Deception (Part 06) – False Prophets and Teachers

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I.       False prophets and preachers deceive the sheep.

1. Some of them do so by preaching when they have not been sent by God (Jer 29:8-9).
2. False ministers walk in craftiness and handle the word of God deceitfully (2Co 4:2).
3. Craftiness – 1. Skilfulness, cleverness; aptitude in a handicraft. Obs. 2. Artfulness in deceiving or overreaching.
4. Deceitfully adv. – In a deceitful manner; with intent to deceive.
5. They lie to the flock by not telling them what’s in the scriptures.
6. They use craftiness to make the Bible appear to be saying something it’s not.
7. They sometimes do this by using the Hebrew and Greek to lie about what the scripture teaches.
8. They do this because they can’t prove their doctrine from the English; if they could, they wouldn’t need to go to the Greek.

iii.    If you hear someone say “In the Greek, that word means…”, listen very carefully to what comes next because there’s a good chance you’re going to get lied to.

1. If they tell you that the Greek word means something different than the word the KJV translators used, they are lying.
2. They wrest the scriptures (2Pe 3:16).
3. Wrest v. – 1. trans. To subject (something) to a twisting movement; to turn or twist. 2. To pull, pluck, drag away, or detach (a person or thing) with a wrench or twist; to twist, tear, or wrench out, etc.   5. To strain or overstrain the meaning or bearing of (a writing, passage, word, etc.); to deflect or turn from the true or proper signification; to twist, pervert  c. To put a wrong construction on the words or purport of (a writer); to misinterpret.
4. False teachers twist the sense of words and verses to change meanings.

iii.    They pluck verses out of context in an attempt to make them teach something contrary to scripture.

1. That was how Saul had handled the word of God as a Pharisee, but he renounced that wickedness when he became a Christian and a minister of Jesus Christ.
2. False apostles and ministers are deceitful workers (2Co 11:13).
3. Deceitful adj. – Full of deceit; given to deceiving or cheating; misleading, false, fallacious. (As said of things often = deceptive.)
4. They feign themselves to be ministers of righteousness (2Co 11:14-15).
5. True ministers on the other hand have an unfeigned faith (2Ti 1:5).
6. Unfeigned adj. – 1. Not feigned, pretended, or simulated; sincere, genuine, true, real.
7. Preachers that do the work of the Lord deceitfully are cursed (Jer 48:10).
8. There are preachers that have ulterior motives for being in the ministry.
9. Some are in it for the money (Tit 1:11).
10. Some are in it for the power (1Pe 5:3 c/w 3Jo 1:9-10).
11. Some are in it for the prestige (Mat 23:5-7).
12. There are men out there that lie in wait to deceive (Eph 4:14).
13. This means they know what they are doing, and they are doing it intentionally.
14. Don’t be naive and think that all false teachers are sincerely wrong.
15. Some of them are, but some of them definitely are not.
16. These men use sleight and cunning craftiness.
17. Sleight n. – 1. Craft or cunning employed so as to deceive; deceitful, subtle, or wily dealing or policy; artifice, strategy, trickery.
18. Magicians trick their audience using sleight of hand to make things appear different than they actually are.

iii.    Cunning adj. – 1.  a. Possessing knowledge or learning, learned; versed in (of) a subject. Obs. 5. a. In bad sense: Skilful in compassing one’s ends by covert means; clever in circumventing; crafty, artful, guileful, sly. (The prevailing modern sense.)

1. Cunning n. – 1. Knowledge; learning, erudition. Obs. Now usually in bad sense: Skill employed in a secret or underhand manner, or for purposes of deceit; skilful deceit, craft, artifice. (Cf. craft 4.)  b. As a personal quality: Disposition to use one’s skill in an underhand way; skilfulness in deceiving, craftiness, artfulness.
2. Craftiness – 1. Skilfulness, cleverness; aptitude in a handicraft. Obs. 2. Artfulness in deceiving or overreaching.
3. These false teachers are knowledgeable and clever at hiding their true intentions.
4. Some men who deceive others are themselves deceived (2Ti 3:13).
5. Widespread deception is characteristic of the last days.
6. The closer we get to the end, the worse it will get.
7. Those who do not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, but yet claim to be Christians are deceivers (2Jo 1:7).
8. There are many deceivers, especially among the Jews (Tit 1:10).
9. Who do you suppose is behind the heresy of Christian Zionism?
10. Who do you suppose is behind the heresy of premillennial dispensationalism?