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Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast where we're all about sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Costi Hinn, and on today's episode, I want to dig into a loaded but important question for all of us to consider today and for churches and Christians alike to have an answer on. It is this should we, for any reason or any purpose, partner with false teachers? Here are some scenarios, and then I'm going to unpack a key passage of scripture in this episode and then provide some practical applications as well. But this is a big question because there are certain things in which people would debate. You know, it's fine if this, or fine if that. If it's political, well, what about that? Or if it's this, what about that? So here's some scenarios, and then let's dig in. Number one, you got, you know, let's say my uncle Benny Hinn calls me and says, Costi, you know, we need to get insert your favorite political person. You know, let's say it's Ron DeSantis right now. Everyone loves Ron if you're a conservative. We need to get him in the White House. And I need you to unify with me and a number of others. We're all going to band together. We need to get DeSantis in the White House. So let's put aside all our false teaching, our differences, all that. And we deal with that later. But right now, let's save America because if we do that, we can have an America to debate our theology instill. So that's a scenario. Another one: a Roman Catholic friend who is not a priest or a teacher invites you to a protest at Planned Parenthood, and you guys are going to plead with young mothers to let their baby live. You're conflicted because they, as a Catholic, don't share the same gospel beliefs as you do. But together you could stop the murder of an innocent life. Is that a partnership with a false teacher? Are they a false teacher? Are they a false follower? What do you even categorize them as? What happens when it comes time to share the gospel? Which gospel gets shared? If someone sees you there, are they going to say, oh, look at you partnering with false teachers? That's another scenario that our text and I believe this episode will help you navigate. Here's another scenario. You own a business or an event planning business, and a false teacher like Kenneth Copeland or Paula White calls you to organize something for them. Maybe you're a travel agent. You own your own travel agency. They call you to organize an event or something. And this is very common in those circles. We used to do this all the time. We would plan trips to the Holy Land. And you could make, you know, one to two grand per head on everybody who comes with you. And so you'd use a travel agency. And various Christians from all sorts of different denominations or different circles of influence love to get on in the action because there was a lot of money to be made. And of course, we would go with hundreds, and there were trips where there was even over a thousand people. And so, you know, people do this all the time. You know, you would be directly helping their ministry. You'd be patting their pockets. And since they're going to do it with some company anyways, why shouldn't you make some money off of them? And, you know, maybe in this scenario, you need to lay low a little bit with how you feel about them to pull this off. But, you know, then maybe a friendship or a business partnership happens and it keeps going. And now you risk losing tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual business revenue if you were to confront them as an active false teacher. They're maligning the gospel in Christ, but you're going, well, it's just business. You know, I don't really see how that's a violation of scripture, or that's a tough one, Costi. That's a scenario. People run into that all the time. Uh, scenario four, you're a Christian restaurant owner and Joel Osteen walks in to eat. You walk right up to the front, you tell him and his entire entourage, you are not welcome here. There's no hospitality for you here. My restaurant's not a place where an active, unrepentant, false teacher can come and be served. Get out, Joel. And he leaves. And some people say, Man, you really took 2 John 9 through 11 way too seriously, way too literally. And then other people high-five you. Did you do the right thing? Is that what a Christian business owner should do if Joel Osteen walks in versus uh the place being filled with unbelievers or filled with even people who are part of the Mormon church or go to Joel Osteen's church? But if it's Joel, you know, you're going to treat him differently. Is that the right way to do it? A couple more scenarios. You get invited to preach at a conference, and there are several, you know, Roman Catholics and and false teachers on the lineup card with you, but you're there to talk about religious freedom. Is that a violation of scripture? Are you just chumming it up with them? Why are you there? What did you say? Another scenario. Uh you engage in a formal debate with a Mormon high priest or a teacher from another faith. It's spirited, it's honest, it ends with respectful disagreement. You're very clear about the gospel. All parties go home and they all have the same position still. Did you just engage in some sinful interfaith dialogue? Did you promote a false teacher? Some would say you did, but I think 2 John 9 to 11 maybe speaks otherwise and does not necessarily apply to debate with others. And the key is to stay clear. So all of these are scenarios, and there are plenty of other ones that you could jump to. And you know, with today's world and the amount of guys and women out there who offer training and coaching and classes and conferences, and there's business interminglings, it can be a real challenge. You know, for example, let's say you know a particular teacher is a wolf in sheep's clothing, and that he would be dealt with very sharply by Paul and the apostles. But today, you know, he's going to offer a really good seminar on church growth strategies, and you just want to use them for that. So you tap into his training strategies while, of course, holding on to sound doctrine yourself. You're friendly with him. And let's say you're able to use his insights on human behavior to grow your church or to try new things and add new programming. You know, you call out obvious false teachers, you're a faithful pastor or person, but this particular situation, you're able to use something that is, you know, not credible and not helpful, but it can be helpful to you. And you think, well, I'm trying to benefit the local church. You know, how is that compromise? It's a kind of neutral position. So if you're not in drive or you're not in reverse, you're in neutral, is that fine? All these scenarios I've either made up or mixed in a little bit of what we've all seen play out here, there, and everywhere, as you know, when conferences pop up on Twitter or what have you, and people chime in. Why is this guy there or this gal there? And you know, what in the world is so-and-so going to that for? There is a particular text that is a go-to for this sort of thing. It's 2 John, and there's no chapter in 2 John. You could say there's chapter one, but it's just it's a series of verses. And verses 9 to 11 give us instruction that we can apply. I want to unpack that for you and also lay out some runway here on the way we should view false teachers regardless. This is a debated topic at times, but most arguments are filled with excuses and faulty logic. I believe this issue is a lot like gender in today's world. People can make up whatever terms and identities and subjective categories they want, but the Bible is open and shut on how to view false teachers and how to deal with false teachers and how to categorize false teachers. We don't need to add to it and make up fake categories. We don't need to overdo it and be legalists about every little thing. But I'll tell you this the Bible speaks to it, so we should just let the Bible speak and then submit, even if that costs us our own ambitions or even business enterprise money or influence. False teachers are not like everybody else. They don't get the same treatment as everyone else. Few passages that help us understand this. Romans chapter 16, verses 17 and 18. It's one of those easy passages to remember because 16, 17, 18 are in numerical order, and it's Romans, one of the great letters in the New Testament. People have said the greatest letter that Paul wrote. It says to mark those who are teaching things that are contrary to what Christ taught. The word mark, one of my favorite Greek words, scope, you can hear the word scope, you are to put the crosshairs, if you will, on those who are false teaching. And so one could rightly apply this principle. If I am and you are to mark false teachers and avoid them, then I should probably not be chumming it up with them either in any type of scenario. Ephesians 5.11 says, don't participate in fruitless deeds of darkness, rather expose them. So that would speak against a neutral position in which, well, I'm I'm not really gonna say much, and I'm just gonna kind of cruise through this and lay low on the radar. There's no neutrality. You don't just not participate in fruitless deeds of darkness, you expose them. It's the idea of you don't just preach the truth, you refute error. And we want to do that in balance, but you do both to stay in balance. 2 Peter chapter 2, 1 through 3, the verses there, the whole chapter is about false teachers and their uh strategies and where they end up, but those particular first three verses give us a vivid picture of how false teachers try to get in. They secretly introduce destructive heresies. They're looking for a way to creep in. They want to go unnoticed. They're trying to get in to sway people. They're under the influence of darkness. And so, you know, no, it's you there's no Christmas dinner hangout with actively unrepentant false teachers. For me, this applies, you know, I'm not just gonna go hang out with my uncle or go have a steak dinner and talk about other topics and say, well, we just avoid kind of that. He's an active head of uh a false teaching movement. Again, this would be different than family and friends who are caught up in things. You know, how would you ever reach the lost if you never uh would allow them even near you? I helpfully put in front of you here uh John MacArthur's commentary on this, where he says, you know, there's no prohibition here against being with ignorant people or spending time with ignorant people. Even those belonging to a cult or a false religion you can speak to and you could invite them into your midst, of course, for the purpose of sharing the truth. He says if you if there was a prohibition against that, that would make giving the truth to them very difficult, if not impossible. The point of the passage we're going to talk about, 2 John 9 through 11, is that believers are not to welcome and provide care for traveling false teachers who seek to stay in their homes, thereby giving them the appearance of affirming what they teach and lending them credibility. We'll get more into that. Lending them credibility. We don't want to do that. False teachers are in a different category. There's no stage sharing, there's no you know collective missions work. What mission do you share that centers on Christ? That's what we're here for. We're here on earth as resident aliens to further the mission of God. There's no church growth insights we need from them, no truce for business enterprise, no mutual back scratching. And certainly, I would propose no looking the other way for politics. We could stand for the truth and we could be conservative, and we can make our political positions and Christian principles and voting known without false teachers in the mix. If they vote the same, okay. We may both vote Republican or be conservative, but we aren't partners with false teachers for anything. It's no different than if you or I uh you know love a certain Italian restaurant and we go there and so does a false teacher. Or if we cheer for the same hockey team or even breathe the same oxygen, yeah, we may share common interests as humans, but a false teacher plays for a different team. And it's always a good day to expose a false prophet disguised as a worker of righteousness. The devil is the captain of the army they march in. It doesn't matter how nice they are, how many people fill the stadium for the conference, or how much money is on the line. No true believer, no pastor should be partnering with a false teacher who is teaching a false gospel. And let me add, this is hardly comparable to when you know John MacArthur and R.C. Sproull would share a platform and disagree on infant baptism. We know, and if you don't, then I want you to be aware of this. Those are secondary issues, majorly secondary issues. This is not even sharp disagreements between Dr. Wayne Grudom, who's a continuationist, and those who are cessationists whenever the continuationist cessationist debate comes up. We are all beloved brothers with many, if not all, whom we disagree with. We ought to be if we both share the same faith. But we are not friendly to those who have made themselves enemies of Christ and the gospel. They are Trojan horses who seek to divide and bring down from the inside. They do not bring peace, they have a dark and satanic motive and agenda. They don't bring blessing to the ministry long term, they do not further our gospel work, but rather they hinder it. This is dividing over the gospel of Jesus Christ, as John Calvin put it. It is indeed an impious and sacrilegious attempt to divide those who agree in the truth of Christ, but yet it is a shameful thing to defend under the pretext of peace and unity a union in lies and impious doctrines for millennia in the church. Friends, this is an open and shut case. I want to briefly unpack Second John nine through eleven and then answer a few practical questions here. Beginning back in verse seven of Second John, John writes, For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, this is the deceiver and the Antichrist. Watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. First, I want to explain that to you. John is coming off instruction about love in the verses before these. And uh certainly in 1 John, you look and there's just multiple references for love, loving one another, love of God, obedience to God. And it's almost as if he comes into this next letter and right off the heels of talking about love and walking according to God's commandments, he puts these parameters around that, as if to say, you know, you all need to love each other, love God, keep his commandments. Love should be a mark on your life and your Christian interactions. But here's how you operate with deceivers. It's like that balance he comes to. That word for deceivers, the Greek word planos, it's the idea of wandering off into error or leading someone into error. It's translated imposter in other passages in the New Testament, and it makes it clear we're not to be friendly with those who corrupt the gospel and lead people astray. There's nothing we have in common. They are an enemy of God and the gospel. Second, when John says in that passage that there are those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, he's mentioning a heresy at that time, in which was very similar to docetism. It's the teaching that denied Jesus as having a physically human body. This teaching eventually led to Gnosticism and denying the humanity of Christ having come as a man while still truly, fully God, as Sproul always said, he's was he was truly man and truly God. When this is essential first-tier Christian doctrine, they were dividing the church with their false teaching, and like today's popular heresies such as the Word of Faith movement, the prosperity gospel, Roman Catholicism, and Mormonism, the teachers at that time they posed a serious threat to the church with their false doctrines and their false gospel. And so John then says, Watch yourselves that you don't lose what we have accomplished. Think about this for a second. What does that mean? Well, who's he talking to? Let's think audience and the author. John is talking to an audience of people that are believers, and the backdrop here is Ephesus. Well, think about that. Paul got Ephesus started, the church there, and we see him charge the elders with their duty in Acts chapter 20. And then Timothy, the the letters of 1 and 2 Timothy, the backdrop to those letters is Ephesus. Timothy's there and he's got a job to do, and then eventually John the Apostle is there. So Ephesus has this run of pastor shepherds that would be like, and I'm not comparing these men to the early apostles, but just for our own sanctified imaginations here, picture Paul Washer starts a church as a missionary, and then the next guy put there by Paul Washer, he sends, you know, Martin Lloyd Jones and says, go and get this thing going and appoint elders and do a good job. And then imagine after Lloyd Jones has been there, you know, John MacArthur comes in and you just have this back-to-back-to-back era of gospel ministry through these faithful leaders. Well, Paul the Apostle was involved at Ephesus, Timothy's involved at Ephesus, and the Apostle John, the one that Jesus, he calls himself the one that Jesus loved, the beloved disciple, is there. Well, Ephesus is blessed beyond measure. They have a rich heritage. Then they're warned, be very careful you don't lose what has been accomplished. Why? Well, because you need to be on guard against false teachers. If they infiltrate the ranks, if you have these unholy alliances, if you let those in who are looking for some sort of acceptance and verification, if your motives, your agendas aren't pure, if you are compromising, well, you're going to bring down what has been built up. Then he says in verses 9 to 11, the famous words, if anyone goes too far and does not abide in the teachings of Christ, they don't have God. The one who abides in the teaching, he is both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and doesn't bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, don't give him a greeting. For the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. That's the famous passage now about not partnering, caring for, showing hospitality and acceptance of false teachers. So with the backdrop in mind, we could better understand this instruction. Go too far means that which is beyond the boundaries of sound teaching. I appreciate what doctor James White commentates on this. He says he does not abide, remain in the teaching and the doctrine. Given that this is definitional doctrine, de fide, one might say, the one who violates this truth has neither the father nor the son. These are strong words, he says. We must confess. Few today ponder deeply. I think he's right. This is a person who does not abide and remain in the teaching and the doctrine. We do not want to share in any enterprise with them. We're not looking to show them as accepted. We're not, we're not even looking to say, well, I know they think and believe a little different. And look, I don't agree with a lot of what they teach, but there's no conjunction that connects the true believer, the faithful pastor, the work of light with the false teacher, the false prophet, and the work of darkness. There's no connector there. John goes on to say, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, don't receive him into your house. Well, at that time, hospitality was essential for teachers going town to town and house to house. They were being told, these people now by John, not to help false teachers who were benefiting from their support, their hospitality, and their direct enablement. Does this mean now today you can never go to a bakery owned by a Mormon? No, that's not at all what it means. Why? Well, because the Mormon parishioner is not a false teacher, a false prophet. He's not someone who is depending on that and taking it to go out. He's just a Mormon baker. You should evangelize him with the gospel. There's a difference between the Mormon high priest who is out there and you partner with him to show some enterprise. We saw this recently here in Arizona. There was a local, you know, Mormon high priest who reached out and said. I think there's so much we could do together. You know, we're we're in the same family. We just need to come together. There's a massive difference between you going to buy uh a ham and cheese croissant from a Mormon baker and then pastorally saying, okay, let's go and stand against abortion together with a Mormon or hey, let's do this event together and try to bring quote unquote God back into our community or what have you. We need to be very clear about the differences. At that time, false teachers were were relying on the enablement of people. They still do today, just in many different ways. They don't need to come to our house to get a meal or to be put up for a few days. They'll stay in their own hotel. But there are things that they're looking for now today to get acceptance and get enablement. The teachers back then, if they could get a foothold with uh one home or a group, then they could sway even more people. Think about how you can apply that today. There are many false teachers looking for some aspect of acceptance. And if they can get that acceptance, then they could enter into more circles of influence. And if the false teachers at that time could get someone to sign off on their acceptance, there'd be more opportunities to infiltrate. Now, what does it mean to not even give that person a greeting? Well, in that context, it was the indication of welcome and partnership. I want you to contrast that to what second century church father Irenaeus writes about this type of thing in his work Against Heresies. He writes about John's apostle, the apostle John's apostle Polycarp. And Polycarp ran into a known heretic, a false teacher at that time, Marcion, and he says to him, Marcion says, Do you know me? To which Polycarp responds to him, I do know you, the firstborn of Satan. This is the way that the early church fathers responded to false teachers and heretics. He didn't say, Yeah, hey, how are you? Shake his hand and say, Well, we have some differences, but we're going to kind of keep it together right now because we're at this political rally, or, you know, we're we both benefit in this business if we just kind of get along. MacArthur commentates about another story from the early church writings, same same writer, uh Irenaeus, in which the apostle John encountered uh Sarinthus, who is a heretic, and he runs into him in a public bathhouse in Ephesus. And instead of hanging out, John turns, he flees, and he tells those with him, Let us fly lest even the bathhouse fall down, because Sarinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within. He calls the false teacher the enemy of the truth, and is afraid to even be around him lest the bathhouse fall down. Friend, the early church took false teaching and false teachers so seriously, calling them enemies of the truth, not wanting to be with them, help them, or partner with them. Some practical questions then. First, is it sinful or wrong to engage in debate or aspects of inner faith dialogue in which you present the gospel, somebody else presents a different view, and you debate, you talk about that in a public forum, you answer questions. Of course not. You're not compromising, you're not saying, yeah, that's fine to believe. Here's what I believe. You're coming strongly against error with the truth of the gospel and presenting that. There's nothing wrong with that. Again, I already used the example, I'll answer it again, though, and let's get practical. Can you go to a bakery owned by a typical Mormon or a Muslim? Of course, people following a different faith is different than you actively showing a false teacher hospitality and enabling their ministry. The text in 2 John 9 through 11 doesn't call for the old six degrees from set from Kevin Bacon approach where now you can't even drive down the street that has a Mormon temple because someone might think you're going there. I mean, let's be logical here. This is direct, active support, camaraderie, partnership, common enterprise that benefits the head of the snake, so to speak. You are literally feeding their ministry with the fuel of your support and partnership and confusing people when you do it the wrong way. And that's what the text calls for us to not do. Not that you can't go by a croissant. Is it possible? Here's another practical reality, to end up at an event where a false teacher goes, you know, for politics or a community event? Of course. If you go to a local prayer rally for your city, what if a false teacher goes too? In fact, it's probably a hundred percent guaranteed that a false teacher will be there. Or if you're at a political event to pray or encourage Christian principles in the political sphere, what if a false teacher or wolf goes? Well, most of those people are always going to be around those parts because they're typically circling the wagons for power and influence. And in these instances, we stay focused on what we're there to do. We avoid them completely at all costs if we can. And if you do end up in a conversation with them for some reason, I'm of the mind that we respond accordingly with truth and refute them. Perhaps they say, you know, hi, hey, how are you? Good to see you. You say, Hi, well, good to see you too. I'm glad I get to say this to you. Have you repented of your false representation of Christ yet? Hey, there's no time to repent. Like right now, here. We'll even pray with you and help you walk forward in true repentance. And maybe they don't like that at all. That's fine. Or uh if you want to do what the apostle John did, or uh, you know, where Polycarp is in this situation and uh Marcion greets him and he says, you know, hello, uh firstborn of Satan, I do know who you are, and I know what you've been doing. You need to repent. Let the Lord lead you in that moment. But where in the Christian canon and where in all reason and biblical wisdom is there room to sort of just chum it up? There isn't. Another one, do we need false teachers and godless individuals to enter our churches, partner with our church, or identify with our church for any spiritual purpose? No. We'll stand against abortion just fine ourselves. We will stand for the truth of the gospel ourselves. We will vote and make our voices known ourselves. We'll teach sound doctrine, proclaim the gospel, evangelize the lost, seek to impact the world through global missions, all with people who are pure in their gospel presentation. It may mean that different denominations put aside secondary issues to come together, of course. I have wonderful friends who we've partnered with at various times to see certain things happen who are from different denominations. But we do not need false teachers at all to help us save America or save anything. They can't even save the people who need saving the most with the only thing that can save the gospel. So why do we need them for any other purpose? The gospel will do just fine, the truth always wins. We do not want to appear ever as though we are accommodating godless ideologies and making room for those who will hurt or injure the bride of Christ. Here are some questions to ask that I ask myself as a pastor and an elder of a local church. Would I let this person influence my wife? Would I let this person be in charge of shaping the worldview, opinions, mindset, and demeanor of my own wife or household? Well, think about this now. The church is the bride of Christ. Who you let in, who you partner with for mutual benefit and enterprise, who you help grow in their voice and influence will matter when you meet the Lord. He will hold us all accountable for the way we shepherded his bride. And church leaders are charged with protecting the bride, along with all the other duties that the shepherd leader engages in. I have to ask myself this all the time, and we ask this as a team of leaders and elders at our church and deacons, who are the voices speaking into our lives? Who are the voices speaking into the church leaders' lives? Behind the scenes, what attachments do we have? Would those be fitting or unfitting if they went public? If everyone in our church sat through our staff meetings, our pastor meetings, our deacon meetings, mentor meetings, would they see a strategic process and hear things that match the public voice or cadence of the church or ministry? Are the way we operating in various forums, Monday through Saturday, identical to what gets presented on Sunday? All very important questions for ministers of the gospel to be asking, not just once, but year after year. Because as you all know, in life and business and ministry and anything, it's so tempting when you start reaching goals or feeling stable to get comfortable. And just like wise marriages revisit issues, reassess goals, circle the wagons on their home to make sure it's a home that matches what we say we believe. So too we do well as churches, ministries, leaders, pastors, shepherds, whatever role you have in the body of Christ, to assess ongoing the way we are representing the bride of Christ. Lastly, I want to encourage you, friend, once more, we don't need any help from the world to see God's kingdom come. If politics goes our way, praise God. If it doesn't, hey, praise God. We're just going to be all the more bold and fearless and call the leaders of our nation and states to repent. But we were never guaranteed an easy road in this life. We were never told that we need to partner with all and and through all means, whatever it takes with whoever just to make this thing happen. We're called to stand for the truth, to follow Christ, and to be faithful no matter the cost. And we're going to stand for the truth because we love the truth. And Jesus is always worth any trouble we get into for preaching his name. You and I, we don't need false teachers to partner with us in order to change the world. We just need to live the truth. I hope this episode has given you much to think about. If you're a church member out there, I pray that you are at a church, or if you just move somewhere, that you find a church where leaders are being faithful to feed, lead, and protect. And if you're a fellow church leader, don't buy the lie that you ever need any worldly alliance to feed, lead, and protect the flock. Let's do our job, brothers. Be faithful. You have everything you need. The sword is in your hand, and the spirit has filled you and empowered you and gifted you. So go do what Christ has called you to and trust him with the results. For loads of free resources or to partner with Further Gospel to help produce more resources, you can go to furthegospel.org. Do keep in mind as the year winds down, your end of your gifts are put immediately to use as we have new series, new resources coming in 2023. And if this podcast has blessed you, please leave a review so others can be encouraged to listen as well. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. For now, keep on living for the gospel.