Why are there so many false *pastors*?

By Elizabeth Prata

I recently finished a short biography of RC Sproul by Nate Pickowicz. It was an excellent book. In it, I read of RC’s description of how false teachers do their work and why they are so dangerous.

“In my college days, there was a pre-ministerial fraternity for those who were planning to go on to seminary, and while I cannot read anyone’s heart, it seemed as if the majority of members of that particular club were quite hostile to all things Christian. I scratched my head and wondered, “What are these men doing preparing for the ministry when they’re so hostile to the things of Christ?” In time, it became apparent to me that one of the reasons why people go into the ministry is to refute the truth claims of Christianity.

Becoming a pastor is one of the easier ways to gain a public hearing; the preacher can air his views to a captive audience for an hour each Sunday Morning. However, those unbelieving men (and sometimes women) who are ordained to ministry usually find it difficult to sustain a viable ministry in the local church for any length of time, so they tend to gravitate to administrative positions, and before you know it, the unconverted control whole denominations.” ~RC Sproul, originally in “Matthew” (Wheaton: Crossway) 2013, p 656.

Eye opening, isn’t it? We know that 2 Peter 2:1 says the false teachers creep in to spy on our liberty, and Galatians 2:4, and so many other verses. But to see it laid out so clearly, that they are unconverted and abuse the pulpit to confuse and deceive the sheep, it’s startling.

I remember my conversion and when I first started to go to church. I felt a deep sense of relief, now I was safe1 In one sense, I was safe, safe in the hand of Jesus where no one could snatch me out. In another sense I was now in more danger than ever. I had a new worldview, so I was the salmon that swam upstream from the crowd, whom the bear looks for and catches.

And this is how false teaching gets in, or, one of the ways.

The reason they get in is because the people want them. Believers who may turn out to be false themselves (Matthew 7:21-23), or even true believers who are unlearned and undiscerning…they do the action of heaping up the false teachers. 2 Timothy 4:3 tells us this

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

And there is a false teacher to match every flavor of sin. There’s the greedy money hungry false teachers, (Simon Magus of Acts 8) or the licentious false teachers (Revelation 3’s ‘Jezebel’), the heretic (Alexander and Hymenaeus), hyper-authoritative false teachers (Pharisees), and so on.

Challies outlines 7 False teachers in the Church today, listing 7 types. Seven certainly isn’t comprehensive.

Paul Washer said:

“False teachers are God’s judgment on people who don’t want God, but in the name of religion plan on getting everything their carnal heart desires. That’s why a Joel Osteen is raised up. Those people who sit under him are not victims of him. He is the judgment of God upon them because they want exactly what he wants and it’s not God.”

It’s the people who do the heaping up and clinging to false teachers. The catalyst is people, and satan is only to happy to provide them to the people who want their carnal desires stoked.

It’s the people who raise them up, and combined with Sproul’s outlook on one of the ways they get in, it’s clear we have a problem.

And the people who call them out often bear the brunt of the anger of the false converts or the deceived believer, who charge us with being mean or inappropriate. This is a way that satan uses the unlearned to protect his teachers.

Here are two resources that may help:

John MacArthur, “Defining Discernment” 

Ligonier (Sinclair Ferguson) “What is Discernment?” 

Tomorrow, more on discernment; what it is and isn’t, and the scriptural basis for discerning.