DECODING False Teachers

Greetings, peace and blessings in the name of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.


For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 4)

Presence of false teachers and false teaching is eating up believers like a parasite and people follow these false teachers like flocks to cover their sinful life. You will find scores of false teachings on Internet, Christian TV Channels, Movies, Books, Articles, you name the media and you will find these false teachers. It is NECESSARY as believers to understand a False Teacher or False Teachers.

So from the Bible let us decode the profile of a false teacher so that we may remain away from them. When the police department is trying to catch a crook or a criminal they issue a bulletin or a profile. The profile includes a description of the suspect including gender, height, weight, hair color, distinguishing features, tattoos etc.

In the same way that the police department puts together criminal profiles, God has, in the Bible, provided to us a profile of false teachers. The following are the distinguishing characteristics of false teachers.

FALSE TEACHERS CREEP IN UNNOTICED

False teachers are deceitful. They worm their way in to the church. They pretend to be Christians and at times pretend orthodoxy, or use deceitful ploys to win disciples. Like Satan, they appear as an angel of light but they are in reality messengers of darkness. Satan is called the "Father of lies" (John 8:44), and the false teachers follow his example of deception.

The Greek expression "crept in unnoticed" means to "steal in undercover" or to "slip in secretly." Sometimes Satan's undercover agents are brought in secretly by those already on the inside (Galatians 2:4), but they can also come in on their own, as seems to be the case in the book of Jude.

How can such a thing happen? How can false teachers creep in unnoticed? The spiritual leaders must bear part of the blame. Such a thing can happen when the church is not alert, and when the soldiers who should be guarding the church are asleep on their posts.

This is why it's absolutely essential for the church to be awake, alert, and on guard so that more people don't fall victim to the kingdom of the cults.

FALSE TEACHERS ARE UNGODLY MEN, MARKED OUT FOR CONDEMNATION

False teachers are ungodly. The word for ungodly in Jude 4 is "asebes." Jude seems to like to use this word as a descriptor. The word seems to imply a person who is without religion or fails to worship. It is an all encompassing word that describes all kinds of sins and all kinds of errors. The word means impious, irreverent and wicked. The Greek speaking Jews used this word to describe practical wickednessas opposed to theoretical wickedness. Jude's emphasis is not even on the specific false teaching but rather the wicked lifestyles of the people who teach.

Jude writes that the false teachers' judgment is certain. We cannot always say that a criminal will be caught, but the Bible says, ". . . be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23).

I believe that when Jude wrote the words, "who long ago were marked out for this condemnation" that he was making reference to the historical precedents of the Old Testament where rebellion and unbelief are dealt with by God.

FALSE TEACHERS TURN THE GRACE OF GOD INTO LEWDNESS

False teachers are enemies of God's Grace "who turn the grace of our God into lewdness." This means they use God's Grace as a license for immorality. The Greek word for lewdness is "aselgeia." The term was used primarily for sins of the flesh such as sexual sins, drunkenness, gluttony, etc.

Believe me I have prayed on thousands and when I ask them to leave their old life, they come up with few favorite verses from the Bible. One of them is that they are under the Grace of God and the other is that we are not under Law but under Grace. And I have found many priests and evangelists saying the same thing.

False teachers twist God's Grace into permission for sinful behavior. They are Paul's worst nightmare because they take the Grace of God as a license to sin. They teach that because of God's Grace you are free to sin without punishment or consequence. The false teacher twists the scriptural meaning of Grace to include giving people permission to live any way they please.

Their twisted logic might cause them to say something like this, "Didn't Jesus forgive every sin, past, present and future? Isn't the essence of grace, forgiveness? Didn't Jesus pay our penalty at the cross? How can there be any penalty for sin ever again? We can live as we please!"

You may think that such an attitude would never describe you, but whenever you choose to sin and you justify your sin by saying, "Oh well, God will forgive me" you have turned the Grace of our God into a license to sin. This is also what I believed some years ago and this is a very SORRY state to be in.

Although God's Grace is real and beyond measure, one thing we know for sure is that Jude calls Jesus, "Sovereign." This sovereignty means Jesus can demand and expect obedience from us. John 14:15 reads, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." This clearly shows that Jesus can demand and expect obedience from us. We do not have a license to sin.

Jude teaches that belief and behavior are inseparable. Confessing the right Lord must lead to living the right life. The truth of God in Jesus Christ sets people free from sin and now we are free to live a holy life. The power of the Gospel and the blessing of the Gospel is the power of LORD and Savior Jesus Christ to change lives.

FALSE TEACHERS DENY THE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST

False teachers deny God's truth about the only Lord God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jude uses language that can only apply to God and then applies it to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We are not told how the false teachers denied Jesus, but I suspect it had something to do with the nature of Jesus as being both God and man. The false teachers taught things inconsistent with the faith (belief) once delivered.

The litmus test of authentic Christianity is what you say and believe about God and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you are wrong about LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, it doesn't really matter if you are right about social justice, war in the world or any other number of important issues.

May the good God keep us safe and put a hedge of Holy Spirit around our lives so that no False Teacher or teaching may creep in us, in Jesus name. AMEN

God bless

Waqar Daniel