When The Church Abandons Accountability To God
"We must boldly consider the two kinds of doctrine, the true and good, and the false and erroneous, and that they will always accompany each other, for thus it has been from the beginning, and thus it will continue to the end of the world. Hence it will not do for us to creep along in silence, and resort to a safe and secure manner of life. The evil teachings of men and the doctrines of devils, and all our enemies oppose us without ceasing, and hence we dare not think that the issue is settled. We are not yet across the river. Therefore the Lord diligently warns us and says: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.We should well consider this passage, for Christ our Lord here commands and gives all Christians the power to be judges of all doctrine, and he gives them power to judge what is right and what is not right. It is now well on a thousand years that this passage has been perverted by false Christians, so that we have had no power to judge, but had to accept what the Pope and the councils determined, without any judgment of our own." — Martin Luther READ ABOUT WHAT THIS MEANS ON THIS WEBSITE Christ's Warnings Of False Prophets Martin Luther 1483-1546
"He is proud." 1 Timothy 6:4a "False teachers are marked by an attitude of pride. The Greek word translated "proud" (tuphoomai -- also used in 1 Tim. 3:6) speaks of being engulfed in smoke. Here the perfect passive form is used, which means they're in a settled state of being engulfed in their own smoke. False teachers are invariably arrogant. When someone claims his teaching is superior to the Word of God, that is the epitome of arrogance. An arrogant person is inflated with his own sense of self-importance. Peter says false teachers are so arrogant, "they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties" (2 Peter 2:10, NASB). Rather, they speak "out arrogant words of vanity" (NASB). Jude says they reject authority (v. 8) and speak arrogantly (v. 16). Anyone who puts his teaching above the Word of God is arrogant. False teachers refuse to accept the straightforward truth of God. They may try to pass themselves off as humble, meek, and self-effacing, but it is the height of arrogance to affirm things contrary to the Word of God. Should we expect any less with Satan as our example? In his arrogance he chose to be greater than God, and as a result has spawned a generation of sinners with the same desire? For example, Simon, the sorcerer, purposed that he was great person (Acts 8:9). People who are inflated with their own sense of self-importance are nothing more than deviants revealing the pathology of their virus. —John F. MacArthur READ ABOUT WHAT THIS MEANS ON THIS WEBSITE The Pathology Of False Teachers John F. MacArthur 1939 The Description Of Apostates John F. MacArthur 1939
"Ephesians 6:17 says to take "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." A believer must have the sword to be able to defend himself against the attacks of Satan. In 1 Timothy 4:6 Paul says that a good minister will be "nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine." In verse 16 he adds, "Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine; continue in them; for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." When you and your people know good doctrine, you're protected from the deadly virus of error. The only antibiotic we have against false teaching is the truth of God. Paul reiterated the same truth in his second epistle to Timothy: "Hold fast the form of sound words .... That good thing which was committed unto thee keep" (1:13-14). "The things that thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2:2). "Preach the word .... For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but, after their own lusts, shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears" (4:2- 3). False teachers are marked by heresy. They affirm things that are different from what Scripture says. They even add things to Scripture. — John F. MacArthur READ ABOUT WHAT THIS MEANS ON THIS WEBSITE Open Theism - The God who isn't quite able. Gary E. Gilley Open Theism's Attack On The Atonement John F. MacArthur Open Theism Master List Of Articles On Doctrine Website Giving And Receiving - Seed faith taken to the limit in the theology of Paul Crouch and TBN On Doctrine The Gospel Of Inclusion - Everyone is going to heaven in the gospel created by Carlton Pearson On Doctrine The Prayer Of Agreement - Matthew 18:19 On Doctrine Why Do I Criticize "God's Anointed"? On Doctrine
Their prognosis is implied in the statement "destitute of the truth": judgment. Anyone who is bereft of the truth is headed for judgment. Hebrews 6:6 tells us that if anyone turns away from the truth, there's no hope of his ever being saved. Hebrews 10:29 says that those who trample under their feet the Son of God and consider the blood of the covenant an unholy thing are headed for a disastrous and eternal judgment. Second Peter 2 says they bring "swift destruction on themselves.... Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah ... when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes ... then the Lord knows how ... to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment" (vv. 1, 3-6, 9, NASB). Jude is very direct. It says they were "of old ordained to this condemnation" (v. 4). Verse 15 says that God is going "to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." The prognosis of false teachers is judgment. They will experience the severest hell because after having seen the truth, they apostatized from it.— John F. MacArthur READ ABOUT WHAT THIS MEANS ON THIS WEBSITE The Destruction Of Apostates - Study Guide Twice Dead Men - Study Guide - PART 1 Twice Dead Men - Study Guide - PART 2 John F. MacArthur 1939
And now comes the question, Did not our Lord Jesus Christ have good reason to give this warning? I appeal to all who know anything of Church history--was there indeed not a cause? I appeal to all who remember what took place soon after the apostles were dead. Do we not read that in the primitive Church of Christ, there rose up two distinct parties; one ever inclined to err, like the Arians, in holding less than the truth, the other ever inclined to err, like the relic worshipers and saint worshipers [of the Roman Catholic Church], in holding more than the truth as it is in Jesus? Do we not see the same thing coming out in later times, in the form of Roman Catholicism? These are ancient things. In a short paper like this it is impossible for me to enter more fully into them. They are things well known to all who are familiar with records of past days. There always have been these two great parties, the party representing the principles of the Pharisee, and the party representing the principles of the Sadducee. Therefore our Lord had good cause to say of these two great principles, "Be careful and be on your guard." —J.C. Ryle READ ABOUT WHAT THIS MEANS ON THIS WEBSITE Pharisees And Sadducees J.C. Ryle 1816-1900 The Danger Of False Teaching John MacArthur 1939
"Does the following sound at all familiar? "Don't you know Matthew 7:1 says, 'Judge not so that you will not be judged,' and the Bible says, 'Touch not My anointed?' We should never judge our Christian brothers, especially pastors, because we would be guilty of being judgmental, and we will not be critical so that we will not have a beam in our eye that blocks the working of the Holy Spirit. There are plenty of Christians who do not agree with each other. So what if some preacher teaches differently? The Holy Spirit is working in his ministry because it is so large, he speaks to so many people about Jesus, he has helped so many people and God has not removed him from that ministry. If he is wrong, then I will wait for God to speak to me because the Bible does not apply to every situation, and if my Christian brother chooses to believe as he does, then I will keep silent, so that the unity of the fellowship will not be broken."In the face of false doctrine and a false salvation message, how chilling is the claim, "I will keep silent, so that the unity of the fellowship will not be broken." Unity can always be achieved by adopting the lowest common denominator, in which case belief in the sovereignty of God is abandoned and the exaltation of self is put in its place. Does Matthew 7 really say that believers are not to judge the message of their leaders or use discernment regarding the doctrines they are taught? Are believers really expected to accept every doctrine that is taught as being truth, just because God has not removed the teacher from their position as a confirmation that what they teach is false? The shepherd has a responsibility in regards to the flock, but the flock also has a responsibility in relation to the shepherd and both are accountable to God for the position that they take in respect to the teaching of false doctrine. "When the Sadducees came to our blessed Lord, and put to him the question, 'whose wife that woman should be in the next life, who had seven husbands in this,' he told them, 'They erred, not knowing the scriptures.' And if we would know whence all the errors, that have over-spread the church of Christ, first arose, we should find that, in a great measure, they flowed from the same fountain, ignorance of the word of God. Our blessed Lord, though he was the eternal God, yet as man, he made the scriptures his constant rule and guide. And therefore, when he was asked by the lawyer, which was the great commandment of the law, he referred him to his Bible for an answer, 'What readest thou?' And thus, when led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil, he repelled all his assaults, with 'It is written.'READ ABOUT WHAT THIS MEANS ON THIS WEBSITE How To Treat False Teachers - PART 1 How To Treat False Teachers - PART 2 John MacArthur 1939 How To Survive In The Last Days Of Apostacy John MacArthur 1939 Deliverance: From Error to Truth - Part 1 Deliverance: From Error to Truth - Part 2 John MacArthur 1939 The Importance And Advantage Of A Thorough Knowledge Of Divine Truth Jonathan Edwards 1703=1758 or E-MAIL ON DOCTRINE at: ondoctrine@ondoctrine.com
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