False teachers are not always readily recognized because they are usually in disguise. Jesus’ admonition to beware of false prophets is a serious one (Matthew 7:15). There are many false prophets in the world today. At first glance, they appear to be men of God and ministers of Christ, but in reality, they are doing the devil’s bidding (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
No one fits the description of a false prophet better than the many TV evangelists who have become household names in many parts of the country. Thousands of people are deceived by the false teachings of these men and women. They preach with a Bible in their hand, but they corrupt the teaching of God’s Word. They quote many scriptures very accurately, but they make erroneous application of many of those passages. Because of their appealing appearance and smooth way of speaking, they are very successful at deceiving their followers.
I was recently flipping through the channels on TV, and I ran across one of these TV evangelists. He preached with confidence and boldness, and he had the audience in the palm of his hand. But, in the two minutes that I watched him preach, he preached at least three false doctrines. This is what he taught in this short period.
There is Only One Sin That Will Cause a Person to Be Lost
The sin he cited was the sin of unbelief. His doctrine was that as long a person believed in Jesus, he or she would go to heaven. He even gave different examples of sin that would not condemn a person. Sins such as lying and stealing he said would not cause a person to be lost. Just to make his point, he even said that murder would not cause a person to be lost. Only the sin of unbelief, he taught, would cause a person to lose favor with God and die in sin. I am sure that this particular doctrine was full of comfort to those in the audience who were guilty of some kind of ongoing sin in their lives. This false doctrine would probably be comforting to everyone who knows that we all sin from time to time. The truth, however, is that God does not ignore sin, even if it is committed by those who believe in Jesus. There are too many passages that prove this for us to consider in this short article, but notice the words found in Revelation 21:8.
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
These words were addressed to those who believed in Jesus. If it were not possible for them to meet the fate of being cast into the lake of fire and experiencing the second death, this passage would not exist. The truth is sin condemns. All sin that is not repented of will cause us to lose our souls and miss out on heaven. Do not be deceived by anyone who says otherwise, no matter how comforting his words may be.
We are born sinners
This is an old Calvinistic doctrine held by most denominational preachers. This particular false teacher is one of many who teach that we somehow inherit Adam’s sin, but it is not true. Such a doctrine contradicts many passages of scripture and effectively removes personal guilt from our transgressions. If I were created as a sinner, how can God hold me responsible for the sins I commit?
How do I know that I was not born a sinner? The Bible’s definition of sin tells me so. John wrote, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). Unless I transgressed the law of God on the way out of my mother’s womb, I was not born a sinner. The Bible teaches that a person becomes a sinner when he or she transgresses God’s law and not one moment before that time. Sin is not something one can inherit like brown hair or blue eyes. Listen to the prophet Ezekiel.
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him” (Ezekiel 18:20).
These words make it clear that the sins of one man will not be put down on the account of others. Yes, we may reap some negative consequences from the sins of others, but to say that we are born sinners because of the actions of Adam is just plain unscriptural. Was Paul born in sin? If so, why did he speak of the time that he was spiritually alive without law? (Romans 9:6) The only time Paul was alive, spiritually or physically, without law was when he was an infant. If Paul was spiritually alive at that time, and he said that he was, then he could not have been born in sin. This truth ruins the theory that we are born in sin.
The idea that we are born in sin has led to several other false doctrines propagated by false teachers. It is said that man is born, not only a sinner but totally depraved, and that he cannot obey the gospel without a special illumination from the Spirit because of his total depravity. It is said that babies must be baptized. These and other false doctrines have come as a result of the error that says that we are born in sin.
Righteousness is never something done
The preacher emphasized that righteousness is not something we do, but something that is done to us. Well, this teaching is half true. It has often been pointed out that the word righteousness is used in different ways in the New Testament. Sometimes it refers to the moral character of God (Romans 3:25-26). Sometimes the word righteousness is used to denote the justification that God imputes to us when we obey the gospel of Christ (Romans 4:6). When righteousness is used in this sense, it does denote something done to us instead of something we do; however, the word is also used to denote the acts of obedience that God demands if we are to maintain a right relationship with Him. John speaks of the doing of righteousness (1 John 2:29; 3:7). To say that righteousness is never something we do is wrong and leads to the false notion that we are saved by faith alone, something the Bible teaches is not so (James 2:24).
Listening to this man preach for no more than a couple of minutes made me wonder how many more false doctrines he advocated during his sermon. Yet, there was his faithful flock hanging on to his every word. Truly, if the blind lead the blind, they both shall fall into the ditch (Matthew 15:14). We must always try the spirits whether they are of God (1 John 4:1), and beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.