Christian

Why Do Christians Listen to False Teachers?

Cindy Dawson

3 minutes

False teaching usually comes from the mouth of a gifted communicator, often someone engaging and entertaining. Their message will make you feel good, so you keep coming back for more. Don’t be surprised if they are selling lots of books and DVDs. They’re making a fortune off of it, and so is the publisher. The Bible warns us.

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4 NIV

I look back on the days when I followed the false teaching, Word of Faith. I was sincere. I was devoted. I was on fire for Christ! But, I wasn’t mature. I wish someone would have said, “Before you latch on to this teaching, study your Bible instead of the books written by the Word of Faith teachers.”

Eventually, I was able to discern the errors, because I was a student of the Bible. But my involvement in Word of Faith almost shipwrecked my faith. It’s devastating to realize you have been deceived. I blamed God for allowing it. It caused me to question everything I knew about God.

But God brought me through, and now I speak up against the dangers false teachers pose to the Body of Christ. So ask yourself, “Am I a mature Christian or do I lack discernment?”

How can you know? Ask God with a sincere heart. Love the Truth more than your own opinion. Be disciplined enough to read and study your Bible daily.

A mature Christian is someone who has walked with the Lord over the years, and by knowing and obeying God’s Word, they have learned to discern truth from error. To know God’s Word, we must study God’s Word.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing to be an immature Christian. After all, how could a new Christian be mature? They couldn’t. They have to learn and grow in Christ. Unfortunately, not everyone grows and matures. Evidence of this can be seen by the large numbers of Christians who unknowingly follow false teaching. Consider the following Scripture:

 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Ephesians 4:11-14 NIV (emphasis mine)

I know the damage false teaching will eventually bring about in the lives of those who are ensnared in it. It’s not okay.

“But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5: 12-14 NIV (emphasis mine)

Beware of the false teaching from the Word of Faith, New age, and New Apostolic Reformation which is infiltrating the Church today. Your best protection is the Belt of Truth (God’s Word). The following links provide more information.

New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)

New Age

Word of Faith

How Can I Recognize a False Teacher?

In His Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122:6

RealChristianWomen.blog  

30 thoughts on “Why Do Christians Listen to False Teachers?”

  1. The sad thing is that some of these people started out right but when they started to gain popularity, they came “under” the teaching of false teachers, not realizing it.

    As you said the sad thing is far too many my age (70+) never question these teachers and continue in these lies. I see the shipwrecked faith of their families but it seems they are blind and cannot see the truth even when faced with scripture.

    I cringe when our family gets together and I hear “We thank for for who we are,” not whose we are. Or the prayer to claim healing and rebuking the enemy. My own son and his wife struggles from this false teaching and I just cannot seem to reach them. It is like a delusion they cannot see it as a lie. Thanks Cindy for being a warrior on this. God bless you

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    1. Thank you for your encouraging words. Sometimes, I am criticized for these kinds of posts, as some think I am being unkind. But I believe the Lord is leading me to speak up.

      We must pray for those who are deceived. When I was part of this, I don’t think anyone could have talked me out of it because I was so sure that I was right and that anyone who tried to convince me otherwise was not “enlightened”. This is what they teach. But the Holy Spirit showed me THROUGH THE SCRIPTURE that some of these teachings didn’t line up with God’s Word. A person didn’t persuade me, God’s Word did.

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  2. Amen and ouch! Yes, we also still have scars from false teaching (and false teachers) from when we were new Christians. They weren’t the same as the ones you followed, but they all seem to have the same characteristics. Only God knows their hearts, but we need to be careful of where we are teaching from and what we are being asked to do. Thank you for faithfully sharing your experience.

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  3. Many years ago, the church I was attending became a “purpose driven” church. Everyone was encouraged to buy and read the well known book. I didn’t, and never have to this day! Within the year, the Lord told me to leave. I was heartbroken in many ways as I had many deep friendships there, but I couldn’t go back. All these years later, the most meaningful friendships have survived and I have moved on and grown in faith. ❤️

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    1. I have been in women’s Bible studies where I didn’t think the book we were studying was in line with the Word so I quit going. It is difficult to break away when you love the people. God bless you as you study His Word!

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  4. I love the way you speak up and defend God’s Holy Word! You don’t simply denounce something. You give a solid faith-based reason and list organizations to be wary of and to research Thank you, Cindy. 🙂

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  6. Cindy, my story is similar to yours, and as I was struggling with health issues, the name-it-and-claim-it (a.k.a. “blab-it-and-grab-it”) wasn’t working for me. It caused me to question my salvation. Psalm 103 says, “He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.” – If I wasn’t seeing my diseases healed, how could I know all my sins were forgiven? It really messed me up and drove me to an eating disorder which, of course, made me sicker. Thank God I had some good teachers to get me into the Word and study it in context.

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    1. Annie, Thank you for sharing that. It will encourage those who have family members who won’t listen to sound counsel. Eyes can be opened. We must keep praying for them. I know that my parents and grandparents prayed for me a lot. They are all with Jesus now. I will be forever grateful. 🙏

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      1. I don’t think my family recognized that I was believing false doctrines, necessarily, just that I was being “extreme.” When their best argument was, “You don’t have to be thinking about God all day every day,” that didn’t convince me. One hour a week wasn’t enough for me then, and it still isn’t now. The problem wasn’t the quantity of time, it was what I was thinking about God. 😉

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    1. Oh! That is so sad! Keep looking.
      Lord, I pray this family will find a church of solid Christian believers. Bless them and encourage them in their search. 🙏 Lead them to the place where you want them to serve you.
      I will continue to pray for you. Remember, no church is perfect.

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  9. Thank you for this post.
    This very reason is why my husband does not like the idea of church. And prefers the “if two or more of you are present” its basically a church.
    Reading the bible with your own two eyes and researching references if you want to dive deeper, is the only way to avoid this.
    I want to be apart of a church body so bad but where I live despite it being Christian dominate….some of these churches are just cults under the guise of Christ. And you know it’s a cult when suddenly the idea of Jesus and the Bible isn’t discussed but a “better” book is being introduced to you.

    I was once taken in by a Pastor who was very Bibical sound 90% of the time. 10% he was sprinkling nonsense that one would miss if you didn’t take your time to go back and read the text. It was one verse from the Book of Malachi he was using to justify calling church members thieves for not tithing….claiming there is a wanted board in hevean of all the tithing thieves…..once I read it for myself I started to look back on previous bold statements “backed” by the Bible…and my goodness did the Holy Spirit open my eyes real QUICK! it’s was like the blinders fell off and all his unbiblical teachings were being highlighted in bright neon yellow….I stopped following this man and my husband idea of how we tithe as a family at the end of the year feels much better knowing it directly helps the Lord’s work and in mulitple ways.

    False teaching hurts. It’s deep betrayal and serious misguidance. A friend of mine almost fell for a mature Christian mentors astro-projecting teachings. That the LORD was using her to travel at night through dreams to help people. If that’s not demonic i do not know what is. My friend ran FAST and FAR. False teachers whether sincere or not, cause a lot of damage spiritual, mentally and emotionally. People question their whole life and identity all because of falsehood.

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    1. Lisa, thank you for sharing your experience. It encourages me to keep standing up for the Truth. It’s so sad that you and your husband can’t find a church.
      It seems like most of the women’s Bible Studies study someone’s book instead of THE book, the Bible. That is so disappointing to me.
      Astro projecting is a very New-Age and mystical. God clearly warns us in His Word not to participate in these things. I know you know that.
      Thank you again for your encouragement! I am often criticized for being “negative” or accused of thinking I know more than other people. God uses others, like you, to encourage me. God bless you and your husband! ✝️

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      1. Thank you Cindy for being bold and unwavering for the Light and Truth! God has surely blessed you and I pray he continues to do so because we need people to speak the truth….”The truth shall set you free!” Thank you for standing up for Christ because those who misuse the Word will be dealt with by God all we got to do is help our brothers, Sisters and strangers come to the Father and His Word.

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  10. I stumbled upon this article and decided to leave a comment.

    I empathize with those who have been victims of false teaching.

    I think l would like to state a few things.

    Unfortunately, no one is perfect. We are all work in progress, and we have all been exposed to some bad teaching.

    The honest truth is bad teaching is a product of inadequate revelation while false teaching is a heart issue.
    The two are different.

    You cannot give what you don’t have, so as a teacher of the Word, you can sincerely do some bad teaching purely due to immaturity and a lack of revelation.

    We have seen people come out years after and apologize.

    This is why we all need to be students of the Word of God ourselves and search to see if those things are true, as the Berea Christians did ( Acts 17: 11).

    False teaching is a heart issue and that is different.

    Sometimes as hearers we need to “take heed how we hear”.

    Some of us just listen to one or two messages and make an unfair decision about a ministry.

    If we really want to know the heart of a ministry, we need to listen to a wide variety of messages because some things may be explained from another perspective in another message.

    Again, it’s all about balance. A few bad teachings do not necessarily mean we should throw the whole bath and baby out. Neither does it mean that they are false teachers. As stated above it could be immaturity and a lack of revelation.

    We do need discernment.

    The Lord is faithful, and if we really are teachable and honest, He will guide us.

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    1. I agree that spiritual immaturity can be the reason a believer follows a false teacher. But also, an immature Christian should not be a teacher.

      Does the Bible distinguish between “bad” teaching and “false teaching”? The Bible says to “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

      I agree that we must all be Bereans. The only way to have discernment is to study the Bible so well that we know error when we hear it.

      Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

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  11. Maybe the Bible is simply opinion, and not “God’s Word.” It sure is strewn with editing and error.
    I believe God is, and wants me to, ‘Return unto me.’ And that Jesus was crucified, apparently for me. That’s enough for me to walk with him in life’s everyday nitty gritties.

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  12. Amen! I myself grew up in a church that taught false things and it took me until my early twenties to realize it was all wrong and I had to re teach myself the word of God and fully trust Him to give me wisdom and understanding of the truth. Good wiring. Keep teaching the truth! Now I know the truth and teach it myself. I’ve studied daily all biblical things especially bible prophecy and how the world is now and how it all goes together. God bless you!

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    1. Thank you for your encouraging words. It takes longer than you would think to reteach yourself after you discover you have received faulty teaching. It is a long process. I know it was for me. But God is faithful and He will use your past experience to help others. God bless you as you serve Him!

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      1. Thank you! Yes it sure does. It’s taken me at least 20 years to get where I am now after being falsely taught. I watch sermons online and go to a true bible preaching church now. I study my Bible on my own and pray for Gods wisdom and understanding. There are only a few preachers I trust. If they don’t preach the whole Bible, Gods love and wrath, and preach on the rapture, seven year tribulation and the second coming etc heaven and hell they are not doing it right. We don’t need sugar coating we need the full truth do we don’t get fooled. The devil has entered the church for sure and sadly so many people are falling for it. Thank you for your reading and response! I pray you are well.

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