This grieved me, and not because I feel personally aligned with Evans. Are these criteria biblical? Are we applying them consistently? My theological and church education taught me to identify false teachers by their doctrine. One New Testament passage that clearly teaches this is found in 1 John.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. We can also generalize this principle.
Other central and historic Christian teachings serve as markers for the authenticity of gospel proclamation. So, teachers who explicitly deny such core tenets as the doctrine of creation, the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, or the bodily resurrection should be labelled as teaching a false gospel.
However, this passage may also be read to imply that any teacher with orthodox Christology is a true prophet. That is to say, true doctrine is the definitive mark of a true teacher. When evaluating the ministries and teaching of pastors, then, doctrine should be primary. Other issues——methodology, personality, even motivation——are secondary.
Indeed, we seem to see this way of thinking authorized by the Apostle Paul in Phil — Is this doctrine-first principle biblical? In a sense, yes. I mean, I quoted bible verses above, right? However, I would argue that this principle in isolation is not representative of the New Testament picture of false teaching and false teachers.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns against false teachers. But, in doing so, he says exactly nothing about their doctrine or the content of their teaching. Jesus goes on:. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Like John, Jesus provides a test for determining who is a false prophet. Instead, Jesus says that you will know false teachers by their fruit. I spent much of my formative years attending megachurches led by prominent celebrity pastors.
File photo. Utah pastor Rick Henderson cites. Henderson says that Osteen and Meyer are indeed acting as false prophets and it needs to be addressed. Henderson provides examples of Meyer saying that she teaches that Jesus went to Hell and became the first-born again man as well as that Jesus literally stopped being the Son of God on the Cross. Those messages conflict with the New Testament, Henderson says.
He also points to Osteen's words to use God to gain advantages in life. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.
In a video published on the ministry's Facebook page , she proclaimed that children do not need a flu shot because Jesus had already "bore our sickness. He bore our sicknesses and carried our diseases. Upon drawing widespread criticism, Copeland Ministries shared a list of scriptures on its website with the claim that it would help followers "stand strong against" the flu.
Franklin Graham, son of famed preacher Billy Graham, was recently the target of criticism after inflammatory comments he made about Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. As host of The Club, Pat Robertson is one of the more visible televangelists to emerge on the national stage. In recent years, Robertson, 89, defended Trump before the election after a videotape emerged of Trump making vulgar comments about women.
Brushing it off as "macho" talk, Robertson compared Trump to a phoenix. And he came back strong," he said on his show. More recently, he called Alabama's abortion ban "extreme" and "ill-considered" on The Club — though he has been a vocal opponent of abortion in the past.
Televangelist Jim Bakker was sentenced to five years in prison in on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy after misappropriating funds from followers for his own use. More recently, Bakker has attempted to sell properties at his Christian-themed Morningside development southwest of Branson, Missouri. Bakker said his development, located in the Ozark mountains, is the safest place to live when the apocalypse comes.
This place is for God's people, and this place, we need some farmers to move here. In the wake of Hurricane Harvey in , preacher Joel Osteen — who helms one of the largest churches in America with 50, members and a ,square-foot stadium — was criticized for not welcoming hurricane evacuees into his Lakewood megachurch.
A social media post from the megachurch claimed the building was inaccessible because of "severe flooding. Lakewood will be a value to the community in the aftermath of this storm. A flood of negative responses followed.
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