Pastor's Corner: Am I a victim of false teaching?

I am convinced that a good majority of the people who are members of pseudo-Christian cults don’t even know what their church teaches.

For many of them, to “believe in Jesus” is not only enough, but sums up the extent of their doctrinal understanding.

My heart goes out to them.

For I know that they, like me, have an emptiness in their hearts that only Jesus Christ can fill.

The problem is: they’ve been given a counterfeit, a Christ who cannot save…a Christ whois the concoction of their “prophet’s” imagination.

This is the “other Jesus” who the apostle Paul warned about in 2 Corinthians 11:4.

Jesus, and His apostles after Him, warned about false Christs, false prophets and false teachers who would come IN HIS NAME and infiltrate the church/Christianity (see Matt.

24:24; Acts 20:29-30; 2 Pet.

2:1-3; 1 John 4:1; Jude vv. 3-4, 12-13; etc.).

This is the essence of what makes a cult a cult… having “a different Jesus” by way of “a different spirit” and “a different gospel” (2 Cor.

11:4) than that which is presented in the Bible.

How then, you might ask, do I know if my church is a cult or connected to one? How do I know if the Christ I am following is the real Christ and not a counterfeit? Answer: the same way people detect false currency: by studying the original.

The people who are trained to spot false currency know the genuine article so well, they can detect a fraud a mile away.

Let’s make it as simple as possible.

In the classes that I have taught and the sermons that I have given on this subject, I have instructed my hearers to focus on what I call the “Three Pillars of the Christian Faith,” and they all concern Christ.

They are: the Person of Christ, the Work of Christ and the Word of Christ.

Virtually all cults and false teachings that have come to us in the name of Christ have skewed (twisted/undermined) one or all of those three doctrines.

Let’s look at the “original,” the “genuine article” of our faith, the Bible, and see what it has to say about all three of these doctrines and thereby put our churches and belief systems to the test by the Word of God!

First, let’s examine the Person of Christ.

This doctrine asks and answers the question, “Who is Jesus Christ?” One of the great Christmas prophecies we read every Christmas season is Isaiah 7:14, which is quoted in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 1:23).

It says, “’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘GOD WITH US.’” The apostle John wrote the following words concerning Jesus.

He wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the WORD WAS GOD…And the WORD BECAME FLESH and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14, emphasis added).

You see, the Bible teaches that while there is only one true, living and eternal God (Deut.

6:4; Isa.

43:10-11, etc.), that one God exists eternally in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This is why Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58), taking the divine name of God (from Exodus 3:14) and applying it to Himself.

It is also why He said, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30).

The God of the Bible is one God who exists eternally in three distinct Persons.

Notice, God is NOT three gods in one (polytheism).

Rather, God is One God in three distinct Persons.

So, who is Jesus Christ? The Bible teaches that Jesus is the one true, eternal God who became flesh through the Person of the Son, Jesus Christ.

He is not a created being (as one prominent religion teaches, saying that Jesus is “the first and greatest creation of Jehovah God”).

In fact the Bible says that “BY HIM [Christ] all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

All things were created through Him and for Him” (Col.

1:16).

Further, He is not a mere man who “became a god” or who “attained godhood,” as another religious movement falsely asserts.

The Bible draws a sharp contrast.

For Jesus Christ was, is and forever shall be “IMMANUEL…GOD WITH US.”

Second, let’s look at the Work of Christ.

This doctrine asks and answers the question, “What was the primary work of Christ while here on Earth?” Many will tell you that He came to show us how to live, how to treat our neighbors, etc.

(and He certainly did that.) But the primary reason He became flesh, the main work He came to perform, can be summed up with His own words.

He said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

He said, “I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

If we could sum up Christ’s words (as well as the rest of Scripture) on this subject in one word, it would be SUBSTITUTION. Christ came as our Substitute, our sin-bearer.

Because of our sin, we are all separated from God and will, apart from His grace, spend eternity separated from Him (Rom.

3:23; 6:23; James 1:15; etc.).

We need a Substitute, a sin Bearer.

Without Him, we will die in our sins and have to face the eternal judgement of God for those sins.

The apostle Paul said, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.

5:8).

The apostle Peter wrote, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God…” (1 Pet.

3:18).

Christ on the cross suffered the wrath of God in our place and was raised from the dead three days later, securing salvation (eternal life) for all who would believe and turn to Him alone (John 3:16; Rom.

4:25).

So as far as our salvation is concerned, mere religion says “DO;” true Christianity says, “DONE.”

Third, we examine the Word of Christ.

This doctrine asks and answers the questions, “What has God said, and what is our final authority?” Just before Jesus was arrested and crucified, He told His disciples that after His execution, resurrection and ascension, He would send the Holy Spirit to teach them all things, remind them of all that He said and did, and tell them of things to come (John 14:25-26; 16:12-14).

The fulfillment of that is the New Testament.

The Holy Spirit did indeed teach them all things, remind them of all that He said and did, and tell them things to come.

They then wrote those things down and their writings were compiled in the New Testament (2 Tim.

3:16-17; 2 Pet.

1:20-21; Heb.

4:12).

God’s Word is eternal.

Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.” And Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away” (Luke 21:33).

What we have in the Old and New Testaments is the “faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

The sixty-six books of the Bible are, therefore, unalterable… never to be added to or redacted in any way (see Deut.

4:2; 12:32; Rev. 22:18-19).

Every cult/false teaching that I know of makes the claim that their founder, current “prophet” or leader had some kind of “revelation from God.” Yet the Bible says that Scripture (alone) is “given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim.

3:16).

It alone is our final authority, not some current “prophet” and/or “other testament.”

There are many other doctrines that are critical to our faith, but few are weightier than these three: the Person of Christ, the Work of Christ and the Word of Christ. A thorough knowledge of these helps us to know whether or not we are in the midst of sound doctrine or false teaching. A life that is abundant and eternal is found only in the Christ of the Bible and His Gospel. Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).

Dean Ellis,

Pastor of Evangelism & Outreach

First Baptist Church, Colfax