Shining The Light On False Teachers

One characteristic of false teachers is how they malign the faith; they make jokes of and ridicule sound doctrine. Listen as I read a quote from a very popular teacher who denies the doctrine of the depravity of man:

“Now whether you like it or not, whether you want to admit it or not, whether you want to operate on it or not, you are made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Most people who go to denominational churches never ever hear that! They never hear it! Never! All I was ever taught to say was, ‘I, a poor, miserable sinner.’ I am not poor. I am not miserable. And I am not a sinner. That is a lie from the pit of hell! That is what I was [sic] and if I still was, then Jesus died in vain. Amen?”

This quote was taken from Joyce Meyer. Now, Meyer may be telling the truth when she says she is not poor and not miserable but 1st John 1:8 would disqualify the rest of her comments about not being a sinner. Even Paul thought himself to be the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).

As Christians we are, after all, saved sinners. The Bible teaches in Romans 3:10, “there is none righteous, no not one.” We have righteousness imputed (credited) to us through the death of Jesus Christ. It is not our righteousness; it is God’s as Paul clearly teaches:

2 Cor 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Meyer’s comments point out the real issue: She clearly attacks the theology of the Reformers.

Let me say before I go any further, I’m not saying I don’t like Joyce Meyers; she seems to be a nice person. What I am saying is some of her teaching is false. If I were to say that “I like Joyce Meyer as a person” what I am saying is I like her television persona because I really don’t know her. I like the image she projects on TV; I like the way she talks. I like her use of the English language. Most of you are like me; you like what you see on TV but neither of us know her personally.

When Jim Bakkar was on TV, I liked the image he projected on TV but I did not know what was going on behind the scenes at Heritage. This is why we must take an objective view on what these people believe and teach.

Romans 16:18 says, “For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.”

In 2 Tim 3:6 Paul writes of those “who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various impulses…”

False teachers indulge the flesh. That is, they pursue a course of action that is in accordance with their totally depraved nature. Their ungodly ways are more characteristic of the world than one who professes to know and serve God.

False teachers despise authorities. 2 Peter 2:10 also says they, “…despise authority…”

The word despise is made up of two Greek words, “kata – “down” and phroneo – “to feel, think and have understanding.” It literally means, “to think a thing down.” We say, “look down our noses at things.” The word means, “to disdain, think little or nothing of, to condemn.”