4 Dangers of False Teaching by Pamela Couvrette

I ran into a former occultist/witch named Pamela Couvrette today that dabbled in the Word of Faith before she became a Christian. She has a blog at PamelaCouvrette.com that has many great articles. She has allowed me to post several other of them here as her being a guest writer and I am very happy to do so. I hope you enjoy.

SOURCE: When cries of division and judgement occur in response to warnings about false teaching and the need for sound doctrine, what is being overlooked is not just vast amounts of scripture, but why the warnings are there at all.

Since all scripture is instructional for living (2 Timothy 3:16), there must be reasons why most of the New Testament warns about false doctrine. I doubt one of those reasons is to give me something to blog about, because trust me, I have enough cute photos of my dogs and failed Pinterest projects to post until the return of Jesus.

So what are the reasons behind the warnings? Let’s look at 2 Peter 2:1-3:

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. ² And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. ³ And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

1. False Teachers and Teachings Slander Christianity

Verse 2 says, because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. Television Evangelists under the guise of Christianity have long been disgraced in the public eye, and more recently, Mark Driscoll of the Mars Hill fiasco caught the attention of The New York Times. When the bad fruits of these people are revealed to the world, it smears Christianity.

2. False Teachers Exploit the Deceived

Verse 3 says because of their greed they exploit with false words. Romans 16:18 says they deceive to serve their appetites, and, to make matters worse, people will follow them because it will suit their passions (2 Timothy 4:3). How many wealthy people are sending money to seed-faith preachers? It’s the poor who send money in hopes for their “donation” to be doubled. How many people need employment and are told they just have to name it and claim it? Or what about the couple who desperately want a child and if they follow the New Age teaching of Positive Confession, they will believe it and conceive it. So not only are these people, in some cases, getting scammed, they are being led down the broad path which leads to destruction.

3. Immature Christians Are Inclined to Accept False Teachings

Ephesians 4:14 encourages us to no longer be children who are tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Yep, that was me. Upon believing the gospel and being given the truth of our Savior, I quickly became a regular at the Christian bookstores, not knowing they were full of destruction. Then, when I went to my former church, they kindly pointed the way to all the false teachings I missed. 

I was not grounded in the knowledge of Christ and the essential doctrines. I knew of them, but I didn’t know why they were true, or how they were important to the gospel, or to living righteously. I just lumped them with everything else that was labeled Christian and sought out the next Christian best seller book.

4. False Teachings Lead to Everlasting Punishment

This is a difficult and painful warning because what this is saying is false teachings lead people to eternal damnation.

John MacArthur explains this clearly:

They bring destructive heresies. This teaching invented by demons, propagated by these hypocritical liars who are parroting the doctrines of demons is intended to lead people astray and damn them into Satan’s eternal dwelling place. Satan is trying to collect people for hell and he wants to work inside the church, not that he can steal the salvation of true believers, but because he can confuse and deceive those who are coming into the church pursuing the truth. And because, also, he can derail and confuse true believers and render them useless.

That’s a pretty scary warning right there.

False teachings make the hearers feel good about themselves by telling them they are good people, and if they think positive thoughts they can achieve what they want. There is no talk about true repentance or sorrow over sin (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Are you under the doctrine of demons or are you under the word of God? Pray for wisdom (James 1:5) so you may be be approved by God and need not be ashamed by handling the word of truth correctly (2 Timothy 2:15) and be pure and blameless for the day of Christ (Philippians 1:9-10).

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pamela Couvrette

http://pamelacouvrette.com/4-dangers-false-teaching/

Advertisement