Greetings to you. My name is Rodgers Atwebembeire, from the Africa Centre For Apologetics Research. A ministry that equips believers across Africa for discernment, for the defence of the Christian faith, and for cult evangelism. I have a subject of interest that I believe you and I need to talk about. The subject of false teachings. Is this something really worth talking about? Many times, as I do my ministry, I hear people ask me questions like; Why are you so negative? Why are you always attacking fellow pastors, and preachers, and pointing out their errors and their mistakes in their preachings? You mean you are not the only one who knows what is right everyone else doesn’t? Do you really have to be critical of whatever they say? Why don’t you just mind your business? Teach your things, let them teach their things. After all, God has called all of you and God deals with you in different ways.
Should false teachers be ignored?
But is this really a peripheral matter that we can just put on the side-lines and let everybody deal with it as they so choose? Did you know, by the way, that the Bible itself is very serious on pointing out the error and the danger of false teachers and their teachings? In fact, the Old Testament and every book of the New Testament with the exception of the book of Philemon, warn believers about the danger of false teachings and the severe consequences that arise out of it. Yet even with the so many warnings in the Bible about false teachers and their teachings, we still have believers in the local church who avoid proactively, constructively responding to this threat and the danger it poses. What are some of the dangers of these false teachings that you need to be aware about?
Different forms of false teaching
Well, false teaching comes in different shades. It might come in form of false churches. It might come in form of false teachers. It might come in form of false fellowships. And I’m sure that you are aware of all these areas. You will see false teachers on TV, false teachers on radio. And often, it’s not that they go around saying for us we are false teachers, so watch out for us. In most cases, they look Christian, they sound Christian, they are so inspiring. They are great communicators but their message, their methods, and the motives are unbiblical, unchristian, and very dangerous.
Consequences of buying into false teaching
What is the price of false teachings or buying into false teachings? As you can imagine, false teachers leave divided churches behind. With their divisive teachings, they discourage and demoralize believers. And sometimes, they end up destroying whole congregations by their teachings. But you also have things like financial and sexual exploitation. Not a week goes by before you hear somebody talking about a certain church they went to, and maybe they were told by the pastor that God would only solve their problem if they had a sexual affair with the ‘man of God’. And in the name of the anointing, or in the name of getting deliverance, many young women have been taken advantage of- abused and misused by the so-called ‘man of God’. And we cannot forget things like broken families and marriages. As you can imagine, some of these false teachers have even convinced their members that the partners they have are not the choices that God meant for them. And as a matter of fact, some families have been broken with husbands and wives leaving their partners to go for men apparently that the ‘men of God’ have told them are God’s choice. False teachers don’t only break marriages, but they also leave behind disillusioned and debilitated Christians. Imagine somebody who believes a prophecy from a ‘man of God’? That God is going to do something in their lives then they wait. A year goes by, another goes by, and God has not met their need. What are they supposed to think? That God lied to them. What they do not realize is that what they believed was false prophecy from a false prophet. And in their thinking that God has let them down, many have sadly and brokenly walked away from the Christian faith. What a challenge and how sad. But not only that, whenever false preaching or false teaching thrives in any congregation, it becomes a bad witness to the non-believers who are watching the Church. None believers look at the Church, they see the drama, and the theatrics that are happening there. And they wonder if this is the kind of community they would like to be part of. What false teaching does is that, it discredits the Christian witness, the Christian message, Christian evangelism, and many would have bowed their knee to Christ. By looking at the chaos, the conflict, and the confusion in the Church, they walk away believing that there is nothing for them in that kind of congregation.
False teaching has grave consequences both now and for eternity
Brethren, you need to understand that false teaching is not only deceptive in its nature, but it’s dangerous in terms of consequences. It is not just a matter of what you believe, it affects how you behave. It affects the choices and the decisions that you make day by day. It does not only have a bearing on your eternal life, but it can even harm you physically, spiritually, economically right now today. How many times have you turned on the TV, or radio, or in the newspapers, and you see a pastor, or a prophet who is abusing his church members? Not so long ago, we had people who were made to drink fuel. Because they were convinced that miraculously it would turn into pineapple juice. You see, false teaching is not just something that confuses you. But it is something that can actually affect your here and now and even more so your eternal destiny. And that’s why the Bible seriously, severely, consistently warns believers against the danger of false teaching. And calls believers to watch out! To see to it that they are not taken captive by the empty philosophies of this world. I hope that you will be one of those who stand firm against false teaching and deception no matter in what shades or varieties it comes in. That you will contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Thank you.
