False Teachers

“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:1-5

Nowhere does false doctrine distort the truthfulness of the Bible more than in the manner in which God and man are portrayed. The portrait of God painted by false teachers is usually one in which the Creator is pictured as a loving, kind, and benevolent Friend with arms wide open to all men everywhere.

While God is full of grace and truth, extending His mercies to us, He is also holy. When men and women come to God on His terms - personal faith in the atoning work of Christ - only then can God shower His blessings of salvation and sanctification upon them. Occasionally God is presented in His perfect holiness by some - stern and demanding, without a hint of grace, leaving man in the hapless state of trying to pacify an angry God. He is shown to be less than He really is - either less holy or less loving than the Scriptures attest.

False teachers often depict man as moral and upright, needing only to live a blameless life to enjoy God’s favor. Certainly man is noble - made in the image of God - but sin has so devastated the likeness that it is impossible for man to please God with mere good deeds. He must come to the cross for the image to be restored. Man is made to be more than he really is - more righteous, just, and deserving of salvation than the Bible speaks of.