What are you teaching,preaching?Who are you listening too?New Age in the church.
Notice what Jesus,Paul and John have to say……..
Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Rom 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
Rom 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
Rom 16:19 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
Rom 16:20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1Ti 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works
2Ti 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti 4:3 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;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world
What are you teaching?
Does your teaching focus on what you can get from God?
Or Does your teaching focus on what God has done for you?
Does you teaching build up people in the faith?
or does it pull people down and condemn them?
Does your teaching tickle ears,by teaching what they want to hear?
or does it teach what they need to hear,based upon the scripture.
Is your teaching sound doctrine or is it a man made teaching that distorts the word of God by introducing man made thoughts and inclinations.?
eg new age thoughts,teaching and practices.
Years ago I heard a tape,that said there will be a time,when new age thoughts and practices would be infiltrated into the church,so much,that it would be hard to tell the deference between a true church ie one that was a built upon Christ and the doctrines taught by Jesus,Paul,Peter etc in scripture and a church with false teachings and doctrines.
Unfortunately this has happened,new age teachings and practices are not just being introduced a little by little so as to deceive the people, over time and so be accepted as truth,but they are blatantly taught and practiced,without any fear and thousands of people world wide,especially with the advent of the internet,YouTube,websites ,social media,etc are falling for and are accepting a lie for the truth.
Like wolves in sheeps clothing.The teaching is mingled with scripture as good teaching,so people easily accept it,many times unwittingly.Because It looks and sounds like good teaching.They accept it because,well the teacher used scripture,you know so it must be ok,The preacher/teacher,he went to Bible college,for. many reasons,they trust and believe what they are hearing.,but it’s is corrupted,it’s counterfeit
.The problem is since many have no or little understanding of what the truth is,of what is sound teaching,what is sound,correct doctrine,they can’t tell what is truth or counterfeit.So as it’s taught to them,they believe it as truth,they in turn pass it on to others,not knowing what they are doing.Therefore contributing to the explosion of false teaching and practices,even further into the church.
So what a examples of false teaching and practices?
A very common one today is the Enneagram personality test will show you which of the 9 personality types suits you best.This appears to be similar to something I(trev) had to goto for my work as a Senior communications officer in an Australian Telco,which is Transactional Analysis (TA).Both with roots to mysticism.
Another popular practice is the practice of when wanting to bless people is the saying “love and light”to you ,or ,Namaste,which is commonly demonstrated by the praying hand raised up to your chin/nose.The saying and the action both have Hindu roots.The commonly associated saying with the practice of the symbol is “love and light”,usually directed towards a person,or often used as a statement of agreement with what some one has said.
Impartation…..laying on of hands to impart the ministry of another person to the person whom is to recieve it.So that they will have the same or similar power of ministry of the person who is named.eg,a couple of pastors lay hands on me and pray for me to have the same/similar ministry of xyz.person.
Now this is not to be confused with the biblical laying on of hands for setting aside or sending a person to be a missionary or to go into a service that God has called them to. Nor to be confused with the laying on of hands and anointing of oil in prayer for healing.
Another practice similar to impartation is laying on the graves ( grave soaking)of a passed away person who has had a “powerful ministry”,so that they receive that persons “power,abilities”/anointing.
Other examples are,Contemplative prayer,Emergant church,purpose driven church,Word of Faith(WOF)etc.
Out of Bethal Redding came so called Christian tarot cards called Destiny Cards.,Christ alignment,We are gods,Ken Copeland ,Todd White,Shirley McClaine and many others.
These are just a few examples.
So where do we find,hear these teachings.The more well known movements are the Bethal movement in Redding USA,currently headed bu Bill Johnson,that has affiliated churchs around the world,The NRA ( new apostolic reformation),in it’s various versions.Some of those who are well known teachers/preachers are Rick Joyner,Che Ahn,Todd White,Lou Engle,Kris Valletta’s,Heidi Baker,Beth Moore.,Cindy Jacobs,a more complete list can be found Herehttps://www.hollypivec.com/blog
Also much information about false teaching and teachers can be found on same site.
When I was an elder in a AOG church in Australia in the 1990s ,we encountered the false teachings of Rodney Howard Brown,the Brownsville revival and the Toronto blessing.Kansas City Prophets,Gwen Shaw etc,Which led me to investigate these movement since.
So what are you teaching?
I would put it to anyone who teachs,preachs,without presently the Gospel ,ie that All ,anyone has to do to be saved,is believe on Jesus Christ to save them and give them the free gift of Eternal Life,The very instant they do,they are born again,have passed from death unto life,are new creations ,with many other descriptors,scripture says about a believer.See The gospel of John,confirming Eph 2:8-9,That salvation is by grace alone,through faith alone,without any works or law keeping what so ever.So that no one can boast.Let him who boast boast in the Lord.
So any one who doesn’t present the gospel,if someone is not lifting Jesus higher than any experience or manifestation to your congregation,not preaching you must be born again,you are bordering on being a false teacher/preacher/prophet.The foremost purpose of preaching,must be to reach the lost.
Don’t get me wrong,subjective teaching,ie teaching about doctrine,eg the doctrine of Justification,the doctrine of Sanctification The doctrine of God,how to live a life pleasing to God and many other doctrines supported strongly by scripture are of of hugh importance,to the already saved/born again,(I personally preached about these important doctrines)but are of absolute no use to those in your congregation who are not saved/born again.I do believe Its actually easy to present Jn 3:16 during your subjective teaching.That grace is of the most importance to all people in your ministry,for we are not only saved/born again by grace,but we are sanctified/living according to Gods purposes by grace,through faith and we will be glorified by grace,through faith.
Having said the above,I do believe the super natural gifts of the Holy Spirit are still for today,but they have been abused,distorted in such a way,that they have led to false teachings,doctrines and practices,that I totally reject..But thats another subject,that I will write about in the future.
Remember what Paul said
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
The hymn writer got it right when they wrote amazing grace.
