Published: May 08, 2008 10:42 am         

Beware of false prophets

As the world is changing, it appears so is the Christian evangelical church. We see the church being led in a direction contrary to God’s word by a false teaching, a new evangelical movement.

This movement says it isn’t enough to preach the Gospel of Christ. They’re being taught that they can clear their minds and open them to allow spirit guides in that will lead them on to new and different paths of spirituality. They don't believe in hell and the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross, which firmly removes him from the historic definition of evangelical. They look for new ways to reach the postmodern generation. They have changed the message. They have created another gospel.

God does not change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, Hebrews 13:8.

False teachers will do whatever they can to twist Scriptures to fit their agendas. They are now convinced that we need to be busy about “building his kingdom” here on earth by “whatever human effort is required.”

The end result of this is that the God of the Bible is set aside in favor of a new age spirituality, which has exchanged the truth of God for a lie, (Romans 1:25)

The Bible says, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect,” Matthew 24:24. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables,” II Timothy 4:3,4.

“Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth,” 2 Timothy 3:7. The Bible clearly speaks of such things happening as we move closer to the end times. “…so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith,” 2 Timothy 3:8.

According to John 14:6, Jesus is “the way” not “a way” to the Father, He is all we need to get to heaven. The Bible tells us our salvation is through belief and confession, Romans 10:9. God gave us everything we needed when we became born again. We don’t need this new mysticism, or any spirit guides to guide us into an ultimate closeness with our Lord Jesus.

God’s adversary, Satan, does not want mankind to understand the simple message of salvation. His plan is to deceive the world. If he can blind people from the true gospel, his plan has been successful.

We must be very careful, always reading and studying the word of God so we can be a discerning Christian. “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction,” 2 Peter 2:1. We must imitate the Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul and Silas were teaching them was actually the truth or a falsehood. (Acts 17:11)

For those who decided to go to the Brian McLaren conference at Goshen College, take your Bible and be on guard, for he has all the markings of a false teacher.

— Ken Blinco

Shipshewana