"If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. 1Ti 6:3-4 ESVThe Apostle Paul here addresses his concern for Church. Then Jude, Jesus' half brother, writes "For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. - Jde 1:4 ESV
False teachers and prophets are promised by the Scripture to be very active in the Church in the last days. It occurs to me as I write this that false teachers can only be effective among a weak church. A Church that lives in and by the Word of God would not be so easily led away from the freedom of the Gospel. However, when the pulpit bows to the shallowness of the congregation and leaves the meat of the word for pablum, it has a crippling effect on the Church. The Church is supposed to be a powerful force on the earth operating in the authority and power of God and His Kingdom. They are supposed to be made up of a "Kingdom of Priests." The Shepherd of a congregation is designed to teach and preach and to care for the flock of God. He is to be like a traffic director managing the church, this Royal Priesthood, as it goes out in all directions having a saving influence upon a lost world. It is supposed to be so different from the world that it stands out like one standing in a spotlight. This kind of Church would easily discern false prophets and teachers within a short period of time. False teaching cannot gain control in a church filled with the Word of God and the light of the Holy Spirit.
Too many pulpits today bring forth too much, "Five suggestions for a happy life", rather than "take up your cross and follow me." The latter is the revelation of the Lordship of Christ. Many teachers today preach a message of the "Lordship of Me". "Give them what they want" is a prevailing unspoken motivation today. Keep them happy and don't let them have a bad experience at Church. We must abandon giving them what they want and turn back to the life altering, often uncomfortable, message of the Lordship of Christ. "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, - 2Ti 4:3 ESV
False teaching promotes a false grace that ends up in carnality. That word means "unbridled lust." I have had the sad experience too many times of dealing with fallen leaders. They almost always remain in the pulpit teaching long after they choose sin over righteousness. As soon as they become compromised, their message changes. Now they instruct the Church, the Bride of Christ, from their own condition of heart. They get more and more away from Truth and often the church follows them. As the doorkeeper, whatever they allow in comes in. It has been my experience in dealing with fallen leaders that the result is often fallen followers. It is the "blind leading the blind."
In conclusion, how do we strengthen the church against wandering from the Truth into a false gospel of "anything goes." Each member must live in and by the Word of God daily. Reading and studying the Word builds a Holy Spirit impacted conscience and strong discernment that recognizes sin and shuns it. It knows Truth and chooses it. We will have false teachers more and more in these last days. The Bible promises us that. However, the true Church, those that are living by faith and are looking for the return of Christ, will not only stand strong in the midst of false teaching but will also challenge false teachers.
