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"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when many will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths"(2 Timothy 4:2-4).

"Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:28-30

"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"(2 Peter 2:1).

"Dear friends, do not believe every (human) spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).

These inspired passages were expressed by the apostles; Paul, Peter and John. At the Spirit's nudging, each was made aware that Satan would waste no time in an attempt to deceive God's people. The deception began as the ink was drying on the parchment. Sadly, it continues today.

As a pastor, my concern is for those in certain denominations who, like most Christians today, have little knowledge of Scripture and who, as a result, are totally unaware that they are, to varying degrees, being mislead. My concern is also for young people who have been indoctrinated with false teaching from the start of their young Christian lives. Understandably, they have no clue that some of what they have been taught as truth, is in reality, a lie. This is the motivation behind this brief essay on false teaching. I have no intention of listing particular groups that are toying with or are steeped in false teachings, but rather to explain what false teaching is. My hope is that by so doing, those who are being mislead will see it for themselves and begin searching for a denomination or congregation that faithfully strives to adhere to Gods inspired, inerrant Word! So what IS false teaching? And who are the false teachers?

WHAT A FALSE TEACHER IS NOT

FIRST, as used in the New Testament, a false teacher is NOT a teacher of another world religion or of any of the hundreds of religious cultic groups who claim no allegiance to Jesus. To be sure what they teach is, for the most part, false. But when the Bible speaks of false teachers, its referring to those who claim to be Christian and yet to varying degrees, have departed from the teachings of historic, Biblical Christianity.

SECOND a false teacher is NOT a lay person; it's a teacher or in other words, one who leads. He, or she, could be a pastor, a missionary, an evangelist, an elder, a deacon, a Sunday School teacher, etc. Throughout the remainder of this essay, we will refer to them simply as, leaders. But clearly, those who follow or ascribe to their teachings are NOT false teachers for they are not leaders; they are the misled.

THIRD a false teacher is NOT necessarily a leader of another Christian denomination, congregation, or group, just because their understanding of lesser essential doctrines differs from that of our own denomination, congregation or group. Provided they believe the Bible to be inspired and inerrant, and provided they are striving to faithfully teach it, they should no more be considered false teachers than our leaders should be regarded as such by them. Scripture clearly states that when is comes to less essential doctrines, 100% agreement among Christians, while desirable, is not possible.

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then (when we are in heaven) we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then (again, when I am in heaven) I shall know fully, even as I am fully known," wrote the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 13:12). Paul was also moved to write: "I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have Gods approval" (1 Corinthians 11:18).

WHAT THEN IS A FALSE TEACHER?

A false teacher is a religious leader who professes Christian faith while, at the same time, ADDING to or SUBTRACTING from Gods Word (ie., from the Old and New Testaments) or who teaches others to follow the teachings of another who has, at a earlier time, added to or subtracted from Gods Word.

To better understand the significance of this warning, we must remember that God revealed His Word through the Old Testament prophets, His Son, and the first century apostles. The doctrines they gave us form the very foundation of the Christian faith. In writing to the Ephesians, Paul clearly states that our faith is, quote: Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone...Ephesians 2:19-21).

By the 5th century B.C., the foundational doctrines of the Old Testament had been laid. From then on, it was considered a closed book. The closing of the New Testament began approximately 500 years later following the death of John in the 90's A.D. By the 4th century A.D. the New Testament was considered closed when the church merely ratified the books which, for the most part, had already been accepted as God's final New Testament revelation.

From then on, no new doctrines were to be tolerated, and no one was to subtract from Gods established Word by denying those doctrines already revealed in the Old and New Testaments. Any who dared to either add or subtract, would be guilty of a grievous sin for which there would be dire consequences.

"Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you" (Deuteronomy 4:2).

"See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it" (Deuteronomy 12:32).

"Every Word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar?" (Proverbs 30:5,6)

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book; If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book" (Revelation 22:18,19).

THOSE WHO SUBTRACT FROM GOD'S WORD

These are professing Christian leaders who do not accept the inerrancy of Scripture who, as a result, deny essential doctrines of the Christian faith and teach others to do the same. By so doing, they subtract from Gods Word; it is as if the passages they deny did not even exist. They are rightly calledfalse teachers. We see them in the majority of liberal Christian denominations and in larger ancillary groups of which many are a part, such as the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. Rather than recognize and deal with false teaching, they dismiss it. Several of these denominations even ordain pastors who reject the most basic of Christian doctrines. No doubt, Jesus would say to them what He said of the Christians in Thyatira: I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants (Revelation 2:20).

THOSE WHO ADD TO GODS WORD

These are leaders who profess to be Christian who have added to, or teach others to follow the teachings of others who have added to Gods once-revealed Word. Following are some of the marks of a false teacher who has added to Gods Word.

(1) They follow and teach the doctrines of a self-proclaimed prophet or prophetess who has added new doctrines not found in the once-revealed Old and New Testaments, and/or teach new understandings of old doctrines never accepted by the Christian church at large. In almost all cases, these so-called prophets and prophetess have arisen in the late 19th century A.D., some 2400-plus years after the closing of the Old Testament Canon and approximately 1600 years after the closing of the New Testament Canon.

(2) Often, they have new Scriptures given them by their prophet or prophetess. In most cases, they believe their post-canonical Scriptures to be more reliable than the either the Old or New Testament.

(3) Usually, though not always, they teach that theirs is the only true religion and those who do not embrace it are in the end, lost.

(4) They deny Christianitys key doctrine of salvation by faith in Jesus alone. Instead, while often denying it, they believe certain works must be added to faith for one to be saved.

Scripture teaches just the opposite: "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law" (Romans 2:28).

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith�and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Even so, there are those who teach that faith in Jesus alone is not sufficient. They insist that certain works are also necessary. These works may include food requirements, worshiping on a particular day, or as mentioned earlier, simply being a member of their group. As we have seen in the above passages, Scripture clearly teaches that salvation is by faith alone. Scripture also speaks of the abrogation of Old Testament food requirements:

FOODS

"Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One mans faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him" (Romans 14:1-3).

"Are you so dull?" He (Jesus) asked. "Dont you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean? For it does not go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body. (In saying this, Jesus declared all food clean)"(Mark 7:18,19).

WORSHIP DAYS

Some believe that Christians worshiped on the 7th Day (Saturday) up until the 4th century A.D. when a pope changed the day of worship to Sunday. The truth is, most Christians were beginning to worship on Sunday, no doubt, for two reasons. First, Sunday was considered a very special day for it was on this day that our Lord Jesus rose from the grave. Secondly, most of the early Christians embraced the apostles' teachings that any day is an appropriate day to worship the Lord. But even then, as now, some still believed that Saturday was the only appropriate day to worship. Paul addressed this misunderstanding in his letter to the Christians in Rome, Colossi and Galatia:

"One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be convinced in his own mind...He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God" (Romans 14:5,6).

"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come (ie., symbolic); the reality, however, is found in Christ" (Colossians 2:16,17).

"You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you" (Galatians 4:10).

Further evidence of the practice of worshiping on Sunday from the latter half of the first century on is hinted at in the following verses:

"On the first day of the week (Sunday) we came together to break bread" (Holy Communion) (Acts 20:7).

"On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made" (1 Corinthians 16:2).

"I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lords Day (Sunday) I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea" (Revelation 1:9-11).

Apart from the implication of Scripture, history also shows that, for the most part, early Christians were worshiping on Sunday and felt themselves free to eat all foods, as long as doing so did not cause another to stumble in the faith. Further, Scripture clearly warns of the seriousness of adding even a single work to salvation. Speaking to Christians in Galatia who were beginning to add the necessity of circumcision to faith in Christ, the apostle Paul gives the following stern warning: I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel�which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" Lest anyone fail to see the seriousness of adding works to faith, Paul repeated his dire warning, saying: "As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!" (Galatians 1:6-9). (See the role of works below)

WHAT SHOULD A CHRISTIAN DO?

If you believe your leader(s) is teaching falsely, the first thing you should do is PRAY! Under no circumstances should you share your conviction with others. Instead, you should personally go to your leader, one on one, and respectfully discuss your concern. "If a brother sins," Jesus said, "go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother" (Matthew 18:15-NAS). It could be that you are wrong, or that you have misunderstood, in which case, the congregation will not be divided by, what would in reality be, a false accusation.

But what if, you believe, your leader insists on teaching falsely, what then? Again, Jesus tells us what to do. "If he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed"(Matthew 18:16-NAS). In other words, select two or three members whom you know share your concern. Again, your goal should be to stop what you believe to be false teaching while keeping the knowledge of your concern to as few people as possible.

What if even after that, your leader persists in teaching falsely? In such a case, Jesus said: "Tell it to the church" (Matthew 18:17-NAS). That is, tell it to the lay leaders, the elders of the church. If clearly shown that the leaders teaching is indeed false, and the leader refuses to repent, the elders should then lead the congregation in removing him.

Clearly, our Lord Jesus commends congregations that deal with, rather than dismiss false teaching. To the congregation in Ephesus He said: "I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, have found them false" (Revelation 2:2-NIV).

Unfortunately, most congregations today do not faithfully follow our Lords guidance in the area of church discipline. In such a case, a Christian has no alternative but to remove himself and his family from the church. Remaining would not only subject oneself and ones family to false teaching, it would lend support to the ministry of that false teacher. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, John wrote: "Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work" (2 John 1:9-11).

It is my earnest prayer that all who read this essay will take it to heart. Too often, and too easily, we tend to hear Gods Word while failing to apply it. To that, I close with these words of James, the half-brother of Jesus. Inspired by the Holy Spirit he wrote: Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says� (James 1:22).

Should you be in a denomination, a congregation or a group led by a false teacher, I leave you with these words WILL YOU DO IT?

*THE ROLE OF WORKS

The saying: "We are saved by faith alone, but faith is never alone" is attributed to Martin Luther. His point was this: while good works have nothing to do with salvation, they accompany it as surely as heat and light accompany fire. You simply can't have one without the other. But clearly, the heat and light are but byproducts of fire. So also, good works are a byproduct of true faith, and--we are to grow in them (Sanctification). But again, Scripture clearly states that they play no role in our salvation. (Romans 2:28) (Ephesians 2:8,9)