Guess Who’s Invited to Dinner? Identifying False Teachers Before They Can Prey on You

2 Peter 2:1-3

1. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

2. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgement now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

As we enter the summer months the institutionalize church experiences a drop in attendance and funds. This is because of family vacations, family reunions and business trips abroad by the members. Many pastors see this as a sign of departure from the faith because they believe that the Christian’s life and energies must revolve around the church building and activities, not to mention more importantly the collection plate. The remedy to them for this "breach of faith" and "lukewarmness" comes at the end of summer and is called the fall revival.

     Planned out months and sometimes years in advance, the fall revival is designed to bring the unfaithful back under the control of the pastor and more importantly fill the coffers of the depleted "storehouse." The key to the revivals success, and I use that word loosely, is to bring the right preacher in to loosen up the peoples hearts, minds and wallets. The unction of the Holy Ghost is not needed for assembly. This is because the congregation is looked upon as customers and the evangelist is the salesman and what sells in most churches today isn’t the gospel of Jesus Christ but heresy. So, if you are a member of a church and you want to know if the preacher who has been invited to conduct your fall revival is a false teacher or a true teacher from God according to the word, open your KJV Bibles to 2 Peter 2:1-3 and follow along with me. Lets see what Peter writes about how to identify a false teacher and preacher before they can prey on you.

     Peter begins chapter 2:1 by writing that just like the false prophets of the Old Testament came from among the nation of Israel so shall false teachers come from among the church. The interesting thing in the Greek is that the voice or idea of the verb for how the false prophets came and how the false teachers will come is the middle voice which means that they came and will come because they want to. These false teachers and preachers see how gullible and weak in the word many in the congregations are. Just like the Great White shark and lion prey on the weak and feeble in the animal kingdom, these false teachers are coming after the babes and wounded among you. Remember Jesus called them ravenous wolves in Matthew 7:15 and Paul warned the Ephesian elders about grievous wolves in Acts 20:27-30 who would not "spare the flock." Yet these are the type preachers that are in demand and are invited to set the table as it were to fed your church during these fall revivals. Little do they realize that they will become the main course meal for the false teacher.

     These aren’t average false teachers or preachers because once in verse 2 and once in verse 3 Peter uses an article or a specific designation in the Greek for them. This means that God allowed Peter to see, through the Spirit, the most dangerous false teachers throughout the Church Age and to warn us that they were coming because Peter uses future tense verbs in the Greek five times throughout verses 1-3. Who did Peter see? Did he see that "well known" preacher that is coming to your church this fall?

     Peter continues to write in chapter 2:1 that the false teachers will come in stealthily bringing in damming heresies or sects in the Greek. Here are just a few of the heretical sects today; Word Faith, Jesus Only, Seventh-Day Adventist, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Dominionist and Christian Muslims. All of the above sects of "Christianity" were started in a church by a false teacher that rose up, then their followers and them split off and produced another branch or arm to this idol called the institutionalized church. No wonder Christ said in Luke 18:8 , "....Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? The word faith in the Greek is the noun pistis which means the system of religious truth (Gospel) itself, which is Christianity. He will not recognize this multi-armed idol that calls itself the church and looks like the hideous Indian goddess Kali. Christ will however recognize the Body of Christ which is His beautiful Bride when He returns.

     Peter writes that these false teachers will deny the Lord Jesus Christ that they say died for their sins. This means that they were never saved in the first place because I John 2:22,23 says:

22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

Interestingly the Greek voice that Peter uses for denying is again in the middle voice, is present tense and is a participle. This means that presently and because they want to, these false preachers are continuously denying Jesus in some form. Listen to and read some of the sermons of theses false preachers who say that Jesus had to go to Hell to be born-again or that we are little gods with the same power and authority that Jesus had. These heretics will also make statements like, if the Jesus I serve won’t let gays into heaven, I don’t want any part of Him. Go order some of the sermons and books of the teacher who is coming to your church this fall. Search them for false teachings and if you find something, go tell your pastor your concerns about this. Don’t let him blow you off, and if he does tell him I refuse to support this revival on the grounds that the evangelist is a false teacher according to the scriptures. Inform him that you will warn everybody that you can against the false teacher. Peter ends verse 1 by telling us that these false teachers will bring swift destruction on themselves, a theme that he uses throughout chapters 2 and 3.

     In 2 Peter 2:2 he turns his attention to the followers of these false teachers. The first word that should catch your eye is many. In the Greek this word is pŏllŏs which means among other things abundant, plenteous, great. That means a "whole mess of folks." But what is the measurement of a great preacher today - numbers. This error can be traced to none other than the father of the modern revival, Charles Finney. Finney and his "New Measures" are responsible for the altar call, the embracing of wild emotionalism( fainting, weeping and other stimuli) in preaching and the Church Growth Movement. Look in the library of most false preachers today and you will probably find Charles Finney’s Systematic Theology and Lectures on Revivals of Religion. Finney, who believed that mankind did not have a fallen nature ( Pelagianism ), put the onus of salvation upon human will. This is right down the false teachers alley because that means deliverance and perfection of the human will needs a human agent; namely them. So today when a preacher says he has had so many people make a decision for Christ as proof of his ministry you can thank Charles Finney.

     Peter continues by saying all these people will imitate and yield to the pernicious ways of these false teachers. Most commentators agree that this Greek word should be rendered as lascivious and licentious. Now I am going to take some time and show you the definitions of these words so that you can spot these false teachers and their followers when they come to your fellowship. Merriam-Webster defines lascivious as lewd, lustful, dirty, filthy, foul, gross, impure, indecent, pornographic, profane, raunchy, trashy, wanton, nasty, gutter and x-rated. Lascivious behavior is among other things, having sex outside of marriage, having sex with children under 18 and forcible rape. Licentious is defined as lacking legal or moral restraints; especially disregarding sexual restraints, horny, hot, hyper sexual, itchy, over sexual, lecherous and salacious. Licentious behavior would be so-called preachers and religious bodies approving gay marriage, engaging in orgies and disregard for the civil laws of the land. Is the preacher that is coming to your church this fall to conduct the revival engaging in the above behaviors? If they are they have passed the litmus test as a false teacher, put a gold star beside their name.

     One of the things that scripture teaches and that I have learned from experience over the years is that sexual immorality is a byproduct of false teaching. Examples of this is Jamal Bryant, Bob Jones, Clarence McClendon, Earl Paulk, Todd Bentley, Sherman Allen, Kathryn Khulman, and Terry Hornbuckle to name a few. All taught or teach heresies. Again, according to the word of God the followers of these false preachers will imitate and yield to the same immoralities as those they follow. So if a false teacher packs out your church during the fall revival you can be sure that the majority of the people there are lost like them. Peter ends verse 2 by saying that these false teacher’s lascivious and licentious ways will bring disdain upon the way of truth, as they continue to masquerade as true preachers of God.

     In 2 Peter 2:3 the apostle writes that covetousness, which is defined as inordinate desire for wealth or possessions or for another’s possessions, fills the heart of the false preacher and is their primary motivation to preach and teach to you their heresies. This describes the Prosperity gospel teachers to a tee. Many like Creflo Dollar and Ed Young don’t hide their covetousness but are bold in their declaration that you better have their money when you come to church. According to the proceeding verse this would mean that their followers are covetous also in their hearts. How else can you explain how they pour thousands of dollars into these preacher’s greedy hands. They are looking for gain too. That was me at one time before God brought me out, buying trinkets from Robert Tilton and placing them in my wallet hoping for money to be drawn to it. Thank God it never did for if it had I would have been hooked for real.

     Notice what Peter says about their speech, he says with feigned words. It is the Greek word plasto which means mold, artificial, fictitious. These false teachers are masters of language. I told you before they are salesmen. They will use some of the following methods when speaking: slow or fast Southern accent, humor, inflated vocabulary, great storytelling ability, high-pitched or deep-baritone voice, Shakespearean language, vivid and outrageous revelations from heaven and fake emotional tone to touch the psyche of the listeners. I think Benny Hinn and T.D. Jakes are masters at using these techniques to hypnotize their emotionally needy drones into silent obedience as they make merchandise out of their followers according to Peter. The word in the Greek means a mart or emporium. So these modern-day Mesmerist see the massive church buildings as Super Walmarts to do business in and the people as cheap goods from China that can either be warehoused or bought and sold for a profit. All across the globe these cathedrals of corruption, these coliseums of cash collection will be the stage for more of their antics this fall as pastor after pastor, church after church bow down to these anti-Robin Hoods who rob from everybody and give to none but themselves in the high stakes game of the revival.

     The rest of verse 3 Peter assures us God is preparing and executing eternal judgement swiftly upon these false teachers who ape the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are entering into the Apostasy, and the revelation of the mystery of iniquity is unfolding before the eyes of the redeemed of the Lord. Don’t give credence to these charlatans or your money to their pirated treasures. I thank God for delivering me and showing me that true revival is a sovereign move of God upon a individual heart, not a massive, orchestrated production like a gospel play. Don’t wait for the fall revival, if the Holy Spirit is moving upon your heart yield to Him today. Confess your sins, and present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable onto God which is your reasonable service. Stay free in Christ.