Shining The Light On False Teachers

Review

Last time we learned how to recognize someone who is against Christ or antichrist.

People who are against Christ depart from the essential doctrines or beliefs of the church concerning Jesus Christ. Though they may have started with Christ on their mind, they leave without the person of Christ ever having penetrated their heart.

If you would ask the Jehovah’s Witness if they believe in Jesus, they would say, “Yes, I believe in Jesus.”

If you would ask the Mormon does he believe in Jesus, he would answer, “Yes, I believe in Jesus.”

If you would ask the Muslim does he believe in Jesus, he would reply in the affirmative.

However, each of these religions have created Jesus after their own imagination and not according to the Bible.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe:

When it came time for the savior to be born, Michael the Archangel became a human, in the form of Jesus. Jesus grew and kept all the laws of God and never sinned. Finally, when Jesus died, it was not on a cross, but on a torture stake, where he bore the sins of mankind -- but this did not include Adam's sins. Jesus rose from the dead as a spirit, not physically (his body was dissolved and taken by God) and during his visitations to people on earth, he manifested a temporary physical body for them to see and touch.

Mormon’s believe:

In the Mormon plan of salvation there needed to be a savior: Jesus. But Jesus was a spirit in heaven. For him to be born on earth, instead of letting any other man do it, they teach that god the father came down and had relations with Mary, his spirit daughter, to produce the body of Jesus. Jesus was born, got married, and had children.2 He died on the cross and paid for sins -- but not on the cross only. According to Mormonism, the atonement of Christ was not only on the cross; it began in the Garden of Gethsemane before he went to the cross.

The Muslim believes…

In the supreme idea that Muhammad is Allah's prophet. But they also acknowledge that several prophets preceded Muhammad. The major ones are Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus. Jesus, then, was simply one of many prophets according to Islam. Therefore, they deny the Christian doctrine of the deity of Jesus, the need for His atoning sacrifice. According to Islam, no sacrifice is needed to be forgiven, only faith in Allah, sincere repentance, and obedience to Islamic law.

Believe it or not, these aren’t the major kinds of false teachers and teachings the church is warned to be aware of. These religions propagate false teachings outside of the fellowship of believers. What the church is warned to look out for are false teachers who would slip into the church and rise up from among the fellowship of believers.

When Paul exhorted the elders of the church of Ephesus he had this to say:

Acts 20:27 "…I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

Acts 20:28 "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

Acts 20:29 "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Acts 20:30 "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.

Acts 20:31 "Therefore watch…”

Peter warned the churches in Asia Minor:

2 Pet 2:1 …. there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

2 Pet 2:2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

2 Pet 2:3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

Later in chapter 4 of 1st John, John writes:

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

We will take our text for today from 2 Peter 2:10-11. For the context we will read verse 1-9:

2 Pet 2:1 - But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

2 Pet 2:2 - And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

2 Pet 2:3 - By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.