False Teachers

Hardly a week goes by without me getting an email from someone about "false teachers." It seems that being the standard bearer for truth and "being right" is a badge of honor among Christians. The logic goes this way, "God is always right...so I want to be right too." But the truth of the matter reveals an insecurity in our trust in God's grace. The false teaching exposers aren't aiming at the "core" truths of the Christian faith, but peripheral beliefs such as healing, the realm of the Kingdom of God, and manifestations of the Holy Spirit's power. I have some thoughts about those too.

1. Healing - The deniers of "healing is for today, and God desires healthy people" infer that God sends illnesses to make us stronger and that those who heal are "of the devil." Isn't that backwards? I thought the devil came to "steal, kill and destroy" and keep people in bondage to sickness and illness and infirmity. My bible says that Jesus came to set captives free and to bring healing to the nations.

2. The Kingdom of God - Last week I preached on the "the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed...grows to be the biggest of all garden plants that the birds of the air can find shade in its branches." (Mark 4). Got an email from a Scofield follower who complained that birds are code for the devil, and leaven is code for sin. Therefore, according to his view, the Kingdom of Heaven would be filled with false teachers and filled with sin and apostasy. Jesus didn't talk in code. In fact, Jesus was referring to the prophecy in Ezekiel that spoke of the coming Kingdom that would be from a branch that would come off of Israel. There were no "codes" to be deciphered. He spoke in the plain language of the day. The Kingdom of God I know is victorious, never ending, always expanding and full of God's grace...literally, the manifestation of God's presence upon the earth wherever it is proclaimed and displayed.

3. Manifestations of the Holy Spirit - This was from a recent email that criticized the various manifestations of the Holy Spirit in revival services of uncontrollable laughing, rolling on the floor, "trancelike" falling out in the Spirit, etc. Their complaint was justified by this statement, "I don't see any of the apostles falling out in the Spirit, or laughing etc. If it isn't in the bible it isn't real." I had to think about that one for a moment. Didn't John say that if all the things Jesus said and did were written down, there wouldn't be enough books in the world to contain them? I perceive that means that God is always doing new things, things we haven't seen before. If God can only do what He has done before, doesn't that limit His sovereignty? And speaking to the "falling out in the Spirit" ...I wonder how we would react to someone stripping of his clothes and lying naked for three days in the field under the power of the Holy Spirit? It happened to King Saul of Israel. How is that for embarrassing us!

Back to my first point about being right. I have to believe that God's power to keep us from error (the Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth) is greater than the devil's power to deceive us. I also have to believe, that other than being saved by grace alone through faith in the atoning finished work of Jesus, that any other beliefs are forgivable if wrong. Isn't the grace of God, the cross of Christ and the blood of our Savior sufficient to save us when we aren't perfect? We certainly aren't perfect in our all practices, much less all our beliefs. If I must keep the law in one area, I must keep it in all (see Galatians) and grace is of no effect.