Beware of False Teachers

I was recently watching a series by R.C. Sproul, a respective and revered scholar and theologian on "Justification by Faith." Sproul in his exegesis made a statement, he said "When it says we receive righteousness, it is not the Righteousness of God, but a righteousness that God has made for us and given to us through Christ." I was astounded that such an imminent and renowned Bible scholar would say such utter error. The Scriptures contest Sproul's teaching, "And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction," (Romans 3:22), "Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God," (2 Corinthians 5:20-21), "It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption," (1 Corinthians 1:30). It is evident that we not only have righteousness of God through Christ Jesus, but we become Righteousness of God, how? Because Christ lives in us who believe, who is God's righteousness, "Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?," (1 Corinthinas 3:16), "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27), and "All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God." (1 John 4:15). 

Tim Lehaye, who was an imminent theologian and doctor of eschatology taught the Rapture Pre Trib view, and evented a Partial Rapture View, where devoted Christians get to leave via rapture the Tribulation and those lukewarm Christians get to go through it. Lehaye is contradicted by Lord Jesus Chrsit who says, "But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of  the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. ³¹ And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other." (Matthew 24:29-31). Christ says after the Tribulation, He will come on clouds and His angels will gather the Elect, the Saints of God. The Rapture as theological concept is that we will be caught up into the heavenlies or sky with Christ when He comes (see 1 Thessalonains 4:16-17); thus it is impossible for a rapture prior to Christ's Coming, and Jesus Himself says that before anyone is caught up He will come on clouds and have angels collect the Saints from corners of earth (Matthew 24:31).

Beth Moore, a renowned Bible teacher taught in first day of her "Spending 90 Days with Jesus, the One and Only,Book" that Jesus in Hebrew which is Yeshua is the same name as Joshua in Hebrew, so Jesus' name is Joshua. This is incorrect, Jesus is Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) which means"Lord Saves," while Joshua in Hebrew is Yehoshua (יְהוֹשׁ֫וּעַ) which means "The Lord is Salvation." The are not the same name, and yet Beth Moore claims they are. A rudimentary study of Hebrew on internet clears this up, but I do think, giving Beth Moore the benefit of the doubt, that she has relied too much on the now very flawed Strong's Concordance, which has changed Iesous Christos Kyrion (Jesus LORD God) to Iesous Christos Kurios (Jesus Christ Master Teacher). The Reverend Franklin Graham, who is son of imminent and renowned Billy Graham, has recently joined in the Interfaith Ecumenical Nation Day of Prayer that Pres. Donald Trump started. The National Day of Prayer was only suppose to be for Trinitarian Bible believing Christians. The United States of America was founded as Christian nation in 1607 A.D. at Virgin Beach and then again when Constitution was ratified and signed in 1775 A.D.

Then there is Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, Stephen Furtick, and others who preach the Prosperity Doctrine, that following Jesus results in becoming wealthy, ignoring the very obvious verses where Jesus says, "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money," (Matthew 6:24), "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money," (Luke 16:13), "Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;  and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”  Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him," (Matthew 4:8-11), "The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful," (Matthew 13:22), "In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!," (Mark 10:25), "but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful," (Mark 4:9), and the Apostles mention the same concerns, "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows," (1 Timothy 6:10), "Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction," (1 Timothy 6:9), "Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry," (Colossians 3:5), "For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world." (1 John 2:16). We aren't promised major dividends and stock options when we choose Christ our Savior, quite the contrary, "and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved," (Matthew 10:22 ESV), "Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory," (Romans 8:17), "Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don't be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval. From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." (John 6:26-27, 66). Worse still the inventor of trade and money was the devil, "By the abundance of your trade. You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane. From the mountain of God.And I have destroyed you, O covering cherubim." (Ezekiel 28:16). It is evident that money is a major stumbling block, and while I am not advocating hoboism, we must beware the entanglements of money, realize that Christ does not promise wealth in this life as the prosperity teachers do, but rather He promises us eternal life in the next life (John 6:40), and a relationship and reconiclaiton with God through Him (Romans 5:6-11). 

I do not presume to say everyone I have listed as teaching false teachings did so in earnest. I mean to say that I think some of these teachers have their heart in right place and love Jesus, and it is not for me to judge their hearts, that it Christ's position, but I may judge with Scripture there teachings. We are told by Apostle John to test all things, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already," (1 John 4:1-3) and that the Scriptures are good for teaching and reproving, "All Scripture [New Testament, see verse 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 and 2 Peter 1:20-21] is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16). We must weight anything people say by Holy Scriptures, specifically the New Testament which is the canon of New Covenant teaching from Christ and His Disciples. There is merit in Old Testament, to know the prophecies concerning Jesus, the Psalms, origins, and etc.; but we must not make doctrine from the Old Testament because that is an Old covenant which was replaced by Christ's New covenant (Hebrews 8:13, Hebrews 7:22, Hebrews 8:6, Hebrews 9:15). I think many teachers error when they go to Old Testament to convince people about eating laws, when Jesus said everything is fine to eat (Mark 7:18-21, Matthew 15:11-20), and the Apostle Paul said let your conscious dictate what you can eat (1 Corinthians 8, Galatians 5:6). I find it distasteful that pastors and Christian organizations borrow from Malachi 3 (Old Testament Prophet), to make their case for tithing, even though Malachi 3 in context is about Levi priesthood not tithing and God trying to get them to tithe the seed grain and put it in storehouses to save Israel from famine; besides the Levi Priesthood is replaced by Christ who is the Highest Priest (Hebrews 7, Hebrews 9, and Hebrews 10) and Christ even remarked on tithing, "When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?” He said, “Yes.” And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers (foreigners who are conquered)?” Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free [then citizens are free, see Galatians 3:26 ESV for who are sons and citizenship in heaven Philippians 3:20-21]. ²⁷ Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.” (Matthew 17:24-27). It is clear from Jesus' teaching that citizens or sons of King do not have to pay temple taxes (tithes) and we discover in Christ we both sons of God and citizens of heaven (Galatians 3:26 ESV, Philippians 3:20-21). I am of opinion nearly sixty percent of false teaching comes from interpreting the Old Law into the New Covenant as in case of tithing and other teachings, and the Apostle Paul warned us, "if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." (Galatians 5:4). 

We must beware of false teachers and prophets who seek to lead many astray, "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 in their depravity, and because of them the way of the truth will be defamed, In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. add verse four" (2 Peter 2:1-4), " For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. ³ But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. ⁴ You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed, you put up with this too easily! ¹³ These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵ So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve," (2 Corinthians 11:2-4, 13-16), " I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!," (Galatians 1:6-9). We must test everything people teach with Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments (2 Timothy 3:16), and the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). Make sure to examine the Bible yourself and not take the teacher's words for it, because as I have laid out in this post, there ate many peddling false teaching either on purpose or who are in error and aren't aware. So be our your guard and test everything that you read, hear taught, and watch from these teachers; make sure to do at least a Google search of verses pertaining to God giving us His righteousness and etc; before swallowing lock, stock, and barrel the teachings of men. Amen.