Identifying False Teachers

Are you a false teacher? There's many false teachers planted by the devil that's in the Body of Christ. They're also known as antichrists (see 1 John 2:18-19 and 2 John 7). All false teachers have one aim. To mislead and deceive the hearers. There's a difference between making a mistake with a text and deliberate deception.

2 Timothy 3:13 (NKJV)

"But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."

All false teachers look for an audience that's immature and unskilled in the Word of God. It's virtually impossible to deceive a believer that's mature in the handling of the Scriptures.

A false teacher's worse nightmare is when they're exposed. They're unable to overcome the challenge and confrontation.

When a humble teacher makes a mistake, they receive correction and apologize for the mistake. Good teachers want to be accurate with the Scriptures with good reason.

Matthew 5:18-19 (NKJV) "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

James 3:1 (NKJV) "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment."

2 Peter 2:1-3 (NKJV) "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber."

False teachers will end up in hell with Balaam.

2 Peter 2:15-17 (NKJV) "They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever."

Do you know the difference between a deceiver and a teacher that made an error?

Let's use an example of a mistake of Bible teachers.

For centuries, the land of Israel was called "Palestine."

In many of our maps, commentaries, and other articles, we've called the land of Israel "Palestine" and this is incorrect.

So where did "Palestine" come from? There's differing opinions of its origins but one thing is a fact. The closest etymological word that is used for Palestine is the Philistines. By the way, Gaza was one of the strongholds of the Philistines.

It's called the land of Israel. I believe that it was a concerted effort to deceive the people to call the land of Israel the land of Palestine.

The Lord never called the land Palestine. There's not one Biblical reference that could be found and used to call the land Palestine. Additionally, there's no archeological artifacts that proves the Arabs were there before the children of Israel. Any archeological findings conclusively indicate that Israel was there for over 3000 Years.

Now before the land of Israel was called Israel, it was called the land of Canaan. When the Lord called Abram to take his wife, Sarai and all his possession to go to a land where the Lord would give it to his descendants, it would be called after Jacob's new name, Israel.

So the true believers in Christ, after decades of Bible Study, need to correct themselves and never call the land of Israel, the land of Palestine.

When the Jews returned to their own land after the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire and British Empire gave the land to Israel called the Balfour Agreement in 1917, the Jews began to clear out the land filled with Arabs. Then in 1948, the Jews became a nation recognized by the League Of Nations now called the United Nations, the Land of Israel.

A fulfillment of Isaiah 66:7-11, Jeremiah 30:1-3, Amos 9:14-15, and Matthew 24:32-33.

These Scriptures are a combination of the Assyrian Captivity, the Babylonian Captivity and 1948. We must be open to the fact that sometimes, Bible prophecy, in some places, could be a double or multiple fulfillment unless otherwise stated in Scripture.

In recent times, the Jews have returned to call the land surrounding Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and it's no longer called the West Bank. Another deceptive error designed to force Israel into a 2 state solution which can't happen according to Gensis 12. Otherwise, God lied.

So we need to reteach the Bible and refrain from calling it the land of Palestine.

Initially, deceivers are partially accurate with the Scriptures because satan is partially accurate with the Scriptures (see Matthew 4:1-11). Besides, the Lord taught that satan is a liar and the father of lies (see John 8:44).

Eve would have saved herself some trouble had she gone back to the original text of what the Lord commanded.

Evidently, she received the commandment from Adam but it appears that she had gotten it twisted and wrong.

So let's compare what the Lord said with what Eve said to the serpent.

The Lord told Adam.......

Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV)

"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Let's see what Eve said to the serpent.

Genesis 3:2-3 (NKJV) "And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

The Lord never said "...nor shall you touch it..."

When there's confusion or a misunderstanding about the text, go back to the text. If you can't remember the text, go back to the text. If you can't quote the text word for word, or you misquoted the text, go back to the text.

The debate ends when you go back to the text. Had Eve returned to Adam, she would not have misquoted the text. If Adam can't quote the text, go back to the Originator of the text.

When the deceiver saw that Eve misquoted the text, it turned into an opportunity for the devil to outright lie to her. All deceivers start out with the text and then they add, subtract, or put their own idea or thoughts to it just to see if you would take the bait.

False teachers also use music to disarm your emotions. Even Biblically correct songs is used. The purpose is to get you to surrender your ability to scrutinize anything that they say. Music is used to pull money out of your wallet. So never turn off your ability to question EVERYTHING you see and hear.

This is exactly what satan did with Eve. The half truth was enough to question the truth of God's Word, and then the devil lied to her.

But when you confront false teachers, that's when they'll challenge you. However, you return the challenge with the Word until they give up.

No one says that you can't challenge them and no one said that you can't walk away, even when it's rude.

Matthew 4:11 (NKJV)

"Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him."

James 4:7 (NKJV)

"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."

This is how you identify false teachers.