You search through the long history of the
Christian church and you'll see that false teachers have been
present at every time and present at every era. They were in the early church,
they were in the medieval church, they were in the Reformation church,
they were in the Puritan church and of course, they're in today's church. False teachers have been a plague since the
very beginning. They are a plague in our day. But what's interesting to me is that
while the times change and while the circumstances change,
the methods of these false teachers really don't change very much. Whether you're looking at the first century
or you're looking at the 21st century, you'll pretty quickly spot seven sure marks
of a false teacher. Today we're looking at seven sure marks of
a false teacher. And here is the first one. False teachers are man pleasers. At heart, these false teachers,
they're not interested in looking good in the eyes of God. They're really only interested at looking
good in the eyes of men. They're what the apostle Paul referred to
as ear ticklers. Teachers whose great skill
is learning what other people want to hear and then just giving it to them,
just regurgitating what people already want to hear. Instead of challenging them, they flatter
them. Instead of exposing sin, they affirm sin and
they coddle sin. Listen to what the Bible says about a true
teacher. "But just as we had been approved by God
to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please man,
but to please God who tests our hearts." False teachers speak to please man. Second, false teachers bring their harshest
criticism against God's most faithful servants. And I'm sure you've seen this before. False teachers, they always save their most
brutal attacks for the people who love God the most
and serve God the best. Just think of the apostle Paul. All right, his whole ministry was constantly
threatened by people. His letters are weighty and strong they said,
but his bodily presence is weak and his speech is of no account. Right? Even more so, you can think of Jesus Christ
who suffered constant attacks, from who? From the religious authorities. Religious teachers continue today to rebuke
and to belittle God's most faithful servants. Third, false teachers teach their own wisdom
rather than God's wisdom. False teachers always teach their own foolishness
instead of divine wisdom. This means then, that the ultimate source
of their teaching is their own minds. It's their own hearts,
it's their own sinful desires. Listen to what God said through the prophet
Jeremiah. He said, "The prophets are prophesying lies
in my name. I did not send them, nor did I commend them
or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision,
worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds." That was true in Jeremiah's day,
it's just as true in our day. Fourth mark of a false teacher. False teachers ignore what is of greatest
importance to focus instead on what's of lesser importance. False teachers, they always place great emphasis
on small commandments, while they blatantly ignore the great ones,
the important ones. They skip over what the Bible emphasizes the
most, to focus instead on these little verses
and these minor characters. Think again of Jesus when he spoke against
the religious authorities, the religious leaders of his day. He said, "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin,
and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:
justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done,
without neglecting the others." That's from Matthew 23. You can tell a false teacher when he governs
godliness by keeping the smallest rules even while he
gladly and blatantly breaks the big ones. The fifth mark of a false teacher. False teachers mask their false doctrine
with eloquent speech and impressive logic. You see a false teacher can't bring
a consistent interpretation of the Bible. So what does he do? He hides blasphemy and he hides dangerous
doctrine behind what seems to be a powerful argument. Behind this eloquent use of the language,
he offers to his listeners the spiritual equivalent of this beautiful attractive piece of candy
that's laced with deadly poison. It appears scrumptious, valuable, delicious
but it will still kill you dead. Paul had to remind the church in Corinth. He said, "when I came to you brothers,
I did not come to you proclaiming the testimony of God
with lofty speech or wisdom." Paul came with a simple message
that had all the power of God behind it. Sixth mark of a false teacher. False teachers are far more concerned
with winning others to their own opinions than in actually helping people
and bettering people. Honestly, they don't care about you,
they care about themselves. They want your loyalty, they want your money,
they want your body, they want something, anything. Jesus said, "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make
a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte,
you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves." See false teachers,
they're ultimately not in the business of bettering lives and saving souls. They're ultimately in the business of winning
followers and then gaining power, gaining authority
for themselves. The seventh, the final mark of a false teacher. False teachers exploit their followers. False teachers, they take advantage of people. They take advantage of their ignorance,
advantage of their greed, advantage of their lust
or immaturity or anything, something so that they can exploit them. They find people who long for money,
they promise them money. They find people who are consumed with lust,
they promise, you can fulfill those lusts. That's exactly why Peter warns, listen to
what he said. He said, "But false prophets also arose among
the people, just as there will be false teachers among
you." What will they do?
"who will secretly bring in destructive heresies... and in their greed, they will exploit you
with false words." See, false teachers, they're concerned with
your goods, not with your good. They don't want to save the lost,
they want to serve themselves. These false teachers they are perfectly content
for Satan to have your soul, as long as they can have your stuff. False teachers, they've always been a plague
in the church. They always will be a plague in the church
until the day the Lord returns. But we know their methods. Even better, we know the scripture,
which always exposes them, for who they are. Always exposes them for what they are. See our best defense against false teachers
is to know the Word of God so well, that we immediately spot
and we can immediately shut down any deviation from that precious truth,
that is the Word of God.
8)They protect pedophiles
9)None of their prophecies come true
10)They are afraid of smurfs
1. They are people pleasers
Telling people what they want to hear instead of the truth, such as that the reason they should know God is so they can get a nice house and play with pandas.
2. They criticize the faithful.
The churches of Christendom have faithfully been preaching the same message for 2000 years. The whole spiel of the Watchtoweris how these are all wrong and bad and evil and Babylon and pagan.
3. They teach their own wisdom.
Need I explain? They don’t teach the Bible but have their own pithy advice, heretical doctrines and rules for life that they shoehorn in by proof texts and cherry picking.
4. They focus on minor things.
Before you can become a member you must clean up your act and live a perfectly clean and pure life. At least on the surface. It’s extremely important to them what clothes you wear or if you have a beard, but protecting kids from pedophiles is not a priority, and if abuse happens, keep it quiet, because the important thing is how it looks on the surface.
5. They hide behind eloquence
Their doctrines are so messed up and full of holes that they constantly contradict themselves and the Bible. But put enough layers of circular logic, anonymous quotations, weird illustrations for rhetoric on it and people will accept it, and always feel just slightly confused because deep down they know it doesn’t make sense.
6. They seek followers rather than to help people
Their entire model is geared toward proselytizing and preaching, with no time left over for taking care of people whether inside or outside.
7. They exploit their followers.
Th exploit their time, energy, resources, money. Money always flow to the Watchtower but never from them. They use young people as slave labor and call it a privilege. When they get old and can’t work anymore the WT throws them out in the cold to fend for themselves without any life skills or accrued social benefits.