Stop Attacking Christians | Voddie Baucham, Joel Osteen, Steven Furtick, TD Jakes, Joyce Meyer

But don't mention people's names on your radio program and your TV program thinking you're doing God's service. You're not. You stink, frankly. That's the way I think about it.

You know, you have to accept the fact that not everybody's going to like you. They're not going to understand you. It was like I thought, yeah, that has a nice ring to it. Unqualified.

Calling Out False Teaching Is Not Unloving

Many Christians argue that it's unloving and inappropriate for this channel to call out false teaching the way it does.

These people are not Christians. They are not Christians. They do not know the God of the Bible.

And while this channel doesn't just do that, that is indeed part of what this channel does. Do I need to apologize and stop what I'm doing?

But what I want to do tonight is address the elephant in the room. And that is the idea of whether or not it's appropriate for us to even do this. Because you know as well as I do that there are those individuals who would argue that what's happening here is divisive.

What's happening here is not loving. What's happening here is judgmental. We're putting God in a box, quenching the spirit, touching God's anointed, and so on and so forth.

Contending for the Faith and the Evidence of Speaking in Tongues

The book of Jude tells us that contending for the faith, which includes calling out false teaching and false teachers, does not contradict the concepts of mercy, peace, and love. Interestingly, there are Christians who say that it's okay for Christians to say that not speaking in tongues is a sign of lacking faith.

So I want to talk to you guys today about why you need the Holy Ghost, the evidence of speaking in tongues.

But it's not okay for Christians to call out that kind of false teaching.

But the minute you begin to question the charismatic assumptions, in that very second you are considered contentious and unloving. It's not unloving for me to believe that I'm more spiritual than you are because I've got a second blessing and you don't.

It's unloving for me to question whether or not that experience is appropriate. I saw it just as clear as day. All of a sudden, I was considered contentious. All of a sudden, I was considered less than.

All of a sudden, I was considered unloving. And all of a sudden, I was considered dangerous.

There are Christians who will partner with and give at least some kind of approval to false teachers like Joyce Meyer.

I want to be a blessing to Joyce. I said, I know she's going to be a blessing to me. Bethel Church. One thing I want you all to know about me is that I'm not tribalistic when it comes to ministry.

And Benny Hinn, who will criticize Christians who question what they are doing.

Now, people whose theology was wrecking folks' faith weren't considered dangerous. But those who would dare to question these concepts were considered dangerous. Because there is this idea. And this idea is that if you are not part of this program, then you are actually against God and against God's work.

Miracles, Cessationism, and the Apostolic Age

When we critique the supposed miracles that popular Christian teachers claim to have performed, let's be clear what we are and are not saying. We are saying that what these Christian teachers claim about their abilities is false.

We are not saying that God never heals or that spiritual gifts do not exist.

Cessationists make arguments about a very specific line of gifts that we would call sign gifts that we would argue are relegated to the apostolic age. And all of a sudden, we don't believe in the gifts.

We don't believe in any gifts. We pray for people to get healed. Amen. We pray for the spirit of God to change people's hearts. We pray for God to do all of these things. Why? Because we believe in all of those things.

We just do not believe that those gifts are resident in individuals today like they were during the apostolic age. But God can do every and anything that God desires to do. Can God do all things? Yes, God can do children, all his holy will.

All his holy will.

A God-Centered View of Truth and Love

One major reason why Christians have a problem with the idea of calling out false teaching is a man-centered view of God that misunderstands who God is.

God loves himself more than he loves us. In fact, God only loves us because of the love that he has for himself. Amen. If God loves me more than God loves God, then God is guilty of idolatry. Everybody with me?

Let me say it again. If God loves me more than God loves God, then God is guilty of idolatry because he has placed something above God. God can't do that.

God won't do that. It's actually idolatry, not love, to accept false teaching about God in the name of unity. God cares about his people understanding who he truly is. And because God hates false teaching about who he is, Christians should hate it too and fight against it.

Why is this important? Because here's where the agonizing greatly comes in. If something is claiming to be from God and it's not, I must not love it. I can't. If something is claiming to represent God but is instead misrepresenting God and I give it the same kind of love that I give those things that are representing God accurately, I am not being loving.

I am guilty of idolatry.

Fighting against and refuting false teaching is actually an act of love, both for God and for the people. We are trying to protect against this false teaching. Of course, we fight not to be right or to exalt ourselves, but to glorify God and help others.

If I am not contending, if I am not wrestling with and wrestling against all of those things that are inconsistent with the triune God, then I am not, number one, loving God. And secondly, I'm not truly loving those individuals because I'm satisfied with their godlessness.

That's why contending is consistent with the multiplication of mercy and peace and love. Because we do not have, will not have, cannot have mercy and peace and love of God, with God, and from God within the context of error.

It's actually man-centered to argue that Christians should compromise on teaching about God accurately for the sake of supposed Christian unity. Christian teachers who teach a fundamentally wrong view of God need to be called out.

It's loving, both to God and to the people they might deceive, to call these false teachers out.

If our love is genuine, we have to contend. This is what we've argued. So if it comes down to choosing between your lie and God's truth, genuine, godly love will always condemn your lie and embrace God's truth.

Why the Gospel Must Be Defended for the Sake of Salvation

Problem that we have in our culture is that we are not God-centered, we are man-centered. So essentially what we say is, you are the standard, not God. And what I must be committed to is doing and saying and believing whatever is required and whatever is necessary for there to not be disagreement and contention between the two of us.

Because the ultimate is not God. The ultimate is you. It's all about you. You are the center. And when you come at it with that kind of thinking, the result is, any individual who claims to be a Christian, who is disagreeing with and contending with another individual who claims to be a Christian, is violating that seminal law of love.

Because our understanding of love is horizontal and not vertical.

Some argue that we should just focus on the gospel and on salvation, not on calling out false teaching or false teachers.

There is this false dichotomy that is often presented. What we need to be about is the salvation of souls, not all these disagreements. Because if our passion is for souls, then we can let all the rest of that stuff go, and we can just go and pursue the salvation of souls, because nothing's more important than the salvation of souls.

But Jude himself writes that he wanted to write about our common salvation, but decided instead to call out people whose false teachings have crept into the church unnoticed.

Here's an apostle who says, you know what? I sat down and I was going to write you an epistle under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So this is God. And all of a sudden, in my desire to write to you about our common salvation, which is seminal, primary, top shelf issue, I felt the need in the midst of that desire to urge you to contend for the faith.

He obliterates the false dichotomy. There is no either or there. There is no either we unite in our passion for souls or we quibble about issues. There is no either or there. The apostle would argue that because of our desire for souls, we must contend for the purity of the gospel.

A false gospel will not save anyone. So we cannot be focused on the gospel and on salvation if people don't even know what the true gospel is. It's because we care about salvation that we refute the false gospels that are being taught.

But if what we believe is a tainted gospel and a perverted gospel, then we are calling into question the very concept of salvation itself. There is no either or dichotomy here. We must be passionate about souls and we must be passionate about contending for truth.

We must be passionate about contending for truth because we're passionate about souls. There is no disagreement here. Why? Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. That's what we're communicating.

That's what we're contending for. This faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Rejecting Fresh Revelation and Word of Faith Teaching

For example, anyone who teaches that God is giving them fresh revelation fundamentally undermines the sufficiency and centrality of scripture today.

You know, 10, 10, 30, turn the light out. Well, we had just listened to Brother Hagin, that first message, and suddenly the word of the Lord came to me. So I jumped up and got my notepad and wrote it down.

924. This disease called CODV -19 will be over much sooner than you think. Notice that it's been done.

It's not in process. It's been done. This apostolic teaching is. It was. We have it. We're not waiting on it. Amen. We're not waiting on it. Folks, you don't need a new fresh word from me. If you get a new fresh word from me, that means God didn't give you enough in the first place.

You don't need a new fresh word from me.

Another example is that the prosperity gospel and word of faith movement teaches people to think of God as kind of Santa Claus.

When you help those in need, you are lending to the Lord and he will repay you.

Rather than as a righteous judge who commands repentance and faith.

There was an event in Zambia. You're talking about 100 ,000 plus. Literally. Literally. 100 ,000 plus. You better believe the topic was not the gospel. The topic was not, you know, come and have your sins forgiven.

Come and repent and believe. No. You know what it was. Come get your blessing. Come get your miracle. Come get your deliverance. Come get your. And the list goes on and on. These are the things that thousands flock to.

False Gospels Inside the Church

The greatest threat to Christianity is not non-Christians who attack Christianity from the outside, but rather supposed Christians who distort the gospel from the inside. There are millions of professing Christians today who think they are saved because they believe the man-centered, unbiblical gospel of Joel Osteen.

I believe there's enough pushing people down already. So when people leave one of our services or read one of my books, I want them to leave saying, you know what? I can be better. I can rise higher. So Stephen Furtick.

What you see on me might have nothing to do with what God sees in me. Joyce Meyer. So we see right there that God wants us to be healthy. T .D. Jakes.

I started giving on that level so that God would owe me. And many more teachers.

Of course, there are people who are truly saved within these groups, but they are saved in spite of this man-centered teaching, not because of it.

The apostle says, contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Why? Why? And this is what's amazing. Verse four, for certain people have crept in unnoticed. He's not saying contend for the faith because there are people on the outside who, you know, openly hate us and who openly disagree with us and who openly vilify us Christians.

He says certain persons have crept in unnoticed. They have titles, bishop, apostle. They've crept in unnoticed.

So again, it's loving and God glorifying to contend with, refute, and expose supposed Christians who teach a false gospel that does not save.

How do you recognize them? They pervert the gospel and misrepresent Jesus. That's as simple as I can put it. Who are they? They are people who, in the name of Jesus, pervert the gospel and misrepresent Jesus.

And they must be contended with. They must be refuted. They must be exposed. Why? Because if you pervert the gospel and misrepresent Jesus, you undermine salvation.

Paul himself teaches that false gospels are not gospels at all, which makes them extremely dangerous because they lead people to believe they are saved when they actually are not saved.

If the gospel that you're holding to is not the gospel proclaimed by the apostles you believed in vain, it does you no good to believe a false gospel. As Paul would say in Galatians, that's no gospel at all.

We must believe the true gospel, the pure gospel. And the only way that people are going to believe the pure gospel and the true gospel is if someone, somewhere, stands up and refutes the false one.