False Teachings

Having been in the ministry of pointing out false teachers and their false teachings for close to a year now (most of it is on my old blog which I am hoping to port over soon), I have come across some pretty standard responses in the comments of those who say I, and others like myself, have no business doing so.

So I thought, why not do up a Top 10 list of the most common responses to our posts on these false teachers and their teachings? My wife thought it was a good idea, and I’ve also mentioned this to Carol and a new friend I made, John, just this morning over Skype. I hope we can get together to compile our responses to these accusations soon.

Anyhow, since our response to their allegations will be some time coming, here’s my Top 10 list in the meantime. This list is by no means exhaustive, so please feel free to add yours from your experience in dealing with such comments.

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Folks running blogs like mine — Christians who point out false teachings, false teachers and their ilk have a bad time mostly. Trust me when I tell you how many times I was that close to shutting down the blog because of all the brickbats, name-calling and other virtual rotten eggs thrown my way both in comments and via email.

Yet, each time I am encouraged and reminded that I do this not for myself, but for my Lord Christ Jesus’ glory and His alone.

This is one such testimony, reproduced from my good brother Phil Naessen’s blog that has not only encouraged me, but reading it made me jump up with joy!

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Please understand that I mean no offense to this brother, but I just cannot stand by and do nothing while he wallows so deeply in such lies spun by the prosperity “gospel” preachers!

I stumbled across a local Christian blog yesterday, and being pleasantly surprised since I don’t really think there are that many Christian blogs in Singapore, decided to read some of his posts.

Written by Yeap Chee Seng, the blogroll on the blog immediately set off some alarm bells in my head — on it were listed the ministry sites of people like Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen, and Kenneth Copeland and even a book he authored containing specific verses in the Bible that address prosperity.

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I recently caught another sermon by pastor Kong Hee of City Harvest Church. Speaking on prayer and quoting Mark 16:17-18, he advised that “the key to power and protection, to the wisdom of God, to solve society’s problem, to shine for the kingdom is praying in tongues.”

Uh, no, pastor, it’s not.

Society’s problems cannot be solved by Christians praying in tongues. The world needs to hear the Gospel, repent and turn to Christ, not through humanist efforts. You can build the best hospitals, have the best doctors but there will always be disease and death, and the eternal fates of people are more important.

Yes, you can and should take care of people’s physical needs for we are to feed the poor and take care of widows, but that must come after the Gospel is preached. Did Paul build hospitals to help the heathen turn from their false gods and pagan practices? No, he preached the Gospel and the Gospel only.

Here’s an excerpt from the sermon which you can watch here (Jabez 2: Prayer Part B):

So what is Jesus saying? As you engage culture, God’s power will ensure you’ll solve society’s problem. You’ll find solution for people that are sick, you’ll find solution for people who are oppressed, you’ll do miraculous work. You’ll find the solution for every answer the world is looking for.

…

How to get into that kind of power?

…

You see, right in the middle of Jesus’ command here, He gave us a little key. He said “In my name, you gotta speak with new tongues.”

That means the key to power and protection, to the wisdom of God, to solve society’s problem, to shine for the kingdom is praying in tongues.

And I didn’t say that; Jesus said that!

I am quite sure that our Lord Jesus Christ didn’t say that at all, meaning this pastor is putting words into God’s mouth.

Seriously, I am warning that one be careful not to follow after such teachings.

You’ll notice that, if you fast forward the sermon, the entire congregation was told to break forth and speak in tongues, which is an obvious disregard to the instructions given by Paul for orderly worship.

What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.

1 Corinthians 14:26-28

Worse yet, there was an altar call right after. I wonder how true Paul’s words earlier in 1 Corinthians would be for some unbelievers there!

If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

1 Corinthians 14:23

It saddens me that so many are led astray…

Perhaps some of you are thinking that after starting the ball rolling on a rather loud debate on the prosperity gospel, judging, discernment, motives, etc, I’m really ’smart’ to keep away and just let things roll while  not saying a word.

The fact of the matter is that I didn’t want to respond to every comment because there’s no point in doing so — the final message gets fragmented into so many comments so much so that the crux of the matter is lost somewhere along the reply to a reply to a reply…

The other fact is that I’ve been doing quite a good amount of thinking, following several comments to the post and personal emails to me addressing the issue.

And I think I’ve come to the point where I think I’m ready to take this issue of why I am doing what I am doing forward to its next level. Initially, I had thought of closing the comments on the last post on the false teachers with a last comment from me (since its my prerogative as its my blog after all, right?), but I thought a post would be better.

Let me therefore lay it all out for you as to my position. Just a disclaimer before we continue: if I quote you on your comment in a negative light, it is NOT an attack on you. Read the rest of this entry »