False Teachers – What do you do when?

WalkThePlank - False teachers

Most people trapped in blatant false teaching manage to escape their captors evil clutches and then run off seeking truth in the direction of men, other men who preach false teaching but are not so blatant.

What do you do when these men preach a version of the truth; they have the gospel message down to a fine art except when it comes to the message of salvation.  This is where they know they will trap the soul.

  • False teachers teach the truth to a certain extent, but stop absolutely short of teaching a genuine message of salvation.
  • Twist the deity of Jesus Christ just ever so slightly to make their entire message a waste of time.
  • Twist the meaning of the blood of Jesus just slightly to make their message of salvation null and void.
  • Twist the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross that He did not die for the whole world but only for the Calvinistic elect and the message is null and void.
  • Add works through Lordship salvation and they’ve destroyed it.
  • Make the gospel of Jesus about men instead of God.
  • Twist just the smallest bit of who Jesus IS, add too Jesus, take away just the smallest thing from Jesus, and you have destroyed everything.

Running from one false teacher to another.

What do you do when you have people running from blatantly false teachers i.e., (Kobus van Rensburg, Todd Benltey, Benny Hinn etc ) into the arms of men who are supposed to be renown in good solid teaching and therefore should be able to be trusted?

How do you now tell those people who escaped the blatantly false teacher that the person they are now entrusting their ‘learning’ too is also false.

The blatantly false came dressed in a clown suit, the real master deceiver is dressed like a banker with a polished smile.  Who would have know that the banker wore clown suit underwear?

This was the plan all along!  The Trinity Broadcasting Networks of the world would have their way, they would have the lime light, they would persuade the masses, they would be effective in leading millions onto another path – a Roman Catholic path.

This was the plan from the beginning…

As time would go by (a good few years at that) The TBN’s of the world would start to preach very weird things; the signs and wonders would get weirder, their lies more extreme.  Then there would be the branch-offs like the New Apostolic Reformation (C. Peter Wagner’s crew) and the likes of God TV would jump on the scene.  They would come in from another angle, with the same rubbish doctrine but with a different image.  But sooner or later they too would be branded as ‘those who fill their pockets with money, nothing but prosperity preachers’.  And this is what has happened.  Then Rick Warren popped on the scene and purposefully drove million of people in to the hands of the Roman Catholic Church.

Now a shift has taken place.

Prosperity bad!  Social Transformation good!  Everyone is Purpose Driven.  But both are bad because it’s the same rubbish doctrine as before but with a different image.  You even now find the clown trying to dress up like a banker like Andrew Strom for instance.

Planned to perfection.

Discernment ministries warned about these people, and they thought no one was listening.  WELL, how wrong were we, there were hundreds of thousands of people listening. Who did we recommend for them?  The ‘good’ ministers dressed like a banker, because apparently we thought they preached the truth.  We recommended the Calvinists for instance; because I thought the Calvinists were about as close to still being genuine as one could get. Oh how wrong I was.

Then the tide turned.

The TBN’s were now seen for what they are: FALSE TEACHERS.  Benny Hinn is officially a CON-ARTIST.  And the tattoos on Todd Bentley are not stick on tattoos.  The whole revival was a scam.  People were shook to the core after Lakeland.  So what did they do?  Most searched and searched, and they found the likes of Louie Giglio, John Piper, and John MacArthur

We should never at all be surprised to be told that false teachers will appear from the outside, sneaking their way in among the people of God.   But we missed this part completely; where the bible warns us that false teachers will arise from “within” the people of God.

Acts 20:28-30  28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of Godwhich He purchased with His own blood.  29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.  30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.

What do you do when this happens?

Well this is what I am going to do...

I am writing this because I want to publicly apologise to every person I told that John MacArthur was legit. I did not understand the doctrine of Calvinism for a short time and I told people that Calvinists were ok.  How wrong I was. And I am truly sorry.  If I don’t open my mouth and speak the truth, then I am no better than all the others leading people astray.  I feel sick to be honest. I have learnt a big lesson here.

I side with no one but Jesus Christ the Son of God.  I will never take the side of men no matter how good their ministry seems.  Does this mean I don’t trust anyone?  Of course not.  It just means that if and when (but hopefully not) they start to preach false doctrine or their true colours are exposed, I will not hesitate to make them take a long walk off a short plank.    

False Teachers - What do you do when?

STICK TO THE PLAIN BIBLE, READ THE WORD OF GOD ONLY. 

DON’T FUSS WITH MAN MADE PHILOSOPHIES AND INTERPRETATIONS WHEN YOU HAVE THE GREATEST INTERPRETER EVER – THE HOLY SPIRIT.

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Deborah (Discerning the World)

Deborah Ellish is the author of the above article. Discerning the World is an internet Christian Ministry based in Johannesburg South Africa. Tom Lessing and Deborah Ellish both own Discerning the World. For more information see the About this Website page below the comments section.

44 Responses

  1. bob says:

    Good Post. It is common when Christians discern that their church and pastor are false, that they run into the arms of certain “discernment ministries” who have written extensively about the dangers of left wing socialism, liberalism, and UN influence creeping into the churches and leading Christians into a socialist world government. But what the Christian who has escaped the left wing fails to realize is that the world government also has a right wing fascist component. So these “discernment ministries” get the Christians who have escaped out the front door, and they usher them back into the world government through the back door as they advise that the Christians now support right wing fascism which is just as evil and which in the US is the agenda of the CNP. This is why you’ll see many “discernment ministries” painting Rick Warren as the devil for his promotion of the “left wing” UN agenda, while these same “discernment ministries” will strongly promote orgs like Eagle Forum and Focus on the Family without telling their Christian readers and followers that these “right wing” orgs are also fully dedicated to the same UN agenda as NGO’s of the UN.

  2. Bob

    I know, it’s so sad isn’t it. But I also think that some discernment ministries actually don’t know the full extent of what is happening. There is so much going on. I would never have gone and done what you did regarding your research on MacArthur. But you did it and you have now exposed the lies and people now have a choice to follow him or turn away from him and follow Jesus Christ and His commandments!

    I have emailed a few discernment ministries who just recently put John MacArthur on their blog list (due to the fact that he now has a blog). I even commented there on his first article – praising him for standing for the truth. Oh man… 🙁 You know it’s one thing to ‘thank someone’ but I almost gave him a standing ovation. How pathetic of me 🙁 I must say this one is going to take me a while to get over.

    Anyhow I have done what I needed to do by writing this post. I have made my choice. Now let’s pray others do the same.

  3. serv.of.Christ Gerard Willemse says:

    Brilliant! You have recognized you own error, admitted it and apologized… Now if only some of our “beloved” preachers out there could follow this example of humbling themselves and confessing their faults.

  4. bob says:

    Yes. Let’s pray that others wake up to the truth about Macarthur. If you care to, then email several of the “discernment ministries” letting them know about the report on Macarthur. It may be that none of them help expose him. Why? Because their opposition to church growth is only controlled. It’s OK to expose Warren, but to expose Macarthur, Mohler, Piper…is going out of bounds.

    Macarthur has a blog? I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s never even been to his “own” blogsite.

  5. Burning Lamp says:

    Very well done Deborah! Thank you for your humility, honesty and transparency.

    And Bob you have hit the proverbial nail on the head. I know a conservative org speaking a lot of Christianese while headlining Phyliss Schlafly who is a Roman Catholic. They have hooked many Christians who are political conservatives. They hype gold on their site while the Bible says not to lay up treasures. It is that preservationist mentality that is so against what the Bible teaches! And I was so saddened to see that Dave Hunt has been added to their lineup of guest authors. Sadly, Olive Tree Ministries has aligned with this group as well. Much of what they present is good information, but that only serves as a masquerade to make the false more acceptable.

    Some of the discernment ministries are by Calvinists who preach a false gospel. Just because they call themselves a discernment ministry does not mean they are reliable.

    It is almost surreal. We must press on and do our part to defend the faith and

  6. Bob

    Yeah he has a blog. It’s went up about 2 months ago, maybe a lit longer. His first post was exposing TBN. And in doing so he has words linked to all his books you can buy on the subject. Nah he does post, but comments are very much moderated. I have not tried to comment re this info on him – So I wont just to conclusions yet that it will be deleted before I try. He seems to do recorded sermons and then asks questions to the public if they understand what he said. Smart.

    I need to check my email to see if I have any replies from the ministries I emailed. Even an acknowledgement they received it would be nice and I would be happy with that. Least I know they read what I said. Many don’t even acknowledge so you wonder if they even read it.

  7. Burning Lamp

    Ahhh Olive Tree Ministries. I was wondering what on earth was going on there recently this was during the time I posted my Chuck Missler article. I saw on the front page some very weird articles and links. I have not been back there in a while. But just from reading the front page I was very surprised.

    Oh I worry about Dave Hunt.

    I see many blogs who I ‘trusted’ and might still who knows…as I said I will wait to see what they do and say in the near future, are linked to ‘Reformata’. What is this exactly? I have not had time to check.

    And now let’s add Paul Washer into the washing machine. I’ve watched a few of his Youtube videos and was impressed but something bothered me a lot. So I emailed his ministry about 1.5 years ago and they all believe in amillenialism. I said, “WHAT?”

  8. bob says:

    The Christian conservatives sure love P Schlafly. They say she’s a Dame in the Knights of Malta. The KOM supported Hitler.

    Macarthur, the bridge-builder, has been on TBN–I believe more than once.

  9. Burning Lamp says:

    Paul Washer gushes and sounds SOOOOOO good and gets people revved up, but he is a Calvinist and I didn’t know about the Amill. bit. We do have to look a gift horse in the mouth. If you are a city gal you wouldn’t know what this means. It may look good, it may sound good and say all the right things, but upon closer examination it has a rotten core.

  10. Burning Lamp

    Regarding the A-Zmillinialism. I have the email. Oh yes I do…somewhere. I shall rummage through my billion emails to find it.

    >> We do have to look a gift horse in the mouth. If you are a city gal you wouldn’t know what this means.

    LOL – Back in the day they used smoke signals to send messages now we have 3 SwanSat satellites that will control the world soon – beat that one 😉

  11. Romans 10:14-17 Are there any pastors that you do approve of???? Some of the Pastors you malign here have brought many to the saving grace of Jesus Christ!!!!! Thank you, Carol Baldwin

  12. Carol

    >> there any pastors that you do approve of????

    Romans 10:14-17 14How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

    Just the BIBLE as not ALL men can’t be trusted. But the Word of God is 100% all the time. The Bible tells you that you are to test everything against the His Word. Do you do that or do you just take for granted that these men who once preached a good message are still preaching a good message? Would you like to go and just do a double check to make sure these men you revere so much are still preaching the truth? Or are they preaching a mixture or truth and error?

  13. Robbie says:

    >> there any pastors that you do approve of???

    Hey this is a good question. I live in a small town. None here but it is amazing how one grows and learn from just allowing the Spirit to teach you!!!

    Yes Debs… Word is still unchanging… unlike a few guys I met during my church hopping.

  14. Elmarie A says:

    Robbie
    >>unlike a few guys I met during my church hopping.

    Our church pastor that we left last year in Oct 2009, announced he was going to go on 3 months leave, because Herold Wietz spoke this prophetic word over him. Well yes the pastor also had dreams to confirm this prophetic word spoken over him. To go into quietness with God.

    As we left the Lewende Woord church that last Sunday my husband said , “well now we can go do some church hoping for the next 3 months”. We never got to go church hoping as it was not what the Lord intended for us. Instead we where led by the Holy Spirit to learn what discernment is, He seriously led us to the narrow path indeed. All the glory to Him our ONLY SAVIOUR!!!

    I have come to the conclusion that there are hardly if any churches that are safe in our area with about over an 50 in our area for any saved christian currently.

    I eco your words “but it is amazing how one grows and learn from just allowing the Spirit to teach you!!!”
    100%.

  15. Robbie says:

    Elmarie,

    Dit klink soos my “copy n paste” verhaal.
    The hopping was extremely brief when My wife and I decided to built our own little church in the backyard. Ons noem dit die ark…
    gits!..It has been 4 years now

    “Lewende woord” se jy? lol… nee jong, ek en my vrou was nou nie sover links nie. I thought I was safe for life in the conservative gospel of the “susters kerke”

  16. Elmarie A says:

    Robbie

    May you remain safe and true with your ‘Ark’ and you are in our prayers.

  17. Elmarie A says:

    Robbie

    Is dit nie ongelooflik die label wat mense jou gee tot in die kerke van links of regs wees , so het die politiek maar ook die oorhand oor die kerke en maak mense hulself hulle eie gode. Ons sal moet verleer om so te dink ek inkluis. lo lol lol

    Angus se MCC is mos dan links ne lol lol lol lol

  18. Robbie says:

    Elmarie

    Angus links?…..LOL – met al daai afrikaners da?

    And thanks for the good bon voyages for the ark… the ark started it all…

    Of wat se ek Faan?

  19. Michael says:

    I am a truly saved child of God who relies on only Christ’s atonement for my justification into His kingdom but I acknowledge that I had to turn my back on my sin’s and choose His way….my only guide comes from His Word as indeed He is the Word made flesh.There is nothing I can claim to be worthy on my own,,,it is only my convenant relationship with Him that is good.
    Signs…wonders…dreams…sensationalism…mass gatherings..emotionism given by men who are highly suspect in integrity and genuine concern….self-seekers…who compromise with His Word…being slightly or blantly out of context are manipulators of the truth.There is nothing more deceptive than the truth spoken out of context.
    The only direction is to be really honest with God and read His Word with integrity and not listen to these charlatans that sully and desecrate God’s message of the cross at Calvary.You can read about them in the books of Peter and Jude and the Lord Jesus Christ blatantly warned us in the gospels that there will be plenty of them in the last days. Hey guys be honest with yourselves and God and read the bible with integrity and then the Holy Spirit will guide you if you are genuine. No more this way or that…being double-minded when so called dubious signs and wonders are claimed.

  20. Jeanie says:

    This is a nice apology with no substance can you explain why you don’t ‘like John Macarthur?

  21. Jeanie

    He denies the blood of Jesus Christ – JMA sees the blood of Jesus as being LIQUID ONLY.
    He believes he is ELECT (chosen by God before birth) thereby Jesus did not die for the whole world but only for Calvinists

    As nice looking as he is, and that smile can make your heart aflutter he believes in some very serious things and I refuse to follow this man. You are not to follow men anyhow, you are to follow the TEACHINGS of JESUS CHRIST – so read your bible instead of JMA’s teachings of what the bible means.

  22. David says:

    Deborah, this liquid controversy started probably 26 years ago now and it arose from a simple misunderstanding of what he taught about Jesus sacrificial death. Most people I met who referred to this “liquid blood” issue always stated it based on some website reference as opposed to listening to any sermon or reading any book he wrote. The critics who started the show were themselves claiming that Jesus blood was stored in heaven and applied to believers, a heresy in itself. So they start rumour mongering to discredit John Macarthur and hey ho. The point is like you said everyone must put to the test anything they hear from any so called man of God, including John Macarthur. I do not agree with everything he preaches but this liquid blood thing is gradually becoming an urban legend.

  23. David

    No it’s now an urban legend it’s alive and well and in his latest Study Bible.

  24. YvZ says:

    Hi DTW, I was just wondering what your thoughts are about Pastor Jason Cooley? I quite like some of his sermons, as he preaches a lot about exposing Hollywood, the music industry, satan etc… I am a little confused about his message on salvation, and I am still looking into that. Just don’t have a lot of time at the moment. Thanks!

  25. YvZ

    Actually have not heard of this guy before. Can you send me a link to his belief in salvation that confuses you a bit and let me take a look at it.

  26. YvZ

    Ahhhhh I did a quick search and no wonder you are concerned, yes Jason Cooley preaches what is called Lordship Salvation. That in order to be saved you need to be sinless or you need to have a change of character and conduct to be saved. This is not true. You can look at this article explaining Lordship Salvation.

  27. YvZ says:

    Thanks Debs, I also read your article on Lordship Salvation. If I may ask, what source did you use to for info on Jason Cooley? I also tried to do some research on him, as I always do on anybody that gets my attention, but couldn’t find much.

    This Lordship Salvation controversy makes my head spin. For me, this is very difficult subject. On the one side you have the Lordship Salvation controversy, and one the other hand the Bible says we must strive to be holy, because God is holy.

    Lev 20:7 – Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am the Lord your God. And 1 Pet 1:15-16 also says we must be holy.

    If I see someone living in sin, I don’t expect them to be saved, which sadly, also is the case for a lot of people. Is there not something wrong if you say you are a Christian, but your life does not show it?

    I understand, that you don’t need to have a change of character to be saved, but should we not strive to have a change of lifestyle in order to be an example to others?

    I listened to a few of his sermons, he is very straightforward, and backs all his sermons up with KJV Biblical scriptures. To me, he is warning people against a lot of evils in this world. What is the difference in teaching Lordship Salvation and warning people against evil and dangers of this world, and telling them to get rid of sin in their lives?

  28. YvZ

    >> but should we not strive to have a change of lifestyle in order to be an example to others?

    ABSOLUTELY, that is the working of the Holy Spirit in your life. If you are not striving towards holiness then there is something wrong.

    We can’t judge people based on how they are living, because someone might be smoking for instance and is desperately trying to quit and in prayer with Jesus asking for deliverance. I was once that person and it took me a year of prayer before I was miraculously and wonderfully delivered from smoking. I could not stop on my own and none of the ‘stop smoking’ gimmicks helped either, but I smoked and I was genuinely saved and I was in prayer desperately asking Jesus to deliver me. It took a long time but He did – I know the reason why it took so long as well, but I wont get into that, all I know is that I don’t judge people because I was there.

    However if the person is smoking and can’t go a day without drinking and can’t see anything wrong with it, then we might be able to a put question mark on that person. The Holy Spirit chastises us when we sin and He lets us know that we are not pleasing Jesus at all and because of His chastisement we come back to Jesus through repentance of our sin.

    Will we ever be holy or sinless, never like Faan who we chatted with and believes he is holy. But as a Christian you will strive to not sin and that is one of the differences between being a nominal Christian and a genuine Christian. Will genuine Christians stumble? Absolutely, but they feel totally lost because of it and come back to Jesus sooner or later BECAUSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT in their life.

    Lordship salvation basically means that you need to have a complete change of nature to be saved or be practically sinless or sinless to remain saved or even worse because you are saved you are now sinless. This is not true. So Calvinists for instance (who love to preach Lordship Salvation) have to preach ‘good works’ – they need to ‘persevere’ with their ‘good works’. Because Calvinists trash the message of salvation and believe they are Elect before they were born (hence they don’t need Jesus Christ) they need to now teach Lordship Salvation as it’s all they got left…the law.

    There are others besides Calvinists who also teach Lordship Salvation like Arminianism for instance who believe you can lose your salvation. The moment you believe you can lose your salvation you deny Jesus Christ’s working in your life through the Holy Spirit and you need to now rely on the law aka Lordship Salvation.

    Re- Jason Cooley, errrrrr can you show me the comment I made on him? I have this faint recollection but my brain is not firing on all cylinders right now… (wait I’ll so a search lol – oh I found it, in this article…*dumb moment*)

    YvZ I edited the above sentence in italics to make more sense because there are actually a few variants of LS – that is why its a difficult topic to understand.

  29. Jason Cooley I think is a Calvinist if you read this you might get a clue to what he believes. I know this is written by someone else but this is his website and this is what he believes too. It smells like Lordship salvation to me: http://oldpathsbaptistchurch.org/beliefs/the-baptist-bible-position-on-repentance/

    Calvinists are wonderful preachers of repentance of sin…they rattle your heart strings about changing your ways etc, but when you look deeper, things are not all that is seems.

    Oh there is this: (I have not watched it, I am running low on bandwidth and need to be careful what I look at)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fin9HcrcmF0

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bclZHz0OOng

  30. RJ says:

    Hi Deborah & all! Perhaps of interest, it was actually studying & looking online for info about John Mac that brought me initially to your site here! See, I’d spent a few years stint at a lady’s end time ministry blog — however, she’s a staunch Calvinist through & through and (sadly) relies heavily on JMac’s teaching & sermons & site!! So anyway, sigh, I tried (in vain) to explain to her that John Calvin was a MURDERER, who had his best friend burned at the stake simply for refusing to believe the same way Calvin did!! Scripture says that those who murder do not have eternal life abiding in them, so therefore “guess where” Calvin is spending his forever-eternity? It’s certainly not in Paradise with the Lord! He didn’t “march right into heaven” on the basis of sensing he was “chosen” or “elected”!!

    Too many other things bothered me about JMac…. certainly downplaying Christ’s blood; also never officially recanting that people on earth (during that time) can take the mark of the beast during the Tribulation & still be saved. That bothered me a lot. For this past year I have diligently studied Scripture about being “elect” (called, chosen) next to Scriptures that invite ALL….. “whosoever will”. Truth? It bothers me GREATLY when someone gets so smug in thinking they’re a SPECIAL chosen “child of God” (Calvinistic beliefs, election) just by having been born that way, without coming to the Lord on His terms (repentance towards God and belief in Jesus) and that everyone was else was created specifically to burn in hell… with no choice of ever approaching the Lord for salvation! Yes, I see this as callous, SMUG attitudes!

    At any rate, during many of my late nights while up studying online, I’ve since read that JMac has built a museum ABOUT HIMSELF!! Look it up! Oh my word, isn’t that downright smug?? Also from my research in finding out he’s a freemason as well, I dunno’ ~ but one can get to wondering if he’s even truly a born again Christian!! Or part of the masons/illuminati who will help usher in the One World Gov’t??

    During the (soon encroaching Tribulation) will his church be part of the “line right up here and get this mark placed on your hand or head”… all the while preaching ‘the elect are still saved’ even if they took the mark?? This would fly in the face of Scripture, but since delusion will be the subject of the day, this scenario would not surprise me in the least!!

    Okay, now I’m going to get “beat up” (Spiritually) for posting this! So ARMOR ON!! And please any REAL Christians reading this, pray for me! Get my back, if you will! Thanks.

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