God without being actually connected to God is a false teaching that will sell really well since it appeals to both the need for God and the sin nature in rebellion against Him.
The “ravenous wolves” seem to understand these realities about the human creature and are more than willing to take advantage of the “many” who will follow their teaching.
Additionally, those who follow the teaching of ravenous wolves are often easily controlled by them. Part of our sin natures include the unholy desire to control others, sometimes just for the sport of controlling others. As many cult leaders like (Jim Jones and David Koresh) have shown us this can be done with relative ease.
What Do False Teachers Teach?
We have seen clearly the reality of false teachers and the damage they can cause by instructing others in falsehood. Now let’s examine a bit more closely what false teachers actually teach.
The best way to understand the range of false teaching is to divide up into two versions. First, there are non-Christian versions of false teaching. Second, there are “Christian” versions. Think about each of these in turn.
Answer 1: Non-Christian Versions of False Teaching
All truth is God’s truth. This saying is absolutely correct and helps to understand the reality that all true teaching is Christian teaching. This is true because there is only one reality and Jesus Christ is the eternal King of that reality.
This simply means that the teaching “2+2=4″ is a Christian teaching. Someone might object and say, “No, that is math, not a Christian teaching.” But see, all truth is God’s truth. Math belongs to God. As does science, history, and literature. All truth is God’s truth.
This means that even in a school or university setting, if someone teaches something that does not adhere to the truth of how things really are, that person is a false teacher.
Non-Christian Forms of False Teaching
Basically, the non-Christian form of false teaching is the kind that does not attempt to sell itself as “Christian.” For the sake of space, I will only write about 3 of these, those many others are on the list.
Naturalism
Naturalism is a worldview / belief system that has taken deep root in modern culture. It is preached primarily from the pulpits of public universities and through various forms of popular media, especially of course the TV.
Naturalism is not and has never been proven as true but is based within a set of assumptions about the nature of reality. Basically these assumptions include the following: (1) Only natural (or physical) things exist. (2) The universe either had no beginning that is, it is eternal, or part of an eternal universe-making mechanism – or it simply popped into existence from nothing without an external cause. (3) Human beings were not created by intelligence, but happened to appear by chance because of the life-allowing nature of this particular universe.
Naturalism makes other assumptions as well, but we will focus on these 3 unproven assumptions.
First is the belief that only natural, physical, material things exist. This means that consistent naturalists do not believe that there is a spiritual reality.
This means, of course, that they do not believe that ghosts exists. But neither do they believe that angels or demons exist. Furthermore, consistent naturalists must also be atheists. How can God (who is a spirit) exist if only material, physical things exists? He can’t.
Consistent naturalists also deny that human beings have (or are) a soul, or spirit, or that human persons have an immaterial mind. Instead, consistent naturalists maintain that the essence of a human being is the exact same thing as his body and that the mind is nothing more than the physical brain. This means when a person’s body dies, he is (forevermore and ultimately) dead. When the brain dies, the body dies, and the person dies. Nothing lives on.
This first assumption of naturalism is a false teaching. It is a denial of how God actually made the world and what the Scripture says about it.
The Bible teaches us that God does in fact exists, that He created angels, and the He “breathed the breath of life” into Adam (a soul) and that Adam became a living being. Naturalism denies all of these facts.
The same is true with the second assumption of naturalism. The Bible makes the absolute statement that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Naturalists do not except the existence of God and so much come up with a different explanation for how the universe got here.
To do this they must either say that the universe popped into being on its own, or that it is eternal, or that it is part of a larger mechanism that is eternal. Of course, none of the theories developed around these ideas have been or can be proven. But this is the illogical territory where naturalists are driven by their God-denying assumptions.
The third assumption of naturalism according to my list above states that human beings were not designed by an intelligent source, but rather came about as a chance accident and then developed via the vehicle of unguided evolution.
This assumption most certainly is not proven nor can be. Human beings are far too intricate, complex, and wonderful both on a physical level and an intellectual level to have ever found as their source some inanimate object, no matter how many millions or billions of years ago is conjectured.
The Bible teaches us that mankind is created in the image of God, for the glory of God. This means human creatures have good reason for our incredible abilities (to reason, communicate, create, etc) as well as a purpose for existing – to bring glory to our Creator.
Given the weaknesses of these assumptions of naturalism it is a wonder anyone would believe it as a worldview system, or the implications that stem from it (atheism, nihilism, etc). Yet we find naturalism possessing the strongest influence in the public university systems of our nation, as well as in most public high school classes, especially the science classes, but others as well.
Unfortunately the false teaching of naturalism has detrimental effects on those who decide to believe it. Not least of which is its tendency to dehumanize its adherents and their view of others. If people are nothing more than a cosmic, chance accident, then they are essentially worthless. As such why care about them? Why do things to sacrificially benefit them?
If naturalism is true, than Ayn Rand’s egoism seems to be the best ethical fit, where the virtuous are the ones who fight to get their way even if it means walking all over others. Hitler seems to have modeled this ethic really well, and consistent naturalists tend to walk down the same path when it comes to how others are treated.
Pantheism
I like to think of pantheism as the unlikely cousin of naturalism. It too is a false teaching with far reaching implications of destruction to those who believe it.
Like naturalism, pantheism is monistic in its view of reality. That is, both worldviews assert that only one thing really exists. For naturalists, as already indicated, they believe that the one thing that exists is matter or perhaps matter / energy. Pantheists, on the other hand, assert that the only thing in existence is spirit.
For a consistent pantheists (like a thinking and serious Hindu or Buddhist), the entire cosmos and everything in it is one super-spirit being. Matter, or the physical world as we see it, is only an illusion and does not truly exist as it appears.
In order to know this, one needs to be enlightened. One needs to connect to this spirit-being (which he or she really is “part” of, but is ignorant of that reality). Salvation for a pantheist is coming to realize that the individual (say Jason Dollar) does not really exist at all, but is a mere drop in the sea of the universal cosmic (though non-personal) being.
All of this is false teaching. Nothing in God’s Word would lead us to believe anything like this. The Bible teaches that God is a spirit, but that He also made a physical creation (separate from Himself) and that He interacts within that creation as He wills. The Bible teaches us that God is personal, that He actually speaks with us, and that we are individuals and will retain our individual identities throughout eternity. In other words, we will not, as pantheism teaches, one day be absorbed into the universal spirit (nirvana).
Much more can and should be said about the falsehoods that plague pantheism, but for the sake of space (this is only an article after all), I will move on to a third type of non-Christian false teaching.
Islam
I write about Islam as a false teaching primarily because so many people have been fooled by it and its founder, Muhammad. Islam was founded by it’s false prophet some 600 years after the life of Christ, and has a history of brutality and war-mongering that is nearly unimaginable.
As a religion, people seem to like its simplicity. There are Five Pillars of Isalm to follow, and then pretty much submit oneself to Allah (a generic name for god), and his prophet Muhammed. Likewise, Muslims are typically born into the religion. In many places in the world, if a person abandons Islam, they face dire persecution and often death. This is a really effective way to control people and keep them under thumb.
So much could be said about the falsehoods in Islam, but again, for the sake of space I will simply point you to another article I wrote on the topic: Why Jesus Is Trustworthy but Muhammed Is Not.
Conclusion of Non-Christian Forms of False Teaching
So these are the big three forms of false teaching that do not attempt to sell themselves as “Christian”. It is very important to be able to recognize them and also to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Just because they believe a false reality and follow false teachers and prophets does not mean Christians should hate them. Quite contrary, even as Jesus had deep conversation with Nicodemus (John 3), we should engage them with love and patience.
In dealing with the non-Christian forms of false teaching, Christians can usually spot them a bit easier than the next group of false teachers. This next group is characterized by the fact that they still use the Bible as their source (or one of their sources) of authority. In other words, they sell themselves as Christian teachers who lead Christian people, but the content of their teaching does not adhere to the basic, core teaching of the Bible. To these we now turn our attention.
Answer 2: “Christian” Versions of False Teaching
The Bible teaches us that we must “test the spirits” to see if they are truly from God (1 John 4:1). If they are from God we are safe to follow them and learn from them. However, if they are not we are to point out to others their falsehood and never follow or support them. We are to do this (it can be done) without a spirit of meanness or judgmentalism (Matthew 7:1-5), but rather with a spirit of love and concern.
In order to apply this test we must have some objective standard. One cannot test a student with the following math question: 2+2=?, unless there is some objective standard by which to measure the student’s answer. Of course, the objective standard is 4. So if the student writes 4 as his answer, then he is answered according to truth. If the student writes 7, unfortunately the answer is false and does not meet the objective standard.
Likewise, Christians must have an objective standard by which we can measure a teacher’s teaching in order to determine if it is true or false. Just because someone wears the name tag “Christian” does not mean they are Christian indeed. In order to clearly identify a wolf in sheep’s clothing (a teacher who asks or speaks Christian-like but who is in fact not Christian at all), we need an objective standard to use to test them.
The 4 M’s
What follows are 4 M’s that should help provide this objective criteria and determine if a teacher is true of false. If applied consistently, these 4 M’s can prove to be a strong protector of the soul.
1) Motives
The question you should always ask of any teacher is: “Why are you doing this?” In other words what drives and fuels the teacher’s desire to teach, and furthermore what fuels their desire to teach the particular body of information they happen to be teaching. Usually with a bit of investigation, the true motive behind a teacher’s teaching can be ascertained.
Money
Often false teachers are interested in money. Lots of money can be made by tickling the ears of the gullible, who will pay a teacher to say what they want to hear. Hucksters and fakes are always looking for buck and since their conscious is often seared they don’t seem to mind selling false religion (or philosophy) to those willing to buy it.
Always follow the money. If a teacher / preacher lives an extravagant lifestyle it is certainly an indicator that he is a false teacher. True teachers long to be like Jesus, sacrificing all they have for the glory of God and the spread of the Gospel. False teachers build barns, and then bigger barns, to store all their worldly wealth (Luke 12:18).
Control
False teachers are also (usually) interested in control. Even if their particular following is small and / or doesn’t have much money, the fact that they can be controlled is often a huge temptation for a false teacher.
Boys growing up often play King of the Hill. Kids love the game because to win means to be the most powerful and to be the most powerful is to be the most valuable (or so it seems).
When we grow into adults (let’s be honest) we are still playing the same game. False teachers love to be on top of the hill controlling their underlings. They feel satisfaction in being needed and exalted by their followers. They love saying “jump” and listening to their followers say “how high?”
Sex
False teachers are also very often driven by their sexual desires. Many prominent cult groups, including Mormonism, are essentially permissive groups that allow for illicit sexual encounters (for Joseph Smith and those who maintain his brand of Mormonism, it is polygamy).
Other cult leaders are known for their criminal sexual acts as well. David koresh, the founder and “messiah” of the Branch Davidians, seemed to have a rotation of women followers (some underaged) whose job was to pleasure him.
Naturalists are not organized (usually) into a religious group but no doubt the false teaching of the worldview is motivated at least in part by the sexual desires of the adherents. After all if human beings are merely highly evolved animals, with no objective ethical code over us, and no final arbiter of justice at the end of our lives (all part of the false teaching of naturalism) than people can engage in any sort of sexual behavior they like without fear or worry.
Help People
False teachers are usually motivated by money, power, and sex, but sometimes they are motivated in their teaching because they genuinely want to help other people. Much of the pop psychology of the day is designed to actually help people learn to live better lives (Dr. Phil for example). It seems to me that those who teach for this motive are, in many cases, genuine in their desire to help.
But please understand that just because a person has the motive of helping others, their teaching still must be evaluated objectively to see if it is true of false. If a person is not using the Bible as the ultimate source of their information, they may have some truth sprinkled into their teaching (perhaps gleaned from experience or general wisdom) but the teaching as whole must be considered false teaching.
Take the following set of teaching points for example:
2+2=1 2+2=3 2+2=4 2+2=5
If a teacher taught these math “facts” to your children, you would not say, “Oh she had some truth in her teaching so she is okay.” You would say that some truth isn’t enough. You want her teaching to be all the truth or as close to the trust as possible.
So just because a teacher may have the motive of helping others and may even have some truth sprinkled in does not automatically make them okay. They can have a good motive and still be a false teacher.
2) Masquerade
Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:15 that false teachers often come to us in disguise. The second M is Masquerade.
Jesus says they are like ravenous wolves who wear a sheep costume. There are many “Christian” preachers, in other words, who are not Christians and who are not teaching the truth of the Word of God.
Perhaps the most dangerous of these in our modern world are known as the Word of Faith teachers. A list of these would include, but not be limited to the following:
- Creflo Dollar (no relation)
- Benny Hinn
- Jesse Duplantis
- Paul and Jan Crouch
- Kenneth Copeland
- Kenneth Hagin
- Rod Parsely
- Joyce Meyer
- T.D. Jakes
- Paula White
- Robert Tilton
These and other teachers (many featured on “Christian” television) have made millions of dollars selling their false brand of “Christian” teaching. They have pulled the wool over the eyes of many and have ravenously ripped into their souls and their wallets and purses.
I recommend reading the article “Understanding the Word-Faith Teaching” by Rob Bowman in order to learn more about how these false teachers twist God’s Word and deceive many.
3) Master
The third M in our test of teachers is Master. The question here: What authority does this teacher submit to? True teachers are mastered by the text of Scripture as the final and ultimate authority in their teaching. They believe the truth of Paul’s teaching:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Even if the teacher of truth is teaching biology in a public school classroom, he might use a science textbook as an intermediate authority, but as a true Christian he will always find his ultimate source of teaching authority in the Word of God alone (sola scriptura).
To contrast, false teachers are always mastered by something other than the Bible. Perhaps it is the tradition of their religion, or the writings of Joseph Smith, or the writings of Muhammed, or the writings of L. Ron Hubbard, or the “enlightened” ideals of Siddhartha Gautama, or the endless meanderings of ivory-tower philosophers, or the “discoveries” of naturalistic scientists, or anything else other than the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments.
As a student always ask yourself, what “text” or authority is this teacher depending on for their information. If they are not clear about it in their teaching (many false teachers are not) than do the necessary research to find out.
4) Mess
The final M is mess. This means false teachers are notorious for making a mess out of the lives of their followers. Here is what the Apostle Paul says about this:
1 Timothy 1:18-20 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy…holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
To be “shipwrecked” is not a pretty sight. This is what false teachers do their followers. All one needs to do is watch recent interviews with Tom Cruise (here is another one) to see that in spite of his fame and riches, his life is shipwrecked. Scientology has made a mess of his mind.
There are several websites that document the horror stories of people attempting to leave various cult groups (Recovery from Mormonism, Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses Online, Ex Scientologist, and others). The endless stories told by those who know best reveal that false teaching makes a mess out of people’s lives.
Naturalism does the same thing. Because of its de-humanizing effect, the false teaching of naturalism often leads to people to make horrible life decisions (very often with their sexuality) that leads to ruination.
Additionally, do I even have to mention the lives Jim Jones ruined? In 1978 he led a mass suicide which ended in a body count of 909. The impact of this false teacher’s work ruined countless thousands of other lives (family and friends connected to his followers for example).
David Koresh’s teaching led to the deaths of 75 men, women, and children in Waco, Texas in 1993. Likewise, the Heaven’s Gate cult, led my false teacher Marshall Applewhite, ended in a mass suicide putting an end to 40 lives.
False teaching can be identified because it always leaves a mess behind it. True teaching benefits the lives of people but false teaching ruins the lives of people.
CONCLUSION
The smartest man who ever lived, Jesus Christ, warns us this way concerning false teachers:
Matthew 7:16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
They can and should be recognized and identified. They must never be followed since their false teaching always leads to destruction (no matter how good it may sound on the surface).
Protect yourself, your family, and your church from false teachers. Be ready to expose them if / when it is necessary. Truth is a beautiful thin and must be protected at all costs.
