“We are all prone to deceit and self-delusion; no man can see himself aright without the light of God’s Word.” — John Owen
Two things can be true at the same time that seem at odds—God is sovereign, and man is responsible.
Today, however, it is often the case that Christians affirm what is objectively true and then, at the same time, affirm what is contrary but feels true.
While two truths can stand together—such as God being both Just and Love—what we often find in ourselves is not two truths, but truth on one hand and what only feels true on the other. We fail to see these inconsistencies until someone else sheds light on them.
Often, we hold to what is true while simultaneously clinging to what feels true, without realizing it, because we judge things superficially and fail to test all things Biblically.
For example: • Can it be true that while a heretic proclaims the Gospel, God may save some in spite of them, while we also obey God in warning that this person teaches heresy? • Can it be true that when a platform is shared by those who represent the true Gospel, a false gospel, and even false gods, the true Gospel may still be proclaimed—and yet much harm may result to the purity of the Gospel because of its ecumenical nature?
You see, we have beliefs rooted in truth, and we also have beliefs shaped by emotions and experiences. Emotions are not inherently bad. Experiences are not inherently bad. But if we elevate emotions and experiences to the level of authority alongside Scripture, we create conflict—often without even realizing it.
If we don’t test these things according to Scripture, they will be tested—and we will be forced to choose.
In order to justify what we believed on the basis of feeling or experience, Scripture will inevitably be compromised.
Even the most faithful defenders of the authority, sufficiency, inerrancy, and immutability of Scripture are vulnerable to experiences that stir deep emotions and set themselves in opposition to God’s Word.
No one is exempt from such temptations.
We all have confirmation bias. We either submit it to Scripture, or we twist Scripture to fit it.
Thus, the authority of Scripture is not only under attack from false teachers, but even from within the hearts of those who are otherwise doctrinally sound. They, too, must wrestle with their own bias, emotions, and experiences that stand against Scripture.
It is easy to find people who agree with us and support us in error. What we need are brothers and sisters who will come alongside us, open the Scriptures with us, and keep our eyes fixed on Christ and His Word. Only then can we discern whether what we feel, believe, or have experienced is holy and true—or whether it is a counterfeit, dangerously close to the truth yet still false.
Any man who thinks he cannot err is both deceived and dangerous.
Scripture alone is perfect and holy. It is the standard by which all our thoughts, feelings, and experiences must be tested.
No matter how strongly we believe something, that does not make it true. We can be utterly convinced of a lie. The question is not how strongly we believe, but whether what we believe is true according to the Word of God.
“Unity without the gospel is a worthless unity; it is the very unity of hell.” — J.C. Ryle
Mark 9:40 is not a call for Christians to set aside their differences with heretics and cults for the sake of working together for a “greater good.” It is not a call to Ecumenism. The true meaning is unifying of the true brethren and beautiful. Let us not miss that.
Those who want to justify uniting with false religions, heretical sects, and cults often appeal to this verse, claiming that Jesus said, “For the one who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40). But in doing so, they lean on a text that some may feel is unclear—though it is not—while ignoring the many clear passages that instruct and command us otherwise.
They argue that as long as anyone—even from another faith—names the name of Christ, then we can work together. But this passage does not justify Ecumenism, nor does it override or excuse disobedience to other clear commands of Scripture.
We are explicitly commanded to separate from false teachers: • “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). • “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works” (2 John 10–11). • “Watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them” (Romans 16:17).
We are commanded to guard the purity of the Gospel: • “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). • “O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you” (1 Timothy 6:20).
There is no cause so great that it warrants distorting the Gospel.
In Mark 9:40, Jesus is not endorsing unity with false teachers. Rather, He is correcting His disciples for their intolerance—rebuking them for failing to recognize that genuine believers outside their immediate circle were still doing the work of God. The passage is a warning against creating an exclusive “inner circle” as though only our group has a monopoly on the truth.
It is not promoting Ecumenism. It encourages unity among brethren as it glorifies God.
We must be wary of those who ignore the clear commands of Scripture and appeal instead to obscure or more difficult texts (this not being one of them, though some may not read the context to understand the intended meaning) to justify what God has already condemned. Always let the clear passages interpret the unclear ones. And beware of those who twist Scripture to excuse disobedience, especially when God has plainly revealed what is acceptable to Him and what is not: • “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). • “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
When Jesus said, “If they are not against us, they are for us,” are we really to believe that He was teaching us to unite with heretics and cults for the furtherance of the Gospel? Are we to believe that He meant we should not warn that they preach a different Jesus and another gospel, but instead allow them to freely proclaim their false Christ? Would Jesus ever command His people to participate in the perversion of the Gospel by joining hands with those who lead others after another Jesus?
Is that what He meant when He said, “If they are not against us”?
No—this verse is actually a strong argument for unity among true brethren. It is not promoting Ecumenism. One must forsake the context of the passage and the authors intended meaning to read Ecumenism into this passage.
Scripture calls for believer’s to maintain fellowship with the brethren, Gospel-unity, to maintain the purity of the gospel, to expose error, to be separate from those who cause divisions by bringing in false teachings, and to evangelize the lost.
This passage demonstrates that there is no neutrality: we are either for Him or against Him; there is no gray area. If we are “for Him” then we are truly regenerate and we are united in the true Gospel while we have differences in other matters of doctrine. This passage is showing us unity with the brethren; it is not promoting a false unity with cults, heretical sects, or false religions.
Dear saint, test everything against sound doctrine. Especially when what we want to be true seems to contradict the clear and plain teaching of Scripture, we may be tempted to seek out passages that appear to say what we want them to say in an effort to justify our desires. Always read the entire context, and be careful not to bring your bias to the text or try to conform it to what you want it to mean. Scripture has meaning independent of our beliefs, feelings, or desires. The text says what it says and means what it means. Those texts have meaning—God’s meaning—and we do not have the right to bend them for our purposes.
I think to myself, “I love God’s Word; I love the truth,” but there remains within me an enemy—the law of sin.
A formidable foe it is.
Daily, Christians—by the grace of God—wrestle with this foe within. Without vigilance, one may be deceived into thinking himself better than he is, already conquered by the enemy within.
Misplaced Battles
Many battle the devil and blame him for all their challenges. They battle demons and attribute to them all their mistakes. They battle the words of others contrary to their desires and even use God’s Word as a weapon against reality—a tool to support their own delusion.
They are more concerned with words spoken outwardly than with the ideologies and teachings in their own minds that are enemies of truth. Conquered from within, they fight against those who warn of teachings and doctrines that feed corruption in their hearts and minds. Instead of tearing down strongholds in the mind, they rebuke those who warn them of error and danger.
Their hearts become factories of idols, and their minds are overrun by false teachings and worldly ideologies—all in the name of love and even in the name of God. They fail to recognize the wickedness of their own hearts and win battles that make them feel good about themselves, but these are mere distractions from the real battle within.
As John Owen wrote:
“Be killing sin or it will be killing you. The war within is the greatest and most dangerous of all wars.”
Justification and the Ongoing Battle
Man is justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. While we in Christ are justified and can add nothing to our salvation, we continue to war against the sinfulness that remains in us. We also contend with external influences that seek to enter our hearts and minds and draw us away from the truth.
Romans 7:21-23 reminds us:
“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”
The Danger of Man-Centered Pulpits
Failure to faithfully exposite the Word in the pulpit—replacing it with man-centered, felt-need, shallow, motivational messages—creates entertainment rather than discipleship. Singing theologically shallow, man-centered songs and producing atmospheres centered on personal experience keeps men focused on self rather than on dying to self and encountering the truth that wages war against the law of sin in the heart of man.
The truth commands man to repent. The truth exposes the sinful heart. It unmasks ideologies and deception in the mind. It does not deliver a soft blow—it confronts the enemy.
Yet far too many in the pulpit fail to deliver the blow. They darken the lights, speak to the flesh what it desires, promise it in God’s name, and affirm the hearer in their felt needs. The enemy within is not conquered—it is affirmed.
As J. C. Ryle observed:
“It is a grievous thing when the pulpit ceases to fight sin, and men are left satisfied with their own delusions and false hopes.”
Conclusion
Not only do men sit and hear powerless versions of the Gospel, but they hear messages that feel powerful—delivered with charisma, entertainment, and emotional appeal—while leaving with their false beliefs and fleshly desires now clothed as God’s will.
The battle within remains unconquered. The Word of God alone is the sword that strikes, exposes, and conquers the enemy in the heart.
We do not judge ourselves correctly or one another apart from sound doctrine. Many gather around Scripture but it is not the straight-edge that corrects our naturally crooked way of thinking. Scripture is used to affirm feelings, and private revelations, to silence “critics” and other such deviations and dangerous mishandlings of God’s Word. It is used to pervert justice, and holiness and to launch false teachers into prominence whereby many are deceived.
We don’t just need teaching; we need sound teaching. We don’t just need pastors; we need Biblically qualified pastors who faithfully exposit the Word. There are qualifiers and not all are qualified. Some, when told they are unqualified, instead of repenting, write books about it (Steven Furtick and his book Unqualified).
When we say that God’s Word is like a straight-edge many who are used to clapping at anything, true or false, will agree. They test nothing. They are not discerning. They are trained to agree with whatever is said and to suppress any thought that dares to be sound in a moment of such excitement. Nothing ruins a euphoric high and lofty view of ourselves like sound doctrine.
When we say that God’s Word is like a straight-edge it is not for claps and shallow amen’s. It is not that God’s Word bends to what we feel or believe or desire to be true. God’s Word is the perfect, immutable standard that judges our thoughts, our desires, and our motives and transforms our way of thinking to what is right, holy, and pleasing to God. It judges us; we do not judge it! It changes us; we do not change it. It conforms us to the will of God; we do not conform it to our supposed private revelations that agree with our sinful desires. It stands firm, unmoving, unyielding, and perfect. It is the standard. It is the truth. It is objective. This gives comfort to the child of God and troubles those in rebellion to God.
“The Word of God I think of as a straight edge, which shows up our own crookedness. We can’t really tell how crooked our thinking is until we line it up with the straight edge of Scripture.” ~ Elisabeth Elliot
The best conversations about God do not come out of the imaginations of men’s hearts and supposed extra-biblical revelation but out of the More Sure Word of God, which is like a straight edge that corrects our natural bent toward errant thinking and reveals who God is as He has revealed Himself in Scripture.
It is natural for sinful man to be confident in error. He thinks himself wise, basically a good person, and considers the wisdom of God foolish. The Word of God reveals the sinful confidence of man, his errant thinking, his evil inclinations, his corrupt desires, and his hatred toward the God he may even claim to love or know or “be good with”.
The Sufficiency of Scripture
“Through His ministry of inspiration, the Holy Spirit has given us the Word of God. And through His ministry of illumination, He has opened our eyes to understand and submit to biblical truth.” ~ John MacArthur
What does the pastor preach? Many pastors claim that Scripture is sufficient and then claim extra-biblical revelation. He uses Scripture to support what he claims God spoke to him and told him to preach; he rejects in practice what he claims to believe. He claims to believe in the Sufficiency of Scripture while he preaches what he claims is a word from God just for you that has been given to him outside of Scripture. He relies on personal stories, subjective experiences, and manipulative tactics to move you into a decision or get you on board with his vision, or to get you to change your life. He is not relying on the sufficiency of Scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit. He has gone beyond Scripture and trying to lead you to the same end by different means.
Meanwhile, the pastor full of the Holy Spirit and truth, having labored many hours in the Word and prayer, steps to the pulpit with fear, recognizing the immense responsibility and privilege to preach the Word of God. He sets forth the text and expounds the meaning. He stands confident not in himself but in the power of the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. If it were entirely up to him, he may as well go home, eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. He doesn’t rely on schemes or manipulative techniques. He trusts in the sufficiency and authority of the Word. He has nothing to say apart from this Word. He trusts in God’s means of grace by which the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of men in regeneration and sanctification.
The saints assemble in fellowship, prayer, and worship, in the correct administration of the sacraments, and the Word of God faithfully exposited.
God has not commanded the pastor to preach private revelations, what is in his heart, or the imaginations of his own mind; He has commanded him to preach the Word and trust Him with the results. That’s faith!
Man, in his fallen condition does not need to hear the Word so that he may see where he needs to improve upon his condition. He stands justly condemned before a holy God. Scripture does not command him to come and see how you can be a better you; it commands him to come and die. It commands men everywhere to repent and believe. Scripture, rightly exposited, reveals the perfect holiness of God that leaves men in despair recognizing that they deserve all the Holy and righteous wrath of God. Scripture, rightly exposited, reveals God’s plan of salvation, His grace, and mercy toward sinful man accomplished in the Person and work of Christ and applied by the Holy Spirit.
Any man who trusts in any scheme or plan to reach sinful man apart from rightly proclaiming the Word of God shows himself an enemy of God.
We don’t need pastors who preach to our felt needs, give motivational speeches, or preach the imaginations of their mind; we need pastors who labor in the Word because they not only claim to believe Scripture is Sufficient, but they demonstrate that belief as they set forth God’s Word each week and trust God to do what only He can do.
In our Justified and Progressively Sanctified condition, we must not think so highly of ourselves as to think there does not remain in us a natural bent toward evil and a natural bent toward error. What then straightens our crooked way of thinking, believing, behaving, and living contrary to our Lord? His Word! What now; do we think God sends an evangel to declare His Word by which we may be saved and now we progress in our sanctification by means of extra-biblical revelation? If it is by the means of God’s Word rightly exposited that we hear the Gospel and that we are saved, do we now grow in Grace and knowledge by private revelations? If God has given pastors and His saints His Word by which means the Holy Spirit works in regeneration and sanctification, what then may the enemy attack? The Word of God More Sure!
“Inerrancy is not the most critical issue facing the church today. The most serious issue, I believe, is the Bible’s sufficiency.” ~ James Montgomery Boice
Counterfeits
The enemy offers counterfeits. He offers counterfeit worship, prayer, administration of the sacraments, fellowship, and men who oversee them. There are cults, often more obvious, and there are also men who are dangerously close to the truth, but have a bent toward error. It is less discernable to those who are not faithful to study God’s Word and have their minds changed by the truth.
False teachers take what is beautiful, Holy, and good and they desecrate it. They bring in false doctrines that bring division and then blame those who correct them according to sound doctrine as being divisive and attacking them. False teachers are cunning, coy, manipulative, and very successful in what they do. Their works will stand to condemn them. They heap condemnation on themselves. Their destruction is not asleep.
Many follow the “man of God” in error and some after heretical teachings cloaked in biblical language and just enough truth to deceive many. He promises peace in God’s name where there is no peace. He promises life where the stench of death remains and is repugnant in the anthropomorphic nostrils of God. He heaps up wrath for the day of wrath. He comforts the dead in their sins and promises all their sinful hearts desire. He robs widows’ houses and exploits the poor and they in their desperation give him all they have because he has promised lies in God’s name if they do. He hates the truth. He hates the holiness of God. He offers them a Jesus and a gospel that is powerless to save them and leaves them rotting in their corruption while blind to their own stench of death and boasting in what they claim is theirs and to be theirs though they are delusional and bring reproach on the name of Christ. Their dead hearts are oblivious to their wretched and condemned state and their warped minds are not straightened by God’s Word but are guided in error by the imaginations of their own minds of who they think God is. They remain governed by their sinful passions cloaked in their own righteousness. They do not put to death their sinful desires, they baptize them in biblical language and are worse than they were before. Only now, they do it in God’s name.
How may we be deceived? We naturally follow what appeals to our sinful nature. We are naturally bent toward error. We naturally do not want to hear what corrects us, but rather what agrees with us.
False teachers are not faithful to the preaching of the Word but to preaching what the people want to hear. They may even share the Gospel from time to time such as in spite of them some may be saved. God will bring His own out from among them and to safe pastures. However, these false teachers go from bad to worse. They do not genuinely repent and turn from their egregious error, they conform as they need to, feign humility, and use Christian language so they may offer what people want from God without truly knowing God. They have a god, but it is the god of their imaginations; it is not the God of Scripture.
Life And Peace
False teachers promise life and peace but their doctrine is the wide way to destruction and eternal punishment. They promise now what God has promised when we are glorified. They take descriptive passages where God has done something before and claim that because God has done it before and He can do it again, if you will just believe enough then He will do it for you. They lay burdens on people and make promises on behalf of God that He has not made. They promise what sinful men want and they do it in God’s name. Why would you go where the pastor faithfully exposits the Word every week if the pastor down the street is getting new words from God every week and God has been brought so low that “He gets you” and He just wants to give you all your heart desires? People don’t go to false teachers because they know they are false; they go because they promise all their sinful heart desires and it is done in God’s name. They have a god, but it is not the God of the Bible.
People want peace. They want a good life. They want health, better finances, and success. False teachers promise them these things if they’ll just come ask Jesus in their heart. They walk away with a Jesus, a gospel, and a more positive outlook on life because they believe their Jesus is going to make all their dreams come true, fix their marriage, bless them financially, and heal their bodies. They did not hear the Gospel. They don’t know Jesus. They are worse off now than when they came in.
However, we must not think that all we need is to be under sound teaching and we are safe. It is the most dangerous place to be if we remain enemies of God or walk in rebellion to the truth. We are now accountable for the Word we hear rightly exposited.
What do we mean by “sound” teaching? Sound teaching is teaching that is healthy and life-giving. If Scripture repeatedly points us to sound teaching and warns of false teachers and false teachings, what then is the end result of sitting under such dangerous doctrines? Sound teaching is life-giving; what is the result of false teaching? It promises life but leads to death. It makes us feel good, boosts our confidence, encourages pride disguised as humility, and leads away from the More Sure Word of God. It leads to trust in what one feels is true, believes God wants for them and to pursue what they desire and call it good. It promises peace but opposes anyone who confronts them with sound doctrine. They protect “their peace” at all costs, even at the cost of truth.
God’s Word, rightly exposited exposes our hearts and minds and commands us to repentance and faith and the result of saving faith is a desire for truth and obedience. To the lost soul, he hears the truth that commands him to repent and believe. To every saint, the exposition of that text goes forth and sets straight our crooked way of thinking and living. Sound doctrine produces sound thinking, sound believing, and sound living. It is health and life. It is life and peace no matter what we endure in this world. Things that are alive grow and those who are truly regenerate grow as we hear the life-giving Word of God rightly exposited.
False teachers promise life and health while administering poison that slowly kills and gives only the appearance of life and peace.
Sound doctrine produces life and peace for all who are being saved and who are saved. To those dead in sin it gives a proper diagnosis; they are dead. They are condemned. An evangel proclaims the Gospel of Christ whereby the Holy Spirit works in regeneration. To the regenerate, it—sound doctrine—properly diagnosis the disease of our hearts and minds whereby the Holy Spirit works in sanctifying us, bringing health to our way of thinking, feeling, believing, and living. It is not a medicine to make us better people. It calls us to die to self and life in Christ. It calls us to die to ourselves daily. We need God’s Word every day. It is pride to think we don’t. It is death to trust in anything else.
There is no life and peace apart from Christ. And there is no life and peace in the counterfeit messages of ministers of satan who preach messages that sound good, appeal to the sinful desires of men, and lead many on the broad road to hell.
A More Sure Word
Discernment is not a feeling or impression as so many have been falsely led to believe; it is going to Scripture to see what God’s Word says and means and testing all things according to that perfect standard. Discernment is not “that bears witness in my spirit so it must be true”. Discernment is “let’s take it to the perfect standard, the straight-edge, the authoritative, inerrant, infallible, immutable, sufficient Word of God and see if this is true, good and pleasing to God. If not, Scripture is right and we will have our minds transformed by the truth and submit to this perfect standard”.
If we know we are naturally bent toward error even as born-again children of God, then it ought to be our great desire to hear the More Sure Word of God opened and exposited so we may have our hearts and minds changed by the truth. God’s Word is the straight edge that corrects our perverse, corrupt, sinful, arrogant, boastful, confident in error way of thinking. If we recognize our weaknesses and our sinful inclinations, then we know that we cannot trust whatever we feel in our hearts, our impulses, or whatever pops into our minds but we run to the Word of God and we test everything according to His Word. Our desire is not to be right or be first or be the best, but to know the truth so that we may honor our Lord in what we believe, what we say, how we live, and how we represent Him in all we do.
If I recognize that my way of thinking still has a bent toward evil then as a born-again child of God—adopted into the family of God, justified by faith alone through Grace alone in Christ alone, positionally sanctified and growing in sanctification by God’s means of grace whereby the Holy Spirit works in me—why would I ever trust anything that is less sure than the more sure Word of God? He has saved me from the penalty of sin—justification— and the power of sin—sanctification— and what my heart longs for and is confident in is that He has promised to save me from the very presence of sin—glorification. How then can I trust in any other means than what He has said is more sure?
God has saved me. God has given me His Word. It is enough!
Bible’s open to “the next verse”, hearts prepared to hear what truly “Thus Saith The Lord”, minds engaged, saints gathered with the anticipation that the text will determine the message and use the messenger to teach God’s Word.
It is the gathering of the saints in fellowship, worship, prayer, and the Word.
The calendar simply marked the date and the clock the time to gather, neither determining what ought to be preached.
Mother’s gathered with all other saints. What greater message for her and those she loves to hear than “the next verse”? She didn’t come to hear a message for her, about her, and all praise to her. She knows her greatest need and that of those beside her and all around her and she couldn’t imagine a better message than for God’s Word to be opened and exposited.
Perhaps to the surprise of the visitor, they would not hear a “safe message” that they may determine by the calendar when it is acceptable to attend church because the message will not confront them in their sins but make them feel seen, loved, understood and as if this day is their day and God can have all the other Sundays not already determined by the calendar.
In a little church, growing according to God’s saving grace, His saints gathered today in Sunday School, Bible’s open to “the next verse”. The end of the discussion marked the beginning of prayer one for another. And then, the Word. The Next Verse: the end of the life of King Solomon. The heart of this wise king who the end of his life serves as a great reminder to us all that we examine our own hearts, often. What could a mother learn from this wise king who did not heed the warnings of having so many wives? The same thing widows, singles, young and old, and every other saint may learn.
What might we learn from this wise king who the end of his life stirs up much conversation concerning his eternity? Though he was wise and wisdom is not an enemy, he rejected the warnings that marrying the women he did would turn his heart after other gods and away from wholly serving God. We read that he “loved” his 700 wives. He “clung” to them. As a result, the warnings he ignored proved true, as it is recorded that he turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to Yahweh his God.
These saints, now, having heard the faithful exposition of this text, closed their Bibles but meditating on the reality of the end of the life of such a wise king who later in his life turned his heart after other gods and was not wholly devoted to his God, now picked up their Bibles and proceeded to gather with the saints for corporate worship.
Gathering to sing what may for some encourage the heart to examine itself according to lyrics that almost ask that while they are true, “having heard what you have of this wise king, is it true in your own life when you sing, ‘My soul is satisfied in Him alone’? If it is, praise Him and worship Him with all your heart but if it’s not, sing not a lie, repent, and turn to Him with your whole heart.”
Another song, a sweet reminder of God’s amazing mercy toward wretches like these, in part also examines and comforts:
‘Prone to wander, Lord I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above.’
The prideful heart says, “I could never!” Are the lyrics wrong? Do any of us love God so perfectly that we would never be prone to wander? Is it possible that we may be more honest if we recognized our weakness and because we love God we admit it and boast all the more in His grace? Doctrinally sound lyrics have a way of exposing our hearts, be it pride or be it that we admit our weakness and find God’s grace truly sufficient? Are our hearts prone to wander? Don’t we feel it? What Grace of God to allow us to feel it and to draw our hearts back wholly to the God we love.
Little one’s disperse and some stay playing in their mother’s hair. What now will the message be for all to hear?
Could it be that the hearts of God’s people will now hear a softer message – a message that starts with man? Not so. They will hear, “the next verse”.
All, except visitors, know where to go: the book, the chapter, the verse. Today they would hear 1 Peter 4:12-19.
Is it possible to turn that passage into a message for mothers? Might the pastor feel the pressure to preach a message that visitors came to hear and that will be preached from many pulpits all around him? What drives him to preach what he preaches? Will he allow himself to allow something external to the text to determine what he preaches and when he preaches it (like a calendar)? What if he doesn’t give the people what is expected in many churches all around? Is he now allowing the calendar or the expectations of man to determine what he preaches? Or does this congregation gather around the Word, with the desire to hear the Word faithfully exposited? What did they come to hear?
The message does not begin with man, a calendar, a vision, a dream, or anything external to the text; the man is used to preach God’s Word and it begins with “Thus Saith The Lord” as the text is read.
Were these mothers robbed of their praise? Were they robbed of their moment for recognition? No. God was glorified as every mother and every other saint heard His Word opened and exposited.
Much was unpacked from that text but one might be encouraged to have heard that it is God who tests us and this is FOR the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose so that we may be conformed to the image of His Son. It is the love of God that proves our faith through our suffering. Suffering, though painful for a time, is for the good of God’s children.
At the end of our lives, we cannot say, “I made it!”, we are scarcely saved. If our lives are not marked with suffering then how can we be sure that we belong to God? He has said that we will suffer and that it is His will for His children to endure suffering. The Christian life is not the promise of all our heart’s desire, has not Solomon taught us this much? If we, at the end of our lives believe that our faith has been proven by having accumulated all we desire and how we impressed others by our decreeing and declaring all we wanted in life, then we do not understand faith and we do not understand God’s sovereignty in suffering. According to His great love for us, it is His good will that we suffer, so that the proof of our faith, being more precious than gold may be found to result in praise and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. God allows His children to suffer for Christ so that we may rejoice at the revelation of His glory.
Many look to the end with the desire to leave a name or a legacy for themselves. How much better is God’s Word that says that by His preserving us to the end it may result in the praise of His glory? May it end as it began, by Him and for His glory. What worship we may sing when at the end of our lives we may sing praise to our King that though many times our hearts may fail, He will not lose one of His?
Today many saints gathered under Topical Sermons that preached Mother’s Day messages, some faithful to exegete the text and others unfaithful to the text. Nevertheless, the calendar determined the message. Some will argue that it ought not be so and others argue that there’s nothing wrong with it. Where you stand may be based on bias rather than firm Biblical conviction. Whether you heard your 1st or 50th Mother’s Day message or if you heard “The Next Verse”, was the text faithfully exposited? What danger might there be in allowing the calendar or what the people want and expect and not God’s Word to determine what will be preached the next week? How might it benefit the body to know where in the text, they will be next week? What danger might there be in that which is external to the text driving the message?
Have you ever considered the difference in Expository Preaching and Topical Preaching?
The pastor ascends to the platform, Bible in hand, places it on the pulpit, stands confidently and prepares to address the people with what is coursing through his veins. A word. A word that has him nearly incapable of controlling himself. Many in attendance are familiar with this kind of passion coming from the pulpit and are ready to hear what the pastor has “heard for them from the Lord”. He’s tired of waiting. He’s ready for what he believes is “their season of miracles, of breakthroughs, of the fulfillment of ‘promises’ that they’ve long been told God has for them. He’s ready. He wants them ready. He’s heard of those warning of false teachers and false prophets and he can’t have his people testing if what they believe is true. He needs them off the edge of their seat, and doing the new thing he believes will ‘accelerate’ their promise. He stands before them and with great passion declares, “We have a promise!“ Immediately they jump up and shout ‘Amen’. He reminds them of every ‘promise’ that has been ‘spoken over them’ and that he believes that now is their season for the fulfillment of those promises, “but”… – They clap. They shout. He could say just about anything and they’d agree. There’s no discernment. – He proceeds to lead them further away from God’s Word and lays more burdens on them of what they must do to see the promise fulfilled.
But why should we not place implicit confidence in God and rely upon His word of promise? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Has His word of promise ever failed? Then let us not entertain any unbelieving suspicions of His future care of us. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not so His promises.
A. W. PINK
Can we trust God and His promises? Where are we to look for His promises? How has the desire to hear God outside of Scripture led to many trusting in false promises and lying visions? What does it say of God’s character to the world when the things professing Christian’s say God has promised, that He has not said, do not come to pass?
It seems everyone today is getting or seeking their own word from the Lord. Every week professing Christians gather not to hear God’s Word rightly exposited but to hear shallow preaching that says what they want to hear and others gather to “receive their own word from God”.
Men’s groups gather around campfires encouraging one another by what they feel like the Lord has revealed to them in a devotional style message. Before they leave they pray for one another but many men are adopting and applying unbiblical practices concerning the prophetic. They sit silently “Listening” – not praying; not reading Scripture; not meditating on the Word of God, rather, they are sitting completely quiet and expecting to hear new revelation. Someone shares what they feel like God is revealing to them for another man.
Likewise, ladies gather around kitchen tables with notebooks, pens, highlighters, sticky notes, a book, and maybe her Bible. They share their struggles and eager to move in the prophetic, someone feels like God is speaking to her for another lady and she tells her what “God said”. They cry together and bond over sharing personal struggles and finding comfort in the words of those “operating in the prophetic” as tears stain the cover of their closed Bibles.
Many hold in tension the belief that the Canon Is Closed and that God is still giving new revelation. Most who hold this view just accept that it must be possible to believe the Canon is closed while also believing that God is still speaking to us today, giving new revelation. They’ve never tested it. They see some verses in Scripture that speak of prophecy and because it’s in the New Testament, they assume it must be for us today. Many don’t know how to correctly study their Bible, have never looked into church history and do not know the history of their own movement or denomination. They buy the most popular “Christian” books, listen to the most popular “Christian” music and assume that what they are reading and singing is true. It’s “Christian”, so it must be true.
It is not uncommon to hear someone claiming “God told me”. The fact that it has become normative does not therefore mean that it is good or true. The problem is that many don’t test what they hear; if it sounds Biblical and many are practicing it, then it is assumed to be true.
This isn’t just a problem for individual Christians, or small groups, as dangerous and harmful as that is, but it is a problem for churches.
When a pastor needs to stir his people up again he brings in someone who “operates in the prophetic”. That guest speaker prays and “feels like” he has received a word from the Lord and comes to get the people excited again. What they may think is good is actually dangerous as it leads people away from the more sure Word of God and it leads them to trust in false promises of which God has not made. When those promises do not come to pass it can cause great harm to the faith of many.
It is common for those who practice the prophetic to give vague, subjective prophecies that are always only ever encouraging. This is not what we see in Scripture. Today, they test if it is true by how the person receives it. The test of a prophet was not if the person received it and now they must figure out what it means to them and if it doesn’t come to pass then it is their fault, not the prophet. Prophecy, according to Scripture, had the prophet always under the test of if it came true or not, and if it didn’t then they were stoned to death as a false prophet and if it came true but they led the people after other gods then they were a false prophet. It was a serious crime.
Today, the way prophecy is redefined, it is basically meaningless. You may or may not get it right: prophecy can be fallible. The prophet is not responsible if they get it wrong. What we see today that is called prophecy is completely foreign to Scripture.
Everyone Wants Their Own Promise
Why are there so many false prophets? Everyone wants their own word, their own promise. The demand is there.
The words these prophets speak are often vague, subjective, and tell people want they want to hear. Their words sound like the words of the false prophets in Scripture. They promise peace when there is no peace. They say what the people want to hear and make them feel good, safe, secure and do not warn them of their sinful condition and their need to repent. Those who “operate in the prophetic” or speak on behalf of God (not wanting to take the title of prophet) speak what makes people feel good.
People are hearing a positive “word” that they are told is from God and many times these people are dead in sin and do not hear the Gospel.
Often they are told that God loves them and has great plans for their life and He sees their struggles and He is about to work things out for them. Do you see the promises being made in God’s name and the failure to recognize their greatest need which is the Gospel? Not only are these very likely not even saved, but they have just been led into a wrong understanding of their “relationship” with God. They did not hear of the holiness of God, the wrath of God, their sin, that they are enemies of God or who Christ is and the greatest promise for all who repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
They are not hearing about the God of the Bible because these professing Christians are not hearing from God. They speak the imaginations of their own minds. Many say that they are not prophets and therefore they are not prophesying, but what then do they think they are doing? They claim to be getting new revelation from God for someone else and speaking on behalf of God to those people. They can dance around the terminology and say they’re not prophets, but they are putting words in God’s mouth that He did not say.
Everyone wants a promise from God that makes them feel good and does not confront them in their sins and today many have been taught to speak on behalf of God in exactly this way. Today’s “prophets” sound more like they are attending the school of false prophets.
False Prophets, Lying Visions, False Promises and Waiting In Vain
“Then Yahweh said to me, ‘The prophets are prophesying lies in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a vision of lies, divination, futility, and the deception of their own hearts.” Jeremiah 14:14 LSB (emphasis mine)
“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into vanity; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of Yahweh.’” Jeremiah 23:16 (emphasis mine)
“Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ‘Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own heart, Hear the word of Yahweh! Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Woe to the wickedly foolish prophets who are walking after their own spirit and have seen nothing: O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among waste places. You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of Yahweh. They behold worthlessness and lying divination who are saying, ‘Yahweh declares,’ when Yahweh has not sent them; yet they wait for the establishing of their word. Did you not see a worthless vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘Yahweh declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken?” Ezekiel 13:1-7 LSB (emphasis mine)
Today’s self-proclaimed Prophets are claiming to be sent by God, commanded by God and speaking on behalf of God, though they would also claim that prophecy is now different and may be fallible.
Why would we put our trust, hope, assurance, confidence in a word that may be fallible, when we have the infallible, inerrant, authoritative, immutable, Word of God? We do not need these self-appointed prophets, and well-meaning though deceived professing Christians, who claim to hear God speaking to them a word for us that they say they may or may not get right.
The church is being built on the FOUNDATION (a foundation is only laid once!) of the True Apostles and Prophets. (Ephesians 2:20) We have the prophetic Word more sure! (2 Peter 1:19)
Do a quick social media search to see how many today claim to be a prophet or have a word from God for you. Whatever “word” you “need” can be found with a quick YouTube search and guaranteed you will find a “prophet” promising what you want to hear. The danger is that these do not claim to represent a god of their imagination but they claim to speak on behalf of the God of Scripture.
Are people actually “learning” to “get it wrong”?
Bethel Church in Redding California and their School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) makes it mandatory that in order to move into their second year program you have to fail at prophecy three times. They teach their students to prophecy whatever they imagine in their minds. They teach that it’s ok to prophecy falsely and that it doesn’t make you a false prophet just a bad one. There’s not a single verse in Scripture to support that.
This is not exclusive to BSSM. There are various ways people are being encouraged that it’s ok to get it wrong or to “miss it”. We have so reduced who God is in the average pulpit and so exalted only certain attributes of God that many have no fear of putting words in God’s mouth that He has not said. We can only understand the grace of God when we understand who He is and how horrendous our sin is before a holy God. Though many, think nothing of putting words in God’s mouth that He did not say, because – Grace. They prove they do not understand the holiness of God or the grace of God.
Why will false prophets be here until Christ returns? Men would rather hear their lies and false promises than to hear what truly, ‘Thus Saith The Lord’. Many are dissatisfied with what God has spoken and have been taught to expect and seek something new.
We have a promise!
Remember what we read at the latter part of Ezekiel 13:6-7 “yet they wait for the establishing of their word. Did you not see a worthless vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘Yahweh declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken“. Look at the first part of that: “yet they wait for the establishing of their word.” They wait for the word to be established. Why? They came to believe their own lies. They convinced the hearers to believe their word and to hope in it. Instead of these lying prophets bringing the people to a sense of their own sins and repentance, they hardened them. Likewise, we read in Jeremiah 23, “They are leading you into vanity“, or rather, they are deceiving you; they are leading you to trust in vain things.
We see this very thing in churches all over today. Pastors bring in those who claim that God has given a word to them for their church. They stand before the people with confidence, declaring a word from the Lord and the people, without hesitation, readily receive it. Often there is no pause between what these false prophets declare God has said and the response of the people. There is no discernment. The people readily receive the word and place their hope, trust, and confidence in what they believe God has spoken. And they “wait for the establishing of their word“. They claim it. They pray for God to bring it to pass. They do all they are told they need to do to ‘accelerate’ the promise. They confidently tell others what they believe God has said He is going to do. They place their hope, their confidence in that God is going to do it, but God has not spoken to them and God is not obligated to that word.
Don’t Think, Just Respond In “Faith” (Blind Obedience)
False prophets and those who lead by deceptive doctrines and after lying visions don’t want you to think. They train you not to think. They train you to expect and respond. They train you that if you hesitate that you may miss what the Holy Spirit is doing or saying.
One such method is “when” you hear God or receive a ‘word’ from the Lord, don’t think, obey. They say it is not “hear and obey”, it is “hear obey”. Why? Because that time between, they say, creates doubt. What it really does is allow you to think Biblically. Some use manipulative tactics such as saying that the Holy Spirit is moving in this place in a very special way. They create the expectation that He is about to move or He is about to give a ‘word’ to someone, so when they tell you to respond do not hesitate but come immediately. They build your anticipation and cut off all critical and Biblical thinking. Then they say it, Come now! “Quickly! Quickly!” Why “quickly”? So you won’t think!
It’s Your Fault; Try Harder
Those who are committed to a lying vision, may be deceived themselves; seeking the fulfillment of what they perceive to be a promise from God, they seek ways to bring it to pass which results in laying heavy burdens on their people. They need it to be true. They need to prove those who have corrected them Biblically as wrong. They do not want to hear sound doctrine. They “have a word” and even if it means laying burdens on their people to try to move that promise along, it is necessary.
Pride will not admit when one is wrong. It cannot stand to be corrected. It is not a lack of faith to test what one has heard against the Word of God and admit when what has been spoken is not of the Lord and is leading people away from the more sure Word of God.
It becomes an obsession, a thing that must come to pass, now not only because they have believed God said it, but because their own name and reputation are on the line. They’ve confidently told people what they were told God would do. But they never tested it Biblically and now what would people think if they admitted they could be wrong.
What If The ‘Promise’ Sounds Good? Doesn’t That Prove God Said It?
False prophecy does not always look or sound like something bad. It can be the desire for revival or salvations in one’s community. (We must be careful what is meant by ‘revival’). A guest speaker then comes along and claims God told him that your church is going to usher in revival in your community, the likes of which have never been seen before and thousands will be saved. That sounds good, doesn’t it? So, why do you need to proclaim the Gospel to your neighbor? Just wait, God is about to bring revival and save thousands. So, you wait. You pray for this promise to be fulfilled. You tell your friends, family and coworkers that God is doing big things never seen before. Now people know what has been “promised”. Days, weeks, years, and decades pass. No such revival. The new pastor who “inherited this promise” revives the congregation to remember the promise, claim it, declare it, and they go about speaking of what God is going to do. Days pass. Weeks pass. Years pass. Decades pass. No such revival.
Pastors become discouraged and go somewhere where the people are more “on fire” for God. The people become disillusioned when they keep doing what they are told they need to do to see the fulfillment of the promise and they don’t understand why they are not seeing it. Some leave and go where God is said to be moving. Some leave the faith because it wasn’t what they thought it was and God doesn’t seem to be who they thought He was. Some die-hard pastors and faithful few remain, holding on to false promises and passing them down to the next generation.
Do you want to make sure that your prayers are the prayers that God wants to hear? And your prayer requests are things that God will respond to you, in His timing..? Do you want to pray with this assurance? Pray according to what God says in Scripture. Know Scripture. Know what God has promised, not based in false promises [or] false prophecies that were made by human. No! … God’s not committed to that kind of thing: ‘God told me’ [or] ‘God told me to tell you.’ I always say, ‘Wouldn’t it be better if God told me first and not you? What [dol you have to do with me? You don’t even know me? Don’t believe that. God will speak to you and He will do that through the revelation of Scripture. So, if you pray according to what’s revealed in Scripture, God is committed to fulfill it. Why? God remembers His promises.” ~ Ivan Chagas, Wading River Baptist Church, Exposition of Genesis 8
Better Promises
The Holy Spirit works through the faithful preaching of God’s Word. The Holy Spirit works in regeneration and sanctification. If we are careful to learn how to correctly study God’s Word, we will be greatly humbled by the truth and find that greater than all those things we lusted after that led our hearts away from this Word, could never satisfy. As we learn good hermeneutics, we begin to realize how often “descriptive passages” and promises that were for a specific people at a specific time are perverted to be made to be for us and leading our hearts after things God has not said, rather than leading us to trust God for what He has said and what He has promised.
What Word can we be fully confident in? We have the prophetic Word more sure!
False Prophets Are Part of God’s Judgment
False prophets are part of God’s judgment on those who do not want God, despise His Word and want something other than God. While many self-professed prophets are in our world today claiming they hear from God and are defended by their faithful followers, this is not a sign of God’s blessing but of God’s judgment. These false prophets speak what men want to hear and Scripture makes clear that they cannot endure sound doctrine. They heap up for themselves teachers who will tell them what they want to hear.
But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ Now you may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. Deuteronomy 18:20-22 LSB
Jesus warned us (Matthew 24:11) that in the last days many false prophets would arise and that they will deceive many. Not a few. Many who have been trained not to think Biblically and are easily led astray by false teachers and false prophets often cannot name even one false prophet. Can you name one?
Those who sit under false teaching and who seek false prophets are not victims; they love it.
Have you ever spoke a word in God’s name that perhaps now you realize you spoke presumptuously or that you put words in God’s mouth that He did not say? There is Grace for you in Christ. It can be a fearful thing to learn that you have blasphemed God, that you have brought His name to worthlessness, that you have put words in God’s mouth that He did not say. Trust the promise that God’s grace for you in Christ is sufficient. He bore the wrath of God for our sins, even the sin of falsely speaking words in His name that He did not say. Repent!
How men treat God’s Word and Christ’s bride says all we need to know about what they think of God!
God has given us His Word! It is sufficient! His promises are true and we can trust He will fulfill them.
Grace and Peace
Soli Deo Gloria
April J. Buchanan
Find you a local church that exposits God’s Word that has a plurality of Biblically qualified elders, that practices church membership and church discipline according to God’s Word and where sound doctrine is not only taught but demonstrated in the life of the believers. Join it!
Helpful Resources: G3 Ministries, Justin Peter’s Ministries, Fighting For The Faith, download the American Gospel TV (AGTV) app
If everything is a miracle then nothing is a miracle.
This is not an exhaustive treatment or even an attempt to cover all the abuses or unintentional ways that these words are misused. It is meant to be a helpful resource that provides definitions of these words, Biblical examples of how they are correctly used, and briefly describes how they may be unintentionally misused or intentionally misused to deceive. It is meant to encourage the reader to recognize why even the unintentional overuse of these words may cheapen the real work of God who does still miraculously heal today and who does still perform miracles today. This is meant to be a helpful resource to both encourage the correct use of these terms and to recognize their unintentional misuses as well as intentional abuses.
The greatest miracle today is when God works to regenerate those dead in sin and makes them new creatures in Christ Jesus.
Defining our terms:
Miracle: an extraordinary work performed by the immediate power of God in the external perceivable world, which is an act against nature that only God can do; an event that involves the direct and powerful action of God, transcending the ordinary laws of nature and defying common expectations of behavior.
Providence: refers to the divine guidance and care that God exercises over His creation. It encompasses God’s sovereign will and His active involvement in the world, ensuring that His purposes are fulfilled.
Power Of Suggestion: the concept that what we expect or are led to believe can significantly impact our actions and responses, even if the suggestion is not explicitly stated.
Placebo Effect: a phenomenon where a person’s physical or mental health improves after receiving a treatment (like a sugar pill or saline injection) that they believe is effective, even if it has no actual therapeutic benefit, due to their expectations and beliefs
Faith: complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Intellectual assent and trust: believing something to be true and relying on the fact that the something is true.
Doctrine: a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a Church, political party, or other group
“God’s providence is one of the most comforting truths revealed in Scripture. It reminds the believer that the loving Father revealed in the Bible knows all about our every need and fear even better than we do. And because He is Lord, He can meet all our needs and assuage all our fears. (Phil. 4:19). ~ Ligonier Ministries, Providence Defined
Why is it important that we are working with correct definitions and that we are sitting under sound doctrine?
If we are working with incorrect definitions (e.g. miracles) and are learning false doctrines (e.g. it is always God’s will to heal) that create expectations for unbiblical experiences (e.g. we should be experiencing miracles all the time) then we have faith – complete trust – but it is misplaced and we are open to suggestion (e.g. “Don’t you feel that; God is healing you right now, can’t you feel it”) that leads us to have real temporary experiences that affirm false teachers. When the high wears off, so often does the “healing” and these need another rush of adrenaline, another high, another experience to maintain it.
“If a miracle is a ‘supernatural, extraordinary event that diverges from observed natural processes,’ then I can’t think of a time that I’ve seen a clear example of one. That’s not to say that God can’t work miracles today or that he doesn’t. Thats’ not to say he hasn’t worked around and about me in extraordinary ways. It’s simply to say that I can’t look at a particular event in my life and say, ‘That was a miracle.’
And if I’m honest, this doesn’t bother me in the least. It doesn’t bother me in the least because on many occasions I’ve witnessed something I count equally significant or perhaps even more so: I have witnessed the evidence and the intricacy and the perfect timing of God’s providence. I have witnessed how God has carefully arranged circumstances so that events unfolded in a way that proved his detailed involvement in the affairs of man. ……..
The reason I share this is that I know of many Christians who crave miracles and who long to see one. They long to see a miracle because they are convinced it will buoy their faith and confidence in God. And while the Bible does not forbid us from longing for miracles, neither does it instruct us to. It makes no promises that we will witness one and does not associate the presence of strength of our faith with them. (If anything, it does the opposite.) But wouldn’t it be tragic if we spent our lives searching for miracles while overlooking providence? Wouldn’t it be tragic if God was working wondrously in us, and for us, and through us, and around us—and we missed it because he chose not to work miraculously? …….
For while God occasionally displays his glory through miracles, he far more commonly displays it through the beauty of providence.” Tim Challies, What I Long for More than Miracles
Why We Need To Be Careful With How We Use Biblical Terms
False teachers use biblical language but are often working with different definitions. You may be using the same language but you do not mean the same thing. False teachers invent new doctrines foreign to the meaning of the text and teach it as true and present themselves as credible and trustworthy. They promise what you desire: health, wealth, success. (I will deal with this more in my next blog)
False faith healers teach that you must affirm immediately that you have experienced a miraculous healing. Not to do so, they say, is a lack of faith. What you are actually doing is affirming a false faith healer and endorsing their false teachings and false claims to be able to heal while robbing God of His glory. We must be slow to affirm and quick to test all things Biblically. Let them falsely accuse you of lack of faith for being Biblically discerning and making sure that what is being said and done is of God.
False faith healers steal God’s glory. Hold their feet to the fire; don’t let them pressure you into agreeing with what is false. When God heals, He does so instantaneously and there is no question that a miracle has been done. Even critics affirm a miracle has taken place.
When we overuse words like “miracle” we make the word meaningless and we rob God of His glory.
Examples of the misuses of Miracle: Intentional and Unintentional
Unintentional: “I was on my way home and a truck swerved in my lane and at the last second it swerved back into their lane. It was a miracle I didn’t die.” This is not a miracle; this is God’s providence.
Unintentional: “I was struggling with how to pay my bills and prayed that God would help me because it seemed impossible; I was about to lose everything. Then, the next day at work, our boss surprised us all with bonuses sufficient to cover my past debt. It was a miracle.” That is not a miracle; it is God’s providence.
Intentional: (Example of conversation between false faith healer and desperate people) “Come here. What is wrong with you dear?” “I suffer from migraines and they interfere with my daily life.” “Do you believe God is going to heal you today of these migraines?” “I do.” “Now you just stand right there. Oh, the power of God is all over you. Can you feel that? God is healing you right now? Do you believe it?” “I think I feel something.” “Don’t you doubt. You must believe. Can you feel the power of God on you?” “I feel it. God is healing me.”
Notice the power of suggestion. This is not a miraculous healing. This is a psychosomatic healing produced by the power of suggestion and an environment created to cut off critical and biblical thinking and to produce a euphoric temporal high. When they leave that environment, most, within 24 hours to one week, have their symptoms return.
God doesn’t use nor does He need manipulative tactics to heal; He heals and He does so such as none can deny it. False faith healers depend on manipulative tactics and prey on the desperate.
Biblical Examples of Miracles and Miraculous Healing
“And ordering the crowds to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food. And breaking the loaves, He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. And there were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.” Matthew 14:19-21 LSB
“And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had a sickness caused by a spirit, and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. But when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, ‘Woman, you are freed from your sickness.’ And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God.” Luke 13:11-13 LSB
“And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, ‘Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!’ But the crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, saying, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!’ And Jesus stopped and called them, and said ,’What do you want Me to do for you?’ They said to Him, ‘Lord, that our eyes may be opened.’ And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.” Matthew 20:29-34
Contrast what we see in Scripture at the hands of the Apostles and of Jesus with what is claimed today to be “miracles” or “miraculous healing”.
Final Thoughts
Be careful to test all things Biblically but do so orderly and as pleases the Lord.
Be mindful that false faith healers and those influenced by false teachings (e.g. Word-Faith) have doctrines that leave the people unable to test them. If you apply these tests above (working with correct definitions and going to Scripture to test the doctrines and examples of real miracles) and find that what they are calling a miraculous healing or miracle is nothing more than psychosomatic healing, they have doctrines to insulate the false faith healer. They falsely teach that you cannot claim your sickness (i.e. Admit it didn’t work) because to do so is a lack of faith. They teach that by your words you can lose your healing so you must claim it until it manifests. This insulates the false faith healer from correction, and rebuke while leaving many believing something is wrong with their faith.
Remember when testing these claims to do so with grace as many are deceived. Take them to Scripture and pray that God enables them to see the truth. Pray for them.
Remember that many do not intend to mislead by their incorrect use of these words. It looks more like someone who has prayed for healing and they are grateful to God that they are recovering from a long-fought battle with a serious illness and says, “God miraculously healed me”. Their intentions are often good and they want to praise God as they should. What is God’s providence and His sanctifying them in their suffering, they may call a “miracle” or “miraculous healing”. It is the kindness of God in His providence that they have progressively recovered and won the battle. They are right to praise God. Their terminology is wrong but their heart is to praise God. We should not discourage that. We need to do better at defining terms Biblically, exposing false doctrines that infiltrate even otherwise doctrinally sound churches, and not be ashamed to go to the texts that allow us to glory in God for what is truly miraculous. Not every circumstance requires our Biblical correction. Use wisdom. Be patient and understanding.
Grace and Peace
Soli Deo Gloria
April J. Buchanan
Find you a local church that exposits God’s Word that has a plurality of Biblically qualified elders, that practices church membership and church discipline according to God’s Word and where sound doctrine is not only taught but demonstrated in the life of the believers. Join it!
For more resources: Costi Hinn @ For The Gospel, Justin Peter’s Ministries, Dan and Robin Long @ LongForTruth1, Steve and Paulette Kozar @ The Messed Up Church, Chris Rosebrough @ Fighting For The Faith, John MacArthur book Strange Fire, Download the American Gospel TV (AGTV) app, GotQuestions.org
Prayer assumes the sovereignty of God. If God is not sovereign, we have no assurance that He is able to answer our prayers. Our prayers would become nothing more than wishes. But while God’s sovereignty, along with His wisdom and love, is the foundation of our trust in Him, prayer is the expression of trust. ~ Jerry Bridges
Why write about unbiblical prayers? If God has said that we are to test all things Biblically then how important is it that our prayers be Biblical? If prayer is how we speak to God and His Word is how He speaks to us, then how important is it that our prayers be Biblical? How important is it then that they are based on what God has revealed about Himself and how He has taught us to pray in a way that pleases Him?
Much is said about unbiblical teaching and preaching and unbiblical practices, and with countless books and teachings on prayer, many of those being unbiblical teachings, I believe this to be a worthy subject to write concerning the dangers of this mass market producing untold numbers of teachings that are not coming out of a correct handling of God’s Word.
Many are writing about prayer but much of what is written and sitting on “Christian” bookstores shelves and being shared by “Christian” influencers appeals to audiences offering promised ends by unbiblical means of prayer. While many who pray some of these unbiblical prayers (as I believe most of us have) do have Scripture in mind, they have not considered that those verses are not calling for those prayers. Many such prayers (e.g. Pleading the Blood of Jesus, Praying a Hedge of Protection) have grown in popularity over time but have not come from a correct understanding of the text and while not necessarily dangerous, they are unbiblical and may discourage true faith in God. Other prayers are more dangerous (e.g. Contemplative Prayer, Centering, SOZO, Receiving Downloads) as they come out of dangerous and even heretical teachings.
With so many unbiblical prayers, it is important then to look more carefully at our prayers, the theology behind them, where we pick them up and why we pray the way we do.
A growing number of professing Christians have a real desire to make their mark in church history. They strive to do big things for God and have their names written down in history as men and women of unforgettable faith and achievement. It seems everyone and their mother today is encouraged to write a book with no consideration if their theology is sound. That doesn’t matter. If they have a story that has lows and then have some claim to a powerful experience in prayer, all the better. Don’t test it; sell it! There is a mass number of people teaching you about their experience in prayer and then prescribing for you how you should pray based on what they feel like God revealed to them.
This market is much like that of Church-Growth Guru’s teaching you how to grow your church. We don’t need Church-Growth Guru’s and we don’t need someone selling us on their subjective experience teaching us how to pray to get the results we desire. The problem here begins with the desire. The desire is not for what pleases God but for how we can get the outcome we want and that others promise we can have if we do it their way. These lead us away from God’s Word and His means. They lead us away from real faith in God and leaving the results to Him. Real faith does not demand or seek to manipulate the outcome we desire. Real faith trusts God and asks, trusting Him that He will do what is right and good.
Prayer is the means by which God’s infinite wisdom, infinite power, and perfect purpose are brought together to accomplish His will. You can’t be saved without believing. You can’t be sanctified without obeying. And you can’t enjoy the goodness of God in this life without participating in His unfolding purpose through your prayers and through your service to Him. ~ John MacArthur
How are we learning to pray? Many unbiblical prayers are fueled first by bad theology. The teaching we sit under informs what we believe about God and how we pray will be directly affected by the teaching. So, before we can begin with if our prayers are pleasing to God, we need to consider if the teaching we sit under is sound.
It has been said that “High theology produces high doxology”. That is true. However, every area of our lives will be directly affected by the kind of teaching we sit under. We need to consider if we are sitting under doctrinally sound teaching whereby God’s Word is faithfully opened and exposited each week. Are we hearing teaching that is man-centered which will lead to man-centered prayers? Are we sitting under teaching where the pastor claims to always be getting his sermons straight from God through his prayer time? Do you see the danger inherent in just the example set forth? The pastor has made plain that he does not get his messages from a disciplined time of studying God’s Word and prayer to understand and correctly handle God’s Word but from outside of God’s Word. This example is powerful and can be dangerous. If he does not need to set forth the example of the sufficiency of Scripture to preach his message then prayer now becomes the means whereby we get new revelation from God. The example of the pastor in the pulpit is a powerful example.
Sound teaching is not bringing new revelation or appealing to human desire but faithfully setting forth the Word of God, whereby the Holy Spirit works in regeneration for those who are not saved and in the sanctification of those who are born again. Sound teaching presents the truth of who God is and what His Word says. It sets forth the truth of who God is leading to prayers that have confidence in the character of God and whereby the Holy Spirit works in the believer giving the desire for what pleases God.
Man-centered teaching and any teaching that strays from sound doctrine, presents a message that appeals to man and his desires and prayer becomes a means of getting God to do what we desire.
Prayer that pleases God is the result of doctrinally sound teaching whereby the Holy Spirit works in our hearts changing our desires, our affections, our will according to what pleases God. Prayer that results from unsound teaching or false teaching is far more popular and even the lost will adopt those prayers as they appeal to the sinful desires of man and turn prayer into a formula to have all that one wants or desires (e.g. Name it and Claim it, Decree and Declare, Positive Confession, Hear God Outside of Scripture – Believe it – Claim it and Obey it, Praying God’s Will Be Done Is A Lack of Faith).
How do we end up with many of our unbiblical prayers? False teaching and our own sinful desires which turn God into a genie granting all our desires and turn prayer into a formula by which we may have what we desire.
When we do not have High Theology we can be sure that there will be many errant and even dangerous kinds of prayers.
At this point, I am reminded of what inspires false teachers and often they are inspired by those who warn them and warn of their false teaching. Why here do I think of that? I wrote “dangerous kinds of prayers” and I am reminded of how something like that is fuel to their fire to lead astray by any means necessary, even what is meant for good. False teachers will find inspiration in nearly anything except the Word of God rightly taught. Steven Furtick is a great example of this. When John MacArthur was on a Q&A panel at the 2012 Shepherds’ Conference and was asked to give a one-word assessment of a name given to him, he sighed heavily with what seemed to be grief and said, “Unqualified”. Four years later Furtick published a book: Unqualified. False teachers do not listen for correction but for inspiration to further lead astray as many as possible. Back to our subject.
So then, are we saying that if we have sound teaching that we will not adopt errant practices in our prayers? No. Even in sound churches we can find unbiblical prayers. How? They simply have been ignored or never tested. We are responsible for what we believe about God and how we pray.
Some prayers we don’t think twice about; we pray them because we’ve heard others pray that way and it sounds Biblical so we don’t test it. However, when we discover that a way in which we have long prayed is not Biblical do we become defensive or are we willing to test it Biblically? The problem is not always with the practice itself but with our willingness to conform more to what pleases God even when that means that maybe our precious grandma who set forth that example in prayer may have been a little off on that one.
We don’t need to protect grandma’s character or defend her salvation by holding on to unbiblical prayers. Far too many will hold on to unbiblical teachings, practices and prayers because “grandma believed it (practiced it, prayed that way)”. None of us have it completely right. Grandma missed it too and so will you and so will I. Maybe the example we need to set forth is that while grandma prayed that way and she erred, it does not necessarily mean that grandma wasn’t saved and what we all need to be doing is reforming our beliefs, our practices, our prayers according to the Word of God. This allows those learning from us to see that Scripture – not grandma – is the standard.
So then what are some of these unbiblical prayers? We will only look briefly at them and then consider a few of them, their claims, their dangers and how we should be careful to consider what the theology is behind our prayers and what our own motives are in why we pray the way we do.
What this is not, is a claim that if you have prayed in any of these ways that therefore means you are not a Christian.
This is not written so as to discourage prayer but rather to point to Scripture such as encourages prayer that truly honors God.
What this is for is to encourage us to think Biblically in how we pray and to consider carefully who is teaching us about prayer.
This writing is not for the purpose of going to great lengths to address every unbiblical prayer or even every prayer listed below. It is to encourage us to think Biblically, pray Biblically and to set forth the example for others to test all things according to God’s Word.
“Practices such as binding Satan, praying a ‘hedge of thorns,’ renouncing generational curses, naming and praying against territorial spirits, exorcising demons from Christians, pagans, or inanimate objects, rebuking the devil, and pleading the blood of Jesus have become virtually woven into the fabric of modern notions of spiritual warfare. The legitimacy of these practices is assumed and never questioned. These have become so much a part of the fabric of the prayers and lives of some people and churches, that to question their legitimacy, in some circles, qualifies as a ‘heretic.’” ~ Jim Osman, Truth or Territory: A Biblical Approach to Spiritual Warfare
A “short” list of a growing list of unbiblical prayers.
Pleading the Blood
Hedge of Protection
Decree and Declare
Name It and Claim It
Receiving Downloads
Private Prayer Language or Heavenly Language
Release the Anointing
Binding Satan
Take Authority
Contemplative Prayer
SOZO
Quietism
Centering
Soaking
Listening
Prayer Cards
Prayer Walks
24-Hour Prayer Rooms
The Sinners Prayer
At the end of this page you will find some resources to further look into these unbiblical and even dangerous prayers.
We will only look at a few of these.
Praying God’s Will Be Done is A Lack of Faith:False Apostle Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding California, in response to a question about his theology on healing, said, “And I can’t pray ‘if it’s Your will’ ‘cause for me that’s a prayer of unbelief”. False Prophet, Kris Vallotton, also from Bethel Church, has taught not to pray for healing but just go heal people. Additionally, he teaches that we are little gods, that God is not in control, and that prayer authorizes God to do His will on earth. Psalm 115:3 and Psalm 135:6 teach us that God does whatever pleases Him in heaven and on earth. God does not need our permission or authorization. He is God and we are not!
They have a different Jesus and another gospel. They deify man and demote God. According to their theology it is a lack of faith to pray God’s will be done. But did not Christ pray (Mtth 26:39, 42) and teach us to pray (Mtth 6:10) that God’s will be done and that we are to pray according to God’s will(1 John 5:14)? Their theology cannot allow for God’s will to be done because then God would be sovereign over sickness, over disaster, over all. Johnson has said that he cannot allow for a theology where God is sovereign over tragedy. God says He is sovereign over the weather, over sickness, over suffering, over all things. If God is not sovereign over all things then what comfort do we have in praying to a god that we have to authorize to do his will or a god that is not in control, or a god that we can’t pray to for our sick loved ones but we must go heal? Who is god in their theology?
Why do so many buy into these false teachings? It says that God promises what they desire and that God has made them little gods so that they may create their own outcomes according to their will. It is the lie of Satan that you can be like God. If we cannot pray God’s will be done and God is not in control, consider how uncertain things really are and how terrifying that would be. Even in what we would call “times of uncertainty” we can have faith and confidence that even as bad as things are that God is sovereign over it and He is working it for good and to conform us to the image of His Son. If God is not in control and we must authorize God to do His will, there is no comfort at all in that, no assurance, and no reason for why anything happens as it does. They worship a god that is completely foreign to the God of the Bible.
Positive Confession: False Prophet, Kris Vallaton, has said, “Your prayers become prophecy and your words become worlds.”
This is the belief that we, like God, can speak things into existence. These doctrines are rooted in a perversion of creation and the fall, thus leading now to the belief that we are little gods. If God can create Ex Nihilo (out of nothing), then according to this heretical teaching we can too. Many understand that the little gods doctrine is heretical and that we cannot create Ex Nihilo, but may not realize that they have been influenced by these teachings via conferences, televangelists, “Christian” books, popular “Christian” music (e.g. Bethel, Hillsong…). One of the most effective means of sneaking in bad or heretical doctrines is via music. We must not only test their lyrics but their theology behind the lyrics.
Why would anyone believe these false doctrines? Positive Confession gives a false sense of control by the power of one’s faith-filled words. Why trust God and His sovereign will when they are taught that they can manifest their own reality by the power of positive confession? These prayers do not have God as the object of them nor trust in His sovereign will. Their faith is in the power of their own words to create their own reality and they may even believe that this pleases God.
These teachings and prayers cannot survive long where sound doctrine exists. These teachings and prayers thrive among the Biblically illiterate and where false teachers have found a home.
In Jesus Name: This phrase, by some, has been turned into a magic set of words that when spoken, whatever preceded those words, is now as good as done. If that is true and all we have to do is say “In Jesus name” then anyone can speak those words and what they desire is as good as done. It isn’t quite that cut and dry though.
The theology behind those words is often focused on how important you are, how anointed you are and because you are so special that God is just waiting to hear those magical words and ready to grant you whatever you desire. Not all speak those words so arrogantly (like Benny Hinn) but may be sitting under lesser obvious forms of false teaching that may not promise big houses and cars, but your more “humble” desires and if you will just pray that magic phrase, it is as good as done. Some, praying for things that are good and honorable, will pray those words as if they are magical and fearing that if they don’t seal the deal with “In Jesus Name” then it won’t happen. What then is their faith in? The magic of saying that phrase or in the object of those words, Christ?
But what does it mean to pray “In Jesus’ name”?
“It turns out in Biblical times, names were incredibly significant. Your reputation, your lineage, and even your spiritual calling would be attached to your name. …. Names and reputation are synonymous. So to do something in someone’s name means to do something in line with who they are and what they’re about, which means to pray in someone’s name is in accordance with who they are and what they’re all about. In other words, when we pray in Jesus’ name, we’re praying for His will to be done, which has nothing to do with getting rich quick and everything to do with His Gospel work, being content with what He provides for us and seeing His will revealed in Scripture and walking in obedience to that.” ~ Costi W. Hinn
With this in mind and with a high view of God, we are far more careful not to treat the name of Jesus like a magic formula that guarantees that we will get whatever we desire. We instead recognize that to pray In His Name is to pray according to His will and that our hearts may be changed so that we desire what pleases Him.
“A healthy theology of the Sovereignty of God is a great comfort to us as believers. God has not lost control. Nothing is taking Him by surprise.” ~ Justin Peters
A theme we find often, especially with the more dangerous ideas concerning prayer is a wrong view of who God is and who we are. If we begin with a high view of God, a right view of God, a Biblical view of God, then many of these prayers make no sense in light of who God is and who we are. Consider praying a hedge of thorns. A couple of passages in Scripture (Hosea 2:6; Job 1:10) are taken out of context to teach that this is how we should pray. But those passages have nothing to do with us praying for protection (in fact, one of those passages is concerning judgment: Hosea 2:6). Consider where our trust is when we pray for a hedge of protection as if we can erect a hedge (that we have to keep erecting) to protect us. There’s no assurance in that. Do we really believe the enemy can’t get past our mystical hedge? Our prayer for protection should be to God and trusting that anything He allows in our lives, even suffering, He uses it for good, His glory and to conform us to the image of His Son.
Here we recognize another error and danger and that is of a misplaced faith. If we examine these ideas concerning prayer, ultimately, God is not the object of our prayers but prayer becomes a formula to get what we desire. True faith is taking our desires and concerns to God, in prayer, asking and believing that He hears us as we ask according to His will and that He will do it.
Prayer is not a guarantee that God will do what we ask, but that God will do what is good and right and pleases Him and perhaps that may mean that His answer will be no but He will align our hearts and our desires to His will. He may not change what we ask Him to; it may be that He changes us.
Faith has an object and if we examine our prayers carefully, we see who or what that object really is. We may pray God’s Word and our prayers may move others to admire our great faith, but if our prayers are manipulative and using God’s Word, using the blood of Jesus to try to manipulate God to give us the outcome we desire, then that is not faith and it is not to be modeled or admired. It is to be corrected.
That which begins not with prayer, seldom winds up with comfort. ~ John Flavel
Thoughts to consider: If it sounds Biblical does that therefore mean it is Biblical? If people claim to be having experiences based on these prayers does that prove they are pleasing to God? If these prayers have been around for a long time does that mean they must be blessed by God? If they grow in popularity does that prove they must be true because that many people couldn’t be wrong? I hope the answers to these questions are obvious and that the importance of testing if what we are learning about prayer is truly pleasing to God or if it’s something new that promises the desire we want or if it’s something old that is assumed to be true because it’s widely accepted.
In prayer, human impotence casts itself at the feet of divine omnipotence. Thus the duty of prayer is not a modification of God’s power, but a glorification of it. ~ Philip Hughes
So what if you have seen the evidence, tested it, and you are convinced that the way you’ve prayed is not Biblical but you don’t want to let it go and you have a peace about praying that way? Should we ignore what Scripture says about who God is and how we should pray if we see that it’s not Biblical but we have a peace about it?
Today, many proponents of bad theology also promote an unbiblical test. They take passages that teach you to test the Spirits to say that it will “bear witness with you” if it is true or good or you’ll have “a peace about it”. Those are not objective tests. They are perfect for deception. We have an objective standard for truth so why would we rely upon what we know is fallible? The bigger problem here is our unwillingness to submit to God’s Word and holding on to what we know to be false.
A prayerless church member is a hindrance. He is in the body like a rotting bone or a decayed tooth. Before long, since he does not contribute to the benefit of his brethren, he will become a danger and a sorrow to them. Neglect of private prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church. Charles H. Spurgeon
As important as this subject is concerning unbiblical prayers, just as important is the subject of prayer that pleases God. It is no small matter in the Christian life.
It is impossible to be a Christian who neither prays nor reads their Bible, for by one we commune with God and by the other He communes with us. To say I have no need to pray or read my Bible is to demonstrate a heart that has not been changed and of which the evidence of true regeneration is not there. One may wrestle with their lack of discipline in prayer and reading our Bible and be truly regenerate, but the evidence is in that we wrestle because we know that we ought to pray and read our Bible. This does not bother one who is unregenerate; they have no desire for prayer or God’s Word unless they need something from God.
A final thought. While we may hear someone pray a hedge of protection around us this does not mean that we should lift our heads up and rebuke them. We must use wisdom concerning if, when or how we should bring it up. It isn’t always necessary or beneficial.
At the same time, we need to work out our understanding concerning what are actually dangerous prayers and when there may be those who are inviting us to join with them in forms of ecumenical prayers, or community prayers where we may find ourselves praying with those who are leading prayers and have heretical theology.
This leads us to the importance of our need to be members of a local, healthy, doctrinally sound church where we know the beliefs and we know that the prayers are informed by sound doctrine. There are many today who are seeking to unite together in prayer and while that sounds good and may even be good in some cases, we need to be careful that we know the beliefs of those of whom we are coming together in prayer with.
Think Biblically. Pray Biblically.
If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say it is in that one word – prayer. ~ Charles H. Spurgeon
Grace and Peace
Soli Deo Gloria
April J. Buchanan
Book Recommendations: The Valley of Vision by Arthur Bennet; Truth or Territory: A Biblical Approach to Spiritual Warfare by Jim Osman; Knowing the Spirit: Who He Is, What He Does, and How He Can Transform Your Christian Life by Costi W. Hinn; Counterfeit Kingdom: The Dangers of New Revelation, New Prophets, and New Age Practices in the Church by Holly Pivec and R. Douglas Geivett
App to download: AGTV (American Gospel TV)
Names of some of these dangerous movements bringing in some of these dangerous prayers: Word-Faith, Prosperity Gospel, NAR
YouTube Channels with content helpful to this subject: Justin Peter’s Ministries, G3 Ministries, Fighting For The Faith, LongforTruth1, All Things Theology, For the Gospel, The Messed Up Church, Famine In The Land, The Lovesick Scribe
“Christian doctrine serves as the constitution of godly living. Just as the skeleton is to the body or oxygen is to breathing, doctrine proves indispensable to Christianity. Without Christian doctrine, believers would be stripped of truth in living out the faith.” ~ John MacArthur
Have you ever had a verse come to mind and with excitement in that moment felt like it must apply to what you are pondering, speaking, writing or in some way to that moment? Have you ever assumed that if that verse came to mind in that moment then it must be God giving you that verse and so, with confidence, you apply it to your speech, your writing or your situation? Is it possible that, while that verse is wonderful, in its context, it may not mean at all what you feel in that moment that it means? Did you test it first?
I do believe it would be fair to say that we have all, at least at some point, thought a verse meant one thing, shared it that way and then later found out that it did not mean what we thought it meant and changed our beliefs accordingly.
However, false teachers are not the same. They are skilled in giving an appearance of truth while teaching what is false, having an appearance of a godly character but it is merely external in keeping up the charade and they feign love while they exploit those who they effectively cut off from the truth and lead after them into error. Not all who err in teaching are false teachers, but all false teachers appear sincere while they pervert the text and lead many astray.
Paul, in what is commonly known as the Pastoral Epistles, writes much concerning sound doctrine to both Timothy and Titus while making distinctions between their doctrine and life from those of false teachers. Many look at a teachers life and see their “good works” and fail to test their doctrine. False teachers do “good works” as a cover for their false doctrine and ungodly lives. We are responsible to test our own life and doctrine, as well as, those of whom we sit under their teaching.
We will look at one example of a verse misused today of not only false teachers, but professing Christians. We will also explore some unique problems that may be a subtle and dangerous implication of the mishandling of this verse.
In 2 Timothy 3, we are reminded that even in times of escalating deception and moral decay, the sacred Scriptures stand firm as our grounding anchor. These writings, breathed out by God Himself, equip us to discern truth from falsehood, guide our lives, and prepare us for all good works. ~ Bible Hub Chapter and Summaries and Bible Study Questions
“Hold to the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 1:13 LSB
“Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you, continue in the things you learned and became convinced of, knowing from whom you learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:12-17 LSB
What is said here to be the grounding anchor in our lives? The sacred Scriptures which stand firm. With this in mind, let us consider the importance of that anchor and the harm when we mishandle the text and how false teachers use the Scriptures to teach what is contrary to the original author’s intended meaning, bringing new meaning to the text that removes the anchor.
In an effort to silence those who go to Scripture and expose error and false teaching, false teachers will often use Scripture, out of context, and with an already loyal, faithful and Biblically illiterate following they will accuse those who think Biblically and are discerning as setting themselves against the power of God, the work of God, the work of the Holy Spirit and they will misuse Scripture to support these accusations. They will give an appearance that the true Apostles support them and their teachings and as opposed to those who “think too much”. They are crafty in their wording that gives them an appearance of love for God’s Word while they lead their following away from sound doctrine.
We must test all things according to sound doctrine!
The intention in this writing is to look at a verse that some have misused (intentionally or otherwise) to help us consider how easy it is for us to be misled if we do not learn to first consider what the original author meant when they wrote it. We don’t like when someone takes our words and gives them meaning that we never meant. While we may be offended when someone does this, especially intentionally, we are dealing with an incomparably greater issue where when God’s Word, in the hands of false teachers, is used to lead many after the false teacher and away from the truth.
Here is truth that Paul wrote Timothy that brings comfort to which we may cling: “Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to depart from wickedness.” 2 Timothy 2:19 LSB
Those words follow Paul instructing Timothy to present himself as one approved and to accurately handle God’s Word, immediately followed by a contrast of false teachers who had brought in heretical doctrines. Then Paul writes that the Lord knows those who are His! What encouragement! God knows all who are His. Paul did not lead Timothy to come up with cleverly devised schemes or what people may want to hear to attract the lost. He said that God knows who are His and he charged him to teach sound doctrine and to live righteously, therefore demonstrating the power of the Gospel in his life.
So then, what may motivate a pastor or teacher to mishandle a verse such as 2 Timothy 3:5?
Have you ever had something in mind that you believed and could not defend but looked for someone else to agree with you even though they knew you were wrong? That is what false teachers do. Maybe they believe their false teaching, maybe they don’t, either way, they know people trust God’s Word and so they use God’s Word to agree with them (though it does not!) rather than to submit themselves to the text and be corrected by it. They lead many astray with their deceptive teachings.
Any text that is used to support man’s teachings, ideas, or beliefs that is not coming out of that text and being read into it, is dishonest at best and intentionally deceptive with the intent to mislead for one’s own sinful purposes at worst.
Have you ever heard a pastor (teacher, author, influencer…) quote 2 Timothy 3:5 to say that there are Christians who know their Bible but they just don’t have power? Have you ever adopted that accusation and used it against those who do not operate in what is said to be manifestations of the Holy Spirit to say that they have a form of godliness but what they are really doing is denying the power of God?
If we have never heard a clear exposition of that passage or learned how to study our Bibles to understand the correct meaning of a passage, then when a pastor brings his own meaning to the text or cites it out of its context to support his doctrine, then we may be convinced that what he is saying “power” means in that verse and who those people are is true.
Many false teachers will prepare the hearer with what they should already understand that verse to mean before they even quote it. They may even string it together with other isolated verses such as it sounds spiritual and so as to keep the hearer isolated from the true meaning of that verse.
If the example the pastor has set is not to go into the text and look at the original language, original author and what that word and verse means in its context, but instead to see a word in Scripture and use it to support his own doctrines, then the hearers familiarity with that word and its use will automatically be what they assume it means. They are not taught or trained to think Biblically or to look at the context to derive the meaning, rather they are familiar with how that word is used with no regard to the original authors usage of it and intended meaning.
“Power” is a common word used in different theological camps. It is a Biblical word. The question we need to consider is what did the author mean when he used it, not what does it mean to us. There are countless misuses and abuses of that word especially within certain theological camps, like that of the charismatic movement, NAR, and others.
I will not be examining in this article the problems of these movements and their specific abuses of the use of the word power or how many in those camps misrepresent the Holy Spirit. I will be encouraging a thoughtful, careful and sincere look at that verse in its context so we can see how false teachers use words that ring familiar to our hearing and bring specific thoughts to mind to lead us to see in a passage of Scripture what is foreign to the original author’s intended meaning and foreign to how the original audience would have understood it.
Repetition is not necessarily a bad thing, however, it is a tool of false teachers. The more they say it and the more you hear it, the more you believe it must be true. It is like buying a new vehicle and while you never noticed it on the road before, now you see it everywhere. This is true as well with this strategy of false teachers. The more you hear that teaching, those words and phrases, now you see them everywhere and when you hear those words used, what comes to mind is not a correct meaning of those words, but the meaning that has been given them.
This verse has been cited many times out of context and the familiarity with hearing this verse and with hearing the misuse of the word “power” has led many to be convinced that they are using it correctly when they neither have a correct understanding of the word power in that verse or the intent of the author as to whom these people are of which this verse is describing.
So, now that we have established the importance of understanding what this verse means and how dangerous it can be when it is taken out of context, let’s look at it and see what it says, what it meant to the original author and audience, so we can see how it correctly applies to our lives today. As we begin with what it really means then we may see how it is being abused today and leading mean away from sound doctrine. Also, we learn from this example the importance of a verse in its context, as well as, why it is important that we do not assume that our familiarity with a particular word is the intended meaning of the author when they are using that word.
Paul, wrote this letter, 2 Timothy, from prison and with what seems to be no hope that he would be released. There is internal evidence within the letter that Paul had reason to think Timothy was weakening spiritually. We must consider that this was written while Christians were being persecuted for their faith, for which Paul was a prisoner. Paul encouraged Timothy and exhorted him to continue to be faithful in his duties, to continue in sound doctrine, avoid error, accept persecution for the sake of the Gospel, to put his confidence in the Scripture, and preach it relentlessly. – My summarizing of John MacArthur’s Book Summary of 2 Timothy
With this in mind, let us consider 2 Timothy 3:5.
The part of the verse most cited as we are discussing here is:
“holding to a form of godliness, but having denied its power…”
What we will often find among these who cite this verse as we are looking at will not cite the entire verse, though most know the whole verse. In the mind of each person who is familiar with that verse is the command that we are to keep away from these people.
The verse in it’s entirety states:
“holding to a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Keep away from such men as these.” 2 Timothy 3:5 LSB
Why would Paul instruct Timothy to keep away from these men? Consider that Paul didn’t tell Timothy to “eat the meat and spit out the bones of their teaching” or to “seek unity at all costs.” No! He didn’t say, “Now be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.” He gave a very clear command that Timothy was to keep away from such men as these.
Is that what we see when a pastor is a proven false teacher, is leading countless many astray and of whom his life has been exposed that he has a form of godliness but denies the power thereof? Or, is what we most commonly see among such as these is that there may be some time for healing and immediate restoration of such as these so that they may continue to devour and lead astray, while bringing reproach on the Word of God?
How important then is sound doctrine? How important then is it to our lives and that we test to make sure that what we are sitting under is sound Biblical teaching?
What happens then when false teachers read passages that are clearly warning about them? They often use it against those who teach sound doctrine.
We need to consider the implications of what would happen with this particular verse if false teachers use it against those who hold to sound doctrine. If a new meaning is given to this verse then the command that follows will drive the hearer away from those of whom they perceive to be disobeying what they have been taught that verse means.
If we say that the “power” mentioned in this verse is the power to get wealth and never to be sick and anyone who denies that, is denying the power of God, then what follows for those who read the rest of that verse? They are then to keep away from anyone who says otherwise.
The meaning of the first part of that verse really matters then, doesn’t it?
How are we to know who these people are that we are to keep away from? We look at the whole letter and then we bring out of the passage what it is saying. False teachers set in the mind of the hearer prior to hearing the verse quoted who these people are, but we must go to the text to see who the original author says that they are.
Paul is making a distinction between true servants of God who administer the Word of God, of which Timothy is to be, and those who teach false doctrines, who have a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof. In the full context of this letter we see this distinction being made and the importance of sound doctrine. It is a strange thing that many false teachers take verses that warn about them and use them to warn against sound teachers. But they do and they are very effective at it.
Pauls charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:15 is that he be diligent to present himself approved to God. How? He is to be a workman who does not need to be ashamed and accurately handles God’s Word. And then we see a warning of what happens when one participates in godless and empty chatter, that it leads to further ungodliness. The passage goes on to demonstrate what that looks like as Paul names names of false teachers who went astray from the truth and had upset the faith of some.
The context of the whole letter matters. It is dishonest and disingenuous to isolate a verse, ascribe meaning to it that directly contradicts that original authors intended meaning and of which sets oneself up against those who honor God in rightly handling that passage.
It is impossible to come to that text and think it is warning against those who uphold sound doctrine and define “power” there as to mean anything other than the power of God at work in the life of a Christian to live godly lives, unless one is intentionally isolating their audience from the whole of that passage and giving it new meaning. An honest examination of that verse would never lead to such error.
This verse is often used to say that those who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof are those who think too much Biblically, spend much of their time concerned with sound doctrine and refuting those who contradict. Now, they wouldn’t describe these this way, but with derogatory statements that make them sound more offensive to the hearer and opposed to them directly.
Are the people that Paul is warning Timothy of those of whom take doctrine too seriously and who refute error? Remember, he says that they have a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof.
According to the context of this passage, these are those who have an outward “form” (appearance, semblance) of godliness (godliness, piety, devotion) but deny (to disown, to reject) the “power” (strength, ability, might, miracle) thereof. Is this power meant subjectively with claims of encounters, experiences, manifestations, or is it something else?
In the context of this passage the concern is that these men were keeping up an outward appearance of godliness while they denied the power of God to form within them true godliness as a result of true regeneration.
Godliness apart from regeneration is an offense to God. It is only possible to live godly if we are truly regenerate as our will has changed, our affections are changed and being changed, our desires are changed and being changed by the grace of God and as we sit under sound teaching. God is working in us to will and to do what pleases Him. The outward demonstration of godliness apart from the inward work of Christ in us is worthless and most to be pitied by men. Yet false teachers lead countless many to the slaughter by means of their false piety, false love, false charity, false promises, and having an appearance of what only God can work in man and bring forth as a reality such as pleases Him.
This “form” of godliness was very dangerous – and still is – as these men, having an appearance of godliness were promoting false teaching, and as such were able to creep into households of those who were unsuspecting and lead them astray.
False teachers, and those who defend them and their false teachings, like to focus on the word “power”, ascribing it foreign meaning and miss that this verse is one of a long list of characteristics of leaders in every season who have an outward appearance of godliness but they lead astray those who do not see the deception.
This verse is not a warning against sound teachers of sound doctrine who warn against error and of whom their lives not only give an external appearance of godliness but they demonstrate the power of God at work in them. No! This verse is against false teachers who teach false doctrine and have an outward “form” of godliness that opens the door to those who do not see through their falsehood and they are led astray by various false teachings.
This verse does not condemn studying God’s Word, being Biblically discerning or caring about the truth and refuting error; it upholds that while warning of those who profess godliness and give an appearance of godliness so that they may creep into households and lead those astray who are not grounded in the truth.
These passages make a distinction between what Timothy is to preach – sound doctrine – and the dangerous doctrines of false teachers. It makes a distinction between those who are truly regenerate and those who keep up an outward appearance of godliness while they deny the power of it in their lives.
Paul’s warning is not against those who hold firmly to sound doctrine, refute error and demonstrate the power of godliness in their life and teaching, but that there will be those who have a “form” of godliness, an external appearance of the power of God to save and sanctify but they cast aside true religion. These lead astray with their false teaching and they do not have restraint over their sinful nature, though they give an appearance of godliness.
A true demonstration of the power of God is not merely external, but is the outward evidence of the inward reality of the power of God in one who has truly been born again and has the ongoing evidence of the true change in one’s whole life. Our thoughts, affections, all is changed and being changed by the grace of God at work in us. This verse does not point to signs, miracles, manifestations as evidence, but true godliness that is being formed in the life of the Christian by God’s saving grace at work in us.
The world can see through our hypocrisy and often can spot a false teacher long before those who have been led astray by them. Reproach is brought on the name of Christ, the Word of God and the church by false teachers and false converts who profess godliness but deny the power thereof. The world often points to false versions of Christianity to mock God and to excuse their own sinful lives.
But Christ has not, will not and cannot fail in His promise that He will build His church.
Those who teach by their doctrine must teach by their life, or else they pull down with one hand what they build up with the other. ~ Matthew Henry
While we have taken time to consider the authors intended meaning in this passage and we are made plainly to see what the text says and where the mishandling of this passage may lead to grievous error, what we must do also is look into the claim that there are professing Christians who have knowledge and no power.
Is it true that someone may have much Bible knowledge, spend countless hours each week in the Word, have an impressive wealth of words that captivate the hearer and draw them to stand in wonder of the God of Scripture, all while their impressive knowledge has not reached their own heart and the God they praise with their lips they deny the power of in their own lives? Yes!
The problem is not that we disagree that there are hypocrites of all kinds. There are. The problem is when this verse is used to lump all with the desire for truth who are Biblically discerning and who refute error in the church to be in this category, so as to point to false manifestations, false signs, and false wonders as the demonstration of the power this verse is speaking of, when it is not. If they may effectively convince their hearers that those who are Biblically discerning are the ones Paul is warning about and they can import foreign meaning into the text of what power there means, then they may convince the hearer that they are more spiritual than those who are Biblically discerning and cut them off from sound teachers of the Word. They are therefore seeking external manifestations for proof rather than seeking to understand the Word of God such as their lives may be conformed more to the image of Christ, their minds and hearts being changed by the truth, therefore demonstrating externally the internal power of God at work in the life of a born again child of God.
An unhealthy church is marked by unsound doctrine of which always leads to false practices and casting aside the truth in favor of what is false. This does not mean that there is not a form of godliness or of “good” works; there is. The marks of a healthy church is sound doctrine, so then it matters that we go to Scripture and test what is being said about the text by studying to see what the text says and what it means. Any teaching which diminishes sound doctrine and sets itself against those who teach and care for sound doctrine, are the marks of an unhealthy church.
Many of us, I think, fear that doctrine will simply become the dead wood of orthodoxy in our church, and so we cut it out wherever we can. In fact, doctrine is the fuel God has given us that, when lit by the fires of grace, burns in a white-hot devotion of Christian worship and discipleship.” ~ Michael Lawrence
Finally, Let us be encouraged by Pauls letter to Timothy from prison where he would be martyred for his faith of the importance that we must set our minds on the truth, learn how to think Biblically, discerning truth from error so that we may be able to recognize those who contradict and warn against error for the sake of the Gospel. Likewise, we must make sure that we are not holding a form of godliness while we deny the power of it in our own lives, but that we desire truth, and adorn the doctrine of God our Savior (Titus 2:10) as we demonstrate the power of God in us as we deny ungodliness and live godly lives in the present age (Titus 2:11-13).
“Do not be ashamed to learn, and to cast aside your old doctrines and views, but to take up that which you may more plainly see to be in the Word of God.” ~ Charles H. Spurgeon
All churches are the same, right?
I would learn how naive and wrong I was but it wouldn’t be without loss, pain, fear and much wrestling with wanting to stay where it was familiar but where I knew I no longer could because sound doctrine not only was not there, it was not welcome.
I did not know how to find a healthy or doctrinally sound church. Those words were foreign to my vocabulary and search. I didn’t know what I was looking for in a church; I was just looking for a church because I was a new believer and I wanted to be with God’s people. That was enough, or so I thought.
My search began with a simple but misguided prayer that revealed so much of my naivety. I didn’t understand the difference in denominations or that there are “churches” that preach a different gospel. I didn’t know, well, I didn’t know a lot and what I did know was based on a few childhood years of attending church and one year in a Christian school where I memorized many verses of Scripture. Those foundational years had not really set me on a sure course of what a healthy church looks like (but maybe that’s a writing for another day).
That prayer that I had prayed was more mystical than Biblical and the results I got, well, were pretty much exactly what I prayed for. I prayed, “God, I’ll know the church that you want my family to attend by the church who answers their phone first”. Did you cringe? I do when I think about it, but honestly, that is so minor compared to what would follow. At least then I was a “baby Christian”, young in the faith, naive and I could honestly say that I didn’t know any better.
The first church to answer their phone, faithful to my word, we attended and we were there for the better part of 11 years. I raised my young children in that church up to their early and mid-teen years.
While I had attended church for a few years as a young child, my formative understanding of Scripture was in this church I began attending with my children, as a young 25 year old baby Christian.
I was very emotional concerning God’s grace toward me and that He had saved me. In that church sound doctrine was not the main focus, experience was. Everyone was encouraged to come experience the power and presence of God. The music was instrumental to creating an environment for experience.
I believed whatever was taught, took notes vigorously, hung on every word and went forward at every invitation to “experience God”. I was the evangelist and guest preachers dream. They need at least one who will “set the atmosphere” for everyone else to “see what God is doing” so they can be manipulated to come forward and “experience God” as well. If there was dancing, I was dancing. If there was gibberish, I was speaking it. If people were getting a word from God outside of Scripture, I was right there ready to get that word as well. If people were being “slain in the Spirit”, I was right there with them, getting “slain in the Spirit”. I was “all-in”, something I was quite proud of at that time.
The teaching, the music, the expectation for a “move of God” was perfect to lead the naive, gullible sheep astray, at least for a time.
Later, we left that church and attended another not far from it. They did not have the same experiences or manifestations but eagerly sought them. However, much of their teachings came from outside of Scripture with claims that God was giving direct revelation to the pastor just for the people. This had a way of making you feel special and set apart from all those dead churches who just have a Bible.
Those pastors were often good story-tellers, certainly not dynamic, but just persuasive enough that with the right setting – dark lights, emotionally manipulative and repetitive music – and claims of subjective (though unverifiable) experiences and just the right amount of isolated verses taken out of context to appeal to your emotions and your felt-needs, well, they didn’t have to be dynamic to lead you beyond and after more. The sinful desire is already there, add just enough scripture out of context and the right environment and you can convince the gullible and proud that what they are experiencing is of God and that they are more spiritual than those dead Christians who “just don’t have the Spirit like they do.”
Much of my theology in those years, in both churches, was based on teachings that went beyond what is written. It’s amazing now how so many Scriptures come to mind that stand to warn against those exact teachings, yet, in that environment you can hear an entire passage of Scripture and suppress the thoughts that are clearly warning you that something is wrong.
The example set before us was never representative of faithful exposition or proper exegesis. I’m sure that most, if not all of us had never even heard those words or had any real understanding of what they mean. Our example was pastors who came with what they felt like God was giving them new, just for us, and he would find a passage or verse or even one isolated word in Scripture that he could use to support what he claimed God was giving just for us. Too bad for all those other churches, we were special and it was evident that God didn’t need our pastors to preach the Word; He was giving them new words just for us. This is how we were learning to “hear God” and our expectations were set beyond Scripture by the example set before us and the teachings that we should be hearing God speak to us all the time.
God’s Word was used to preach man’s claims of private revelation and not the man used to preach God’s Word.
There is no fear of God before the eyes of many like these. I know that is a strong claim. But how can one fear God of whom ignores the command for the preacher to preach the Word and of whom leads God’s people beyond what is written? What fear is there when doctrines foreign to Scripture are taught as from God without clear and plain teaching in Scripture to support it? How can the fear of God be before their eyes when they must create an environment to cut off critical and Biblical thinking and appeal to the emotions of the people to lead them into experiences and manifestations that go beyond what is written?
But the pastors are not entirely at fault. The people love it! The people are ignoring the thoughts that arise warning them and they claim that those thoughts are of the devil and cast them away. They cast away the truth and they hold firmly to their delusion. Why? They love it. They are invested in it. They are committed to it. They want it to be true. They don’t want the truth. And many, well many are naive and Biblically illiterate.
Their expectations are not set on sound doctrine, godly living and hearing the Word of God faithfully exposited. That’s not as exciting and doesn’t promise them all they desire. They are chasing the next emotional high, the next subjective experience, the next extra-biblical word that someone claims God is giving them for them.
They do not want sound doctrine. They do not want to learn how to correctly study their Bible. They do not want to know the truth, even the dark truth, of their own denominations history. They do not want to study church history. Why? Their expectations have been set on “more!” They want and have been taught to expect something personal, something just for them, something new, something fresh. Church history strips away the delusion that they are as special as they think themselves to be. They dream of their big moment and those formerly before them that are hero’s, well, they dream of their moment to stand alongside them. Their motives for looking back are only to see how great they might be, not so that they may see the truth and realize none of us are great, and there is only one hero in this story and that is Christ Jesus.
With the focus and expectation of God speaking to you beyond Scripture, I had learned a dangerous way to read my Bible and apply it to my life. I didn’t know how to correctly study my Bible and followed the example set before me. I longed for, expected and “needed” God to speak to me beyond Scripture. It was good and all, but I needed more. Common to our vocabulary were words like, “more”, “come expecting”, “God wants you all in”, “I can feel God’s presence so strong in this place and He is about to do something for someone tonight, so get ready”. Words not so common or completely missing or given entirely different meaning were, “sound doctrine”, “expositional preaching”, “a healthy church”. Instead of a healthy church, our common question was, “Is your church Spirit-filled”? And I can’t begin to tell you how dumb that question sounds now even as I write it.
In those years, I would have said that Scripture is Sufficient but I was talking out both sides of my mouth: cognitive dissonance. I had terrible Pneumatology, along with many other dangerous beliefs and practices. I was cut off from doctrinally sound teachers as we were taught that they were dead, dry, Pharisees, had a religious spirit or “just didn’t have the Spirit like we did”. I was cut off from any real or meaningful church history of the denomination I was in. Those teachers did not tell us not to look into church history or to learn how to correctly study our Bible; they didn’t need to. They created expectations beyond what is written, set forth that example before us and minimized and demeaned any voice contrary to their teachings.
We were content in our echo chambers. We were cut off from critical and Biblical thinking and any form of real dialogue concerning the text. We could not give a defense for what we believe and sought to lead people into an experience or just share our testimony. Many in that movement are unable to share the Gospel and rely on personal testimonies, exegeting their experiences, offering to pray with someone (with some of the most unbiblical prayers), share positive words that speak to people’s felt needs and they rely heavily on God to speak to them beyond Scripture to give them a word for someone. They have the Word but in reality it is not enough for them and they don’t know how to correctly wield it.
Those in that movement do not realize that their teachers may “encourage them” to study their Bible and to study church history, but the real craving they are stirring up in them is for what goes beyond what is written and the way they read their Bible and the way they view church history is through a very distorted lens.
But God!
In late 2019 and especially 2020, God graciously opened my eyes to the truth. It was very painful, lonely, scary and hard. The more I unlearned bad theology and learned the truth, the more there was to unlearn and learn. The task seemed more than I could ever bear and at times it felt like I would never be able to open Scripture and not see another verse, another doctrine that I had believed that Scripture was saying was wrong.
The Psalmists seem to often say, “How Long O Lord, How Long” and to that I could relate. How long before my old doctrines are finally conquered and I can look at those verses and simply rejoice?
God is so gracious not to rip us out of bad doctrine and to sound doctrine; He allows it to be painful for our good and He allows us to learn. How else may we grow if we do not learn? Painful as it may have been, I am grateful that I can look back and see God’s grace greater than my sin. I believed those lies. I taught those lies. I wrote those lies. I practiced those lies. And perhaps the thing that crushed me the most was realizing that I had put words in God’s mouth that He did not say and that I had falsely attributed to the Holy Spirit manifestations and practices that were not of Him. I have since repented for all my former bad theology.
I once heard someone who was deconstructing their faith to describe the moment when they realized that some of the doctrines that they had been taught were false and how scary that was for them. They went on to share that worse, was when they realized how all those beliefs were connected and when they began to pull the string, it all unraveled.
Deconstruction is not the same as Reforming one’s beliefs according to the Word of God.
While I understand, in part, what that person experienced in that initial moment of realizing what they believed was false and the fear that comes with that and then realizing how those doctrines are all connected, where we part is that I was looking at the objective truth of God’s Word and seeing that what I had been taught, believed and practiced was beyond what is written. The deconstructionist, however, may use the Bible but they do so subjectively as to what it means to them and not what it means objectively.
When I left those false doctrines, it took years to really get a grasp on how to correctly study my Bible, how to find a doctrinally sound church and years of testing every single doctrine against the more sure Word of God. I’m still learning but it is not scary now when I run across an old doctrine that I once believed.
I am grateful for those who early on helped me learn how to study my Bible, learn how to look into church history and see the dark history of the movements I had been tossed about by, those like: Justin Peter’s Ministries, the American Gospel Documentaries: Christ Alone; Christ Crucified, Costi Hinn, Steve and Paulette Kozar, Voddie Baucham, Dan and Robin Long, Paul Washer, John MacArthur and many others.
And I am grateful to God that He graciously brought me out not only from under false teaching but from further spreading false teaching. I know I do NOT deserve His grace. I know how I misrepresented Him. I am grateful for God’s grace toward a wretch like me, of whom He has justified, sanctified and sanctifying and of the hope and promise I look forward to that one day I will be glorified. This part of sanctification was extremely painful, lonely and scary, but God in His grace brought me out of false doctrine and to the truth.
This is the beginning to many writings, Lord willing, that I intend to encourage saints in sound doctrine and help those of whom God is bringing out of bad theology to learn the dangers of those movements and doctrines, provide resources and writings that lead to sound doctrine.
Leaving Beyond - Grounded In Scripture 