Considering Paul’s encouragement and yesterday’s blog, I believe it would be fitting to mention some guidelines we as believers should consider when following a minister of Christ.
“Paul not only preached such doctrine as they ought to believe, but led such a life as they ought to imitate. “Be ye followers of me,” that is, “Be imitators of me; live as you see me live.” He encourages neither implicit faith nor obedience. He would be followed himself no further than he followed Christ.” M.Henry
We must look out for one another, the sheep will hear their Master’s voice; I therefore have this burden upon my heart and it presses home hard at times. “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” (2Peter 2:1)
The bible tells us that in the last days, perilous times will come; people will heap up teachers unto themselves having itching ears, and they will serve God out of a selfish want rather that honouring God as God. The more of self one sees in a man’s ministry the further we must take note of that man and examine what he preaches.
False teaching is not a strange phenomena that should catch us off guard; we have been warned in scripture that this will happen. Let us be wise and diligent in studying scripture and heed the words of Paul, "Imitate Him as much as he imitated Christ", no more or no less.
Here are some guidelines that our late brother C.H.Spurgeon instructs us to look out for when doing a simple check to see if what is being said is the truth or from the mouth of a false teacher;
“it is a remarkable fact that all the heresies which have arisen in the Christian Church have had a decided tendency to dishonor God and to flatter man. They have always had for their covert, if not for their open aim, the exaltation of human nature, and the casting down of the sovereignty of divine grace.”
Robbing God of the glory which is due unto his name, these false prophets would shed a counterfeit lustre upon the head of the rebellious and depraved creature. On the other hand, the doctrines of the gospel, commonly known as the doctrines of grace, are distinguished for this peculiarity above every other, namely, that they sink the creature very low, and present the Lord Jehovah before us as sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.
So true is this, that the most uneducated Christian may, even if he is incapable of refuting an erroneous discourse, always be able to discover its untruthfulness, if it glorifies man at the expense of God. The merest babe in grace may carry this test with him: in the midst of the diversities of opinion with which he is surrounded, he may always judge, and judge infallibly too, of the truth or falsehood of a doctrine by testing it thus—Does it glorify God?" If it be so it is true.
"Does it exalt man?" Then it must be false.
On the other hand, does it lay man very low, and speak of him in terms which tend to make him feel his degradation? Then doubtless it is full of truth. And does it put the crown upon the head of God, and not upon the head of man's free-will, or free-agency, or good works? Then assuredly it is a doctrine according to godliness for it is the very truth of the Lord our God.
C.H.Spurgeon
The following excerpt is from "Self-Sufficiency Slain," a sermon preached on Sunday morning, 11 November 1860 at Exeter Hall.
This resourced from Pyromaniacs blog site... http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2011/01/simple-test-for-distinguishing-heresy.html
Signing off
Tyrone
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