An Example of False Teachings

I would like to give you an example of how false teachings and fake gospels can show up in the real world. They are cleverly disguised and not easy to spot; you must know the Gospel extremely well yourself so you are not “tricked” or “deceived.”1 Jason Jackson writes about receiving a “Christian” tract being handed out. Upon examining it, he writes:2

Two ladies walked up the driveway. They handed me a small, tri-folded brochure that contained the service times of their church group. It advertised the religious group as being “independent of any denomination, Bible-based in every part of ministry, soul-winning and missions minded, and distinctively Christian.” The tract claimed that the religious body is “an old fashioned, independent, Baptist Church that believes, preaches, and practices the Bible.”

Their claims to being Bible-based, however, are negated in that section of the tract titled, “How to have a home in Heaven.” Four points are designed that, supposedly, guide one to salvation. Unfortunately, the teaching is hardly “independent of any denomination … and distinctively Christian.”

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As you can see, the tract was full of false teachings despite being from a well-meaning, “independent of any denomination, Bible-based in every part of ministry, soul-winning and missions minded, and distinctively Christian” church (their very own words). Unfortunately, false teachings won’t be clearly labeled as such for you when you encounter them in the real world. They are cleverly disguised by mixing some Bible verses in with what appears to be very biblically sounding language.4 It can be very hard to spot false teachings, especially for the new Christian.5 Indeed, the tract appears to be very biblical on the surface, but in fact, it is not in agreement with what is taught in Scripture, as you should now know after reading this book.

And finally, in my experience, and as mentioned in the prior chapter, false teachings, like the “wolves” who teach them, tend to travel in packs. Whenever you see one false teaching, you will almost always find additional false teachings from that same group or church. For instance, where you find the (1) “sinner’s prayer” false teaching (as the tract mentioned above contained), you will almost always find additional false teachings as well, such as: (2) you are saved by “faith alone”; (3) baptism is a good work of man; and (4) “once saved, always saved.” This goes for Bible prophecy as well. Whenever a group or church teaches the Gospel incorrectly, they will almost always have false Bible prophecy (particularly end-times prophecy). The converse is also true: Wherever a group or church teaches false end-times Bible prophecy, they will almost never teach the true and correct Gospel.

I hope you have seen the daunting task you will face in seeking scriptural truth instead of man-made opinions, “traditions,” schemes, false teachings, and fake gospels. I had to sort through nearly fifty false teachings myself (many of which I have identified for you in this book) in order to find the true and correct Gospel, “which was once for all handed down to the saints” in Scripture (Jud 3). Yes, the “wolves” had also deceived me for many years.6 So please don’t just blindly believe whatever you hear being taught or preached as actual biblical truth (by me or anyone else) without fully checking it against Scripture for yourself (Act 17:11).7 Amen.