but what about "false teachers"?????
The cry of "false prophet" is in the air yet again.
It seems that whenever God begins to move somewhere (I am thinking of Lakeland, Florida currently), the self-appointed 'heresy hunters' point their guns and begin to rally whoever will listen around the "Beware of false prophets" slogan.
The fear of deception is alive and well and crippling believers everywhere. The bottom line is that these "Doctrine Police" have an unbiblical idea about a "false prophet" anyway. In the NT, false prophets were unbelievers (or believers who have fallen away from the faith) - not believers who made mistakes! False prophets were immoral, deceptive and not following Christ.
The idea that if a prophetic person makes a single mistake, or gets one prophetic word wrong, that they are a false prophet continues to be propagated - in spite of the fact that it has been soundly refuted. (See for example, "Surprised by the Voice of God", Jack Deere, Zondervan).
Let's however turn our attention on a 2nd category that the New Testament talks about - false teachers. 2 Peter 2 has the most to say on the topic - and similarly, a false teacher in the NT, isn't someone who holds to one false teaching, but is rather an apostate who is destructively leading people away from the truth. False teachers like false prophets are described as immoral.
The question I want to raise is this - Doesn't calling someone a false prophet (who clearly is NOT) and calling a move of God "counterfeit" and "of the devil" come dangerously close to being "false teaching"??? What about the dozens of NT passages that condemn in the strongest possible terms (i.e. people that do these things WILL NOT inherit the Kingdom of God) those who "cause division" in the Body of Christ?
I find it quite disturbing that the sin of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Jesus was when people attributed to satan what was the work and power of God's Holy Spirit. If Lakeland is truly a move of God, isn't saying that the Lakeland miracles and healings are demonic the commiting of that sin?
I think the more pertinent warning today is "Beware of False Teachers" who are influencing countless thousands of unsuspecting believers to miss out yet again on what God is doing in the Earth!
It seems that whenever God begins to move somewhere (I am thinking of Lakeland, Florida currently), the self-appointed 'heresy hunters' point their guns and begin to rally whoever will listen around the "Beware of false prophets" slogan.
The fear of deception is alive and well and crippling believers everywhere. The bottom line is that these "Doctrine Police" have an unbiblical idea about a "false prophet" anyway. In the NT, false prophets were unbelievers (or believers who have fallen away from the faith) - not believers who made mistakes! False prophets were immoral, deceptive and not following Christ.
The idea that if a prophetic person makes a single mistake, or gets one prophetic word wrong, that they are a false prophet continues to be propagated - in spite of the fact that it has been soundly refuted. (See for example, "Surprised by the Voice of God", Jack Deere, Zondervan).
Let's however turn our attention on a 2nd category that the New Testament talks about - false teachers. 2 Peter 2 has the most to say on the topic - and similarly, a false teacher in the NT, isn't someone who holds to one false teaching, but is rather an apostate who is destructively leading people away from the truth. False teachers like false prophets are described as immoral.
The question I want to raise is this - Doesn't calling someone a false prophet (who clearly is NOT) and calling a move of God "counterfeit" and "of the devil" come dangerously close to being "false teaching"??? What about the dozens of NT passages that condemn in the strongest possible terms (i.e. people that do these things WILL NOT inherit the Kingdom of God) those who "cause division" in the Body of Christ?
I find it quite disturbing that the sin of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Jesus was when people attributed to satan what was the work and power of God's Holy Spirit. If Lakeland is truly a move of God, isn't saying that the Lakeland miracles and healings are demonic the commiting of that sin?
I think the more pertinent warning today is "Beware of False Teachers" who are influencing countless thousands of unsuspecting believers to miss out yet again on what God is doing in the Earth!
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