Is Criticism Always Wrong? Are The Messages From 'God's Anointed' Beyond All Critique?

Can I Be Loyal To All That's True, Yet Loving Toward All People Too? Yup, With The Lord And His Discernment Inside!

Think about it. Is All Criticism Wrong?  Really? Are The Messages From 'God's (So Called) Anointed' Beyond All Evaluation And Critique? Why?

Untouchables, Elliot Ness Was One Of Them, But Ministers.. Are They Supposed To Be Beyond The Evaluation Of Their Hearers? 

Deception in this day of Fake-News is really something worth guarding against! Do you believe that our nation and other nations are standing before the Judgement of God today?

You want to believe right so you can walk right.... right? Especially these days.

May I ask.. who do you regularly listen to most? Who has gained your trust? Like in today’s Christendom? What streams do you drink from (face to face, audio-wise, or from a screen? Is that stream polluted a bit or lot... or not at all? We can learn right from the wise (what to be, how to live, what to teach) or learn from some fools too (what not to be, or think, or say). Are you into charismania more that gracious biblical charisma? "But Kurt, my telethon Tuesday prophet hardly ever misses!" Has he or she missed once with their prophecies? 

Are you more into entertainment, the star-spangle-razzmatazz, dancing bears and other circus acts than into what's actually true and helpful? 

Influence, more so than having a position of delegated authority or a title on your name badge, is leadership today. Be influenced by the Word first, by His growing mature leaders and then positively influence others for Christ! Talk to, point to, and brag on Jesus the most. 

I predominantly want to be positive and upbeat–you know, realistic instead of cynical or so negative. Who do you regularly listen to most–who has gained your trust? What streams do you drink from (face to face, audio-wise, or from a screen? Is that stream polluted a lot? We can learn right from the wise or from some fools (what not to be, or think or say). Are you into charismania more that gracious charisma? "But Kurt, my telethon Tuesday prophet hardly ever misses!" Has he or she missed once with their financial appeals or prophecies? Once is too many times. What's their emphasis or overemphasis on? Your credit cards or cash? 

It was after a church service one morning in which the preacher minister had preached on spiritual gifts, that he was greeted at the door by a lady who said, "Pastor, I believe I have the gift of criticism." The pastor looked at her and asked, "Remember the person in Jesus' parable who had the one talent?" The woman nodded to express her understanding. "Do you recall what he did with it?" "Yes," replied the lady, "he went out and buried it." The pastor suggested, "Go, thou, and do likewise!" 

Today, as in Jesus day, we know that it’s the religionists who are negatively critical. Pharisees seem to be the same yesterday, today and forever. They just love rules, laws, dead traditions, money, applause and rituals more than people and more than simple relationship with God through Christ. They still call more things sin than the Scriptures call sin, and they also call more things righteous than the Bible does. They have made the way to God difficult and complicated (by works that they don’t even keep), while Jesus has made it—for all people—simple and easy… through repentance and trusting Him alone. 

Yep, the Pharisees and Sadducees apparently felt they too had the gift of criticism. Frequently they attempted to ensnare the Lord Jesus. And as was our Master's habit, Jesus entered Jerusalem, crossing the Mount of Olives; and "early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?’ This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear” (Jn. 8:2-6). 

Jesus’ reappearance in the temple provided an opportunity for the Pharisees and Scribes to lay a subtle snare for Him and you know they wouldn’t pass it by. They brought him a woman taken in the very act of adultery. The Feast of Tabernacles had just been celebrated, and acts of immorality during that festive week were not unusual. Using this female pawn, the scribes attempted to put Christ in a dilemma by quoting the law of Moses. They knew that if He answered that the woman should be stoned, He would violate the Roman law, which forbade such acts. However, if Jesus answered that the woman should not be stoned, He would be violating Moses' law (Deut. 22:24). 

Of course the religious leaders were not so much interested in the adulterous woman as they were in Jesus' response to her situation. Their criticism of her was motivated by their desire to entrap Him. But Christ knew all too well how to repel such attacks by appealing to higher principles. The same law that adjudicated the woman guilty enough to be stoned to death also required the witnesses to cast the first stones. Jesus' statement, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (vs. 7), was sure to bring an end to their criticism. The crowd, one by one, stealthily left the scene. Prayerfully meditate on John 8:1-32 and see how intensely critical these religionists where. All through His ministry on earth, they were the ones that consistently gave Christ the hardest time. Ironically the only one who was left was the Lord Jesus, the only one in the crowd who had lived a perfect life and had a right to condemn her.

This very teaching is reiterated by the Apostle Paul in Romans eight. Paul asks the hypothetical questions, "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?… who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Rom. 8:31, 33-34). Only the mind of God could conceive of a plan whereby the one person who lived a righteous life and had the right to condemn us was the very person who laid down that life to die for us. The woman taken in adultery was speaking to the one who did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world.

There’s a very successful businessman who keeps a fairly large stone on his desk. The stone is mounted and lettered with one word: "First." This acts as a constant reminder to him of Jesus' words, "He that is without sin.. let him first cast a stone." When his employees enter his office and there is reason to criticize them for their lack of achievement, the man looks at the stone and recalls his own shortcomings. He wisely chooses to deal with his employees in mercy and grace. Clearly this passage of Scripture does not teach us to look the other way when people sin. It does not teach us that we ought to condone adultery or any other crime. What it does teach us, however, is that it is not the responsibility of a Christian continually to be on the lookout for sin in other Christians—or anyone else for that matter.

If we have lived a perfect life, we can be watchdogs on others who have not lived a perfect life. But we have enough trouble keeping ourselves in line; we need not constantly be critical of the way others live. Truly it takes more discernment to see the positive things in people’s lives than the negative things. Jesus, (whose sermon content was always flawless) was attempting to teach the critical religious leaders of His day that although the woman was a great sinner, she was no greater a sinner than they were. Sin is sin and we must always remember that. In fact, in this verse Jesus said to them, “He that is without sin among you, let him…” the word for “sin” here is different from the normal word for sin (hamartia G266 to miss the mark). This word for sin is anamartētos G361 in the Greek, making the sentence mean, “He that is without the same sin..”

Oftentimes criticism can be very sinful, leading to rebellion and unnecessary division. Christians should respect the leaders that God has given them, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you” (Heb. 13:17). Theirs is the task of assisting the church in its spiritual growth and doctrinal understanding. “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:11-16).

Now Let’s Look At The Positive Side Of Critique, Or Fair Criticism.

Pharisees, they really weren’t fair you see (their type still isn’t), but I want you to know from the get go, that God is absolutely fair. He's just in all His ways!

I’d say He’s very patient, kind and merciful -- He's the fairest of ten thousand and we need to be like Him in His holy character.

“Reverence for the LORD is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the LORD are true; each one is fair” (Ps. 19:9 NLT). “The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether” (KJV). “Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments” (Rev. 16:7). “His judgments are true and righteous” (19:2)! 

God wants Christians to be fair in judging! Yes, in opposition to what many Christians think, God wants us to make some careful observations—every day! And Christians especially need to evaluate the teachings of so called “ministers of Christ,” even though we are never to judge their hearts or motives! 

God is the only one who can see the internal condition of the heart. But if we as believers aren’t aware that false teachers will arise among the Christian fold we are in danger. “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed” (2 Pet. 2:1-2 NKJV). These words make it imperative for us to thoroughly test all things by Scripture, as the Bereans did. “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11 NIV). The Bereans didn’t hear high-profile-Paul or Silas protest, “Hey, wait a minute! Are you actually questioning the revelatory message the Lord gave me in prayer?” Paul and Silas were happy!

The Bible is useful not only for preaching, teaching, and encouragement, but for correcting and rebuking (2 Tim. 4:2). In fact, Christians are held accountable for proclaiming the whole counsel (or will) of God and warning others of false teachings and teachers (Acts 20:26-28; cf. Ezek. 33:7-9; 34:1-10).

We would do well to heed Scripture's repeated warnings to be on guard for false teachings (e.g., Rom. 16:17-18; cf. 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 4:16; 2 Tim. 1:13-14; Tit. 1:9; 2:1), and to point them out to other believers (2 Tim. 4:6). With so much scriptural support, such actions can hardly be considered unbiblical.

NO WAY, KURT, REALLY. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? SHOULDN’T WE JUST THROW OUT ALL CRITISIZING CUZ THAT'S SO NEGATIVE?  

WELL, YOU KNOW PREACHER-HATING AND GRADING ALONG WITH MINISTRY-CRITISIZING RUNS RAMPANT TODAY. BUT GOD STILL WANTS EACH OF US TO USE OUR BRAINS TO EVALUATE WHAT WE ARE HEARING AND SEEING!

Is Criticism Of A Message Preached.. Always Wrong? Depends On The Message Huh. Depends On What Was Said And Meant.

Are The Messages From 'God's (So Called) Anointed' Beyond All Critique? I have found that as we go out witnessing on the streets, we are seeing more and more people today who have been let down by so-called ministries and preachers, but there are still some very sound churches and para-church ministries. Jesus has never let one of us down. 

Many people feel church-hurt and need some healing. Seems like many people who are disillusioned by gospel-greed or the glorification of self in pulpits across this nation, are turning to nothing (they are now called The Nones) or to new age gurus by the droves. And we all know that though there are a lot of great churches around, many of their complaints about charlatans in the Church are valid, so we need to be sensitive without becoming cynical ourselves.

I remember how my So Cal Pastor Smith in Costa Mesa (who had 30,000 people come through his doors every week to hear him teach the word), once told me, “A sure sign of a false prophet is gospel-greed.” Then he quoted, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you” (2 Pet. 2:1-3). 

Heresy is giving people non-sound teaching that will hurt them, when deep inside they are hungry for nutritional true teaching that helps them. Listen, you can not love God at all if you do not love His truth! Knowledge can puff up with no wise Bible application, but our aim isn’t to study truth as an end in itself—for the sake of merely knowing truth—we have a threefold purpose in it. We are committed to 1.) Worshiping Jesus better, to 2.) Tactfully winning souls and to 3.) Sensitively equipping the saints to minister to God, saints and sinners. Give people grace and truth as Jesus did.

When people are making important life-decisions, and are hungry for the truth, the false teacher is the one who gives them doctrine that’s not only contrary to the Bible, but it’s opposite to what they really need. And Listen, they’ll use enough truth mixed in to sell Christians on their special revelation. “The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well” (Prov. 14:15). False teaching is coming to a church near you! Are you ready to deal with it? But how can we detect these false teachers among the other Christian teachers? Simple. Know the Word well! 

We Christians are likened to sheep that follow each other. The carnal say, “Come after me—it’s not baa-aaa-aad.” But Jesus never said follow My people, He said follow Me. The devil wants us to act on our emotions, but God wants us to think things through. You’ve seen statements in the Bible like, “These things you did not consider” (Isa. 47:7), or “She did not consider her future. Therefore she has fallen astonishingly; She has no comforter” (Lam. 1:9). We need to weigh all things, and think about the consequences of our choices. Two times in the book of Haggai we read, “Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Consider your ways!’” (1:5, 7).

Is Criticism Always Wrong? Are The Messages From 'God's (So Called) Anointed' Beyond Critique?

I have found that as we have gone out witnessing on the streets, we are seeing many people today who have been let down by so-called ministries and preachers (they were duped and don't want to be duped again). But of course there are still some very sound churches and para-church ministries.

BTW Jesus Christ has never let one of us down. Not even once.  

Many people have suffered from spiritual abuse, some feel church-hurt on some level, and others need some healing in an area of their life. Seems like many people who are disillusioned by "gospel-greed" as they call it, or the glorification of self in pulpits across this nation, are turning to nothing (they are now called The Nones) or to new age gurus by the droves. And we all know that though there are a lot of great churches around, many of their complaints about charlatans in the Church are valid, so we need to be sensitive without becoming cynical ourselves.

My So Cal pastor in Costa Mesa that I’ve talked to (who had 30,000 people come through his doors every week to hear him teach the Word cuz it did it to feed rather than fleece the flock), once told me, “A sure sign of a false prophet is gospel-greed.” Then he quoted, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you” (2 Pet. 2:1-3). 

I heard about one brother who received a letter in the mail from a prominent para-church ministry that was actually addressed to his mom. The funny thing about it was that his mom had been dead for two years—“Dear Ida,” it read, “The Lord gave me your name in prayer this morning and you’ve been on my heart all day today. He’s saying it’s time for us to pull out all the stops, as together we reach out to more and more desperate people. You see, The Lord would have me say to you that He wants to really bless you financially, as you give the largest gift you possibly can. A thousand dollars is what I’m hearing in my Spirit. And my earnest prayer to God is that He would really multiply your seed sown.  Yes, I want to ask you to pray and give—as a partner helping to evangelize—by sowing the largest seed you can. Then I want you to expect a miracle breakthrough! And for your thousand-dollar gift, I personally want to send you an anointed prayer cloth with an imprint of my hand on it. I can feel the healing-heat in my hand at this moment as I write to you. I promise that God will use this cloth to break the yoke… But remember this is a very crucial time of year and unless you give today we could go off the air… The secret is in the sending, so act now.” 

Personally I don’t understand why any decent minister would want the markings of a false prophet on their ministry, but so many do. Herr Johan Tetsil, one of the Pope’s underling teachers on assignment in Germany used to proclaim, “Every time a coin in the coffer clings, another soul from purgatory springs.” And you know the story how Martin Luther was very outspoken in protesting this gospel-greed. Martin had been in the Word of God and it changed him radically! Tetsil and others were selling lots of expensive indulgences for the sake of the Pope building St. Peter’s Cathedral. And flagrantly immoral people were buying them as a non-stop ticket to heaven, in spite of their lack of faith or repentance. That’s how many of the churches were built then. But this teaching of purgatory of course is not biblical. Teaching on purgatory says Christ’s atonement wasn’t sufficient. Sometimes today I wonder if some of the mega-ministries and Christian TV networks have become modern day Cathedrals of sorts, with their overemphasis on money, even employing alleged gifts of the Spirit regarding that $1000 gift you’re to send them for a blessing. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, but it seems the religious Tetsils are too. 

Heresy is giving people non-nutritional teaching that hurts them, when deep inside they are hungry for nutritional teaching that helps them. Listen, you can not love God at all if you do not love His truth! Knowledge can puff up with no Bible application, but our aim isn’t to study truth as an end in itself—for the sake of merely knowing truth—we have a threefold purpose in it. We are committed to 1.) Worshiping Jesus better, 2.) Tactfully winning souls and 3.) Sensitively equipping the saints to minister to God, saints and sinners. 

When people are making important life-decisions, and are hungry for the truth, the false teacher is the one who gives them doctrine that’s not only contrary to the Bible, but it’s opposite to what they really need. And Listen, they’ll use enough truth mixed in to sell Christians on their special revelation. “The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well” (Prov. 14:15). False teaching is coming to a church near you! Are you ready to deal with it? But how can we detect these false teachers among the other Christian teachers? Simple. Know the Word well! 

We Christians are likened to sheep that follow each other. The carnal say, “Come after me—it’s not baa-aaa-aad.” But Jesus never said follow My people, He said follow Me. The devil wants us to act on our emotions, but God wants us to think things through. You’ve seen statements in the Bible like, “These things you did not consider” (Isa. 47:7), or “She did not consider her future. Therefore she has fallen astonishingly; She has no comforter” (Lam. 1:9). We need to weigh all things, and think about the consequences of our choices. Two times in the book of Haggai we read, “Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Consider your ways!’” (1:5, 7).

Take a moment and examine some erroneous quotes from some of the most popular so called Christian televangelists of this decade. My wife, Liney, and I have personally encountered some of these preachers who made these statements below—they are still on powerful, nationwide Christian television networks to this day, and saying things that are sometimes true and sometimes completely heretical. And when you look at what they say juxtaposed to similar false statements of past cult leaders, you really begin to wonder where the Church is headed. Check it out…

“God is duplicating Himself in the earth.”

“I am a little god! I am a little god! God doesn’t even draw a distinction between Himself and us. Never, never—you can never do that in a covenant relationship!”

“God’s reason for creating Adam was His desire to have reproduced Himself, I mean a reproduction of Himself. And in the Garden of Eden He did that. He was not a little like God. He was not almost little like God. He was not subordinate to God even. And Adam was as much like God as you could get. Just the same as Jesus when He came into the earth, He said if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. And I want you to know something, Adam in the Garden of Eden was God manifested in the flesh. You don’t have a God in you, you are one.” 

This same televangelist (who said the above statement) also teaches and defends that Jesus lost His deity on the cross, died spiritually, was separated from the Father God, became demonic, and was latter born again in hell to pay for your salvation. But the Bible teaches something completely different: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). When Jesus died on the Cross at Calvary he said it was finished. Here are some more quotes of false teachers…

“God came from heaven, became a man, made men into little gods, went back to heaven as a man. He faces the Father as a man. I face devils as the son of God! You say, ‘Am I a little God?’ You’re a son of God aren’t you? You’re a child of God aren’t you? You’re a daughter of God aren’t you? What else are you? Quit your nonsense, what else are you? If you say ‘I am’ you’re a part of Him right? Is He God? Are you His offspring? Are you His children? You can’t be human! When you became born again, the Word was made flesh in you. You became flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bone. Don’t tell me you have Jesus. You are everything He was and everything He is and ever shall be! The new man says, ‘I am as He is'.. Don’t say ‘I have,’ say ‘I am, I am, I am, I am, I am!’ When you say that ‘I am a Christian,’ you are saying, ‘I am Masheeawck’ in the Hebrew. I am a little Messiah walking on earth, in other words. You are a little god on earth running around.”

“He laid aside His divine form, Why? So that one day, I would be clothed on with the divine form. Ye are god.”

“From the beginning of time the whole purpose of God was to reproduce Himself. Who are you? Come on, who are you? Come on, say it. Sons of God! Come on, say it. Sons of God. Come on, say it! Sons of God, Come on, say it! Sons of God. And what’s that work inside us brother? It’s that manifestation of the expression of all that God is and all that God has. And when we stand up here brother you’re not looking at ____(The Christian preacher’s name removed) you’re looking at God. You’re not looking at ____(name removed), you’re looking at Jesus! Oh Hallaluya!”

Now let’s compare these so called "Christian statements" with what cultists have said below: 

Occult leader Bagwahn Rashneesh in Puna, India took on the title: Bagwahn Shree which means “Sir God.” And he said “When you call Jesus really, you have called me. When you have call me really, you have called Jesus.” But Sir God is now dead and his body is in the grave.

In the TV movie called “Out on a limb,” on the beach at Malibu, Shirley McClain declares, “I am God, I am God, I am God, I am God, I am God!”

Well known witch Margo Addler said, “One reason that I think people are so attracted powerfully to magic and to the pagan religions is not only to worship, lets say mamma in the sky instead of papa in the sky, they want to be God. I mean I think the fundamental thing about the magical religions and about pagan religions is that ultimately they say within yourself you are the God, you are the Goddess. ”

Jim Jones preached, “I’m going to cause you to know that you are what Jesus was. Jesus said that every human being was a God. It is written that you are gods. I’m a God and you’re a God. And I’m a God and going to stay a God until you recognize that you’re a God. And when you recognize you’re a God, then I shall go back into principle and will not appear a personality. You are God! But until I see all of you knowing who you are, I’m going to be very much what I am, God almighty God.”

Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh explains who he think he is, 

“I am the Son of God.”

Perhaps you’ve firsthand heard some of these things taught yourself. Please don’t be like these fools, these posers who plays fast and lose with the truth. Be careful to be accurate with God’s Word. 

The following criteria is what many people who call themselves Christians are using to test reality and truth today: 

(1) Experiences, alleged “supernatural manifestations” explained in antidotal stories shared (accompanied by the much accepted, contemporary worship music that we all love)

(2) Feelings, goose-bumps, liver-quivers, emotions, fame (Nothing wrong with feelings but they can be so fickle. Is the speaker a celebrity that your pastor admires. There’s nothing wrong with that, but are they fruit bearing? And you still need to check what they say, just like a Berean)

(3) Large numbers of followers (man, a dog fight or the Mormon or the JWs can also get a crowd)

(4) Numbers of people who claim to be healed, delivered, or saved under by a certain so called ministry 

(5) The size of a church or ministry's campus and all its assets (personally, I do like big and small healthy churches and their campuses but the Bible is the measuring tool) 

(6) Signs and wonders, purported miracles (and God of course does work miracles, even in our day. He loves to meet needs in answer to prayer. Ask!)

(7) Subjective snippets of testimonies that don’t square with the Scriptures

(8) Hearsay and rumors

(9) How financially successful—how wealthy the teacher or preacher appears to be (False teachers—I won’t judge their hearts or their salvation, but what they say. Do they do wrong outside the meeting? I would even say this: if they have a diamond pinky ring, Armani shoes and an exotic pompadour sweep over hair thing going on …that stuff alone (even though not wrong in and of itself) might just be the first warning sign of them being a false prophet. Come on, cut me some slack here, I’m having fun. 

(10) Fancy speaking with vibrato. You know, if a person speaks with a type of authority, eloquence or confidence (all of which I like)

(11) The so called “atmosphere” of a meeting 

But none of the above criteria being used by many churchgoers today is cited in the Bible as ways in which we believers are to test and properly evaluate a meeting, or a message that we hear.

Photo by Sarah Killan

Listen, false prophets are on the broad path, near the wide gate saying “Enter in and it will be safe. This is the way of peace (even if they know the people they are speaking to are sinning). You will be saved.” Did you know that there where some well meaning men outside the world trade center on 9/11 directing those people who were exiting the building back inside, saying it’s OK to now reenter the building? Things are under control and everything will be just fine. False teachers always seem to be very sincere, but they are sincerely wrong to the hurt and destruction of others.

Here are Qualities of a True Spiritual Leader (go check these out in Titus): 

1. In the Spiritual Leader’s home-life, they have earned the right to be respected. I would say go talk to many of their adult relatives.

2.  In the personal of life the spiritual leader or pastor, he must continue to model the humble holy life that got him selected.

3.  In the public life of the spiritual leader, they must have a good report from those who are outside the Church; yes, among saints and sinners (please stick with the facts rather than hearsay, because some might hate him for speaking the truth). They must model the life that is above reproach.

False Teachers:

1. They sound right, but they are wrong inside and they say the wrong things in perhaps a beautiful and often moving sort of way. When some people actually think about what they just heard, what they say is upsetting; it doesn’t square with the Scriptures… upsetting whole families! I've never seen one who is humble or accountable. They are rebellious and not open to correction, even when the facts are presented to them with gentleness and respect. 

2. They sound like they have right motives, but they hide their wrong and selfish motives for financial gain …not at all concerned about the elderly, weak-minded or for widows who will give up all due to their manipulation and pressure.

3. They try to appear as though they abound in good works, but in reality, they pull off many wrong deeds.

4. They publicly flaunt size (numbers) and money (Titus 1:11)—they are always aggressively seeking first how they might broaden their personal financial base.

I would say that any one of the Bible’s seven marks of false teachers should be sufficient identification for you and me: 

1.) With feigned (fake) words, due to their inner covetousness, they make merchandise of you …and then merchandisers of you. Gospel greed is thee number one mark of a false prophet. Today it is prevalent in the pulpit and in the pew.  

2.) Their prophecies do not come to pass, but people have a short memory because they do mix in some truth with their error. My pastor Chuck Smith used to say: Most of what a false teacher teaches is true, but it’s the ten percent arsenic that will get you (Deut. 18:20-22); 

3.) They contradict God's Word (Isaiah 8:20);

4.) They bear bad fruit (Matthew Matt. 7:17-20);

5.) All men speak well of them (Lk. 6:26);

6.) They deny that Jesus, the one and only sinless Christ, has come once and for all in the flesh (1 Jn. 4:3).

7.) Through signs and wonders they lead people astray after false gods (Deut. 13:1-4).

I love what the Bible says, "Without payment you have received; without payment you are to give" (Matt. 10:8, isv). And of course, Jesus can still do miracles in our day—the greatest miracle He does is to forgive and save someone. Humbly come to Him, turn, trust and believe in Jesus today.