False Teachers

7) Bound by Traditions

8) Unstable

As we continue our study of false teachers, we will now study Part 7 first and then Part 8. I have decided to combine the last six characteristics of false teachers into three teachings. I realize that we are covering a lot of ground here, so I was able to see that the last six characteristics could easily be combined into three teachings. The first four teachings has given us quite a foundation as to our goal and to our understanding of what we are to accomplish. We must keep it simple and take one thing at a time and right now we are going to concentrate on the characteristics of false teachers who are Bound by Traditions and later we will study False Teachers who are simply Unstable.

Obviously, this part seven is self-explanatory, but we are going to go to the Word of God to let God speak. We need to study some of the context of Matthew Chapter 15 so that we understand what Jesus Christ was saying to the scribes and Pharisees.

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. – Matthew 15: 1, 2

We can see that the scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus Christ. They said to him in a critical way that they could not understand why Jesus Christ’s disciples transgressed the tradition of the elders. They said that the disciples would do not wash their hands when they ate bread.

Now do you see how ridiculous this is? Have you ever noticed that people in this world will make an issue out of the smallest things so that they can find fault with you? Most of these people, if not all of them, are influenced by the god of this world to agitate, accuse, and aggravate you. So let’s take a look at how Jesus Christ handled the situation.

Jesus Christ said the following in verse 3 in answer to the scribes and the Pharisees.

But he [Jesus Christ] answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? -- Matthew 15: 3

First, you should realize that Jesus Christ answered their question with a question. This is an art that you should learn to develop. Actually, we could end this teaching right at this point. But we need to study the subject matter concerning people who are bound by tradition.

What first comes to my mind is something that I used to take part in when I was a much younger person. This has to do with the Catholic Church and some of the rituals and traditions that they still adhere to. I am going to give you only one example because it always stayed in my mind. You have heard of the Stations of the Cross. My particular church made quite an issue of the Stations of the Cross. It looked very attractive and seemed to be quite religious, but this ritual was to be found nowhere in the Bible. It was based only upon man’s tradition. Have any of you sat through the Stations of the Cross in the Catholic Church? Then surely you will know what I mean. It seemed to be very beautiful but Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. – II Corinthians 11: 14, 15

We must never forget that because we can’t be fooled if we are walking and renewing our mind to the true Word of God rightly divided. That’s one of the purposes of this website – so you won’t be fooled and tricked into believing something that’s not true by false teachers.

The scribes and Pharisees in verse 1 are trying to find some criticism pertaining to how the disciples ate their bread. So Jesus Christ came back at them and asked them why do they transgress the Word of God with their tradition. I must mention to you at this point that if you are walking with God and you are in fellowship with Him, you will never be stuck for words or a correct answer. God will give you the words that you need to say at the exact right moment in time. There is more of the context that you should look at in verses 4, 5, 6. Now watch what Jesus Christ says to the scribes and Pharisees in the next verse.

Ye hypocrites, well did Esaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. – Matthew 15: 7, 8, 9

There is a lot to be said about these three Scriptures. After Jesus quoted the Scriptures, he motioned to the multitude and said unto them, Here, and understand: he turned the situation with the scribes and Pharisees into a teaching. Can you imagine that? He called the scribes and Pharisees the way it really was – he said “Ye hypocrites”. And because he studied the Old Testament so well he knew that Isaiah was in a similar situation and Isaiah said to people like the scribes and Pharisees that they appear to draw close to him with their mouth. He said that they honor him with their lips, but their heart was far from him. We can know a ton of Scriptures by heart but if we don’t apply them, if we don’t walk with God from our heart willingly, then our worship has no meaning - it is all in vain. I don’t know why this comes to my mind so often but I had a believer who said great and fantastic things about my teachings, but in the long run, her heart was far from me and she was nothing but a hypocrite. She started to adhere to and act upon tradition that transgressed the Word of God. She started to listen to teachings that were the doctrines and commandments of men.

I want to mention to you that adhering to tradition is one of the most dangerous and tricky ways that the enemy will deceive you. It’s the Word and nothing but the Word that matters. If you notice, on over 300 teachings on this website, I do not quote secular sources. I quote the Bible because that is all that is truth. Man’s doctrine is based on the beliefs of men. We call this tradition. Let me name a few more traditions and then we’re going to move on to our next section.

Jesus Christ had to have spent 72 hours in the grave after he was crucified to be legally dead according to Israelite tradition. How in the world can you get 72 hours from Friday evening until Sunday morning? Easter is all based on tradition and not on the Word of God. For those of you who care, he died on a Wednesday and rose Saturday. You will get your 72 hours within that time period.

You want some more tradition? How is it possible that Jesus Christ was born in December? How is it possible that the shepherds were out in their fields tending their flocks in December? It was simply too cold for this to take place. These examples I’m giving you take very much time to work according to the Word of God. I am running them by you very quickly. Every time we celebrate Christmas on December 25, it is based on nothing but tradition. Jesus Christ was born near the middle of September. That’s just a few of the traditions that we adhere to in the United States and many parts of the world. I’m not saying that we should change the traditional Christmas, but you should know that Jesus Christ could not have been born on December 25th.

This is all of the examples that I’m going to give you concerning Bound by Traditions. There are many more of these examples, almost countless examples, in this world today.

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Unstable

Now we are going to speak about a personality characteristic of a false teacher that you may find amusing. I must say it is one of my favorite characteristics to teach on. Let us set the foundation for the subject from the Word of God.

Now the end of the commandment is charity [the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation] out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling;

Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. – I Timothy 1: 5, 6, 7

Let us study these Scriptures so that you can better understand them. First of all, you should know that this is a pastoral epistle. It is written for those who desire leadership positions. Apparently, false teachers also desire leadership positions, but God’s Word states that these people are unstable in their mind, and in their actions. Let’s first go to I Timothy 1: 5.

Now the end of the commandment is charity [the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation] out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

Notice the words following charity is in brackets. I have given you the literal translation of this word. Charity is agape which is God’s love. You may want to study this in more detail in I Corinthians chapter 13. But some of the points that I want to stress here is the fact that agape love never fails and it never thinks evil. But the love that false teachers express to their followers is called fileo love and this is man’s love. Man’s love is not as dependable or reliable as the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. You should also read verse 4 of Chapter 1 and it lists some of the qualities of man’s love. In contrast, the next verse which is verse 5 above says that the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and out of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. The word unfeigned means “without dissimulation” or “not playing a part”. Understand that a false teacher is simply playing a part, like an actor. Now take a look at verse 6 and what Paul has said by divine revelation. The word ’swerved’ is most interesting in that it means “to miss the mark” or “to turn aside”.

Look at verse 6 again.

From which some having swerved [missed the mark] have turned aside unto vain jangling [vain or foolish talk];

Paul is saying that some have missed the mark. They are not teaching the rightly divided Word of God. They are teaching the doctrines and commandments of men. They have turned to vain or foolish talk when they teach.

So that we don’t lose our concentration on which Scripture we are studying, I am going to repeat verse 7. Remember, that repetition is one of the ways that we learn.

Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.

Now this verse is very easy to understand. These false teachers do have a desire to be a teacher of the Word of God. However, they have given way in their mind to false doctrine. In other words, they simply do not study the rightly divided Word of God and therefore cannot teach it.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. – II Timothy 2: 15

How important is it for us to study? The degree of importance of this question cannot even be expressed in terms that we can understand. I can only teach you what the Word of God says and it says that we are not to be ashamed by rightly dividing the Word of truth. We do this so that we can stand approved unto God. Now how important is that? These false teachers may study what man has to say. They also do not have any patience to sit down and work the Word of God like we are doing right here, right now.

Now take a look at verse 7 one more time. These people want to be teachers but they will not put forth the effort to do so. So when they teach, they really don’t even understand what they are saying nor are they aware of what they affirm. The lexicon gives a very good definition of this word affirm. It says to assert strongly or vehemently; to corroborate emphatically.

What is this really saying? It is saying that they get all excited and they get the people who listen to them all excited. They strongly assert and believe what they are saying even though the Word says that they don’t even know or understand what they are saying. And what does this all boil down to? It is saying that these people were false teachers and express another personality characteristic and that is the fact that they are

UNSTABLE

Why have I stressed this characteristic so strongly? Because I know what you’re thinking and you’re right. These people are crazy, they think irrationally, they play with half a deck – if you know what I mean. The problem here that makes this much worse than it appears is that they take many people with them and are great persuaders. All of this points to one single thing and that is the fact that you must know the Word of God and you must apply it in your life to be in fellowship with God. Why? So that you can recognize these false teachers and you can get away from them as soon as possible. By doing what I said you should do, you will not be persuaded and tempted by the god of this present world.

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. – I Corinthians 4: 4

I want this teaching to be as clear as it can be for you. Jesus Christ came and defeated Satan. But he did not yet destroy him which he will do when he returns the second time. At the present time, Satan is the god of this world. There is only one thing that defeats him and that is the Word of God rightly divided. You belong to the true God. You are sons and daughters of our great God and heavenly father. The enemy has no legal rights over you. But you must claim what you have in Christ Jesus. If you want to go through your life never studying the Bible and never learning what great advantages you have over the god of this world, you will defeat yourself by our own actions and negative believing.

I look at television at times and many times I’ve run across a false teacher who is teaching multitudes of people who are easily swayed by what that teacher says. Why are they so easily swayed? Because they depend and rely only upon what this teacher says and when they go home, they don’t pick up the Bible and study like we are doing here. These people are called spiritual hitchhikers.

I want you to know that we are going to cover two more personality characteristics of false teachers and then we are going to move on to different subjects. It is my sincere desire that you have learned principles from this series of teachings that will help you not to be deceived by these false teachers and there are many of them. I want to ask you a question. What good is the Christ in you and all the power of God that we have available to us if we don’t use it?

What shall we say to these things? IF GOD BE FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US? - Romans 8: 31 [Emphasis Added]

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*** Parts 9 and 10 will conclude this study and will be completed in the near future.