Last week, I wrote about how a false teaching will point either towards the One True God or it will point towards and glorify man, even if it gives lip service to being about God. There are more key characteristics of false teachings we must be watchful for. This week I am going to emphasize on something Jude brings up. Jude addresses two key features in false teachers and false teachings: they promote some immoral deed as being okay and good, and they deny our Lord Jesus Christ.
A false teacher will teach a moral problem as being okay to embrace or to be a good thing. A few years ago, I did a series on Matthew Vines and his argument that you can be both a Christian and a homosexual at the same time. He gives ten arguments of why the Bible supports homosexuality, and I addressed each one in my series. The logic was horrible and in no way, even in all his mangled reasoning, did any of the arguments actually demonstrate what he set out to do. He is just one example, but I have found more often than not that when a moral barrier prevents someone from seeing the truth and to promote other teachings, sexual immorality is by far the #1 moral issue.
If you find any person attempting to justify sinful behavior, that is a warning to not listen to them. And I say that knowing I am held liable to this truth myself. I can get heated in “discussions,” and I have to keep reminding myself to keep my cool and be the better man. My complete disdain for false teachings being promoted can, however, blind me from addressing the issue in love and a desire to see that person saved from said false teaching. It shows I am not fully redeemed yet. I can totally relate to Voddie Baucham when he gets into apologetic debates and “Bad Voddie” shows up to clean things up. “Bad Voddie” doesn’t do things the way Christians should do it, but he wants to smack people upside the head and enjoy humiliating them when they saying things out of total ignorance while trying to sound smart. There is “Bad Charlie” inside me that does the same thing. I need the spirit of John Hyde in whom when anyone attempted to find fault with him, he simply said, “They just misunderstand me.” When an enemy plant stayed with him for about four days to find fault, he ran out thinking Hyde was a god because he could find no fault. A true teacher will acknowledge their own faults. A false teacher will attempt to justify them. Keep in mind, though that this statement is about an overall style of life, rather than an analysis of single events.
Today, we live in a society where a mega-pastor caught in a homosexual relationship becomes the shame of the nation. The ministry he led was nearly completely destroyed, and it was a big one. Yet when a Christian author or musician publicly declares that they are leaving their families for another relationship or having serious doubts and leaving the faith, that is praised by the world. What is happening? In some cases, it’s a moral failure and instead of calling sin to be sin, there is justification for it and then more sin (abandoning wife and kids) to go live in that justified lifestyle. In other cases, it’s because a false teaching on a seemingly secondary issue began to grow and it soon affected their view of Christ.
The second issue Jude brings us is the denial of Christ. Let me be clear: there are many facets to this. It comes in the form of denial of the deity of Christ, denial of the authority of Christ, denial of the person of Christ, and more subtly, denial of the work of the cross. Among these is the replacement of the True Christ with a self-suiting image of our own liking. All of these fall under the category of denial of Christ. This is a reason I despise Old Earth Creation teachings. Because while seemingly a secondary issue, it is a direct assault on the work of the cross by denying the effects of original sin. Death is a direct result of sin, and every old earth model has death, and lots of it preceding man. This is not a secondary issue. It’s primary, because it is directly connected to Christ and the work of the cross.
Old Earth Creation is a counterfeit version of Christianity. It looks a lot like it. It seems it only differs at origins, but when you really look at it, it differs in many more areas. Those who truly follow it (not merely deceived by it and believe it without really knowing what it is or does) do not worship the same God we do. They worship a deistic god that is distant, unknowable, but there to create and come to our rescue at our desires. There is little to no submission to God in their teachings or lifestyle. They may claim to be Christian, but does Christ show through them? Do they point towards Him in their frail, broken bodies and minds? For the many I have come across, I haven’t seen it. It looks like the real thing, but it isn’t, because the teaching does not reveal the True Christ nor appreciates the work of the cross. Old Earth Creation differs from Christianity foundationally, because in OEC, man is the ultimate authority, and in Christianity, God’s Word is. OEC teachings will change as the scientific opinions change, but Biblical Christianity will never change.
One of the biggest names among the Christian Old Earth groups gave a “one-minute summary of the Gospel” and while it sounded pretty good, I saw two glaring things: the description of sin and the improper response. Sin was described as “imperfections” and “mistakes.” That’s not sin. Jesus didn’t die for those. Jesus died for our defiance against Him, for treachery, for rebellion. Then the response was simply to “ask for forgiveness and believe.” That’s not the proper response to the Gospel. The proper response is to repent and believe. Anyone can ask for forgiveness and anyone can make intellectual agreement. But to turn away from sin, from old thinking, and to turn towards God, completely trusting Him is something else. This person in this interview has been teaching a false origins model, but I do not believe he is born-again in part because he got taught a false gospel message that is far more prevalent and dangerous than the old earth issues.
When the person of Jesus is questioned, that He is just a “good teacher,” then a false teaching is coming with it. When the deity of Christ is questioned, then a false teaching is attached. When Jesus is replaced with a counterfeit “another Jesus,” then let the teacher promoting said fraud be accursed. When the work of the cross is denied, stay away. I am not done yet, but I am out of space for this post. I’ll continue more next week.
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