Beware of False Teaching
Have you ever heard this? “It doesn’t matter what you believe, just so you are sincere. We are all going to the same place.” Here are two blatant errors: (1) It does matter what you believe; and (2) We are not all going to the same place.
In many parts of the Bible, God warns us of false teachers who appear on the scene in an attempt to deceive those who are followers of Christ. For example, in 2 John 7 we read, For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. We see here that one of the attempts of the false teachers is to destroy the verity of the truth of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
They want you to believe that Jesus is not God, but simply a man (and not only that but a false teacher). But in verse 9, John writes, Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. The doctrine of Christ involves His miraculous birth by means of the virgin, Mary; His sinless life on this earth; His vicarious atonement on the Cross; His miraculous resurrection from the grave; and ultimately His return to the earth in power to rule the world.
Who then is a deceiver and an antichrist? Anyone who denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and fails to acknowledge all that is taught about Him in the Scriptures. Of these people, God says stay away from them, have nothing to do with them. Do not listen to their false doctrines.
Many people in our churches today provide opportune targets for the false religions. Not being well versed in the Scriptures, and often not being too well satisfied with their own relationship to God, they are usually ready to receive most anything that comes along that sounds good. You may be sure the false teachers have a nice sounding message. It is usually based on a few Scripture verses used out of context. Often it is pleasing to the ear and, consequently, very inviting. Rarely is anything said about sin. In other words, you can continue the same lifestyle you are now living and at the same time embrace the new thought, without any sacrifice whatsoever. There is no repentance involved. In fact, it offers freedom and enjoyment, which sounds wonderful. But keep in mind, our relationship with God is not established simply on what sounds good. It is based entirely on what God has said in the Scriptures. Jesus Christ is at the heart of it all. Not the Jesus of the liberal, or the Jesus of the false sect, it is the crucified, risen, and coming again Savior.
One of the false forms of religion sweeping the world today is known as the New Age movement. It is simply amazing when you consider how many people who have been in the Christian church for years are being deceived by this teaching, unaware of the error of this movement. Here are two of the basic tenets of the New Age Movement: (1) There is no distinction between God and the created world. God is nothing more than an impersonal energy force behind everything. (2) We are all gods, and therefore we need no God in heaven. I don’t know of anything more ridiculous than this; yet people are buying it. Anyone who comes into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and begins to enjoy the blessings He pours upon us day-by-day will have nothing to do with this empty and shallow teaching found in the New Age movement.
In Luke 18:8, our Lord inquires as to whether He shall find faith on the earth when he returns. He does not say faiths. There will be plenty of those, many of them false and some extremely foolish, conspiring together to strangle and crush true, biblical saving faith. While Satan seems to be limited in the number of his devices, there is no limit to the variety of the false cults springing up in his camp. There is something to appeal to everyone, educated or uneducated, cultured or crude. Many cults are attractive in their philosophies and appeal by their emphasis upon goodness, morality, kindness, values, and love; indeed upon everything but truth.
All false religions have some truth in them. One of the favored arguments of the ecumenists and those who say we should not criticize anyone’s religion is: “But there’s so much good in it.” Well, there is much good in rat poison, too. It’s about 99% good grain, and 1% arsenic. But the arsenic has spoiled the grain and made it fatal to anyone who eats it. Likewise, truth ceases to be truth when it is mixed with falsehood. That’s why, when a man takes the oath as a witness in court, he swears to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. As a rat would not take the poison until it is incorporated into the good grain, so people will not swallow a false religion if it is not masked with some degree of truth. Thus, if you were to ask me if I believe there is anything in these false religions, my answer would be, very quickly, “Most definitely!” The devil is in them and our responsibility is to stay away from them, because after we find out what we are into, we shall be sorry for the rest of our life.
Follow that which has been proven to be true about which there can be no doubt or question: The Word of the living God, given by God for our instruction and learning, verified through the living Christ who was born into this world, and by His miracles and power, proved Himself to be everything He said He was. It is this Christ, and not false teaching, that will give satisfaction and happiness with the assurance that when we die we shall go to be with Him forever.
In Deuteronomy 13:1-3, God gives a warning to all of us. If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth you a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them; You shall not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul? Jesus died for you, my friend. He gave His best that you might have eternal life.
J. Allen Blair
...Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus...believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Romans 10:9).
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