A Layman’s Guide To False Preachers and Teachers – Part 11

We are learning something that every Christian should do — test the spirits. This is not a game or a passing fad in a Christian’s life. It is something God has commanded us to do — test the spirits. Here’s the context of that apostolic command:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:1

[Podcast link at the end of this study.]

In the last part of our series we looked at how every Christian has a strong light to use when testing spirits. Our “light” comes from God’s Spirit who lives in every true follower of Jesus Christ.

We also looked at what “spirits” we’re looking to find in our testing. John wrote this:

We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
1 JOHN 4:6

We find two spirits in the Bible:

spirit of truth
spirit of error

We know from what we read from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 that Jesus is Truth and Satan is error. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. The devil is the father of lies.

We are testing spirits in the sense of finding out whether they belong to Jesus or Satan. True preachers and teachers belong to Jesus. False preachers and teachers belong to the devil. That is the point of what John wrote. “He who knows God hears us” (followers of Jesus Christ). “… he who is not of God does not hear us” (not followers of Jesus Christ). “By this we know the spirit truth and the spirit of error.”

Why did the Apostle John give Christians a way to know which spirit is behind the words and actions of people? Because we need to have a way to “test the spirits, whether they are of God.”

One more quick reminder of what we learned last time, then on to new thoughts about testing spirits. We shared five things a Christian should do in preparation for testing spirits:

assess your commitment to God’s Word
know your enemy
pray and trust God for His mercy
keep your spiritual eyes open at all times
be ready to act appropriately based on the results of your “testing the spirits”

Showing Mercy

One of the appropriate ways to act when testing spirits is to show mercy. God is a merciful God. God has shown extreme mercy to everyone of us who names the name of Jesus Christ. May we never forget that. If we do, may God be merciful to show us our error.

I say this because Christians who “test the spirits” are often accused of being judgmental and lacking mercy. That may be true with some, but it shouldn’t be that way. Here’s why I say that.

Here’s what Jesus preached:

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
Matthew 7:1-2

Luke 6 takes it a little further:

Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Luke 6:37

Jesus will one day judge the nations and He will do it justly and righteously. When Jews accused Jesus of having a demon, He responded:

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.
John 7:24

All “judgment” should be done righteously. The word “judgment” in the Greek means “to separate (distinguish).” The word “discernment” comes from the same root word and means “to examine, investigate.” That’s what we should do as part of “testing the spirits.” We test through a process of examination and investigation. We use the tools God has given us to see what type of spirit is behind human words and actions.

Christians have been called to ‘discern.’ In fact, only Christians have the spiritual ability to discern spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:13-15). Even as every Christian can discern spiritual things, the Holy Spirit also gives the spiritual ‘gift’ of discernment to some (1 Corinthians 12:10). The gift is actually called “discerning of spirits.” It is the work of the Holy Spirit in believers to test the spirits by examination and investigation to determine what type they are (truth or error), and to determine what to do with those who are found to be in error.

Model of Mercy

Jesus is the Model of Mercy. He came from Heaven to earth to demonstrate mercy. In the same sermon we quoted from earlier, Jesus began by saying this:

Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Matthew 5:7

Thankfully for all of us, God is merciful. I’m reminded of these glorious words from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) Ephesians 2:4-5

God is RICH in mercy. Why? Because of His GREAT LOVE with which He loved us. He loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and at enmity with Him and made us alive together with Christ. Salvation is all of God. Nothing comes from us. We are dead. We are enemies. Yet, God loved us and showed great mercy to us.

Mercy in the Church

So, how does this work in a church situation where a spirit of error is discerned? That can be a very dangerous time in the life of a church, denomination, conference, college, seminary or other Christian setting. Why? Because fallible human beings are involved in the testing of spirits and the determining of how to deal with the spirit of error. How can fallible humans judge righteously? By following God’s Word. Here are some suggested steps:

Jesus said “I will build My church” .. we need to remember that our church belongs to Jesus. You didn’t die and rise for people in your church. Jesus did. We need to be careful not to forget that. Many have forgotten and hurt people deeply and unnecessarily. The “church” is His, not ours.
Jesus said that if “your brothers sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:15-17)

That’s an amazingly simple way of judging righteously in the church. False preaching and teaching is certainly a sin against you and others in the church. Follow the Lord’s three-step instruction:

Go tell him his fault between you and him alone. That’s showing mercy. You’re not trying to embarrass him or her. You’re trying to help them. You’ve demonstrated respect by meeting with them privately.
If he or she won’t hear you, get one or two people to go with you to talk with the person (we’ll call them the tested). That way it’s not just your word against theirs about their preaching or teaching. There are witnesses who can confirm what you said and what the tested person said. Hopefully, the witnesses will also have something to say about the falsity of their preaching and teaching as well as you. Choose your witnesses wisely. If your witnesses don’t know God’s Word well, don’t understand what you’re trying to accomplish or don’t have the stomach for the confronting of spirits, find someone else. Don’t take the wrong people with you. That will just make the situation worse.
If the tested person refuses to hear you and the witnesses, tell it to the church. Now it’s out in the open. No more private discussions. Everything is public. You and those who witnessed the private conversation bring all of the information into the light. The tested person also gets an opportunity to be heard. Then, the full church speaks — hopefully, united behind the truth. If the accused refuses to hear the church, “let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” If church members are divided about the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, then you have another challenge. Seek the Lord’s guidance for how to handle something as big as a church or denomination divided about truth and error.

Treating someone “like a heathen and a tax collector” means viewing them as unbelievers. What should Christians do with unbelievers? Pray for them. Witness to them. Preach the Gospel to them. It also means that the tested who do not listen to the church should not have any membership or leadership role in the church until they have done what unbelievers do to become members and leaders. They need to be saved. They need to repent of their sins and believe the Gospel. They need to confess with their mouths the Lord Jesus and believe in their hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. Then they will be saved. They must come to the Lord humbly and confess their need for His forgiveness. Once God forgives a person, we must also forgive them.

That’s how Jesus runs His Church — with mercy. What Jesus gave His followers was a practical way of dealing with sin in churches. Since many churches now are part of denominations, we can use the same guidance there as well.

Word of Caution

I want to leave you with a word of caution. I am not saying there isn’t a place in the testing and discerning for taking a tough position against false preachers and teachers. If you’ve read previous parts of this series, you know what the Bible teaches us about them. Look back at the last few parts of this series and you’ll see what I mean. What I am saying is that there is an important place in the testing and discerning of spirits for demonstrating mercy. We need, as fallible human beings, to be balanced in our examination and investigation and in our confronting the spirit of error in our churches and denominations. Today’s churches and denominations may appear to be merciful in dealing with false preachers and teachers, but they are often ignorant or weak.

The reason for a series of studies like this is because the situation is so bad in churches, denominations, conferences, colleges and seminaries. We have to say something because the situation has become so dangerous to the spiritual lives for whom Jesus died. Church leaders, who are supposed to shepherd the flock of God, have allowed false preachers and teachers to take over large groups of churches and entire denominations. Many churches and denominations are so far gone that they will probably never come back to the ‘truth’ of Christ. Jesus has already judged many of them guilty and dealt with them harshly. Thousands of churches close their doors every year.

This graphic from Pew Research shows what’s been happening within Christian churches and denominations for the last 50 years and projections for the next 50 –

One of the big problems in churches and denominations is that unsaved people are often in charge. How, when and why did that happen? There’s no excuse for unsaved people to be in positions of leadership in Christian churches. That goes against everything that Jesus taught about churches. Read through Revelation chapters two and three for a quick reminder of what He said to individual churches and their leaders. His words there should cause us all to shudder as we look at what’s happened in our churches and denominations. Shame on us.

We must be balanced in our testing, discerning, determining, and carrying out the Lord’s justice in His church. Mercy is our first stop on this journey, but there are more stops beyond that. We’ll look at all of them.

[Listen to a Podcast of this study by clicking this link.]

Next Time

We’ll look at other examples of how to show mercy in the church and when mercy is no longer warranted. – in the next part of our special series, A Layman’s Guide to False Preachers and Teachers.

A Layman’s Guide To False Preachers and Teachers Part 1

A Layman’s Guide To False Preachers and Teachers Part 2

A Layman’s Guide To False Preachers and Teachers Part 3

A Layman’s Guide To False Preachers and Teachers Part 4

A Layman’s Guide To False Preachers and Teachers Part 5

A Layman’s Guide To False Preachers and Teachers Part 6

A Layman’s Guide To False Preachers and Teachers Part 7

A Layman’s Guide To False Preachers and Teachers Part 8

A Layman’s Guide To False Preachers and Teachers Part 9

A Layman’s Guide To False Preachers and Teachers Part 10