Responding To CRITICAL Comments! | Ep. 1

Hey guys, Colin here.

And welcome back to the channel where we bring you Christian commentary about the things that matter.

In today's video, we're going to be starting a new series where we answer comments that are either angry or critical

about the positions taken on this channel.

Before we begin, let me establish this is not meant as a sinful attack, but rather as a biblical

critique.

The identities of the commenters will be hidden because the purpose of this video is not to expose anyone.

We just want to respond to the criticism here in the best way possible.

So let's get right into it, shall we?

The first comment here comes from our video on Mike Todd with regards to his false prophetic

words.

The video will be linked in the description.

Now, the comment here says the following, quote, How can he be a false prophet if you

don't even believe prophecy is for today?

That must mean that there are true prophets and prophecy is for today.

I would love to hear one of your sermons because you're constantly critiquing others' sermons, end quote.

So first off, someone being critical of an unbiblical sermon does not mean that they now have to become a

pastor and start giving their own sermons.

Not everyone is called to be a pastor, but everyone is called to discernment.

James 3 .1 says, quote, Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach

will be judged with greater strictness, end quote.

And yet, while not everyone is called to be a pastor, the whole church is called to have discernment.

In Romans 16 .17, Paul appeals to all the brethren, the entire church body, to mark and

avoid those who teach unsound doctrine which does not accord with Orthodox biblical teaching.

So exercising discernment when you listen to a sermon does not mean that you now have to start preaching sermons yourself.

Also, this commenter rightly asks, quote, How can he be a false prophet if you don't even believe

prophecy is for today?

That must mean that there are true prophets, and prophecy is for today, end quote.

So basically, if you believe that prophecy is a sign gift that marked the apostolic age and is not

normative for the church today, then you must be wrong.

Because this commenter makes the case that if there is false prophecy today, then there must also be, by

contrast, true prophecy today.

So it must be that the gift of prophecy has not ceased in their opinion, and cessationists, like myself,

are wrong.

And this may shock you guys, but I actually kind of agree, with one big caveat.

This is a caricature of cessationists and what we actually believe.

We do not believe that there is no prophecy for today.

Rather, we believe that the only official, inerrant prophecy that we have today is found in the

scriptures.

2 Peter 1 .21 says, quote,.

And 2 Peter 1 .19, just before that, says, quote,.

And we have a prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to

a lamp shining in a dark place, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes

from someone's own interpretation, end quote.

So the fact is, cessationists, those who believe that the gift of prophecy is not normative in the church

today, we do not believe that there is no true prophetic word today.

Rather, we simply do what Peter says, and we focus on the large plethora of guaranteed true

prophecies that we have in the scriptures today, already, as we eagerly await the fulfillment of the

prophecies made about our Savior's second coming.

So it is certainly not the case that cessationists don't have any prophecy, or that we don't care about prophecy.

No, we have tons of it.

We just find it in the scriptures.

So with that said, let's turn to another comment.

This one was on our Joel Osteen video with regards to his horrible sermon about the prodigal son.

Link in description.

The comment said this, quote,.

It is wrong for you to do this.

The pastor does not teach false teaching because he was teaching about Jesus.

You're the one who is wrong here.

Why are you doing this to the Lord's servants?

You're the one teaching false teaching.

You truly don't get the point here.

False teachers are those teachers who teaches us to be far away from Jesus and not to get eternal life.

But this man is not teaching that.

I pray that the Holy Spirit shall be upon you.

End quote.

So there's a few points being made here.

One of them is that it's mean, it's uncharitable to call out false teaching.

This is clearly wrong.

Paul, Jesus, Peter, and many others called out false teaching consistently.

In Matthew 7, 15, Jesus specifically warns us about false prophets who he calls wolves in

sheep's clothing.

So we can dismiss this first argument out of hand quickly.

The second argument here is that a false teacher is one who tells you to go further away from Christ, not closer to

him.

So people like Joel Osteen, well they might be wrong on some things, according to this commenter, but if they

generally teach you to be close to Jesus, then they cannot be classified as a false teacher.

That's the commenter's point here.

But this is not the biblical view of false teaching at all.

It is true that those who tell you to be further away from Christ are definitely obvious false teachers, but it's

much more than that.

I mean, think about it.

Suppose someone was a preacher, and they taught every Sunday about being closer to Jesus, having a love

for Jesus.

That's great.

But suppose this same person, in the same sermons, in addition to preaching that, also taught some things

that are blatantly false.

Suppose they also taught that sin is perfectly fine, and that there's no need to repent.

This would be contrary to Matthew 4, 17.

Suppose they also taught the opposite idea, that Jesus' sacrifice is not enough to save you from your sins, and

that you need to earn your salvation by good works.

This would be contrary to Ephesians 2, 8.

You see, the truth is, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 11, 13, that false teachers will quote,

disguise themselves as apostles of Christ, end quote.

A false teacher, therefore, is not going to come out and tell you that he's a false teacher, and say, run away from Christ as

fast as you can.

No, it's much more likely that he's going to tell you to be close to Jesus, but then he will sneak in his false

teaching through the back door.

And the other comment we'll look at today is quite similar.

This was on our video talking about people not listening to the Hillsong Worship piece entitled Ready or

Not, because it's unbiblical.

Again, link in description.

In response, someone commented this, quote, Seriously, as believers, we are our own enemies.

You don't see Muslims or any other religion out there fighting and criticizing one another.

We are not united as a body.

We fight, argue, and judge, even though the Bible condemns it.

Is there anyone that's perfect?

Even in our imperfection, Christ came to die for us, thereby teaching us how to love even our enemies.

It's because we do not understand that the foundation of Christianity is love, hence this unnecessary

criticism, end quote.

So basically, the idea is that calling out false doctrine in a worship song, that's somehow unloving,

that's not compatible with loving your enemies as Christ did.

And humbly, I just want to say, this is not a good understanding of what loving your enemies even means.

Again, Jesus, the same man who told us to love our enemies and showed us how to do it, was

extremely critical of the Pharisees, for instance, when they added to Scripture and were teaching falsely.

See Matthew 15, 9.

The same Jesus who said to love our enemies also said that false prophets are wolves in

sheep's clothing, as we've already said, and he told us to beware of them.

See Matthew 7, 15.

There's nothing about humbly and sincerely calling out false teaching that is incompatible with Christian love.

In fact, helping people avoid false teaching when done properly is a Christ -like thing to do.

So let's not squabble about whether or not calling out false teaching is a good thing.

Instead, let's acknowledge that it's actually an obligation for us as Christians, and let's search the Scriptures

diligently, resolving to avoid false teaching out of love for God and love for His Church.

Calling out the false teaching of Hillsong is not childish bickering in the body of Christ.

No, it's something that we ought to do to help the body of Christ.

So long story short, I hope you enjoyed that video, and please know this, I do not offer any of this correction from a

high and mighty position.

I am nothing but a wretched sinner saved by the grace of Jesus Christ.

So comment if you want to see more of these kinds of videos, and let's pray for Joel Osteen, Mike Todd, and Hillsong Church,

that they would stop this falsehood, and by God's grace, that they would turn to the truth of God's Word.

Thank you so much for watching that video.

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Thank you, and God bless.