What False Teachers Think They Look Like, and What They Actually Look Like
False teachers creep into the church almost unnoticed. They hide their true faith, which is faith in themselves, propelled by satan and satanic desires. In other words, they oppose God in every way. They aren’t believers, but God knows this and has already marked them out for condemnation.
They think that if they adopt the right outer garments, speak the right things, adopt the right behavior and perform the right postures, they will blend in. Some do, for a while. But sin always reveals itself eventually. Either their false doctrine or their sinful lifestyle will expose them to the discerning believer. The inner becomes outer.
They think they blend in, but God has stationed discerning faithful at his watchtowers of His churches. We can spot them. This is what they look like to us. Their faces betray the twisted inner self of their nasty soul.
Nathaniel Jolly has written an essay for G3 Ministries about the danger false teachers pose. I’ve excerpted the first two paragraphs, and I urge you to go to the link below and read the piece in its entirety. He goes through the book of Jude and explains the five metaphors Jude uses to illustrate the danger of false teachers. And they are dangerous.
These false teachers are hidden reefs, clouds without water, autumn trees without fruit, waves of sea foam, wandering stars.
Their aim is to corrupt your soul. If you are not a genuine believer yet, their goal is to draw you away. If you are a genuine believer, you cannot lose your salvation, but you can lose time in producing fruit for the glory of the Lord. You can be swayed from the center line of the doctrines, and minimized in your effectiveness for His church during the time you followed such and such false teacher.
Therefore, false teachers pose a very real danger to you and your local church. Many safety officers advise being situationally aware:
situation awareness
conscious knowledge of the immediate environment and the events that are occurring in it. Situation awareness involves perception of the elements in the environment, comprehension of what they mean and how they relate to one another, and projection of their future states. In ergonomics, for example, it refers to the operator’s awareness of the current status and the anticipated future status of a system,” According to the American Psychological Association.
In all the definitions I read, the ultimate goal of good situational awareness is so that the person can make good decisions. You gather intel from all the situations around you on a constant basis, being aware of locations, events, atmospheres. After collecting those elements, make your decision. It’s sometimes not even a conscious process, but it always an ongoing one. Or should be. In the case of the Christian in church, first we test all things, (1 Thessalonians 5:21), so that we can make good decisions. We collect information on teachings, hymns, concepts, of whatever comes across our path in church or out that has the name of Jesus attached to it. Then we make our decisions whether to follow that teacher, sing that hymn, watch that show. We decide whether to raise an alarm with elders, share with the spouse, or protect the kids.
As always when I speak of discernment, be vigilant. Be sober. (1 Peter 5:8). And read Nathaniel’s article! 🙂
