Wolves in Wool: Creeps in The Church (Intro)
- Wolves in Wool: Creeps in The Church (Intro)
- Wolves In Wool: Intro to The Word of Faith
- Word of Faith: Erroneous Faith Theology
- Word of Faith: The Elevation of Man
- Word of Faith: The Demotion of God
- Word of Faith Atonement Flaws: Kenoticism
- Word of Faith Atonement: Jesus in Hell
- Word of Faith Error: Jesus was “Born Again”
- Word of Faith Healing Promises
- Word of Faith Wealth Theology: Part One
- Word of Faith Wealth Theology: Part Two
- Emergent: History & Characteristics
- An Emerging Relativism
- Emergent Deconstructionism: Hell
- The New, Friendlier Gospel
- Emerging Mysticism
- The Emergent Contemplative Prayer Model
- The Great Falling Away
- The Consumerization of the Gospel
- Today’s Apostasy: Inventing Doctrine
- A Custom-Built Gospel
- A Coming One-World Religious System
- Wolves in Wool Conclusion: From Christ to Antichrist
Wolves in Wool: Creeps in The Church, is the title of this series on false teachers and false doctrines. This study will be updated weekly, so be sure to subscribe for updates.
Part one:
Wolves in Wool - Introduction from Jeff Kluttz on Vimeo.
(Notes below are scrollable)
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Jude 1:4 (KJV) Wolves in Wool: Creeps in The Church, is the title of this series on false teachers and false doctrines. This study will be updated weekly, so be sure to subscribe for updates.
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Introduction
In the old days, the truth was proclaimed with broad brushstrokes and the heresy arose in small pockets of uprising. Today the tables have turned. The truth is spoken in small pockets of a remnant church which still adheres to constancy in biblical principles, while the heresy is screamed from hundreds of television networks and millions of websites, as God spoke through Paul:
2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NIV)
3 For the time will come when men 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. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Surely we are in those times. The tested and proven method of growing a huge church today is to begin touting prosperity “theology” which tells people everything they want to hear: “you’re going to be rich, you’re going to be healthy, you’re going to be kings, you’re more important than everything else in creation and God wants to serve you.”
And, sadly, it does work. We now have magical prayer books which give the proper “formula” for invoking God’s response to your request, as if he is a cosmic genie who only needs to be properly addressed for his magic to work. At the end of this process, man is God, dictating his will to an obedient subordinate; and God himself is that humble servant. And, at the end of the phony theological thread which attempts to make this doctrine biblical, that’s exactly what the false teachers have relegated God to; our sugar daddy in the sky.
Importance of revealing False Teachers
Scripture does it
Jeremiah 14:14-16 (NIV)
14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds. 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine. 16 And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or their daughters. I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.
2 Timothy 3:8-9 (NIV)
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth–men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NIV)
3 For the time will come when men 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. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
2 Peter 2:1 (NIV)
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Every New Testament author speaks about false teachers or false teachings. Some do so numerous times.
We are told to reveal them
1 Timothy 4:1-6 (NIV)
1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 6 If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.
Titus 1:10-14 (NIV)
10 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach–and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth.
1 Timothy 1:3-4 (NIV)
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work–which is by faith.
Some even names names! (as this author will)
Paul: 2 Timothy 2:16-18 (NIV)
16 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 17 Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.
Luke: Acts 13:6 (NIV)
6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus,
Jesus via John: Revelation 2:20 (NIV)
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
Motivation of false teachers
Before getting into the details of specific movements a question needs to be answered from scripture: what is the motivation of the false teacher?
Power
Acts 20:30 (NIV)
30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
Galatians 4:17 (NIV)
17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you [from us], so that you may be zealous for them.
Philippians 1:15 (NIV)
15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.
Financial gain
Romans 16:17-18 (NIV)
17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
1 Timothy 6:3-5 (NIV)
3 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
Titus 1:11 (NIV)
11 They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach–and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
2 Peter 2:18 (NIV)
18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.
2 Corinthians 2:17 (NIV)
17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.
The Source of False Doctrines
One’s own imagination
2 Peter 2:1 (NIV)
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Jeremiah 14:14 (NIV)
14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds.
Demonically taught doctrines
1 Timothy 4:1 (NIV)
1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
2 John 1:7 (NIV)
7 Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NIV)
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Colossians 2:18-19 (NIV)
18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19 He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Jeremiah 14:14 (NIV)
14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds.
Human Tradition
Colossians 2:8 (NIV)
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
The condemnation of false teachers
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NIV)
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Galatians 1:7-8 (NIV)
7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
2 Peter 2:1-9 (NIV)
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)– 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
2 Peter 2:17 (NIV)
17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
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