Beware the False Teachers

(2 Timothy 3:6-9 – Beware the False Teachers)

Throughout the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments we are warned to beware the false teachers and false prophets. We are given these warnings for a very good reason. There will always be people who are not interested in the truth of the gospel, but seeing the power of it they seek to make gain from God’s word.

Some seek personal wealth. Others seek power or position in the eyes of men. Still others are just simply seeking the destruction of the church, and these are the Antichrists among us.

That is why we are told to beware the false teachers. Beware those who in the name of Christ will not take you towards the truth, but rather lead you away from it.

Why we need to beware the false teachers

When we look at this scripture, we are given fair warning in the first few verses. This is what the whole section says.

6 For among them are those who make their way into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and swayed by various impulses, 7 who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith; 9 but they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. (2 Timothy 3:6-9)

These false teachers are like ravenous wolves that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 7:15-20. As we see in the first two verses, these false teachers are seeking weak people that they can capture to follow their lies. And although it says “women,” there are plenty of men who likewise get caught in the snares of the false teachers too.

How do they do this? The same way that con-artists have been capturing people for their own personal gain.

They come to people with smooth words. They offer things that sound good to the hearers, but they never deliver on the things they promise. And when they have captured these people, they milk them dry. They bleed the life out of them in a spiritual sense. Then they lead them away from the truth and into more and more error.

Beware the false teachers in the modern church

It is interesting what Paul wrote in the last verse above. He says that the folly of these false teachers will be plain to all.

Many of these false teachers have been exposed in the modern church over the past few years. COVID in particular exposed their false teachings so that it did become plain that their teachings were false.

There are many false teachers in the Christian church preaching false doctrines designed to make people feel good. They claim that if people follow their teachings they will have perfect health, will be wealthy, and will prosper in all their ways.

Who wouldn’t want those things? Most people would jump at the opportunity to be healthy and wealthy. And that is how they sucker people into following their lies.

COVID has exposed these lies for what they are. Many people took ill and were not divinely healed or protected from this illness. And nor did God promise perfect health. In fact, there were many who, believing the lies they had been told, refused to accept the vaccinations that could have helped them and prevent suffering. There is a fine line between acting with wisdom in the will of God, and being a fanatic. And the way many Christians approached the COVID issue was from fanaticism.

Then there were all of the people who lost jobs, lost income, and became considerably worse off. This did not align with the doctrines of the prosperity gospel they had believed and so many began to question the truth of that doctrine. But sadly, many were so upset about it they left the church and lost their faith completely. And it is all due to the lying ministries and the false doctrines they had been fed.

Is it any wonder that we are warned so often in scripture to beware the false teachers.

What can we do about the false teachers?

Well, the first thing we ought to do is to heed the warnings in scripture. If we have been warned, then we need to be armed.

Every teaching we hear in churches or in other places needs to be backed up solidly by scripture. And we need to study the scripture ourselves to ensure that we have the right of it.

God has given each of us access to His words and the examples of Jesus Christ and the Apostles and disciples in the scripture so we can learn. We need to learn what is God’s will and follow that.

At the very lowest level, if we are to follow the will of God we need to listen to Jesus. What did He have to say? What was the core message of the gospel of Jesus Christ? And how do we find it for ourselves?

If we are to beware of false teachers, then we need to know what we are talking about ourselves, We need to be able to recognise when or if a teaching is false. We need to study the word so we can identify truth from error.

But how can you know what you are reading or hearing is the truth?

The very first thing is to pray about it. Look up scriptures in the Bible to check that what is being said is consistent with the rest of the scripture. We must recognise and remember that there is no inconsistency across the doctrines of the Bible.

There are plenty of non-believers, agnostics, and atheists who oppose the truth. They will try to confuse you by flagging up all of the contradictions in the Bible.

However, what they are flagging is errors in memory of events or transcription and translation errors. For example, the differing accounts of the resurrection of Jesus. Was there one angel or two who appeared at the tomb after He was raised? This is simply an error in remembering the event, and we must remember that these accounts were not written in most cases until decades after Jesus had been raised.

But in the doctrine and teachings that came from the event, there is no variation. For example, the fact that Jesus WAS resurrected. The fact that He DID appear to the women. The fact that He was in the ground three days as was prophesied. All of these things and more do not vary from one account to another.

When you focus on the doctrines of the Bible, there are no contradictions. The whole of the Bible holds together and this is the starting place for all of us.

I take the view that whenever I see something in the scripture that seems to be inconsistent with the rest of the scriptures, then there is one of two possibilities.

1. There has been an error in translation, or;
2. I do not yet understand it correctly

And then I pray about it and start researching further to find out the truth of the issue. Sometimes it may take time to get the right answer, but the Lord does and will reveal the truth when we seek and ask Him for the answer.

So, beware the false teachers who will try to lead you astray. They are not on the side of God but of the devil and they are doing his will, not the will of God or the Lord Jesus Christ.

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