He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. - Titus 1: 9 (ESV)

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. - 1Thessalonians 5: 16-22 (ESV)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. - 1John 4: 1 (ESV)

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. - Acts 17: 10-11 (ESV)

As we discussed in the last devotional, the Christianese term - "Judge Not" - is not an actual Bible verse. It comes from a five verse portion of the teachings of Christ from the Sermon On The Mount:

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. - Matthew 7: 1-5 (ESV)

Whenever we hear a Christian say "judge not" we can be assured they have ripped it out of this context. This context shows clearly that Jesus was speaking about hypocrisy, not judgment. In fact, Jesus clearly teaches we are to remove the speck from our brother's eye but only after we make sure we do not commit the same sin. Christians utilize the shortened "judge not" for generally two reasons. One, which was the subject of the last devotional, is to justify and feel better about our own sin. Someone tries to help a brother or sister who is straying from the truth and the answer invariably is - who are you to judge me! Judge not! The second reason we often see this verse mangled is when Christians want to defend their favorite false teacher or false prophet. That is what we will look at today.

As someone who writes a great deal of discernment devotionals regarding the teaching and abuses within the church, I can tell you that the inevitably there are always more reactions defending the person espousing false teaching than there are people defending the purity of the Gospel. One of the most often used defenses is "judge not." As we see however from the Matthew verses, the judge not reference has nothing to do with exposing false teachers whatsoever. Even if it did, we eventually come to verse five where Jesus still says we are to help our brother remove the speck from their eye. To make matters even worse with their biblical illiteracy however we then see the same people accusing those who are standing for the truth as causing division. That is the opposite of what the Bible teaches:

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. - Romans 16: 17-18 (ESV)

Read these verses carefully beloved. It is not people objecting to false teaching that cause division but doctrine contrary to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. When you preach a prosperity gospel you are dividing the body of Christ. When you preach a hyper-grace gospel you are dividing the body of Christ. When you preach word-faith, bridal paradigm nonsense, false signs and lying wonders, or any other contrary gospel you are dividing the body of Christ. Instead we see the opposite in the church today. We see a Joel Osteen preach a completely heretical gospel filled with word faith lies, prosperity lies, and false salvation lies and when someone points out the lies the people say - judge not! You don't know his heart! I do not have to know his heart. I only have to discern his teaching. As my pastor says, you can be sincere and sincerely wrong. Jesus warns us about this with frightening eternal consequences!

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' - Matthew 7: 21-23 (ESV)

Beloved, do we truly understand the gravity of these verses? This is the day we stand before Christ. This is it. No turning back. Our fate decided. Either the blessings of heaven and eternal life await or the burning fires of hell and eternal damnation. This is no game. Take a look at what these people did. They prophesied in His name! They cast out demons and performed mighty works in His name! These are people who obviously thought they were serving God. They certainly thought their sincerity would be enough. They may have felt they served Him their entire life. When they saw the mighty works and signs and wonders they must have felt confirmed that they were on the right path. Yet He says He never even knew them! Depart from me! You can have a church building packed with 50,000 people every week. It does not matter. You can have a respected "prophetic ministry" where you feel you encourage thousands of people at a time. It does not matter. The only thing that matters is if He knows you. If you are found in Him by being in His Word. Not in the word of man. Only in the Word of God. That is the more unbelievable point. In order to truly believe that judge not means we ignore false teaching and prophecy means we have to ignore huge swaths of Scripture:

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. - Colossians 2: 8 (ESV)

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. - 2Timothy 4: 3-4 (ESV)

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.- Matthew 7: 15 (ESV)

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. - Galatians 1: 6-9 (SV)

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude 1: 4 (ESV)

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, - 1Timothy 4: 1 (ESV)

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. - Acts 20: 28-30

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. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.- 2Peter 2: 1-3 (ESV)

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. - 2Timothy 4: 3-4 (ESV)

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. - 2Corinthians 11: 13-15 (ESV)

Look at this list of Scripture! This is not even a complete listing of the warnings to us about false teaching and prophecy. We are to stand idly by at all. We are not to turn a blind eye with a wink a nod and a "judge not." Just look at the four sets of Scriptures from the key verses today. In Titus, he is addressing anyone who would seek a leadership role in the church. Deacons, elders or pastors. Not only must we hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught but we must be prepared to rebuke those who contradict it. This is not optional beloved. As a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ I am commanded to rebuke those that would preach a different Gospel. I have seen people proclaim we are all on the same team and that is simply not true. If you do not preach the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ I am not on your team. More importantly, you are not on His. Unity is not a Christian catch phrase. It does not mean we all hold hands and sing kumbya while skipping down the broad path that leads to destruction. It means we call a devil a devil and refuse to associate with him.

Also related to sound doctrine, we see the verses from Acts 17, where Paul visited Berea. The Bereans were more noble because they not only received the Word with eagerness - but they checked it against Scripture to make sure what they were being taught was accurate. In the church today we have far too much pastor worship. I love my pastor but he did not die for me. We worship Christ. My pastor always points me back to Christ. That is one of the things that makes him a great pastor. Today in the pews we have some of the eagerness regarding receiving the Word but no Berean spirit to actually check if it is accurate. That is why false doctrine is spreading so fast throughout the body. I saw Joel Osteen recently at Yankee stadium declare that the Bible says we are to declare that which is not as though it were. Sounded great and fit nicely with his overall heretical word faith message but there was only one problem:

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)

What Osteen stated was simply untrue. This verse he was referring to cannot be clearer. It is GOD who calls what is not as though it were - not us! May seem subtle and harmless except for those who eagerly bought it and now believe something that is untrue. It does not just end there. Osteen does this all the time. So does Joseph Prince, and nearly every false teacher there is. We must cultivate the Berean spirit within us and stop being so gullible for men who seek to make merchandise of His Word.

The final two sets of key verses deal more specifically with false prophecies - which is also rampant in the church today and defended by a chorus of judge not! The Thessalonians verses spell out for us what the will of God is for our life. We are not to despise prophecy but in order to get there we must first test everything! Only then, after careful discernment and using God's Word as our plumb line, can we hold fast to what is good. Beloved there are more spirits than the Holy Spirit in our realm of spiritual warfare. We fight against rulers of the dark realms and principalities. As the 1John verses teach us, many false prophets are in the world and we must test the spirits to see if they are indeed from God. This year I was witness to a weekend visitation of a false prophet to a local church. For three nights I observed a mangling of the Word of God along with witchcraft passed off as "prophecy" and the people ate it up. There was no way I was going to allow him to lay hands on me. It was obvious there was no involvement of the Holy Spirit, which meant he was operating in different spirits. Worldly spirits. These are spirits under the dominion of Satan. The Bible says we are to have nothing to do with the works of darkness but rather expose them. It seems like the church has dove off the theological cliff in pursuit of spiritual experiences not realizing that not every spiritual experience is from the Holy Spirit. We must test, discern, and hold onto what is good. What is of God.

So, judge not? Ehh...not so fast. This Christianism is abusing a set of Scriptures that actually teaches the opposite. Don't lose sight of that. Jesus is teaching in those verses that we ARE to judge, only after ensuring we are not being hypocritical. We ARE to help our brother or sister with the speck in their eye. Like we saw in the last devotional, this is done with a loving spirit, not a critical spirit. Jesus said they would know us by our love. How can we say we love someone when we think helping them with something that separates them from God is "judgment?" How is it love to say nothing to someone who we know is sitting under false teaching? Teaching that could damage their walk or even lead them astray from God? Or even worse, teaching that could lead them to falsely believe they are saved when they really are not? How is that love? It is not. It is simply cruelty wrapped up in a sentence fragment; whose full context teaches the exact opposite. Christ demands more from us than that.

Reverend Anthony Wade - July 7, 2014