We have been conditioned in this country to the mega church mentality but the Bible is actually quite clear here. Narrow is the way to eternal life and few are those who find it. Few beloved. I did not say it -- God did. He said it because He already knows. That is why the heavens rejoice when a single sinner repents! Sadly, that is why so many will stand before Him on the last day and say Lord Lord only to be told He never knew them! Look at those verses very carefully. These are fully churched people! They spent their lives in church and even saw great and mighty miracles! Wait a minute preacher! How is that possible? It is simple really when you consider the entire canon of Scripture. The Bible says that the emissaries of Satan will disguise themselves as angels of light. It says that they can perform great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect. Romans teaches us that there is only one thing that has the power of God unto the salvation of man. It is not your marketing plan. It is not your smoke machines and fancy dance ministry. It is not even your cult of personality pastor with the hip relevant messages and overflowing piety. No beloved. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to save. We further learn from Acts 20 that it must be the full Gospel or else the blood of the hearers is upon those that preach. The Bible speaks specifically about false gospels and false christs and guess what they lead to? False conversions, which lead to people standing before Christ saying, Lord Lord.
It seems that love is used as a weapon by false teachers most to silence dissent and promote a false unity. We are not to be united to just anything beloved. We are not to be in communion with darkness but expose it. That is what the Bible says. I doubt that even the most audacious wolf would disagree that the Bible speaks voluminously about being on guard for false teachers. After salvation and taking care of the least in society, it is probably the number one topic. Why did God place so much importance on this? Because He understands that false teaching can lead to false faith in a false gospel that leads to a false christ. With this as the backdrop it is time to address a commonly used but rarely understood word -- heresy. This term has been mystified by people for too long. Heresy simply means teaching something contrary to scripture. Not minimally however, as it denies the real Christ and the real gospel and as we already outlined a false gospel leads to a false conversion. We should always first try to see if the teacher has had a chance to be corrected and accepted that. The term heretic simply means someone who has refused to repent of egregious teachings, over a fair amount of time. I tell the story all the time of when Brian Houston taught in a sermon that Muslims and Christians serve the same God. Discernment ministries went nuts but I kept quiet to give him a chance to recant it since it was something he had never said before. Sure enough he said that he misspoke a week later. Mind you he is still a raving heretic but not about Chrislam.
I think it is important to understand that heresy takes many forms. The Bible teaches us specifically there are those who will deny Christ. There are those who will engage in false signs and lying wonders. There are those who are hucksters, making merchandise off the sheep of the Lord. Either way, they all lead away from Jesus and onto the false teaching or teacher. The Bible says that the wolves would draw people after them. The Bible teaches us that there are only two options -- you are either gathering people unto Christ or scattering people away from Him. Those that are in the active business of false teaching are scattering people away from Jesus. They operate with no fear of the Lord. It is also crucial here to realize that intent is irrelevant to God. Take Joel Osteen for example. One can easily conclude that Joel believes he is doing good and in a temporal and carnal sense, he probably is. But when it comes to the eternal things, he is a wolf of the highest order. He devours the sheep and prevents goats from coming to true repentance and salvation. When he stands before the Lord his intentions will not matter. That is why it is so frustrating to hear the first line of defense for false teachers be, "I know them." Who cares if you know them? Their heart is the most wickedly deceitful thing ever created. So is yours and mine. That is what the Bible teaches us. So your wickedly deceitful heart bears witness to his wickedly deceitful heart and we are supposed to be ok with that? Why? We have the Bible that we know is 100% reliable and always true! That is why it says to test everything! So let's make this real practical for everyone. Let us use the example of Joel Osteen.
Those who know me know that I believe Joel Osteen is a rank heretic. That means he teaches flagrantly outside of the Bible, actively scatters people away from Christ, and this will lead to many of his followers not actually being saved. Let us briefly walk through what he teaches. Osteen preaches the word faith heresy, which claims that we have the power of creation in our own words. This is the little gods teaching. He routinely tells his listeners that the Bible says that we are to "call that which is not as though it were." This is not what the Bible actually says:
as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"--in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. -- Romans 4: 17 (ESV)
I know well respected Christian leaders who would say this was nitpicky. Really? Speaking on behalf of God things He did not say was met with death in the Old Testament. The church has lost a healthy fear of the Lord because its leaders have no such fear. When you do not fear the Lord you do not think twice about twisting what He actually said and elevating people to the level of God. Osteen also preaches the prosperity gospel, where he believes that God wants everyone to have puppies and rainbows in their life. Problem? That is simply untrue. Our prosperity is found in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins that guarantee the blessings of eternal life. Some may experience wealth and great temporal riches but Jesus says that makes it all the more harder for that person to find the narrow path. Many will suffer persecution or even martyrdom. Many will struggle in poverty. You can take any Osteen sermon and it simply will not preach outside the shores of this country and that is how you know it is a false gospel.
Perhaps worst however is what Osteen does not preach. He does not preach the full Gospel. When Paul says goodbye to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 he declares himself innocent of their blood because he did not hesitate to proclaim the entire counsel of God to them. That means the whole Gospel. Not just the parts that might scratch people's itching ears. Osteen is on record as saying that he believes people already know what they do wrong. That he is not called to preach about sin. When Jesus first started preaching His message was not "speak more positively for the kingdom of God is at hand" beloved. It was repent. Without repentance there is no chance for salvation. None. You can claim to love Jesus all day long and you will still stand before Him and He will not know you. If Joel Osteen was a motivational speaker I would take no issue with him and would probably commend him. But he chooses to carry a Bible, call himself a pastor, and operate a church. Thus he is responsible for the eternal destination of those who sit under him or follow him through media. That is the higher level of judgment that those who labor in teaching and preaching are under. Paul explained this to Timothy when he charged him with guarding only two things -- his life and his doctrine. Note that Paul did not instruct him to guard his love. There was no sloppy agape with Paul. As a pastor Timothy guarded his life from the temptations and pitfalls of life and leadership. Sin is always crouching at the door but you would only know it if it is preached. We guard our doctrine so that our hearers only hear the true Gospel that might save them and so that their blood is not upon our heads.
So let us look in totality at the work of Osteen. He does not preach on sin and repentance, which means no one can get saved through his preaching. You heard me right, no one. Now, can people get saved and still be in his congregation? Sure. God is not hard to find if you are really seeking Him but it will be despite Osteen -- not because of him. While this is bad enough though, Osteen tells his followers they are saved after repeating a three sentence "prayer" followed by zero discipleship. They are then chasing the temporal blessings he promises them instead of chasing God through His Word. It is a perfect storm of heresy. The person is told they are saved and they believe it but they never actually repented so they never came to Christ. They serve at Lakewood Church, perhaps for decades and then stand before Jesus in Matthew Seven and say, wait a minute! Didn't I serve you for 30 years! Didn't I lead the Usher Ministry? Didn't I take the missions trip back in 2007 to build a playground in Guatemala? Didn't I tithe nearly every week? What does Jesus say in those verses above? Depart from me you workers of lawlessness. Let that word sink in. Lawlessness. It means they never repented beloved. It means they played church as so many do every single week in this country. They go to church to belong somewhere. To hear an inspiring message and listen to club music. They go for social reasons. There is lip service to Jesus but not to His Gospel and only His Gospel has the power of God to save man. In fairness to Joel Osteen, he is just the poster child. This same analysis can be easily done for Bill Johnson, Mike Bickle, Joyce Meyer, Joseph Prince or any false teacher today. The heresies may differ. Bill Johnson is more about the NAR and false signs and lying wonders. Meyer is more money grubbing. Bickle is more eastern mysticism and contemplative prayer. Prince is more greasy grace. The point is the real Gospel is not being preached while they are declaring people saved.
