Be cautious of preachers and teachers who only preach topical messages, and who rarely reference the Bible. These preachers use the Scriptures as a nice garnish for the meal of wit and well-stated personal opinions that they serve up on various topics. Be very afraid of preachers who do not encourage you to read the Bible for yourselves and test the messages they deliver.
Develop in yourself a strong biblical hermeneutic, so that you get used to reading the Bible in light of its historical and contextual backdrop. There’s no need to have a critical spirit when listening to preaching, but have a humble, yet discerning, spirit. Realize that if you are in Christ, the same spirit that lives in you lives in the preacher. That is, of course, if he truly is in Christ himself.
We cannot assume just because someone calls themselves a teacher or a pastor that what they are saying is sound. Everything should be filtered through the Scriptures and through prayer. A true pastor will want you to be a student of Scripture. We should never underestimate the power of the Scriptures.
The use of Scripture is how Jesus overcame the temptation of Satan in the desert:
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:” ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matthew 4:1-11, NIV)
If relying on Scripture as his defense for temptation was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for us. Jesus continually quoted from the Scriptures. Jesus was the perfect example as well as God incarnate, so it is foolish to think we are beyond or above him in anyway.
False teachers, on the other hand, reject the Bible in many ways. Some are subtler than others, but anytime a preacher is less than reverent of the Scriptures, run away from them far and fast. Some will use Scripture as window dressing to lead off their messages to hook you in so you will buy whatever lies they are telling you. However, the Scripture isn’t the true focus of their message. It is strategically placed to give their sermon credibility. Remember, Satan did this also when trying to tempt Jesus.
Some will downplay the importance of Scripture and use it as a backdrop for their message, which will have no true contextual connection to the sermon. We must remember that most false teachers will not be obvious. They will fit the mold and play the part of a pastor, but their messages will be focused more on self than on God.
When we see God for who he is, and ourselves in light of that revelation, we should be utterly humbled. If we are not, we are deceived. It is impossible to view God in his rightful place and not realize how small we are by comparison.
False teachers make easy work of people who don’t truly know God and who are not dedicated to knowing him through the Scriptures. If they can get someone to take their focus off of God and put it on themselves, they are easy to deceive.
It’s easy to preach to felt needs. It’s easy to manipulate the Scriptures to seem that self-fulfillment is noble. Our sinful nature is susceptible to that. We want everything to be about us and we love it when a preacher gets up and tells us that seeking self-worth is good, that selfish ambition is noble, and that God is fine with our sinful desires.
It is the disease of sin that causes us to turn our worship inward instead of upward. There is no such thing as self-fulfillment. The only true satisfaction in this life is to lose our life in Christ. As the apostle Paul says in Romans, to be found in Christ not having a righteousness of our own as based on the law, but one that comes through Christ on the basis of faith.
A false teacher relies on his own creativity, on stories and series that are worldly and appeal to the flesh, instead of doing what a pastor, preacher, and teacher should do—proclaim the Scriptures to the best of their ability through the power of the Holy Spirit.
False teachers and preachers also tend to subtly minimize the glory and power of Jesus and emphasize their own power and influence. True pastors and preachers are humble servants and messengers of God. No false teacher comes out and denies Jesus, it is usually more about subtly moving away from the centrality of Christ.
There is a popular celebrity preacher talking about moving away from saying things like “the Bible says” or “it is written” because he says that those phrases are not relevant anymore. His logic is this: who cares if you’re speaking the truth if nobody is listening. This is poor logic and is born out of the flesh not the Spirit.
Telling people what they want to hear because they don’t want the truth isn’t valid. This is like saying if the damned don’t listen to you, damn yourself so they will. Calling into question the authority of the living Word of God might make you seem relevant and edgy, but putting your own words or wisdom on par with Scripture is beyond foolish. It is wicked.
Our job is to proclaim the name of Jesus and the truth about Jesus as revealed in his Word, no matter what. In fact, when people aren’t listening and have fallen away, that is when truth matters more than ever. Jesus said, “…for it is written” and Paul said “…for it is written,” so excuse me if I ignore the words of an edgy, modern celebrity preacher!
"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:1-5 (NIV)
In 2 Timothy, the apostle Paul wrote to his son in the faith and makes a bold declaration. He says in the presence of Christ Jesus who will judge him and everyone else one day, Timothy, I give you this charge, preach the word. Not to be sensitive to the culture, or to make sure you are relevant to grow your church. The admonition was quite simply, preach the word.
Paul tells Timothy to do so in season and out of season, if it is fashionable or if it is not, if it easy or if it is not, if it is well received or if it is not. We must preach the full counsel of God according to the Scripture. And for people who call themselves Christian disciples, we as pastors must use God’s Word to correct, rebuke, and encourage. I hear a lot of pastors talking about encouragement, but it’s not very often that I hear a pastor, especially prosperity and word-faith pastors, talk about correction or rebuke.
If I were a Little League baseball coach and one of my players was having trouble hitting the ball because their batting stance was wrong, I wouldn’t encourage them to keep trying just so I wouldn’t offend them or hurt their feelings. If I’m the coach, it's my job to help my player grow and be successful as a player.
First, I would stop them and correct their bad stance and bad hitting form. Then I would show them the correct way to stand and the right way to swing. If they reverted back to their old hitting habits, I would rebuke them. But once they had their stance right and their swing was right, I would encourage them.
Hit or miss, I would keep encouraging them until they hit the ball. Encouraging people in sin that leads to destruction and calling it love is not only wrong, it’s satanic. But it is two-sided, because false teachers are merely a product of the people who refuse the truth.
The Scripture says that there will come a time when people will not endure sound doctrine, because it is not what they want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3). They surround themselves with teachers who are false and are willing to preach a gospel that accommodates the greed in their heart, or their compromised lifestyle. It’s a message that preaches a personal savior who will conform to your image instead of you conforming to his.
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.’” Jeremiah 23:16 (NIV)
We need to be careful about telling people “the Lord says,” or “God told me to tell you this.” Sometimes hope is false hope and sometimes encouragement is not godly.
Many pastors tend to think any encouragement is good and that giving hope is also the right thing to do. But if we are encouraging people who are in sin and estranged from God, or telling unsaved people that there is hope found anywhere outside of Christ, we are preaching falsehood and maybe at the expense of someone's soul.
In Christ,
Pastor Joshua
Joshua West is a pastor, evangelist, and author. He is also director of the World Challenge Pastors Network.
