Today’s post is a difficult one, because it’s about a warning in Scripture.

But warnings are always a sign of love, am I right? When you have children, you don’t say to them, “Hey, walk out on that ledge on the roof and see what the view is like.” No, we say, “Be careful of that ledge. You could fall off.” We give warnings; we even give pow-pow. Why? Because our love says, “Don’t go there—you’re going to get hurt.”

How does that work in spiritual life? God has more than promises and comfort in the Scripture. He also gives warnings: “Careful—orange lights flashing.” Let’s look at a couple.

First of all, 2 Timothy 3: “Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive” (2 Timothy 3:4–5, NIV). The closer we get to Christ’s return, the more difficult the days will be. Why? People will be living anti-Christ lives, opposite Jesus’ character but having religion and calling it Christianity.

Here’s another warning, one that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: “I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough” (2 Corinthians 11:3–4, NIV).

In other words, “I worked there with you eighteen months and founded that church, and now I’m getting reports that con artists have come in, and they’re ruining everything. And you put up with it. You don’t even know what’s wrong, what’s right. It’s going to hurt you.”

He went on to say, “Such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:12–13, NIV).

What can we deduce from these verses?

False teachers are going to propagate false doctrine. There will be false prophets. Jesus said there would be false messiahs. In fact, back in the sixties, a guy came from Asia and said, “I am the Messiah—I just came in a different form.” And people believed it.

So how do we guard against the false?

First, we’ve got to know the truth. We’ve got to know the Bible.

These false teachers with their false doctrine don’t come saying, “Hi, I’m a servant of the devil. I want to fool you.” They’re too slick for that. They’re “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” the Bible says (see Matthew 7:15). They’re counterfeits.

I’ve been told that people who handle a lot of money don’t study counterfeiting. No. They study the real bill. They look at every single detail of it so that when a counterfeit comes, they know, “No, that’s not real. I know the real.”

That’s why Satan wants to keep you and me from studying the Bible. But we must know the Word of God so we can know the counterfeit when it comes along.

Second, we must ask the Holy Spirit to give us discernment. That’s a gift of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:10). The Bible says, “Try the spirits” (1 John 4:1, KJV). Not everyone who comes talking Jesus is talking about the true Jesus. We’ve got to listen closely and know what the real gospel is, or they’re going to pull the wool over our eyes.

These con artists are good. What should we know about them to help us be on guard?

False teachers feed themselves. It’s all about them. Anytime you see a preacher playing to the crowd and drawing attention to himself and not Jesus, try to find the nearest exit. Anyone who knows God wants to put himself down and only lift up Jesus.

A lot of false teachers are also after people’s money. They might have some true things to say, but remember, it’s in the little things that they deceive people. Just because 50 percent of what they say is true, we can’t relax and say, “Oh, I’ll follow this wherever it goes.”

Nowhere did Jesus say, “Give me some money and I’ll do a miracle.” Nowhere did the apostle Paul say, “Send that gift of $777.77 and you’ll get that release.”

So what’s the positive word for us today? Know the Word, and ask God for discernment so we can pick up on counterfeits. Some are obvious, and we can know in thirty seconds, “That guy’s not real.” But others we’ve got to really be checking—we can’t go anywhere the Scripture doesn’t take us.

Prayer

Thank You, Lord, for Your Word and for the Holy Spirit who’s going to keep us close to You and the truth. Help us to know the Scripture, and give us discernment to understand it so we can know the true from the false. Amen.

If this encouraged you, you can receive Pastor Cymbala’s weekly blog post by email here.

For More Encouragement