Phonies In The Church
People get too excited about nut cases, which claim to be prophets of God and various other lads/lassies that get into all sorts of scams and jams. Many people lose faith because their hero or favorite alma mater takes a nosedive. First, none of us are exempt from nosedives. We all are feeble and frail and oftentimes fail. The only difference from the big guys and us is that we are not in the spotlight so our failings are kept among a smaller circle and not broadcast by the media. Failings we are to forgive and restore the brother that repents and God forgives. The fallen are not phonies only temporarily defeated. Secondly, we are to keep our eyes on Christ and not men, so if our faith fails with them it is because our faith is misplaced. Fame and power are great blessings, but they are only handled well by a few, so when it gets the best of someone I am not surprised.
It is the false prophets that we will deal with in this message. I am never shocked or surprised by people who claim they turn sticks into snakes and such. I was invited to one of those places once. I told the lad that if they were turning snakes into sticks, I might be interested, but as far as I am concerned, there are more than enough snakes in the world. I t’ain’t fer makin’ more of ’em!
I have heard of hookers and strippers for Jesus. There is that one weird cult that practiced "flirty fishing" where the girls turned tricks to make converts. If the "prospect" did not convert, they would take an offering for their time. Other groups try to turn the Holy Spirit into a sideshow act where He does miracles on demand for the crinkley and not the tinkley money. The "ministers" perform in such a way that most Christians think they are nuts, let alone a lost person. Somehow, that does not fit with Scripture and all things being done in decency and order.
I am not soon shaken when a man or institution I admired goes off the deep end and denies truth or teaches some "new" heresy. Saddened and bummed out as we once said, but not shaken in my own faith. False prophets must not shake us. They were present in the first century, throughout history and predicted for today.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. KJV
We are not to be shaken, but we are to try the spirits. This means to examine and by discernment approve or not approve those spirits. The word spirits does not mean beings like demons or angels though they influence what is said and taught. It is referring to the mind or mindset of the speaker and what mindset those teachings reflect.
1 Cor 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. KJV
Our minds or thought processes are to stem from the mind of Christ that we gained access to at our conversion. We access that mind through His Word and the Holy Spirit working in conjunction with that Word. Note that we cannot instruct the Lord as is the manner of some theologians, but we can know what is from Him and what is from man or the deceiver of men’s souls.
Our problem is not access to the truth, but rather our immaturity and failure to use what we have causing our senses to be dull and unable to discern between good and evil. (Heb 5:13,14) We are selfish, spoiled milk suckers throwing tantrums because we cannot have everything our way while the world goes to Hell and damnable heresies abound. We leave the work of the saints up to our paid preachers and then decry Nicolaitanism. It is obvious that we are not using the mind of Christ and are thus truly out of our minds.
This is why some believers are singing the same chant of the ecumenicists to put our differences aside and ride some unholy bandwagon of compromise thereby neglecting the lies of many who claim the name of Christ, but are not His. Verses 2 and 3 hold some heavy doctrine. If any does not confess or literally to say the same thing about Christ that the Word says about Him i.e. that He is God come into flesh then that person or group is antiChrist no matter how many times they use His name. In II John, this is repeated again and we are told that we cannot even say "Good-bye" which is a truncation of "God Be With You," or we are as guilty of their evil deeds as they are. Where is the ecumenicism in that? Where does that leave the other religions?
Professing born-again, Bible believing Christians have bought the lie of love without truth and glad hand people who deny the doctrines of Christ or the doctrines from Christ. They embrace the Union of the Damned and call it koinia. Martyrs weep in sod. We embrace the ones who made them martyrs and call the theological traitors that preach in the churches named after those martyrs, brethren. Sadly, the ranks of Baptists doing this are growing to our shame. It is pitiful, just pitiful.
To my brethren, who are hanging on in the places of your tradition, I plead with you to come out from among them that deny the Lord that bought them and scoff the very Word they claim to preach. They have gone past the point of no return and you only soil yourself, by remaining in those organizations. Some Baptist groups have already gone over the edge and some are nearing it.
We are to be separate and touch not the unclean thing. Your forefathers may have started some of those churches that were alive and are now dead. If they are buried in the cemetery, dig them up and move on. There is no reason for you or their bones to remain in Egypt. If you have overcome the world then follow Him that is greater than the world out of an organization that has been overtaken by the world.
You know if I am talking to you. Everything you hold dear is mocked in the pulpit and in the "teaching" material. Things are said and done that provokes your soul and yet you stay because your loyalty is misplaced. You loyalty is not to a denomination, but to Him that has bought you with His blood. Forget about the stained glass or pews that are dedicated to your grandparents. They will all burn up in the end anyway. Look to eternal things. Preachers, you need to forget about your pensions and look for His reward and retirement package.
Many of us have no problem dealing with false prophets in other groups, but when our own heroes fall we get shaken. Peter said there would be false prophets among you, so why are we shocked and shaken?
2 Pet 2:1-3
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (KJV)
Many of these folks sprang up across history and one of their groups plunged the world into the Dark Ages. As Christ promised there were remnants of the faithful and those gates of Hell did not prevail against them, but rather the faithful prevailed against those gates as promised. Revival would come through a bloody sea of martyrs.
The descendents of those false teachers take a different tact or at least until they can gain enough power to spill blood again. Today they infiltrate our seminaries and churches due to the unseemly awe that our people have for degrees and associations. They come in the right clothes from the "right" schools with the "right" words, but inwardly they are wolves that deceive and use vain jangling and wresting of words to fleece, scatter, and destroy the flock. (1 Tim 1:16; 2 Peter 3:16)
It does surprise me that Baptists who say they believe in the priesthood of the believer and descended from those who died rather than bow to priest or pope now praise and laud the new academic Nicolaitane popes. They accept anything they say without question because they have been trained in a seminary. They assume that surely a layman cannot know anything. Funny, I thought the Holy Spirit indwelled all believers and would lead us into all truth if we allowed Him to fill us.
I was truly amazed as a Conservative congregation readily accepted a "Liberal and proud of it" as their interim pastor because he had a ThD, some charisma, and the hearty support of the head elder. Doctrine did not seem to matter at all. I would love to hear what R. G. Lee or one of the other great Baptists from the past would have said about that. I do not question his salvation, but his doctrinal bent will eventually lead to a generation of unsaved pastors. That congregation failed to see that their mission is to preserve truth.
Another reason we should not be shaken by false prophets is because the purpose of them is our approval. We are enjoined to study to show ourselves approved to God by the right dividing of the Word.
(1 Timothy 2:15)
1 Cor 11:18-19
18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. (KJV)
We should not fear false prophets or their teachings because it helps to separate the wheat from the chaff. We take our stand for the truth and rightly divide the Word and their error is banished back to the darkness from whence it came and the light of truth flames so all can see.
Truth is an anvil that can take the beatings of many hammers of error and still survive. Voltaire, a famous loud mouth atheist, once predicted that the Bible would not exist in a hundred years. The joke was on him. A hundred years later bibles were being published in his home. It has been said that Mao Tse-tung said on his deathbed that he was going to see his Maker. Hmm, Mao, I thought you did not believe in God. Atheists and errors come and go, but the Truth abides forever. Study the Truth, receive Him and you also shall stand forever.
The heresies and false prophets show us approved by making the darkness darker and the light brighter.
2 Tim 3:1-9
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. (KJV)
Welcome to the USA today! Actually, the world today is described by this passage, but since I am an
American, I see it so well here. It is not easy to be a biblical Christian today. In America, we have some advantages over our brethren in Communist or Islamic countries, but hold on, hard times are coming.
We are supposed to be free, but zoning laws and licensing limit our freedoms. The public school systems that were originally church schools are afraid to let God be named in them. The coming genocide/hate laws may make it a crime for a bible believing Christian to practice their faith or at least they will be so interpreted. Separation of church and state is already interpreted in a way that was in no way the meaning of the founding fathers, which invoked the name of God and Christ religiously in their documents and invoked His name at all their "political" meetings seeking His mercy and wisdom. The old time religion may become the religio illicita in a country founded upon the bible and religious freedom. We are already mocked and blamed for everything under the sun. Indeed, it is dark, but the light of Christ and His Gospel is all the more glaring!
These times and false prophets must not shake us because there is a plan of attack to deal with them. We are not to sit around and moan or complain. We must go on the offensive!!
Eph 4:11-15
11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: (KJV)
We must get perfected and unified! Too many Christians are imperfect or immature. They do not know how to handle the weapons of their warfare or how to use their armor. (2 Cor 10:4, Eph 6:10-20) We are still playing with the things of a child when we should be putting them away. (I Cor 13:11) We get wrapped up in silly diversions and speculations. We need to fulfill our responsibilities as adults by doing what we know is the will of God and speaking forth what is clearly understood. When we get to glory we can quibble about others things, but we will not because they will no longer matter. We will see that they were things the enemy used to distract us.
We must get unified. If the Legion of the Damned can be organized then why not the Army of God? We need to draw some lines in the sand and find the warriors we can serve with and then put God’s mission as our priority seeking His will and not our own. Among Baptists, there must needs be some divisions as the Southern Baptists are finding out, but there needs to be less among the Independents. We need to be a bit more dependent upon the Lord and accept the squadrons He sends to help us rather than hitting them with friendly fire. We need to be sure that we are building His kingdom and not our own. We will then be less proud and prone to cooperate, consolidate, and win versus isolate, vacillate and capitulate. Remember my brethren, we have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and we are of one flock!
Some of us need to merge. I have seen way too many Baptist churches that will seat 300 with only 12-50 currently attending. There is a church about five miles from where I am serving now that is without a pastor because their lay pastor retired. Their numbers are dwindling, so they cannot afford a full time pastor and if the trend continues they will have trouble meeting their bills.
I am going to approach them about merging, but I can imagine great resistance. The church is over 100 year old. I would imagine that most of the elderly members have been going there since they were children and have invested much of their time and money. Now, if we look at it from a spiritual standpoint, there should not be a problem since we are of like faith and practice. Ah, but the flesh could cause many problems.
Their building is ideal to house our Christian School. Rather than build a different building, it would be best if we merged with them. Their building has been used for spiritual teaching for over 100 years. The only thing that changes is the focus of that teaching. It can remain useful or they can get into serious trouble and lose the building due to financial problems or because of disrepair. Only fleshly pride will prevent better use of God’s assets.
There are many, many churches like that in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and the Winston-Salem area where I graduated from Bible College. I am sure we could see this all over the country. Many need to be turned over to Black or Hispanic congregations because the 12 people that drive into the area are the only Anglos within miles. They do not do outreach because most of them are too old to do so. Even if they did, their style of worship will not appeal to the people in the community so they would be wasting their time.
I submitted a resume to one such church. I did not know their situation until I attended and spoke with them. They were three miles from a brick building with a congregation that appeared to be flourishing. Their frame building was in disrepair and would require more money than they had to fix it up to a "fair" condition. When I suggested that they merge with the folks down the road and turn over the structure to another congregation, you would have thought that I had asked them to sacrifice their first born child. I was only suggesting unity and good stewardship. We must mature and unify.
2 Tim 2:15-16
15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. (KJV)
Next, we must study if we are to overcome the heresies of the false prophets. It never ceases to amaze me at how far the Baptists have slid since the early days of this country. People once complained that the problem with Baptists was that every time you saw them they cast a Scripture in your teeth. That is certainly not the case today. Many Baptists can take you to John 3:16 and Psalm 23 and after that a few of their Hallmarkä favorites. That would be the limits. They could not find Obadiah or even Philemon.
The terribly sad thing is that there is really no excuse for this. In this computer age, we have more resource tools available to us than ever before and many of them are free. You can find all kinds of shareware and freeware on the Internet. There are the Bible programs themselves as well as reference tools. I just downloaded three last night. Non-digital Bibles can be had fairly cheaply as well as concordances and such. Correspondence and online courses abound. Baptists should be the most Biblically literate people on the planet. We just lack the zeal and commitment of our forefathers.
We were once a people of the Book. We were Bereans. We still name our Sunday School classes after them, but we are a far cry from emulating them. We spend far too much time at the TV, the video games, the non-bible study Internet and other forms of entertainment to know what and why we believe. How can you discern a false teaching when you do not even know the true one? We must study, study, study and then study some more. That takes time. That takes the dreaded C word, commitment and loyalty to the Lord, His Word, and His work. I had a twenty-something lad tell me that part of his zeal for sports was to have something to be loyal to. Well, how about something eternal rather than a temporal thing that only supports temperamental players and fans? God gave you gifts to use for Him. Why not be loyal to the One who gave them to you? Want a challenge? Get into a good church and do His work. It can be more grueling than the most extreme sport, but the rewards beat anything that any championship title can bring and you can take those rewards with you while the rings and pennants stay behind.
We sing about Heaven and that we are just a passing through, but our lifestyles betray our speech as hollow. We plan and play like this is Heaven and this is where we will live our eternal life. Folks, this old globe, and all the stuff in it, is just firewood. It is soaked in the lighter fluid of sin. All we are waiting for is the Lord to touch His match to it and poof where will all your treasure be that you spent so much time accumulating? We are in the world, but we are not to be of the world. Stop chasing glittering trinkets like an old crow and start laying up eternal treasure and getting to know the Lord you will be spending eternity with if indeed you will be with Him.
Doctrine is important. We need to rightly divide he Scriptures to discern them or we will be ashamed here and when we stand before Him. Lies only prevail because those who know the truth remain silent. Discernment is needed because most false prophets do not lie completely. They lace the lie around and between the truth. The Kool-Aidâ was fine in Guyana. It was the cyanide that killed those folks. It only took a little bit and just a small lie woven into the truth can damage, destroy or damn someone. Will you be one of the Lord’s Treasury Agents and confiscate the counterfeit doctrines and arrest the counterfeiter or be the one who receives the counterfeit with joy not knowing it is useless?
Finally my brethren, we must light the path for others.
Rom 16:17-18
17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. (KJV)
Many are afraid to call names because that seems so unkind. When it came to false doctrine and heretics, Paul had no trouble calling names. (1 Tim 1:18-20, 2 Tim 1:15, 4:14) He says to mark them. The word literally means to take aim at or spy out. If we are afraid to call sin and error what they are than how shall people be warned to avoid the error? I do not have to spend my entire ministry calling out everyone’s name, but when I teach doctrine I can surely point out what false doctrine is abroad and what group or person teaches that error. When I am asked about a group or person I am obligated to share what I know.
Now if the person repents or recants then I am to forgive and receive him back into fellowship if he is indeed a brother. If he is not a brother, then at least I can be glad that he has found some truth and pray that God will reveal more of His light and truth until the man does become a brother. I am to rejoice in restoration not gloat over their error. Once restored and God has forgiven and forgotten it so should I. We are not to shoot our wounded, but we are not to partake of their error either and we certainly do not glad hand a false prophet.
Note it says to avoid them. In another passage Paul says to reject them or leave them alone. (Titus 3:10) It also carries with it the sense of denouncing them. You denounce them and then leave them alone. You do not persecute them or burn them. You rebuke them sharply and then turn them over to the mercy of God that may allow them to repent or to the devil for the destruction of the flesh that their soul may be saved or again that they might repent. (Titus 1:13; 2 Tim 24-26; 1 Cor 5:5; 1 Tim 1:20) Leaving them alone can mean breaking denominational ties or leaving a church. It is not your job to persecute or try to punish them. That belongs to God. You mark them and then avoid them. You light the narrow path, but it is not your job to burn the broad one. That path will always exist and have new branches or new names for those branches until He returns. We just get people off of it and onto the narrow path.
Verse 18 gives the motive for many of these false prophets and heretics. They have no real desire to serve the Lord. They are only concerned about their belly. If they can find a doctrine or group of teachings that deceive people into giving them money, fame, and power they will do it no matter how weird those teachings might be. The unsuspecting get sucked in because of the "good words and fair speeches." A lot of things sound good and even look good on paper, but we all know of promises that have not been made good by politicians and salesmen. If you are skeptical about those two groups of folks and do the homework on their claims then it is even more important to do the homework when it comes to preachers and their doctrines. Politicians and salesmen may cost you money, but false teachers will cost you far more in the loss of your eternal soul.
How is it with you tonight? Do all these false prophets shake your faith? They should not, for they were foretold from the beginning and that should increase your faith in the Book and make you look up! Don’t sweat the spirits or mind sets of these lads. Try them and prove them to be what they are good or evil, wheat or chaff. Turn the light of God’s truth in His Word on them and see the darkness scatter. You do not need a large light for the darkness will make your small one look even brighter. Get on the offensive!!! Be mature and unified! Study and then cut them with the Spirit’s sword and watch them run! Mark them! Avoid them and light the path for others! Do that and God will deal with them for salvation or condemnation. Our God reigns! Do not be dismayed by the propaganda men of the defeated one. Maranatha!
