“…with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition.” – 2 Timothy 2: verse 25
Pointing out these things.
The Bible warns us to keep a good look out for false teachers and their bogus teachings and harmful practices. Since much of this is online, I think we must warn about them – online.
2 Corinthians 11:3-5
3 But I am afraid that, even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from the simplicity of [your sincere and] pure devotion to Christ. 4 For [you seem willing to allow it] if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted. You tolerate all this beautifully [welcoming the deception].
Part of the mission of Christ’s followers is to teach the way of Christ – and to warn when someone is teaching “another gospel” different from what was written by the faithful early church. “Warning” about false teachers and false teachings — is a good thing we do. It is what “a good servant of Christ Jesus” does:
1 Timothy 4: verse 6
In pointing out these things to the brethren,
you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus,
constantly nourished
on the words of the faith
and of the [b]sound doctrine
which you have been following.
‘I know [a]your deeds and your toil,
and your patient endurance,
and that you cannot tolerate
those who are evil,
and have tested and critically appraised
those who call themselves apostles
(special messengers,
personally chosen representatives,
of Christ),
and [in fact] are not,
and have found them to be
liars and impostors;
Bold – yet compassionate.
The Apostle Paul was very frank, very “out there” with his thinking. He was bold, and he spoke out boldly. He told Titus:
These things speak and exhort
and reprove
with all [i]authority.
Let no one disregard you.
Titus 2:15
But at the same time Paul was also compassionate, kind and forgiving. He cautioned us to not be quarrelsome in any way.
Jesus was love incarnate. He compassionately healed the sick – was very loving. He did not condemn the woman caught in adultery. He even died willingly for us to be saved. THAT was loving.
However, even though Jesus was the epitome of love, even though He was by nature love incarnate, He also spoke out boldly and was angry, at times, at the sinful. He was gentle and kind to the adulterous woman, but He got very angry with the conceited spiritual leaders of His day who taught one thing but acted another way.
Jesus called them out – to their face (since He had no internet). He said they were like white washed tombs “full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness”, that in their inner core – they were totally yucky, horribly sinful.
If we want to follow God – why would anyone stray from what God already so clearly said in the Bible?
Paul says “Teach and preach these principles” (1 Timothy 6: last part of verse 2). He had just given five chapters specifying what is from God.
Want be right on, obedient to Him? Or, do you prefer to think as some alluring false teacher with charisma? If you have to go to some convention or take special seminars or read “their book” – then you are way out on a limb, about to fall for a crock (“nonsense, hogwash, bilge, absolute bull, a waste of time and/or money, a sham. It’s bogus – totally. – urbandictionary.com)
Do you want to swallow (hook, line, and sinker) their counterfeit, perverted “truth”? Have you swallowed it all already? Not I. I want to know what God has established as His Truth. I must know the Word well. God guided the prophets well – so pay attention, Paul is saying. Prove it!
2 Peter 1: verse 19. So we have seen and proved that what the prophets said came true. You will do well to pay close attention to everything they have written, for, like lights shining into dark corners, their words help us to understand many things that otherwise would be dark and difficult.
When “the day of judgment” appears, and I kneel before Him –I want to have had love “completed and perfected” in me, and “have confidence” to face Him “with assurance and boldness” — because “as He is”… so am I. I’m a workin’ more on that! (I know it says: I am a working moron…” That’s when compared with Holy God.)
Paul called them out. Like Jesus, the Apostle Paul was not one to look the other way either. When teachers in the church disagreed with his teachings, Paul called them out. Paul says all believers should work at knowing the Bible well enough to recognize false teachings for what they are: false, wrong, not of God.
And we should love our brothers and sisters in Christ enough to get out of our easy chair and call-out those false teachers and the error of their ways. For the love of your brothers and sisters.
Google defines “call out” this way: call someone out… draw critical attention to someone’s unacceptable actions or behavior. “People were calling him out for his negative comments.“
I think both the Apostle Paul and our God and Savior Jesus Christ would agree with these simple statements:
Tell it like it is. Be real.
But be nice. “Be kind to all” (See: 2 Timothy 2:verse 24)
- When you witness a crime: Call-in the crime. Report it to the police. Call it out.
- When we hear a preacher teach what you cannot find in the Bible: Call it out.
- When your political party stands for something you would never ever support? Call it out.
- When a friend in a group tells a dirty joke, a racist comment, or disses on another friend in the group: Call it out.
- When the discussion takes a turn down a path you think is out of line: Call it out.
“Reasoning and arguing and persuading.” We ought not be timid.
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love;
but perfect love casts out fear
Believers should be as Paul: filled with the Spirit – to be bold, confident, courageous, fearless, and (Acts 19:8) “reasoning and arguing and persuading …about the kingdom of God”. Paul was ready to boldly confront those who opposed the faith:
2 Timothy 2:23-26 23 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. 24 The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
2 Corinthians 10:1 Now I, Paul, urge you by the gentleness and graciousness of Christ
Jonah and the whale.
Jonah did not want the folks of Nineveh to repent and come to God. So he disobeyed God. And you know the rest of the story. It was difficult for Jonah to be kind and gentle – because he hated the godless Nineveh folks.
Jonah 1: 1-3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim [judgment] against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah ran away to Tarshish to escape from the presence of the Lord [and his duty as His prophet]….
Jonah 3:10 10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God [had compassion and] relented concerning the disaster which He had declared that He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
Jonah 4: 1-3 …it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry… because I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and great in lovingkindness, and [when sinners turn to You] You revoke the [sentence of] disaster [against them].
As with Jonah, so with us. We need to repent of our dislike, our hatred, our quarrelsomeness… before we can be compassionate, kind, and gentle. God loves sinners. (1 Timothy 1:16; Romans 5:8) I find that difficult!
We need to personally deal with our self-righteous attitudes, and our disgust for the sin. Realize that God loves the sinner. Separate sin and the sinner, and learn “the gentleness and graciousness of Christ.”
Truth vs False Teaching.
Personal negative attacks are not what I do. I prefer comparing biblical Truth against False Teaching. The Bible encourages calling-out evil.
The Apostle Paul named names. Paul named those who were a danger to believers. He called-out specific people, naming Phygelus and Hermogenes as among those who “turned away from me” (v15, quoted below).
Paul set a precedent for how to deal with false teachers – today.
2 Timothy 1: verses 13-15 13 Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you. 15 You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.
Here in chapter three, 2 Timothy 3:verses 1-9, Paul warns Timothy about what is coming “in the last days”. We see this nowadays.
Warning About Growing Evil. Paul (in v1-4) describes the evil general population of the end times. This is also quite a specific description of what false teachers truly are like inside, in private:
3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – 2 Timothy 3:verses 1-4
Paul refers by name to Jannes and Jambres. They are examples from the days of Moses, court magicians in Egypt, who opposed Moses. We are NOT to follow leaders like these two, Paul is saying. Like all false teachers:
- they oppose the truth,
- they are men of depraved mind, and
- they are rejected in regard to the faith
Paul says to warn “factious” men of their divisiveness (I assume person to person) up to two times, and then: “Reject a factious man.“ [Google synonyms: divided, split, schismatic, discordant, conflicting, argumentative, disagreeing, disputatious, quarreling, quarrelsome, clashing, warring, at loggerheads, at odds, rebellious, mutinous]
This divisive type, Paul says, is “perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.” (v11)
Titus 3 verses 8-11 8 This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. 9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, 11 knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.
I like how the Amplified Bible (AMP) puts it:
False teachers spout “meaningless nonsense and ignorance” that eventually “will become obvious to everyone” (v9).
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also. – 2 Timothy 3:verses 1-9
We are seeing evil these days going “from bad to worse“. Paul’s warned us to learn – to the point of being convinced. Verses 13-14 of 2 Timothy 3:
13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of…
Titus 1: verse 16 is harsh:
16 They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
“Become convinced.”
Don’t let them (v13) convince you (v13). You convince yourself (v14). Read and reread Scripture – not their books, not their websites. Don’t go to their seminars. As it is often said: Consider the source – “knowing from whom you have learned them“.
When you are being taught, ask: Where is this teaching coming from? How come so few in Christian circles believe what this teacher teaches? Who speaks out against what this teacher is teaching?
Jesus often taught against the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Scribes.
Philippians 3: verse 2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision…
Paul spoke about apostasy in 1 Timothy 4: verses 4-6
4 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid….
6 In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.
It is a horrible thought: I go serving all of my life, but actually I have rejected Christ through counterfeit beliefs, and am now actually following “deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” — and I end up at Judgement Day with Christ saying to me:
“…‘I never knew you;
depart from Me
[you are banished from My presence],
you who act wickedly
[disregarding My commands]’
– Matthew 7:23
We do good – to point out the false teachers, their false teachings. Jesus did it. Paul did. That’s a good duo to follow.
1 Timothy 4: verse 6
In pointing out these things to the brethren,
you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus,
constantly nourished
on the words of the faith
and of the sound doctrine
which you have been following.
but the one who denies
that Jesus is the Christ
(the Messiah, the Anointed)?
This is the antichrist
[the enemy and antagonist of Christ],
the one who denies
and consistently refuses
to acknowledge the Father and the Son.
– 1 John 2:22
FOR MORE:
Why listen to a false teacher?
About Being Apostate… following “another gospel”
Search this site for: false teachers
The second epistle to Peter holds a blistering condemnation of false teachers. Wow.
Read the whole chapter: 2 Peter 2 Living Bible (TLB)
Biola graduate Holly Pivec and Biola professor Doug Geivett, co-authored two books about the NAR, available at Amazon:
A New Apostolic Reformation?: A Biblical Response to a Worldwide Movement
and
God’s Super-Apostles: Encountering the Worldwide Prophets and Apostles Movement.
From hollypivec.com
Two NAR Organizations to Watch …from hollypivec.com
NAR prophet Chuck Pierce gives ‘mantle’ to Mormon Glenn Beck …from hollypivec.com
The Heresy of False Teacher John Pavlovitz (a response to “10 Things This Christian Doesn’t Believe About the Bible”) – January 20, 2016.
Pick a sin – any sin – and discern where you are at. Judge yourself all day long.
Bart Ehrman’s Latest Attack on Christianity |
False teachings of today – a series
Needing something more than Jesus
Related to this issue:
1 Timothy 5:19-22 19 Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. 20 Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. 21 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality. 22 Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.
Here Paul says they “must be silenced….”
Titus 1:10-11 10 For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.
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