Top 10 Lies False Teachers Teach

In this episode, we expose 10 lies false teachers teach. Addressing ten of the current messages misleading the church, we will provide brief explanations and refute them from the Bible. Our hope is that you will be informed and gain greater discernment as we confront the lies that are damaging the church. Thank you for listening. Also, if you could follow or subscribe to this channel, you will stay up to date on new episodes. 

Transcript

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Welcome to Rise Higher Podcast, a ministry of Risen Church Lakeshore. We give relevant biblical teachings on difficult topics. Our prayers that this podcast can be a source of encouragement and learning on how to live biblically in a challenging world. Today we're talking about top ten lies false teachers teach. Now, this isn't going to be exhaustive because the lies are kind of like Hydra. You cut one head off, another one pops right up. But it's very biblical and recommended in Scripture to do what I'm going to do in this teaching, in this podcast, to address what is false. Because these teachings gain strength and we need to respond. Respond with scripture, passage in verse, people, passage in verse of why it's wrong and dangerous. And my prayer, often for the church, my local church, but also the global church, is that we'll gain discernment and that we can condemn what is false and provide biblical reasons why it's wrong. Now, false teaching, false prophets. It goes back to the times of Jeremiah, the prophet, Jeremiah chapter 14, verse 14. It says, The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them. This is God speaking, appointed them, or spoken to them. They're prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries, and delusions of their own minds. I think that captures it pretty well sometimes. Especially as I I dive into these different lies that false teachers are teaching. There's delusions there. Matthew chapter seven warns about false prophets. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ferocious wolves, and by their fruit you will recognize them. This is verse 15 and 16. John in his letter says, Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they're from God. Because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is first John chapter 4, verse 1. False teaching and false prophet prophets is also evidence that the end is near. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 24, verses 10 through 13, when he's talking about end times or the signs of when the end will come, he says at that time many will turn away from the faith, will betray and hate each other. In verse 11, many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And and that's that's my goal, that we stand firm. So clearly this is a problem. But it's not a problem we can't face through discernment and strong biblical teaching. So are you ready to hear the top ten? Here we go. Your giving ensures a miracle. This false teaching is using a money-focused message to exploit followers of Christ for financial gain, sometimes called the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel is alive and well. This false teaching teaches that godliness guarantees material wealth, health, and success. And here's some of the language they use. You need to plant seeds into the gospel ministry so your financial blessing will grow. And the seed here is money. I mean, these false teachers are telling God's people to give them money. And when you do, you're planting seeds into my ministry, which will then bring you wealth. You gotta give money to get money. God wants you to be rich. Sickness is a result of a lack of faith. Because God wants you to be healthy and wealthy and successful. And that's the byproduct of having a strong faith in God. Okay, but what does Jesus say? And what does he say about material wealth? I want to start in Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 through 21. Jesus says, Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moss or vermin destroy or where thieves break in and steal, but instead store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moss and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. I mean the point is, don't worry about money or storing up money for yourself. You have an eternal reward you can look forward to. So instead be about the kingdom of God. Jesus said of himself, Foxes have dens, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. When he talked about himself and his ministry, he often referred to how he was penniless. And it's not really about this. He says in other places, hey, seek first my kingdom in my righteousness. All these things that you worry about, like food and clothing, it'll be taken care of because God takes care of his followers, but that's not your priority, that's not your focus. It's not about money and it's not about security and it's not about comfort. No, instead, it's about serving Christ and living in his kingdom. Okay, Luke 12, verse 15, he said, Watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. This sentiment, this thought, that verse speaks directly against this false teaching. It's not about money. It's not about gaining financial prosperity. Paul talked about this. Paul didn't, first of all, accumulate wealth, and he he actually warns Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6 that the desire for wealth leads to temptation, ruin, and destruction, stating in verse 10, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Kriflo Dollar, one of these people who who teach the prosperity gospel, said this Wealth and riches are the prosperity profile of the righteous. And this is the same pastor who asked his followers to fund a purchase of a sixty-five million dollar jet for his own personal transportation. This happened in 2015. It was for ministry expenses, along with a really large worship center and a very large, nice house to live in. You see, these ministries seek to increase in wealth, which they see as completely justifiable according to their reading of the scriptures. Their approach to the gospel, their approach to the Christian life is a false teaching that's not new. Actually, it's as old as the early church. You know, Peter writes against this in 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 14 through 15. When he's talking about false prophets, he says, with eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning. They seduce the unstable, and they're experts in greed, and a cursed brood. They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam, who loved the wages of the wickedness. This is condemned by Peter, Paul, and even Jude. Jude uses the same analogy as Peter. See, this is Jude 1.11. They have rushed to for profit in Balaam's error. So now money is not inherently evil, but the love of money is evil, and amassing millions for personal gain and wealth, especially claiming it to be ministry, is widely condemned by the New Testament writers. These are lies, and beware. 9. I have a new revelation from God. Thus says the Lord, I received this vision, and now I'm speaking it to you. Did you know that we have prophets on the same level as Jeremiah, Isaiah, Paul, the writers of the New Testament? Alive right now? I mean, we we can hear them right now. They're on YouTube. They put out their prophecies on Facebook. They're given a prophecy that becomes authoritative for the church, called the office of a prophet. That's real. It's happening right now. These men and women have a special connection with God, and you can hear God's next plans for his church through them. And you might be wondering, I didn't know prophets still existed. I know prophets of the Old Testament, right? I know Jesus was a prophet. Modern-day prophets, that doesn't even make sense. There is such a thing as an office of the prophet, as found in certain segments of the contemporary church, typically in charismatic churches, even though not all charismatics necessarily believe in this, but that's typically where you find these groups of people. And just to give you an idea of what they think and what they believe, this is from David McCracken Ministries. He says, because he of course supports this and is really promotes this, he says, the office of prophet is the divine mouthpiece, functioning as a seer to receive revelations and deliver God's now word, warnings, direction to the church or nations. Now I'm hoping that all of this is throwing up some red flags and you and you're thinking, uh, this doesn't sound right. I also want you to think this doesn't sound right, and it's not new, because a lot of these false teachings are really found in old heresies. Because this was a problem in the early church. The heresy was called Montanism. It was found in the second century, and it was a movement led by Montanus and Prophetess Priscilla and Prophetess Maximilla. Now these three figures claim that the Holy Spirit spoke directly through them and that they were initiating a new outpouring, new outpouring of the Holy Spirit and revelation. Now, Montanus said, this is something that he he he had said and actually had been written down because it was so controversial at the time, he said, I am the Lord God the Almighty, dwelling in a man. Now, Montanus didn't believe that he was God in the flesh. He didn't believe he was God in the flesh while he was having coffee and bagel in the morning. No, he below he believed that when he had this divine experience, this these divine visions, and then when he communicated these utterances, this new revelations, this was God speaking through him. So he considered these fresh utterances to be the very voice of God with binding authority. Now I bring up this old heresy because some of this language and what Motnus believed, it's it's very similar to the heretical movement that we're seeing right now called Nar. Now, this movement within charismatic circles is called the New Apostolic Reformation, Nar. Peter Wagner is a spokesperson for this, but also Bill Johnson of Bethel, Rick Joyner, Kim Clement, Lou Engel are all considered pretty influential people within this group. So they're heavy on modern-day apostles or the office of apostle. So we can have apostles today. They're heavy on spiritual leaders and spiritual miracle workers, and this reception of new revelation from God through the office of prophet. Now, Peter Wagner claimed in 2001 that the office of apostle and prophet have reached sufficient recognition in the church to inaugurate what he termed the second apostolic age. This is where they get this new apostolic reformation idea. The first apostolic age lasted, according to Wagner, about 200 years. So this is what we read in the book of Acts, all the way through the first then into the second century AD. Now, what Wagner teaches that the office of prophet has returned, it returned in the 1980s and is now being established and ordained for new revelation, gaining steam, and now God has blessed this new movement of God to the point where now we're entering into this new second apostolic age. Commonly called the five-fold ministry. Maybe you've heard of that or not, found in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11. You have apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. And each one carries a certain measure of authority over the church. Now, to be fair, they would say that scripture is the final authority, but here's the problem: they take the prophecy or their authority that they carry, carrying these offices, and elevate it, and then mandate it as something that the church must abide or follow. So I want to state the problem clearly. What Nar is doing, what this office of prophet giving new revelations, what they're doing is they're distorting or adding to scripture to justify new, often heretical doctrines. And so here's some biblical reasons to refute this thought. I'm going to start with 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 31. Paul says, For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. Okay, did you catch what Paul is saying in that verse? He says, everybody can prophesy. It's not limited to just one small select group of people. So whatever Nar believes prophecy is, it's not what Paul's talking about because it seems to be very widespread. Everyone could be a part of this. It's not restricted to an office. Jesus was very clear that all of his followers are equal. Not one person can be elevated over somebody else into a place of spiritual superiority. He says in Matthew chapter 23, or Matthew, yeah, chapter 23, verses 8 through 11, he says, But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you're all brothers, and do not call anyone on earth father, for you have one father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. See, those verses seem to contradict their view of the fivefold ministry. No, we we all have access to God's word. We have the Holy Spirit indwelling in us to teach us what God wants for us, and we should never be elevating certain people or elevating our status over other people. It's clearly against what God's teaching in His Word. 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 3 says, In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 13 through 14. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. So prophecy here for Timothy was so that he could actually take the role, not the office, of a teaching elder in the church where he was placed. And as he as he lives out that role, right, as he is is fulfilling that that role that's been placed on his life, that calling, we sometimes use the word calling, it's really not about his words or Timothy's words, it's about God's word. And that his job was to read it, teach it, and preach it, not to preach or teach some sensational thought that they had that he had received from God. So this new revelation from God is false, it's a lie, and beware. Hell does not exist, and everyone goes to heaven. The people who teach this are essentially teaching universalism, and they're denying God's judgment. Belief in Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation. The blood of Jesus Christ is only applied to believers, and that there is no eternal punishment for the wicked. The more influential teachers of this particular view is Richard Rohr, Bishop Robert Barron, Paul Young, who's the author of the Shack, and Rob Bell, who is from my area. He's from West Michigan, Grand Rapids. And he was heavily influenced by that bishop, Bishop Robert Barron. And so here's the message in a nutshell. All people who have sinned against God will finally or eventually be saved. Love wins. God's love is so powerful, it will ultimately win over every person, suggesting that hell's not an eternal destination, but a temporary self-chosen state. So we all have our own personal hells that we live here on earth, but the hell that you live now will someday someday will be taken away and will escape that hell and be reunited with God in a perfect state. So God's love is ultimately irresistible, and God gets what God wants for all people to be saved. It's a very simplistic reading of John 3.16, for God so loved the world, everyone, universally, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. They grab on to verses like 1 John chapter 2, verse 2, that says he is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also the sins of the whole world. Or John 1.29, when John the Baptist said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But they avoid a simple distinction. It's important that you catch this. They're right in saying that Jesus' death on the cross was sufficient to save everyone, but the application of the blood of Christ was only for those who believe, effective for believers. So the scope of Christ's blood, his death on the cross, of course, is infinite. But only believers enjoy the forgiveness that Jesus' blood gives. You see, John 3.16 actually points to this. In that verse, we read that whoever believes in him in Christ, in God's one and only Son. You see, Paul builds in personal choice to believe throughout the book of Romans. I'll give you one verse. Romans 3.22. His righteousness is given through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe, to all who believe. You see, you need to believe in Jesus exclusively if you want forgiveness. And this view also misses the clear warnings about God's eternal judgment on unbelievers. Jesus talks about the sheep and the goats in Matthew chapter 25. And in the end of that section, he ends with a very challenging passage. He says in Matthew chapter 25, verse 46, then they will go away to eternal punishment, talking about the goats, but the righteous to eternal life, the sheep. So you see, there is clearly a need for the personal choice to receive Christ's forgiveness and to believe in Him. It is not for the unbeliever, but only for the believer. They are the only ones who receive salvation, and that there is a place called hell where the wicked and unbeliever go. So this particular false teaching is a lie, it's false, and beware. Seven. Experience is equal to scripture. What's happening in this false teaching is that they're placing subjective personal experiences above the authority of the Bible. And this is kind of a fuzzy teaching or fuzzy approach, and it's hard to simply cite a source. I'm going to explain. Richard Rohr, I've talked about him already, uh, teaches the tricycle approach to theology. It kind of works like this. You have experience or your own interpretive lens, so your own approach to life and to the Bible, as the front wheel that leads. And then you have scripture and tradition as the back two wheels that follows behind. Zach Lambert, lead pastor of Restore Austin, teaches a, and this is kind of his approach, a new subjective lens for transforming the Bible into a tool of healing rather than a weapon of harm. And so what's happening here is that, especially because of our kind of modern philosophical approach to the world and to life, a very postmodern relativistic understanding of morality and how we ought to read scriptures or how we ought to read authority authoritative documents, is that, hey, whatever culture they were living in, it's it's we can we can know about it, but the real fruit for your own personal life is to understand what it means to you, how your life is being impacted or transformed by that sacred document, like the Bible. So as you read it, your interpretive lens that matters. But whatever truth is actually found in the writing itself, that's not really what's most important. It's about what's happening in your own life and how it's impacting how you live now. Pierre Enns, the author of How the Bible Actually Work Works, teaches that the Bible is an ancient, ambiguous, and diverse book that gives us wisdom rather than direct statements we must follow. Did you catch the thought? But the the real inspiration is what you take out of the Bible and how that impacts your life. Progressive hermeneutics uses this approach. A person must first run Bible statements through their own modern contextual lens to see if the culture the writers lived in correlates. And where there is divergence, well then take what you can from what they say and how they lived. But what matters is what you're doing now. We even see this in modern evangelical circle circles. The Bible is applied however the reader takes it. And and this happens in messages where we we we teach God's word, but it sounds a lot like. Allegory. It's not really what is being said in the script the passage itself, it's what that pastor lifts from it that supports whatever insight or point he wants to make. And this happens in Sunday morning sermons a lot. So here's how we ought to read the Bible. We need to understand the author's intended meaning. It's called authorial intent. It's the writer's meaning, not the reader's interpretation that gives us truth. And this requires real study. Because then the reader needs to know the historical setting, literary genre, and grammatical usage of the language that the writer was writing in. Because it impacts the message. Because the truth is found in what the writer is communicating to the audience at that time, not myself or us as readers reading it now in the 21st century. Now, the meaning and the truth of the passage is in what the author was saying. See, esegesis is reading your own thoughts into the Bible. Exegesis is drawing meaning from what the author intended to communicate. The Bible can say whatever you want it to say, is a lie, it's false teaching, and beware. Six. You are a God and you can create your own reality. This is elevating human potential and divinity over God's will and his reign over the world. And you're probably wondering, what is this false teaching all about? Like what's behind this false teaching? Well, I'm going to give you what I consider a pretty clear example of this. Stephen Furtick, in a hyper emotive part of his message, said, I am God Almighty. And this happened in 2021. Now, people defended him, saying he didn't really mean it. You or somebody might say, hey, he might be taking this out of context. Or maybe he was just tongue-tied, or he didn't really mean what he said. And I don't want to go down the rabbit hole too far with Fur. But he is closely tied with T.D. Jakes. And T.D. Jakes is part of the Word of Faith movement. And if you kind of follow who's influencing who, then you would see why he would make a statement like this. So I think I need to explain the Word of Faith movement and what that is. The big names are Kenneth Hagen and Kenneth Copeland, maybe those sound familiar. And they have taught repeatedly, which is not a slip of the tongue, that believers are little gods, because we are born of God, holding that human beings have the same nature as God, possess the same nature as God spiritually, and that we have authority, just like Jesus Christ, to do miraculous works. They take this from John chapter 4, 14, verse 12. Truly, truly I say to you, what whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do in greater works. So the apostles, they heal people, demonstrating the same power as Jesus. So now, today, we can do the same thing. This movement is sometimes called the name it and claim it movement. A person can by faith claim a miracle. All they have to do is name it, and then it'll happen by faith. We have that kind of authority in Christ. When we become believers, do we have the same essence as God? Nowhere does the Bible teach this that we stop being finite or lose our sin nature when we become believers. First John 1 8 says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Galatians 5 verse 17. Paul says, For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. Romans 7, verse 18 says, For I know the good itself does not dwell in me, that is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do as good, but I cannot carry it out. See, Paul's very clear that even when you have faith in Christ, the flesh still exists. Our sin nature is there, and there will be an eternal war between the flesh, our old nature, and our new nature, which is found in Christ. This new creation we become because of Jesus Christ's work in our life. Now the supernatural change that occurs is not by our own doing, but by the Spirit who works in us. Paul explains this in Romans chapter 8, verses 5 through 6. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. So by faith we choose to live by the Spirit and let the Spirit take control of what we do and what we think and how we live. The Holy Spirit governs our minds and leads us to righteousness. The point being is that when we choose our own way or choose our own sin nature or flesh, we are now opposed to God and the work of God. But then when the Spirit takes control, well now we we live in a way that is righteous and we live different. We are not little gods, and we're not taking on the essence of gods or become like God. No, we display spiritual power because now we're being governed by the Holy Spirit, God who indwells us. We need to see the distinction. And where do we get off thinking that miracles are somehow something that we get to control? Like we can demand from God what we want or what is right and proper. God is sovereign, God's will is is beyond us. It's it's really unknowable. We don't know why God does what he does. So his reign is absolute. By me naming and claiming a miracle, it's essentially saying that I get to tell God what to do. In 1 John chapter 5, verses 14 through 15, it says, this is the confidence we have in approaching God, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And I know that he hears us. Whatever we ask, we know that we have what we ask for. But did you catch the key phrase in this verse? According to God's will. So you see, God plans what will happen, and and we can ask, but we don't know the right outcome. Only God knows what is right and good for his creation. We can ask, and sometimes God says, Yeah, exactly. It's gonna happen right now. Sometimes he says, No, you don't know what is exactly right. And I have a plan, and and it is a good plan, and it's a perfect plan, and it's gonna work out for your good and for the good of my creation. And then sometimes he just says, wait, maybe, wait, do you just take to hold back? You know, you this this can happen, but just not right now. Romans 8 28 says, For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who've been called according to his purpose. Yeah, so there is a good plan, and he's working out his good plan, and we don't know it, not not fully. And we can't strong arm God because of our wants. Your naming and claiming something could be the worst thing to happen to you. You thinking this is this is the miracle I need in my life could actually be to the detriment of your faith, the people around you, because you don't know the full plan. God, as a good father, will give you what is good for you, even if it's painful. So this whole name it and claim it messages we hear, or this divine authority that we carry, is a lie, and beware. 5. There are many ways to salvation, essentially denying that Jesus is the only way. But there are many ways. This is the inner faith pluralistic movement, holds that all religions essentially say the same thing. In 2024, Pope Francis made headlines by telling a group of young people that all religions are paths to reach God. Faiths are just different languages that that speak of the same God. Rob Bell used this analogy that meeting God is kind of like climbing a mountain. There are many paths, but the same destination. This is a lie, it's just not true. Jesus made it clear that he is the only way to God, exclusively. John 14, verse 6 says, I am the way, the truth, and life. No one comes of Father but through me. Acts 4, verse 12 says, Neither is there salvation any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men where we must be saved. First Timothy chapter 2, verse 5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. John 10, verse 9, Jesus said, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. See, the simple truth cannot be missed. The create the Christian faith is of course inclusive, as in everyone is welcome, but exclusive, only the ones who believe in Jesus can come to God the Father and can have a relationship with God. So if someone's saying, Hey, there's there's many faiths, boil it all down, they're talking about the same God. It's just not true. It's a lie, and beware. God just wants you to be happy. God just wants your best life now. This is made popular by Joel Olstein and others. Victoria Olstein, standing next to Joel on the stage of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, said this: Do good, because God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship him, you're not doing it for God, really. You're doing it for yourself because that's what makes God happy. Whew. Okay, how do we interpret happiness? I mean, if you read or listen to this teaching, happiness often looks like success or the absence of pain, or happiness, happiness is personal comfort. This is commonly thought of as the feel-good gospel. Now, this is this teaching is opposite of what we see in Jesus' life and what the New Testament writers say to believers. In Hebrews chapter 11, in that famous faith chapter of Hebrews chapter 11, verses 36 through 38, we read, some faced jeers and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were they were put to death by stoning, they were sawed into, they were killed by the sword, they went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, mistreated, and the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground, essentially saying, Life is hard, and they they struggled and they had difficulties all the time. And Hebrews finishes by saying, verse 39, these were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. What he's saying there is that these big eternal promises that God is going to fulfill, many of these followers never saw it. They lived their whole life by faith, believing, having hoped that this would occur. Way at the beginning of the chapter, verse 13, it says, All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. Yeah, that that that's what we're called to. We're called to a life of faithfulness that where we we serve God not because it brings us something or gives us something in a way of success or absence of pain or personal comfort, but because we do it because he's worthy and that he ought to be served and receive glory. And we receive the fruit of the Spirit, which is more of an internal in internal blessing than an external circumstances. First Peter chapter 2, verse 21 says, For you've been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leave you an example for you to follow in his steps. So Paul was writing to Christians during the reign of the psychopath Caesar Nero. And he's saying, You're gonna suffer, but Christ suffered, and he gave you an example. The Christian faith is filled with suffering. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 3, suffer hardships with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Jesus himself said in John 16, verse 33, I've said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you'll have many troubles, but take heart, I have overcome the world. So we see that we're not really promised comfort. Actually, we're kind of promised the opposite. We're promised difficult. And the scriptures point to an eternal reward, and that we have to keep going despite the difficulties. I do want to add that Randy Alcorn and John Piper talk about happiness, understood biblically, and they explain that happiness is encouraged by Jesus. John Piper made it his mission to teach that true eternal happiness is not from creaturely comforts, but found in obedience to God, and that by our obedience to God and bringing him glory, we then find joy in him. So what they're saying is that by repenting of sin and choosing to walk with Christ, when we pursue holiness, we then find joy, not worldly happiness, which is often dependent on circumstance, often dependent on the right kind of setting for happiness. No, instead it's joy, which is a fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians chapter 5. So we need discernment to see that when we hear this language of happiness, is it repentance, holiness, seeking out what God wants for us and walking in it, experiencing more internal joy or circumstantial happiness? See if we hear that lie, we need to beware. Follow your heart and do what's right. Promoting subjectivity and self-love over biblical obedience. I have a lot to say on this topic because I think it really captures the cultural milieu of our time. I did upload a podcast on moral deism, so you can check that out, specifically moral therapeutic deism. That podcast explains the common thought found among many cultural Christians and sometimes naive, naively promoted by pastors. But to quickly recap, the thought behind that moral moralistic is the central belief that God wants people to be nice, good, and fair to one another. And essentially, it mirrors traditional values, but it's not really found in a deep commitment to Christ. Therapeutic belief that the goal of life is to be good, happy, secure, and at peace. And that God He acts like a cosmic therapist to assist with that happiness. Deism is a belief that God exists, created the world, watches over life, but is not really actively involved in daily affairs unless, yeah, maybe sometimes when we call upon him, he might decide to step in and give us what we want and make us happy. Alright, I'm gonna give you an example of this. This moral deism, which I really is kind of a cultural Christian approach to the world or understanding of faith. It's a the follow your heart, do what feels right approach. I want to give you an example of this. Hannah Brown, in season 15 of The Bachelorette 2019, I did not watch this show, but I did read about it, draw some conclusions about me. I don't watch The Bachelorette, but an example of this thought process was in her and the way she explained her behavior. So she had a confrontation with a contestant, Luke Parker, where Luke said she shouldn't have sex with contestants on the show. He said this is not the ethic of Christ or Christianity. And her statement back sparked debate. Her statement was, I've had sex and Jesus still loves me. Hannah then told Luke that she would not be lectured on morality, arguing that her faith in God was between the Lord and her. God's commands on premarital or extramarital sex didn't really matter to her life because God knows her heart. You see, this is an example of moral relativism, which is a component of moral deism, where a person's happiness is really up to the person to decide. Hannah, in this example, can make whatever choice she wants to make because in the end, God knows her heart, and that God just wants her to be happy, to follow her heart. That's kind of her ethical approach to the world. Now, grace and mercy of God is a cornerstone of biblical faith. Right? Grace and mercy of God offers forgiveness and a fresh start. We don't have to go back and undo past sin, unless, of course, reconciliation is warranted, or earn our salvation or our right standing with God. And Paul's so clear on this in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. He says, For it is by grace you've been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves, it's a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. Often we stop there, but then we miss a key point that he makes in the next verse. In verse 10, he says, For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. You know, there's a false understanding of Jesus' ministry, that Jesus being a friend of sinners didn't really care about the lifestyle of the people that he was ministering to. It wasn't true. Yes, Jesus was a friend of sinners, but he never excused their lifestyle of sin. The people who repented and turned from sin then gave evidence that they really believed in Jesus and experienced his grace and mercy, which is that key thought, not only found in the Gospels, found in the book of James, but also even in Paul. When Paul writes, he's using this language of handiwork as evidence that you've experienced God's grace through faith. I think Nicodemus is a great example of this. He was a tax collector and he extorted people for financial gain. Then he starts a personal relationship with Jesus. He meets Jesus, Jesus comes to his home, he believes in Jesus, and then he makes a statement in Luke chapter 19, verse 8. But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, here and now I give half my possessions to the poor. And if I've cheated anybody out of anything, I'll pay him back four times the amount. Then Jesus responds by saying, verse 9, Today's salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham. He's not excluded of the promise, the promised people. No, no, he is part of the kingdom of God. And then he says, This is my life verse, for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. I love that verse. Was Nicodemus saved because he gave the money back? No. See, he had already experienced the grace and mercy of Jesus, and he's giving evidence of a transformed heart and repentance by good works. You see, Nicodemus is God's handiwork, showing his community that he has been dramatically changed. And we we actually read it in that verse, verse 8, when Nic Nicodemus said it, he said, Look, Lord, here and now I give half of my possessions. Yeah, he he said it. Jesus is Savior and Lord. Jesus said in John chapter 14, verse 15, if you love me, you keep my commands. It's a false teaching to assume that God is okay with our choices, even if they give us temporary happiness. I mean, if they go against God's clear commands, he's not okay. And if we continue to do it and we're not repentant, it's evidence that we're really not following Christ. And to think that you're okay with God without repentance. Boy, you're confused and mistaken, and you've bought into a lie. Beware. Two. The Bible is a product of human tampering by church leaders. Okay, this is a very dangerous one. And here's the thought process. Many books are excluded because they didn't fit the agenda of a select group of church leaders. So the Bible is not really God's word, it's just a human product. And it's been altered and tampered over the centuries. And they misunderstand the canon of scripture and what the early church did when they established the orthodox accepted books of the Bible. Now, why does this false teaching keep reappearing? I've heard it for the 30 years I've been in ministry, 25 plus years to be more exact, of ministry. What why why does this keep resurfacing? Two reasons. First, people want to undermine the Bible and discount that the Bible is God's word. They want to make the claim that the Bible is just the product of human writers and cannot be trusted. The Bible's like any other religious book, full of legend, myth, and shouldn't have special status. The Bible's just productive of humans. It's not really God's word. But there's another reason. They want to use books that are not part of the canon, discredited books, because these books teach something that supports their talking point. And this just occurred with a Senate candidate from Texas. He wants to defend his position on transgenderism. He's pro people changing genders or gender fluidity. And he quotes from the Gospel of Thomas. So this is James Talarico, I think I'm saying that right. And he said this in a sermon. So he was in church. He was in a church and he quoted this passage. This is from the Gospel of Thomas. So I can't give you a verse. I'm sorry. This is the quote. When you make the male and the female one in the same, when the male is not male and the female is not female, then you will enter the kingdom of God. End quote. He cherry-picked this one section, really not taking the whole thought of the Gospel of Thomas, and said, See, this book wasn't included in the canon because a group of church leaders didn't like its message. But God was for transgenderism all along. It was just those backroom group of small church leaders that wanted to take it out. So let me clear up the canon of Scripture. I want to talk about what I mean by that. What is the canon and why the Gospel of Thomas among many books were not included? First, the word canon means measuring rod or Rule. So what happened is over the centuries the church evaluated writings, evaluated the books of the Bible, came to the conclusion that the 27 that we read we read are God's word, and that many books were heretical and false, and they discarded them. Now, bad history claims that this occurred at the Council of Nicaea. There are so many conspiracy theories surrounding this council. It's bad history because the Council of Nicaea didn't talk about the canon, but instead dealt with the Aryan controversy. Also, it's bad history because we find the earliest lists of accepted books as early as 80 170 in the Moretarian fragment. So this is a list of accepted books to be in the New Testament started taking place about 170 AD. The church felt the need to establish these lists very early on due to the circulation of aspurious texts like the Gospel of Thomas. These different false gospels were coming in and were being written much later than the apostles, and so people felt the need to write what were the right or accepted books and copying down these lists. But it wasn't until the Council of Rome in 382 AD that we had the official canon, which was then confirmed again in the Council of Hippo in 393 AD and Carthage in 397 A.D. So what Athanasius and these councils used was a strict criteria to assess the quality of a book. And it should be understood that they didn't tamper it, tamper with the book, or they didn't necessarily eliminate or alter what was written. They were just reviewing the quality of the book in its entirety, and they used this criteria. So it included apostolicity. Was it written by apostle or someone who was connected to the an apostle? Orthodoxy, doctrinal consistency with the shared beliefs of the expanding church, and internal consistency with other books. So does this book line up with other books that we know were written by apostles? And is it aligning with the Orthodox faith of the church and usage? Was there widespread acceptance? And not just in one pocket or one segment of the church, like maybe in Rome, is it being read in Carthage or is it being read in North Africa or in the Eastern Church or Constantinople or other places? Where is it being read? Now, the Gospel of Thomas, I I hope you can assume, was never written by Thomas, because that's what makes it so confusing. It was actually written much later. It was written between 135 or 140 AD. And the message of the Gospel is Gnostic. So Gnosticism was a heretical movement within the church, and it was taking place about 150 AD, and it was a distortion of the Christian faith, and it was widely condemned. I'm giving you a very brief synopsis of what the canon is and how it was formed, but I want to give you assurance, the 27 books we read in the Bible were widely accepted quickly. And all the canon was doing was just solidifying, or maybe a better word, recognizing the validity of these books as God's word. They were not changing, altering, or tampering them. Don't listen to this lie and beware. Hmm. Okay. Would Jesus have confronted issues like abortion, transgenderism, homosexuality, sexual sins if these issues were promoted by the Jewish leadership and Roman government? Would he have done that? Would he have shied away from cultural issues because it might have been seen as countercultural, a little too radical, difficult to receive? I mean, I think you know the answer to this. No, he would not shy away. Yes, he would challenge culture, social, and religious norms, and he did. And everything he said was very countercult countercultural. Here, I'm going to give you a few quick examples. Jesus ate with sinners and social outcasts. See this in Mark chapter 2. He defended women, breaking strict gender norms at the time, John chapter 4. He condemned religious leaders for prior to prioritizing human traditions over true meaning of God's commandments. Mark chapter 7. Jesus challenged the cultural obsession with wealth and power, teaching that true greatness lies in humble service rather than dominance. Mark 10. Despite Jewish Samaritan animosity, Jesus taught loving your neighbor without racial distinction. The parable of the Good Samaritan. He challenged the strict cultural interpretation of ritual hand washing and object cleansing, emphasizing internal purity over external appearance. Mark chapter 7. That's a long list, but it's clear that Jesus wasn't afraid to stand up to what is wrong in culture if it doesn't align with what God commands. And we shouldn't shy away from doing the same. Faithfulness to God's commands and the pursuit of holiness is above making people feel good. You see, Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 2 through 4, preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season, correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to miss. The job of the pastor in the church is to continue to teach what God clearly reveals in his word, even if it's not fashionable or doesn't fit the culture cultural narrative. And that is the top ten lies that false teachers teach. Thank you for listening.