Posted on 03/08/2016 8:16:11 PM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK
A good shepherd doesn’t just cuddle his sheep. He also fights off wolves.
In light of this, here are five things I recommend all pastors do to protect their flocks from false prophets, false apostles, and false teachers.
Show them the math. In other words, don’t just teach the Bible correctly. Take some time to show them how you arrived at your interpretation. The problem with a lot of preaching is that people are not being taught how to interpret Scripture for themselves. Thus, they can’t spot unsound interpretations. So you need to teach them sound principles of biblical interpretation, such as reading in context and recognizing genres.
Warn them about wolves. This may sound obvious. But my question for you, as a pastor, is have you warned your people about the real threat of false prophets, false apostles and false teachers? The Bible contains numerous warnings about them, including warnings from the original apostles and Jesus himself (Matthew 7:15; 24:24; Acts 20:29-30; 2 Peter 2:1; Revelation 13:11-15). But have you brought these warnings to the attention of your people?
Name names. Pastors often avoid identifying–by name–specific false teachings, false groups, and false teachers. They seem to think it is enough to merely hint at false teachings without naming the actual teachings or the specific groups or people who promote those teachings. But I disagree. This is like telling someone there is a rabid dog loose in his city, but not telling him specifically what the dog looks like or where it was last seen. In contrast, the apostle Paul felt the need, at times, to warn about specific false teachings and to even name specific false teachers who were threatening his flock (2 Tim. 2:17-18). Likewise, today’s pastors should be willing to challenge specific false teachings and to warn people about the false teachers and groups who are active in their local regions or who have gained a national following through television, literature, and the Internet. Of course, this should be done graciously, with wisdom and tact.
Teach doctrine. Take time to highlight essential Christian beliefs, such as the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the resurrection, the atonement, and salvation by grace through faith. The trend in churches is to go light and not bore people with heavy doctrine. But it is important for Christians to learn doctrine so that they can recognize false doctrines. Teaching doctrine can be done in Sunday School classes and midweek studies. But since these activities are usually less attended than Sunday morning services, you should also take some time to address these doctrines from the pulpit. To adequately address them, consider dedicating an entire topical sermon to each one of them.
Teach on the tough topics. Are you teaching the full spectrum of biblical truth or have you been avoiding the difficult topics, such as God’s holiness, the place of trials in the Christian life, and the end time? If you do not teach about God’s holiness, then people may fall victim to false teachings, such as the “universalism” of authors like Rob Bell. If you don’t teach about trials, then they may fall for the false “prosperity gospel” teachings–these being, that God always wants to bless His people with money, perfect health, and the fulfillment of all their desires. And if you don’t teach on the end time and the difficult days ahead for the church, then they may fall for NAR dominionist teachings that entire nations will be Christianized and God’s glorious kingdom will be set up on earth before Christ returns.
Pastors need to make sure their people know what they believe and why the believe it :)
Good advice.
Hearty amen on teaching biblical hermeneutics. It’s not just for seminarians. Expository preaching through entire books of the Bible takes care of 2,4 & 5. If people get bored with theology, which is learning about God, I have to question their faith.
Start doing these things and your church numbers are guaranteed to shrink, but the church that remains will be much more healthy.
ping
I believe parents should do these things as well. I sure do with my teenagers, just as my parents did with me.
Often times the pastors are the wolves. A church we liked turned out bad on Christmas as the pastor announced that after the “apostle age” there were no more miracles. He claimed he had never seen a miracle healing or anything.
I have and I am not a pastor. So much for that church.
The article says to name names, so here are two false teachers who seem to have a large following: Rod Parsley and Mike Murdock. Their broadcasts aren't sermons - they are infomercials. Their pitch is basically this: "God wants to bless you, but he can't do it until you send me your $300 faith seed (and the check clears.) Parsley usually adds that God is particularly impressed when you send him "that uncommon faith seed of $1,000." Until I heard Rod Parsley and Mike Murdock, I did not know that God accepted Visa and Mastercard.
Teach them the TRUTH first; because it's gonna be hard to remove the LIE that filled the vacuum to begin with.
Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
But...
...if you get them as adults, then...
Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord:
Bingo!
Gideon!
Ask him...
...”Have you ever seen your brain?”
mega dittos on that article!
Thanks for the ping.
There are two orthodox views on the continuation of the sign gifts that we read about in the Apostolic age. That pastor you refer to is probably a cessationist. That is probably what he was referring to. He probably did not communicate his position clearly, but being a cessationist would not make him a wolf or a heretic. A cessationist does not believe that miracles don’t happen anymore, they just do not believe that specific sign gifts (healings, ability to survive poisonous snake bites, etc.) continued beyond God’s complete revelation to man (the Scriptures). God is free to do whatever he wants, of course, but these things are not considered normative to the cessationist, as compared to the continuationist, who does see them as normative.
That said, oftentimes pastors are indeed the wolves. That is why church members need to have sound theology, and not put someone in a pastoral role who does not meet the biblical qualifications (1 Tim 3, Titus 1, 1 Pet 5, etc.). If we just held pastors to that standard, instead of our own man-made standards, we would avoid a lot of problems.
I've had a lot of unlearning to do from my upbringing.
Almost 40 years later, I'm STILL working on it.
I would ask him if I were ever to go to that church again. But I won’t go there anymore. I have been praying for him and I forgive him. I can’t do more than that.
Leaders in the Christian churches are called pastors/teachers for a reason. They should be men of God who have that special gift and calling. Not everyone who imagines themselves in such a position truly are (i.e., Al Sharpton claims he was ordained as a minister when he was nine or ten years old.).
Dang them wee vixens with a taste for the grape!
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