Wednesday, December 13, 2017

False Teachers; The Victims Are The Cause?

False Teachers; The Victims Are The Cause?




Today I'd just like to share some random thoughts about false teachers, why they are so popular and why does God allow them? Granted, these are loaded questions but I'd like to start with a quote from Paul Washer that's going viral on the internet:

"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!"


Wow, that's pretty harsh, you might think! (Although there are supporting scriptures.) So let's look to the scriptures and proceed from there....In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul writes - 

"Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

Most commentaries would say that this passage is referring to the coming of the Anti-Christ, so why would Washer apply it to a theological lightweight like Joel Osteen? Osteen is certainly not the Anti-Christ but there is some logic to consider here.  One thing the Anti-Christ will definitely do is deceive.  Scripture also tells us  that in the last days many will fall away from the truth, not endure sound doctrine and accumulate for themselves teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. 

Now, do we see some connecting of the  dots?  As false teachers go, Osteen may not be the worst of the worst but like it or not he is a false teacher. He does not preach the gospel and he tells people exactly what they want to hear. For some people, liking Joel Osteen is understandable, especially if they are not well grounded in the scriptures or perhaps have not even heard the gospel.  I would propose that the people God gets most upset with are the ones who know the gospel, they've heard the truth and yet they choose to listen to feel-good  speakers like Osteen who tell them how God wants to grant them "favor, promotion and increase," so they can have their best lives now.

These people should know better. The message of Osteen - as well as that of Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, Andrew Wommack, Creflo Dollar and so many others - does not line up with scripture and  is definitely not the biblical gospel.  Yet it appeals to their desires; they want to have their blessings in heaven and in this life too, and scripture does not promise that. You will never hear a Joel Osteen preach on how we must carry our cross and die to self, as Jesus taught. In fact, that is the polar opposite of Osteen's standard thrust. Therefore, God - knowing these people have heard the truth, yet would rather hear the opposite - sends them a strong delusion; Christian-sounding preachers who will tell them they can have it all, when God's Word paints a very different picture of what the Christian life should look like.

Now, lest anyone accuses me of giving way too much attention to Osteen, he is by far just the tip of the iceberg.  He is one representative of the Word of Faith camp, but there are other "camps," deceiving the flock. The scripture we looked at earlier warns of deceptive signs and wonders, and we see an explosion of that today. I'm saving my  examination of that for some future articles but we can briefly point to the obvious; people like Benny Hinn who make extravagant shows of purported healings that are more mind control and parlour tricks than anything verifiable .  You've got the New Apostolic Reformation - which likes to change it's name frequently so it's adherents can deny belonging to it - claiming to be Apostles and Prophets - such as Bill Johnson, Todd Bentley, Heidi Baker, Todd White, etc. - on a par with the Biblical ones and asserting that all Christians should be subject to them in order to establish God's Kingdom prior to Christ's return.(Which is totally unbiblical.) They, too are responsible for a plethora of fake signs and wonders. 

My intention here is not to bash or denigrate you if you are listening to people like Joel Osteen. I get it; I used to listen to him as well. But I would gently encourage you to prayerfully consider what your favorite teachers are saying as compared to the plain doctrines of scripture - and if there's a discrepancy, you know what you need to do; stop listening to them! Sometimes that's a painful decision for folks, but remember this - the delusion is strong, but the truth is stronger! Thanks for reading and God Bless!



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