This post is intended to help us identify false teaching churches. To get started on this quest, it would be logical for us to identify the seriousness of false religions and false teaching as outlined in the Word of God.
Before we get started, I would like to point out that the intention of this post IS NOT to insult, offend, or criticize those that may be involved with false teaching churches. The hope as that whether you are an attendee, member, or even on staff of one of the churches described here, this information will motivate to leave that church and find a solid Bible believing and Bible teaching church.
I understand the challenge some will have in walking away from a community they have known their entire life, which might even be a place you have belonged to since you were a child. However, making these difficult decisions is not new. In the early church many people didn’t follow Jesus because they didn’t want to get thrown out of the synagogue, which is what they were threatened with. To be part of the synagogue meant community, stability, protection, and inclusion – to follow Jesus would cost them all these things.
In the Letter of Jude, we see Jude use the phrase, “pervert the Grace of God”:
Jude 1:4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Paul uses the phrase, “distort the Gospel of Christ”:
Galatians 1:6-7 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the Gospel of Christ.
The Gospel of Christ, the Grace of God, the “Free Gift”, is that the finished work of Christ on the Cross, by His Blood, Jesus redeems His children from the eternal consequences of sin. Risen from the dead on the third day, He has the Authority to and has granted the forgiveness of sin, and has given eternal life, to all who trust in Him alone to save them from the Wrath to come – which is made possible by His imputed Righteousness, meaning there is a legal transaction in that we are given the Righteousness of Christ, and He has endured the penalty of our sin on the Cross where He was crushed under the Wrath of God to pay our sin debt. In Jesus’ final Words He said, “It is finished” – all has been accomplished!
There are two “perversions” of the Gospel that we should be fully aware of because both are equally dangerous, and both are equally prevalent in churches today.
The first “distortion of the Gospel of Christ” is called legalism. This doctrine basically says, “yes, redemption is a ‘gift’, but it isn’t a “free gift”, you also must perform the works and rituals of our religion to be saved.” These religions do not say it in these words, but that is what they are saying when they add ANYTHING to the “way” of salvation.
We have evidence from the thief on the cross, to whom Jesus said, “today you will be with me in paradise”, that we dare not add any other “work or ritual” to salvation. Yes, there are things that happen because of one believing and being born-again, such as obedience and regeneration. Yes, he who is in Christ is a “new creation”, meaning God has made them new; their thoughts, emotions, and will are now God-Centered, instead of self-centered. Therefore, I would contend that if the thief on the cross was brought down from his cross and lived, he would have been baptized, not as a means of being saved, but as an act of obedience. He would have left the lifestyle that “earned” him capital punishment, not as a means of salvation, but because of the work of the Spirit in his life. These things are evidence of one redeemed, not how they are redeemed. Redemption is by faith alone, in Christ alone, by Grace alone; adding to this is “another gospel”.
Those perpetuating these false gospels have the most serious of warnings:
Galatians 1:8-9 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
“Accursed” is defined as, “being doomed to eternal destruction”!
The Letter of Jude is short and to the point regarding false teaching. Jude points out that the “non-believers” rescued from Egypt, the rebellious angels, and the wicked of Sodom and Gomorrah are under the Wrath of God for eternity. Pointing this out, by implication, Jude is indicting false teachers to the same fate.
At the beginning of the Letter, Jude points out why he is writing the letter, he is urgently appealing to believers to “contend for the faith”. Since the focus of Jude’s letter is addressing the false teachers, those “perverting the Gospel of Grace, we can conclude that we are to “contend for the faith” by calling out false teaching and defend the Gospel.
It is not a stretch to say that false religions are demonic, after all, what other influences would make men and women preach anything that would “doom them for eternal destruction”. Nobody in their right mind would deliberately do this given the seriousness of the consequences.
I contend that there are only two types of people preaching “another gospel”:
- Those that are well meaning, but deceived
- Those with evil intentions and know exactly what they are doing
Either way, we know they are under the influence of Satan – how do we know this? Because the whole world is under the power of the evil one, except those that are born-again:
1John 5:18-19 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
Why does exposing false religions matter so much?
We are commanded to “contend for the faith”; and false gospels are an attack on the true Gospel, and we MUST contend for it:
Jude 1:3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Here’s one example of a false religion taken directly from an official website of the religion:
Our Church teaches that immediately after death, our soul separates from our earthly body and we stand before God for judgement. We then enter heaven, Purgatory or hell.
Purgatory is a place of purification, for those who die in a state of grace and friendship with God but who are not yet fully purified. Those in Purgatory are assured a place in heaven after their purification. We pray for those in Purgatory, that they may soon be with God in heaven.
According to God’s Word, what happens after we die?
Hebrews 9:27-28 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.
According to Scripture, we are cleansed by the Blood of Christ. We are imputed with the Righteousness of Christ – so I would ask those who believe the doctrine of purgatory, why wasn’t the cleansing as promised by God, through Christ, enough to purify you of your sin?
In addition, isn’t “praying someone out of purgatory” adding to the finished work of Christ?
Lastly, what Scriptures are you using to support this doctrine?
I asked these questions of my mom a few years before she passed and her answer was, “I don’t think they teach that anymore.”
However, this doctrine is still on their official website, and in addition, if they are wrong about this, how can you trust them with anything?
Another dangerous doctrine of this religion is giving men the authority to forgive sin. We are instructed to share the Gospel, the Way in which men can be saved (thus the forgiveness of sin). Only the One who is sinned against can grant forgiveness, and our sins are against God. Therefore, men DO NOT have the authority to grant the forgiveness of sin. Saying otherwise is EXTREMELY dangerous in common situations where men don’t want to go to hell, but they also don’t want to give up their sinful lifestyle. In this case, if they go to the man in the box and he gives him “x” amount of prayers and pronounces him forgiven of all his sin, and then he does the same thing next week, the one after that, and the pattern continues for several years until the man dies.
Is there any Biblical foundation to indicate that this man was repentant?
Is there any Biblical foundation to give the man in the box the authority to pronounce him “forgiven”?
Do you think pronouncing him saved helped this man, or hurt him, from an eternal perspective?
In this example, which is very common, I am not saying the man isn’t a true believer, only God knows that, but I can say with certainty that this man cannot have any assurance of salvation and he should not be told otherwise.
In addition, in the act of pronouncing men forgiven, and given the directive to pray “x” amount of times in “such and such” way begs the question, isn’t that adding to the work of the Cross, meaning that I now need to “do” something to be forgiven?
This false religion also teaches the doctrine that Mary is a mediator between you and Jesus; however, there is only One Mediator between God and man, and that is Christ Jesus.
1Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
In addition, Jesus tells us how we must pray, not as something to recite verbatim, but as an example:
Matthew 6:9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name.
“Our Father” – that is to whom we pray, not Mary. Mary is our sister in Christ, and we are called to love the brethren, and we should love her; furthermore, Mary is an amazing example of humility and obedience for us to follow; but we are not to pray to her, Mary is not God.
This false religion also teaches that Mary was a perpetual virgin—remaining a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus. This belief holds that she and Joseph did not have marital relations, and the “brothers and sisters” mentioned in Scripture are interpreted as close relatives or cousins.
However, in each instance, the specific Greek word for “brother” is used. While the word can refer to other relatives, its normal and literal meaning is a physical brother. There was a Greek word for “cousin,” and it was not used. Further, if they were Jesus’ cousins, why would they so often be described as being with Mary, Jesus’ mother? There is nothing in the context of His mother and brothers coming to see Him that even hints that they were anyone other than His literal, blood-related, half-brothers.
Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.
Mark 3:31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to Him and called Him.
As you have probably concluded by now, the religion I am talking about is Catholicism. Here’s a excerpt from an article I link below from Got Answers:
The official position of the Roman Catholic Church is that a person must believe in Jesus Christ AND be baptized AND receive the Eucharist along with the other sacraments AND obey the decrees of the Roman Catholic Church AND perform meritorious works AND not die with any mortal sins AND etc., etc., etc. Catholic divergence from the Bible on this most crucial of issues, salvation, means that yes, Catholicism is a false religion. If a person believes what the Catholic Church officially teaches, he/she will not be saved. Any claim that works or rituals must be added to faith in order for salvation to be achieved is a claim that Jesus’ death was not sufficient to fully purchase our salvation.
https://www.gotquestions.org/catholicism.html
The Second “distortion of the Gospel of Christ” I would like to address is called “antinomianism”. More simply put, this is the doctrine of “license”; meaning that they teach that since we are saved by Grace we can do whatever we want because God will forgive us.
This doctrine, like legalism, is great for those that don’t want to go to hell, but they don’t want to leave their sin either.
What makes this doctrine so dangerous is that they leave out the doctrine of Regeneration. Regeneration is what happens to a person that has been born-again, they are a new creation in Christ. Along with that new birth comes new desires – the desire to live holy for God’s Glory. We won’t be perfect on this side of Heaven, but the one that can sin and not lose a moments sleep over it should be concerned. The doctrine of “license”, which is also known as “easy-believe-ism” says, “you don’t need to lose a moments sleep over your sin, you are covered by Grace, your hand has been stamped for Heaven.”
Does this teaching align with the Scriptures below:
Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:11-15 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
Galatians 5:24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
In summary, making too little of the Cross (legalism), and making too little of sin (antinomianism) are both equally dangerous doctrines. One rejects the Truth of REDEMPTION, the other rejects the reality of REGENERATION.
Salvation is by faith alone, in Christ alone, by Grace alone…..evidence is found in a changed life and is clearly found harmonized in these three verses:
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by Grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
As you can see, God does have “good works” for us to do, but those “good works” aren’t found in rituals or religion, and these “good works” are not the means of salvation, they are the result of one focused on honoring and glorifying God – we must be careful not to get it flipped, but not getting it flipped doesn’t mean it never happens.
Both false teaching doctrines discussed here make the walk of those that have been deceived easy because they are either told “your forgiven” or they are told “your sin is no big deal”; but the reality is, the road to salvation is not easy. The narrow road is difficult! Denying self is difficult. Counting others more important than yourself is difficult. Leaving bad company is difficult. Leaving what is comfortable is difficult. Quitting your “favorite” sin is difficult. Under your own strength these things are impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Matthew 19:25-26 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
