January 7, 2021 – False Teachers

What I Read Today;

Romans 7, Matthew 7, Isaiah 7, Job 7, Joshua 7, Genesis 7

In Matthew 7 vs. 15-20, Jesus warns about false teachers.  We don’t like to talk about false teachers these days. We want to discuss inclusivity.  Our society prefers that we walk together in lockstep even if we walk in disobedience to God’s word.

What makes it challenging to figure out who’s who in our mixed-up world is that we want to pick and choose the teachings we like.  We also tend to judge an individual ministry’s success or failure based on money, attendance, or church size.

So what do we do?  Do we follow the minister who tells us what we want to hear?  Or do we find the biggest church in our community and go there?

But when we think about it, we find that God’s way of judging success isn’t our way.  Isaiah and Jeremiah would not have been seen as failures the way we consider them today.  Paul failed far more than he succeeded in the book of Acts.  Even Jesus watched as many of his disciples left him when he discussed difficult teaching.

Our mission is to find and support a ministry that is faithful to God’s word.  And that’s tough in our society today.  Finding those can be like looking for a gem in a mountain of coal.

When judging a ministry, I like to ask myself a few questions.

1. Is the ministry faithful to God’s Word?  I know we’ll disagree on some points, but as a rule, do they, as a rule, follow God’s Word for guidance?
2. Is it all about the Pastor and his personality?  
3. Is there spiritual growth occurring?
4. Do they bend to society?

I’m sure you have some questions of your own that you would ask.  The topic of false teachers is a challenging subject.  But Jesus’ warning tells us it’s a subject we need to spend some more time thinking about!