Exposing More False Teaching

The more I listen the more grieved I become. So I guess the answer is to quit listening – and I will - right after attempting to warn the saints again. Over time, I have definitely heard enough to be convinced that what is coming out of  is this area church is wrong, wrong, wrong, and it’s time to stop allowing myself to take it in – even if it is under the banner of, “I need to keep up with what’s going on so I can intelligently speak to it.”  It is simply unwise to feed on even the occasional diet of errant teaching.  This is not to say that some sort of true statement isn’t ever uttered, but unfortunately it is quickly diluted into something barely resembling biblical truth.  The overarching proclamation from leadership, and invited heretics such as Creflo Dollar and Bill Hybels, is a man-centered, self-focused, sub-biblical, thinly veiled (sometimes) prosperity gospel. Perhaps this should come as no surprise from a church with the catch phrase, “we’re all about people.” (emphasis mine)

The message coming from the pulpit on Jan 15 (Healed) left me reeling in anger and disbelief at what I was hearing and is what prompted me to write this article. I will say again that it truly saddens me to know people who are apparently buying into this stuff, so it is with a genuine concern for them (you) that I am compelled to expose it. Please be diligent to study the nearly 40% of the New Testament that addresses false teaching/teachers. ~Do Not Be Deceived~ Study Galatians, study 1 & 2 Timothy, study Titus, 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, and Jude so that you will be equipped to discern what is being taught - by anyone. We simply must (by command) filter any and all teaching through the revealed Word of God, for it is the place where God has spoken, and it's the straight stick by which everything else is measured. Note, also, that any teaching is counted false any time it contradicts sound doctrine. Whether such teaching is intentional or ‘sincere’ or really, really spiritual sounding, or not, is beside the point - if it runs contrary to orthodoxy found in Holy Writ, it is wrong, which renders it false.  Period.

Galatians 1:6-9 - "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be  accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!"  These are strong words from the apostle Paul and we would do well to heed them.

I would advise anyone reading to listen to the above referenced sermon with a discerning ear and draw your own conclusions after testing it against Scripture.  I believe, though, the entire message is anything but doctrinally sound.  Time constraints limit me to focusing on only one part of the message so it will be the part that most set me on edge.  But first, a sidebar:  While 'topical' preaching/teaching isn't inherently wrong or sinful, it can become a slippery slope because so much of the time it isn't done well at all.  The customary M.O. for those who teach topically is to pick a subject about which they already have a preconceived notion, then proceed to flip through the Bible 'cherry picking' verses that seemingly support their presupposition. Most of the time, in doing this, context is left by the wayside, and without proper context, you could almost prove any position you desired.  Robert Morris doesn't disappoint in this area.

In his Healed message, Pastor Morris strung a number of verses together from both the Old and New Testaments to answer the question, "does God want us healed, or does God want us sick?"  You'll have to listen to the entire message to glean the full context, but starting at around the 11:20 mark, he said that there are some "excesses" with regard to physical healing that don't line up with Scripture, "One [excess] is that God can heal everyone but He chooses to heal who He will.  He chooses to heal a few people but He doesn't choose to heal other people (voice emphasis, Pastor Morris).  Here's the problem with that: it places the blame on God if a person doesn't get healed."  THIS, claims Morris, is an "excess."  [The second excess he addresses is that of blaming the sick person's 'lack of faith' if he/she isn't healed, and with this I would agree.]

The problem with Pastor Morris' problem with blaming God is that it demonstrates his lack of understanding the full scope of the sovereignty of The Almighty Creator and Sustainer of the universe!  I would further suggest that the use of the word, 'blame,' isn't a fair (or biblial) choice, as it conjures up a negative connotation - nobody wants to blame God for anything, now do they?  "Blame is from the devil," he explains.  "Any doctrine or any dogma that begins to put blame is not from God." What exactly is the answer to why some people aren't healed?  According to Pastor Morris, it is because, "We live in a fallen world." So then .... the fallen world is to blame, and it's the fallen world's fault when people aren't healed!  Huh???  The fallen world has now been given more authority than God Himself!  See how that logic goes?  Of course we live in a fallen world, but this is non answer, not to mention an unbiblical conclusion.  Did not Job say, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (2:10)  Or what about Exodus 4:6 - The LORD furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand into your bosom." So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.  Who caused Moses' hand to become leprous?  God or the fallen world? 

The cherry-picked verses cited in this message had to do with Jesus' healings of ALL people and ALL of their diseases as well as how we've received our healings because of the cross (although I don't know he can think this is possible since he admits that some people aren't healed?).  Here's the problem, though.  He failed to mention any verses that opposed his position that blaming God is an "excess;" and it only takes one passage to render untrue the things he asserted.  Here's one:  "But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."  (Luke 4:25-27)  As you can see, God chose to meet the needs of only one widow, and He chose to cleanse only one leper.  

The bottom line is this:  God does choose whom He will heal and whom He will not (in this earthly life).  God is the Creator - thereby the Owner - of this universe and everything in it, and He does as He pleases in all things for His own purposes and for His own glory.  It's just that simple. Furthermore, this is the very definition of what it means to be sovereign.  God is The Sovereign and He is the One in control.  This self-focused, 'me'-centered, God-exists-to-do-our bidding teaching that infiltrates the church today is pure poison, the results of which are nothing short of damning.  We must all be diligent to study the Word as it is written, taking from it the intended meanings and not imposing onto it what we we'd like it to mean.  Playing fast and loose with Scripture is a dangerous proposition.  

The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, is quoted as saying, "Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right."  Very befitting, I think, for this particular sermon, as it sadly is for the  majority of pathetic messages being passed off as Bible teaching.  They are anything but.  Much (most) of what is being boldly and confidently taught today does, at times, "sound" right and definitely sounds über spiritual to the undiscerning ear, but in reality runs completely contrary to sound doctrine.  Be diligent, beloved, to study the Word, which is the only source of truth, so that you are able to discern right from wrong and right from almost right.  

Yours in grace for His glory,