Update to "The Poison of False Teachings" -- An International Perspective on Global Spiritual Contamination

An International Perspective on Global Spiritual Contamination
 by Jean-Louis Mondon

A few years ago, I was researching for an article I was writing on the subject of  “The Poison of False Teachings”. I found an interesting comment related to the theme posted by a brother on a French site “VoxDei”. The comment might be sufficient to illustrate the main idea of my article since I cannot locate the original French text. See the additional commentary below.

My original article was written in the spring of 2005 when I had just come back from my second trip to Brazil. While shopping in a Christian bookstore, I was surprised and dismayed to see the same books we could find on the racks of most Christian and secular bookstores in the US. They were translated and sold quickly because of their popularity in the US. Needless to say, discernment is absent and sorely lacking from a lot of Central and South American Churches

Back in the US, I was hit with the news that the conservative church I was attending since 2001 had started a Sunday School study program with Warren´s book “Purpose Driven Church”. I was helping the Pastor in the Hispanic mission and after talking to him about the book, he invited me to teach a class on the New Age Movement and false teachings instead of Rick Warren´s book. Our Hispanic brothers were very receptive, the discussions were lively and interesting often expanding on other ramifications of the deceptive nature of other Christian emergent and other "movements" and their misleading doctrines. 

I could sense a real hunger and thirst for knowledge and the need to be equipped to expose the lies when they were witnessing to people in the community. I was greatly helped in my research by Warren B. Smith´s first edition of his book “Deceived on Purpose” that can be purchased at “Lighthouse Trail Research”

While still in the US, I started blogging about the same time as the book “The Shack” by Paul Young was received so openly with great fanfare in the Christian Community since after all it was only fiction and we christians also need to be entertained by writers who are not teaching doctrine, but simply are using their God-given inspiration in relating true experiences so touching and personal that they resonate with the majority of readers. Hoorah for sanctified imagination!

Well, back to the present with a movie based on “The Shack” and the recent release of another book “ Lies we believe about God” which doesn´t leave a lot of wiggle room as to the intent in writing his first book. Find the excellent review by the “Lighthouse Trail Research” where you can also purchase the new booklet “The Shack and its New Age Leaven HERE   http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=12290

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The Poison of False Teachings

The ever pressing need for spiritual discernment in today´s church.

The following is an illustration demonstrating the process of contamination. (Based on my own experiences both physical and spiritual as a flower grower and supervisor on a  chrysanthemums flower ranch in S. California.)

Setting the stage

A greenhouse full of flowers and plants.

It´s time to fertilize the plants to help them grow and to become strong and beautiful.

Equipment needed:

A tank for mixing, water, a pump and a hose with a nozzle to carry the water and fertilizer mixture under pressure to spray the plants.

Worker´s equipment:

Waterproof  protective suit, boots, gloves and a protective respirator mask.

Fertilizer: (Percentage not accurate, solely used for the story).

Chemical contents in a paper bag in soluble powder form.

Inert ingredients: 99.5 %

Active ingredients: 0.5 %

Instructions:

Fill the tank, dilute the appropriate dose of fertilizer and start spraying the plants.

Expected results:

Plant growth.

Change of scene

Now let´s imagine a scenario in which instead of fertilizer somebody inadvertently, without paying attention to the warning on the label or perhaps intentionally would mix an insecticide or pesticide to the water.

Everything stays the same, the place, the worker, the plants and flowers, the water, the equipment, even the inert ingredients in equal measure, everything, except the 0.5 percent (more or less) of the lethal amount of poison for the plants.

What would be the effect on the plants?  At least, they would wilt, become yellow, lose their vigor, their beauty and even dies if the insecticide concentration was strong enough.

Now let´s change the scene once again.

Let´s imagine any church building. We see the building, the people, the praise group or choir, the musical instruments, the pulpit and the pastor preaching from the word of God, the Bible. 

Or it could be a Sunday school or a home group meeting in which the leader and participants share their testimonies, stories or illustrations aimed at helping the group understand the lesson.

So you see the parallel with the situation in the greenhouse.

Every time someone (the worker spraying the plants) brings the Word of God and explains simply, clearly and faithfully the Scriptures under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the listeners (represented by the plants) grow in wisdom, understanding, love, inner strength, etc. and are consoled, encouraged in all the aspects of  Christian living if they practice the lessons of the Scriptures with diligence and obedience to the Lord´s words and his commands.

The stories, illustrations, parables, poems and personal testimonies can be compared to the inert ingredients that help to carry the biblical message to the participants. They are neutral and serve as a framework for the spiritual content.  They can be interesting, fascinating, but what provides the growth in the Christian hearer is the powerful and penetrating Word of God that operates a work of conversion in the sinner, purifying the human heart and spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who through the Word illuminates, establishes and edifies by giving him or her light, strength, peace and consolation. The list of blessings and benefits of the Word of God in the life of the believers is inexhaustible.

The Word of God is so filled with life, power and so efficacious that just one verse of the Bible is enough to change a hard and impenetrable heart, to open the mind and change the  life of a man and to draw him from death to eternal life, from darkness into His marvelous light by the power of the Holy Spirit who applies the Word of Life in the heart of the sinner and operates His invisible and yet manifest work. Jesus said: “my words, they are life and they are spirit”.

New change of scenario.

Here we have the same situation, the same building, the same congregation, the same praise group, instruments, pulpit, the same pastors, The same Bible, everything is similar.

It could happen that some illustrations, poems or stories accompanying the message or the biblical lesson contain doubtful and imperceptible doctrinal elements and false teaching, read from a book or watched and remembered from a radio or a TV program. Or even worse, a deliberate departure, addition to or subtraction, or distortion from the very meaning of the words, verse or context, an action forbidden by God himself  who made this very clear in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament.

Let´s suppose that the person doing it lacks discernment and speaks with no knowledge of the origin, nature or the impact of what he is relating. It does not matter, the effect can still have devastating consequences in the life of the people who hear, absorb and assimilate the teaching because poison is poison even in small quantities, even coming from a well-intentioned person.  Depending on the vulnerability and lack of discernment of the believer the influence and its effect will be more or less serious.

In the church, our Father God gave us everything we need, the structures, the equipment, the pastors, the teachers, the brothers and sisters participating in the worship. He gave the breath and the voice to praise him, to proclaim his message of love and pardon, our mind and heart to receive, believe and share the good news of the Gospel. This Word, and the practice of good works that the Father entrusts to our responsibility helps us to grow, mature and  to be conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus. His Word is pure and cannot be mixed with anything  else that is impure. 

 

A teaching that is contrary to the Word of God is poison to our soul. We must not allow our mouth to transmit what is poisonous (venom coming from the  serpent mouth) to others ears.

Pastors and teachers, of course, bear a greater measure of responsibility when it comes down to exercising wisdom and prudence towards preaching and teaching the Word of God. Indeed, every Christian ought to use the Word (written) as a filtration system to judge what is good and true (see Acts 17:11 as Paul talks about the noble Bereans) when spiritual teaching is involved. The Scriptures along with the help of the Holy Spirit help us to discern and to protect our minds from error and we must handle them as offensive weapon to combat the lies and wiles of the adversary.

  

Antidote, protection, discernment of the Spirit and preserving our freedom in Christ.

The best antidote if we inadvertently or willingly swallowed spiritual poison is the truth of Word of God that purifies us (Eph. 5:26-27). Interestingly enough the hope of seeing our Lord and waiting expectantly for his soon return purifies us also. (I John 3:3). 
Confessing our participating in the process is important to be cleansed according to 1 John 1:9:  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

 
Deception by false teachers involves both false teachers and those with itching ears who prop them on a pedestal that will eventually be exposed and fall. Unfortunately, the followers will suffer great harm and suffering when their eyes are finally opened. Matthew 15:14: "Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."

The Word of God is compared to bread. Jesus warned us that our bread must be kept from any addition of the yeast of the Pharisees that is hypocrisy when we embrace the position and conduct of those who spread false teachings and add burdens that the Lord himself has not given us. It is interesting to note that the leavening that the baker uses to make the bread rise can only be effective in a lukewarm environment described perfectly in the spiritual condition of the church of Laodicea in the book of Revelation.  It is enough to observe the effects to recognize the causes. 

Zeal without knowledge is unprofitable. Prov. 19:2; Romans 19:2.

Knowledge without love puffs up like yeast.

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge. But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God. I Corinthians 8:1.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?  That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.  “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”  I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. Galatians 5: 6-10.

Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Proverbs 30:5

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:12-16.

In conclusion, here is a strong word of exhortation to love and walk in the Spirit in order to preserve the freedom to which we were called and for which Christ died.

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.  For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.  So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Galatians 5:13-18.

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Additional commentary on the effects of the spiritual contamination of false teachings.

Philippe, a French blogger shared the following in a comment: (Translation by this blogger)

"I found an article on false doctrines with the following passage with a  good explanation of the mixture with false teachings.

In the Greek text of 1 Thessalonians, the name for the impurity rising to the top through the infiltration of an erroneous teaching is “Akatharsis”. The opposite term in Greek is Katharsis, from which the English name “Catharsis” is derived. This term does not mean impure in the sense of “our sin not being washed”. (In that case, a very different  word  “Absolusio” would be used, where we get the term “Absolution” from.)

It does not mean either “separate the evil and hold on to the good”. The Septuagint translates this from the Hebrew text with the meaning of “take the good from the evil”, using again another Greek word “Ekagageis” found in Jeremiah 15:19. The impurity of "Akatharsis" means that there is a mixture that cannot be washed and for which there exists no efficient process of separation. In "Katharsis", there is a purifying form of some substance. However in Akatharsis, we find something which is a mixture of pure and impure.

This mixing is not simply something superficial that can be washed away. We are dealing with an homogeneous blend that needs to be discarded and totally replaced.

It seems impossible to me once the leaven incorporated to the dough has risen to separate the flour from the leaven.

Therefore, we must leave the churches that spread false doctrines, because it is impossible to change them.

We need to leave them before we become contaminated ourselves."

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For a deeper study of the passage in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, link to 1Thessalonians 5:22—The Sin Sniffer’s Catch-All Verse

The Feet of the Messenger of Peace. In hommage to my wife Mirian.

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon

How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” Isaiah 52:7

So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.  Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.  If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. John 13:14-17  
   

And with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:15

The Feet of the Messenger of Peace

 

It´s been two months now

Since you appeared at my door

You came in gently without fanfare

And simply sat on the floor

Your grateful sheepish smile

Welcomed my invitation

To let you sit down

In a corner for a while

Like a young aphonic boy

His head among the stars

Under the veiled power

Of your unveiled charm

I invited you to sit on the throne

For it is not proper to offer the guest

A corner of the rug belonging

To the devoted servant

Then, taking a cushion

To rest your feet

Tired from the long voyage

I removed the used sandals

Full of dust covering

Their rare beauty

I took a basin and tenderly

I washed and dried them

Then, leaning to pray,

I warmed and blessed them

For these beautiful and fragile feet

Belong to the docile messenger

Proclaiming the Gospel of Peace.

The Books

Reposted from omegaletter.com
 
In Defense of the Faith
Saturday, May 23, 2009 Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor
 
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." (Revelation 20:12)

Permit me to set the stage for the scene just described. We are being given an eyewitness account of the Great White Throne Judgment.

"And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. " (Revelation 20:11)

The Great White Throne is the third of the three great judgments outlined by Scripture; the first two being the Believer's Judgment at the Bema Seat and the judgment of the sheep and goat nations.

The Judge is at all three of these judgments is Jesus Christ. The Great White Throne Judgment is not a New Testament doctrine -- the Prophet Daniel described it exactly as John did.

"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, Whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." (Daniel 7:9-10)

Notice another similarity between John's account and Daniel's. Both John and Daniel refer to the 'books' -- plural.

"And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:15)

So the Book of Life is the ticket into heaven. Anyone whose name is not in there will join the antichrist and false prophet in the Lake of Fire.

What are the other books?

There is the Book of Tears. "Thou tellest my wanderings: put Thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?"

The Book of Tears records our pain and disappointments and sadness -- Who we trusted and how we dealt with the trials and tribulations of this life.

"In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. . . . For Thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?" (Psalms 56:10-11,13)

God also keeps a Book of Remembrance:

"Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon His Name. And they shall be Mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." (Malachi 3:16-17)

This is where God records that which sometimes man forgets. The Scriptures promise that:

"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 2:21)

My Dad fought with the Canadians during WWII. He once told me he fought in every major theatre of war.  Dad was on the first Dieppe Raid in 1940 in which only a third of those who landed on the beach survived.

Dad was among the troops evacuated at Dunkirk at the fall of France.  He landed in Sicily and was wounded at the Battle of Monte Casino during the Italian Campaign.

He fought his way across France after the Normandy landing and took great pride in his part in liberating Holland from the Nazis and liberating the Jews from the Vught concentration camp at Westerbork.

My father was raised a Catholic but he was not a religious man. I cling to the hope that at some point during one of those battles, Dad cried out: "Jesus, save me!" If so, then God recorded his plea in the Book of Remembrance and I will see him at the Bema Seat.

The fourth book in which our names are recorded is the Book of Births.

"Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy Book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." (Psalms 139:16)

The Scriptures tell us that our names were written in these books before the foundation of the world.

"According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: " (Ephesians 1:4)

"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." (Revelation 17:8)

God foreordained my birth and my name was therefore recorded in the Book of Births before the foundation of the world. The Book of Tears contains the record of my trials and tribulations and disappointments.

My name was recorded in the Book of Life as well, even before I came to Christ. And my plea for salvation was recorded in the Book of Remembrance.

Those that teach temporal security point to the following verse as a proof text because it refers to blotting one's name out of the Book of Life:

"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out His name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels." (Revelation 3:5)

I believe the Bible teaches that everybody is recorded in all four books; births, remembrance, tears and life.

Babies who die as babies go to heaven, so their names must also be recorded in the Book of Life. Paul says that,

"For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." (Romans 7:9)

If that sin is not covered by the Blood of Christ by the time we leave this earth, then we have not overcome -- since we are overcomers only through the imputed righteousness of Christ and not our own righteousness, holiness or ability.

If we are not overcomers through Christ, then are our names blotted out of the Book of Life.

"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." (Revelation 20:5)

This is a lot to take in at once, so I will try to summarize. The Bible outlines four different books in which our names are recorded and against which we are judged, either at the Bema Seat or the Great White Throne.

The books record our births and our trials in this life. We are judged according to what is written in those books, and we are saved according to what is written in the other two.

God records the day we called out to Him in His Book of Remembrance or He blots our name from the Book of Life if we fail to do so in this life. If our names are still recorded in the Book of Life then we will appear before Christ at the Bema Seat for the believer's judgment.

We will still be judged based on what is written in those books, but our judgment is to determine our rewards rather than our punishment. Stop with me here for one second. Note again the criteria for appearing before the Bema Seat.

Those who stand before it trusted Jesus rather than themselves. The small and great in Christ will both be there.

Some will receive great rewards, others will receive no reward whatever apart from being permitted entry into the kingdom.

"If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." (1st Corinthians 3:15)

Then there is the Great White Throne. Those who appear before it will be judged for all their works, but they will be sentenced based on just one criteria.

Where their name should appear in the Book of Life -- there is an ink blot.

Salvation isn't difficult. It is what God created us for. Every person who ever lived is (or was once) recorded in all four books.

Whether or not one's name remains in the Book of Life depends on Who one trusts to keep it there.

"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15)

It seems a no-brainer to me.

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