False Prophets and Teachers
We must not accept or tolerate the teaching
of anyone who claims to be
a spokesperson for God but whose message
contradicts the clear teachings of Scripture.
Here now is Gene Getz:
The interesting thing is, I think that most of us
have heard someone preach who claims
to be a spoke person for God.
And yet, the more we hear it, the more we learn,
we discover that the message actually
contradicts the teachings of Scripture.
And we see this Principle, really I think
very clearly and yet dramatically
illustrated in chapter 13 in 1st Kings.
And it involves God's judgment on Jeroboam.
It also involves two prophets.
And one of these prophets was very sincere.
And another one of these prophets was
insincere and very, very deceptive.
And it's in some respects it's a very sobering,
sobering story.
Now we meet the sincere prophet,
first of all in chapter 13.
So let's take a look at the first couple of
verses here in 1st Kings 13:1 and 2. We read:
A man of God came from Judah to Bethel...
And this of course--Judah was the southern kingdom.
And he came by a revelation from the Lord.
And you're going to see throughout this story,
a very significant theme that develops here:
...a revelation from the Lord
[and it was] while Jeroboam was standing beside
the altar to burn incense. ...
And that altar, of course, was an altar
that was built to worship pagan gods.
And Jeroboam who was the king of the north,
the first king in the northern tribes,
was actually burning incense on that altar.
...The man of God cried out against the altar
by a revelation from the Lord.
When the King heard the word that the man of God
had cried out against the altar at Bethel...
And basically what he cried out against that
altar was that it was going to be dashed to pieces.
And so when this prophet cried out
against the altar there in Bethel:
...Jeroboam stretched out his hand from
the altar and said, Arrest him! ...
Now think about that for a moment.
He knew that this man was speaking from God.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And here is this arrogant king saying: Arrest him.
But [it's interesting] the hand he
stretched out against him withered,
and he could not pull it back to himself.
The altar was ripped apart...
And remember now, this was part of the
prophecy against that altar.
...The altar was ripped apart,
and the ashes poured out from the altar,
according to the sign that the man of God
had given by the word of the Lord.
Now the interesting thing is that he cried out.
Jeroboam cried out for healing.
And God in His mercy, and God in His grace
actually healed that hand.
Now here's something extremely interesting.
That is that you see this throughout
God's revelation.
When God speaks, really speaks,
at moments in history--like He's doing here--
He verifies that message.
He doesn't ask us to believe something
just because someone says so.
And when God revealed the
Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai,
He did not reveal those Ten Commandments
through Moses by saying:
Moses, just tell them that you have
the Commandments from Me.
He actually verified that with smoke,
and thunder, and lightning that came
from that mountain.
And God actually, at that moment in history,
literally vocally spoke these
Ten Commandments so the
children of Israel heard it.
You see, God verifies His message
as He gives that message.
Particularly, at these great moments in history
when He's giving us all of this new truth.
But throughout the biblical story
in the Old Testament.
Particularly through the prophets,
God would verify His message.
And He did that when it comes to the
New Testament with the apostles.
You see, God actually verified that
message with signs, and wonders, and miracles.
And we read that in the opening
chapters of Hebrews.
And we see that Illustrated throughout
the book of Acts.
Because this now was a new revelation
of the new covenant that is spelled out
for us in the New Testament.
Well here we see that Illustrated for Jeroboam
through this prophet who is revealing
this message that had come from God.
Well the fact is that God did hear the
cry from Jeroboam with this withered hand
that he couldn't pull back.
And this old prophet,
through the power of God, healed him.
Now notice what happened.
He invited this prophet.
Jeroboam invited this prophet to come
to his home to refresh himself.
But notice the response of that man of God:
But the man of God replied,
If you were to give me half your house,
I still wouldn't go with you,
and I wouldn't eat bread or
[I wouldn't] drink water in this place,
for this is what I was commanded
by the word of the Lord.
How was he commanded?
By the word of the Lord. By revelation from God.
And part of that revelation was, once you go
and confront Jeroboam, don't stay there.
Don't eat any bread. Don't drink any water.
Don't go to his home. Don't do anything.
And so this man of God definitely said:
That's it. I will not violate the command
of the word of the Lord.
Well at this point in the story,
and by God's design, we meet another prophet.
The second prophet--he went after this prophet.
And notice what he said in
1st Kings chapter 13, verse 18:
He said to him, I am also a prophet like you.
An angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord:
Bring him back with you to your house
so that he may eat bread and drink water. ...
Sadly, here look what happened:
...The old prophet deceived him,
and the man of God went back with him,
ate bread in his house and drank water.
A direct violation of the word of God.
He allowed himself to be deceived
by another man who claimed to be a prophet--
with a false message.
And it's really a very, very sad story
because the rest of what God said came true.
This man lost his life.
After going back, eating bread,
drinking water there.
Rather than going home. On the way,
when he left, a lion came out and
destroyed him. Killed him.
But the fascinating thing is that as you
get down to the end of the story,
is the response of the false prophet.
The one who lied.
He actually went and got the body.
And he brought the body back to his own home.
That is, the prophet who deceived.
And notice in verse 31:
After he had buried him, he said to his sons,
When I die, you must bury me in the grave
where the man of God is buried;
lay my bones beside his bones,
for the word that he cried out by a
revelation from the Lord against the
altar in Bethel and against all the shrines
of the high places in the cities of
Samaria is certain to happen.
In other words, what this old prophet,
who was the deceiver, learned through
this whole experience is that this
other prophet was truly a man of God.
And he was speaking the word of God.
Which means he didn't believe him.
And he's out to prove to the others.
Maybe for his own ego needs.
To be a prophet of God in the eyes
of the other people.
And he became a liar and he became a deceiver.
Well you know, as we go to the
New Testament, there's warnings
against false prophets.
And I think one of the most significant warnings
is 2nd John. Notice what we read:
Many deceivers have gone out into the world;
[these deceivers] do not confess the
coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. ...
Here we now have a specific,
very specific kind of lying and deceit.
And that is that they deny that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God.
That He was one with God.
That He was God in the flesh.
That's what this means.
And so notice what John says about this
doctrine, about this false teaching.
...This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
And then he warns. He says:
...If anyone comes to you and does not
bring this teaching,
do not receive him into your home,
and don't say, Welcome, to him;
for the one who says, Welcome,
to him shares in his evil works.
What he's warning against is don't
welcome any prophet or teacher
who comes and says: I am a true
prophet of God.
When they deny that Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh.
When they deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
When they deny that Jesus Christ is
one with the Father.
Don't even welcome them into your home.
Because in that case, the church was their home.
It was the church in miniature.
It doesn't mean we shouldn't welcome people in
if we have an opportunity to share
Christ with them.
In our own culture. If somebody knocks at the door
and they want to talk to us about religion.
And they deny that Jesus is the Christ,
as some of these people do.
Doesn't mean you can't bring them into your home,
sit down, and talk to them about Jesus Christ
and who He really is.
What it's really saying is: Don't welcome
anyone into your home where you've
got a group of believers and give them
a platform to teach that false doctrine.
And that's true in any situation where we worship.
And where we are supporting someone
who is not teaching the truth.
And that leads us to the question for
Reflection and Response, and that is:
How does this Principle to Live By apply
to Christians who attend churches and
support these ministries with their time,
[thei]r talent, and [their] treasures
when [now notice] the pastors and
teachers in these churches
deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ?
And believe me, there are a lot of churches
in our culture today that claim to be Christians.
Where the pastor's get into the pulpit,
or in different teaching situations,
and they do not believe that Jesus Christ is God.
They may say: Oh, He's a Son of God.
He's the greatest Son of God.
He's a great example of what we're
supposed to become--as sons of God.
But they deny Jesus Christ.
I have people come to me and
who attend some of these churches.
And they're beginning to really
understand the truth about Jesus.
And they've come to know the Lord Jesus
as personal Savior.
And they're in churches where the
pastors don't believe that Jesus Christ is God.
And so their question is:
What do I do? What do I do?
Should I stay in the church?
Well one of the approaches that I've taken is:
I ask this question--well, I say:
Well are you putting money in the
offering plate in that church to help pay
that pastor's salary who gets up and
teaches that Jesus Christ--or at least
doesn't believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?
You don't want to be a part of that.
And then the person would conclude and say:
Well then I'll go but I won't put money
in the offering basket.
And then you got another problem.
You sit there and you enjoy the air conditioning.
You enjoy the heating.
You enjoy all the amenities of that building.
You let somebody else pay the bill.
And you just sit there.
And you don't agree. And you say:
I can just stay there.
I got a problem with that.
Because that now violates other
Principles of Scripture.
And so I simply put that out in front of people
and say: You don't want to participate in
any way, shape, or form in helping to
promote that message.
And if you're paying the pastors salary
you're helping to promote that message.
On the other hand, you want to be a
person who is a person of integrity.
You don't want to take advantage of the situation.
You don't want to be a taker.
You don't want to sit there and let
other people pay the bills.
What do you do?
Well one of the things I have said is:
Just write a very great--well first of all just go
and talk to the pastor.
And say: I have a problem in terms of
what you're teaching.
And I don't believe that I can stay here
and participate.
I love the people. I love you but I can't
be a part of this.
That's one way you can approach it.
Another way you can approach it is
write a letter of grace and with dignity.
And say: You know, love this church and
I love the people in this church.
I actually love you. I appreciate you.
But I can't participate anymore.
I've got to go somewhere where the truth
is being taught about Jesus Christ.
Who He is. Because that's the essence of Christianity.