Central Africa Baptist College & Seminary

Training the Next Generation of African Leaders

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Rise Up O Men of God!

July 28, 2014 By Admin

sheep wihout a shepherd_wide_t_nv

The Prophet Zachariah warned the nation of Isreal concerning the false prophets of his day.  The words of Zachariah have an timeless application to the day and age in which we live.  Listen to the Prophet in Zachariah 10:2:

For the idols speak delusion;
The diviners envision lies,
And tell false dreams;
They comfort in vain.
Therefore the people wend their way like sheep;
They are in trouble because there is no shepherd.

Tim Challies, a blogger from Canada, has been sharing a very helpful series about false teachers. Recently Tim shared some timely lessons from his study that should serve as clear warnings to us!

Here is what he wrote in his article entitled: 7 Dangerous Truths About False Teachers.

“A few months ago, I began a short series called “The False Teachers.” I wanted to look back through church history to meet some of the people who have undermined the church at various points. We looked at historical figures like Joseph Smith who founded Mormonism and Ellen G. White who led the Seventh Day Adventists into prominence, and we looked at contemporary figures like Benny Hinn, the prominent faith healer, and T.D. Jakes, who has tampered with the doctrine of the Trinity.

Here are a few lessons I’ve learned from false teachers.

1. False teachers are common.

When and where there are teachers of truth, there will necessarily be teachers of error.

The first and most fundamental thing I learned about false teachers is that we ought to expect them and be on the lookout for them. They are common in every era of church history.

This should not surprise us since the Bible warns that we are on war footing in this world, and that Satan is on full-out offensive against God and his people. And sure enough, history shows that whenever the gospel advances, error follows in its wake.

When and where there are teachers of truth, there will necessarily be teachers of error. Perhaps the most surprising thing about false teachers is that we continue to be surprised by them.

2. False teachers are deceptive.

False teachers are deceptive. They do not announce themselves as false teachers but proclaim themselves angels of light, people who have access to wisdom others have missed or misplaced.

As Denny Burk says, “False teachers typically won’t show up to your church wearing a sandwich board saying, ‘I am a false teacher.’”

Instead, they begin within the bounds of orthodoxy and announce themselves only slowly and through their subtly-twisted doctrine. They turn away from orthodoxy one step at a time rather than all at once.

3. False teachers are dangerous.

False teachers are dangerous, and part of what makes them so dangerous is that they will affirm so much that is good and true.

They will not deny all of the doctrines upon which the Christian faith stands or falls but only select parts of it. They draw in the unsuspecting with all they affirm and only later destroy them with all they deny.

There is an important lesson: We only know a person when we understand both what he affirms and what he denies.

4. False teachers are divisive.

False teachers cause division within the church and often cause division even among true Christians.

Because false teachers tend to remain within the church, and because they claim to be honoring the Bible, they confuse true believers and drive wedges between them.

Amazingly, it is often those who stand fast against falsehood who get labeled as divisive. The church often trusts a smiling false teacher ahead of a frowning defender.

5. False teachers give people what they want.

As Paul wrote his final letter to Timothy, he warned that the time was coming when people would not endure sound teaching (and hence, sound teachers), but instead they would have itching ears and demand teachers who would satisfy this itch.

False teachers do this very thing. Their concern is not for what people truly need but for what people want.

The concern of the Christian is the exact opposite—the gospel does not address what we want but what we need!

6. False teachers are not innocent.

False teachers know they are false teachers.

This may not be true all the time, and perhaps some false teachers deceive themselves before they deceive others. But I believe most know who and what they are; in fact, I believe most know and delight in who and what they are.

They are not naive people who have taken a wrong turn in their theology, but evil people who are out to destroy others. Their attack on truth is far more brazen than we may like to think.

7. False teachers cannot tolerate the Gospel.

False teachers simply cannot tolerate the gospel.

At some level and in some way, they will always add to or subtract from the pure and sweet gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

They may affirm the Trinity or inerrancy or the deity of Jesus Christ, but they will never fully affirm the gospel of the Bible.”

We must be warned of the dangers posed by false teachers and the false doctrine that provides the fertile soil in which the false teachers grow!

We call upon true shepherds to rise up and be heard!  In the words of the hymn writer:

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
To serve the King of kings.

 

Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
And end the night of wrong.

 

Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
Her strength unequal to her task;
Rise up and make her great!

 

Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where His feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O men of God!

Filed Under: Apologetics, Blog, Contemporary African Issues, Culture, Discipleship, Ministry, Theology Tagged With: Church, Doctrine, False prophets, False Teachers, Heresy, Hymn

Run Sheep, Run!

July 24, 2014 By Admin

Police Arrest Pastor Newspaper

 

Just up the road from the campus of Central Africa Baptist College is Ipusukilo Compound.  The headlines across Zambia yesterday was about the arrest of the pastor of Holy Fire Ministry in Ipusukilo for allegedly having sex with numerous underage girls as a means of exorcising their demons.

We personally hope that if the allegations prove true that this man will be locked away in prison for a very long time for his crimes!

The sad reality is that this latest news story is an all too common reality in our country, and across Africa for that matter.

Clearly these so-called pastors or bishops or whatever title they are claiming are false prophets!  By their fruits you know them (Mt. 7:16)! As a College & Seminary that exists to prepare the next generation of servant-leaders in Africa for great commission living, we are not only concerned about exposing wolves pretending to be shepherds, but we are also concerned about the sheep that are being led to slaughter!

The overwhelming majority of questions being asked on our live call-in radio programs on our college station (Faith Radio 106.9FM) concern false teaching and false teachers.

Our burden is to issue this warning: Run Sheep, Run!

Run to the Word!  Scripture is our sole authority for doctrine (what we believe) and practice (how we live)!  A loving God has not left us without a “Word”!  He has communicated all that is necessary for us to know today… it is found in the Word of God!  If anyone, a pastor, a self-proclaimed prophet or even an angel from heaven says anything that is not in the written word of God – Run Sheep, Run!

The NLT translates Galatians 1:8-9 in this way:

8. Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.

Run to biblically qualified Shepherds!  God has clearly laid down His absolute standard for those who He calls to lead the flock!  Read these qualifications and evaluate the “man of God” you are following!  If he does not match up to what God has set as the standard – Run Sheep, Run!!

1 Timothy 3:1-7: 1. This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; 4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence 5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); 6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. 7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Something similar was happening in Jeremiah’s day.  See if these words from Jeremiah 5:30-31 do not apply to our day as well:

30 “An astonishing and horrible thing
Has been committed in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people love to have it so.
But what will you do in the end?

Run Away From The Wolves.  One indication that we are living in the last days is an overwhelming increase in the number of false teachers, and the pervasiveness of their false doctrine!  This is an urgent plea – Run Sheep, Run!!!

Matthew 7:15-16  15. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16. You will know them by their fruits.

 

Mark 13:22 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

 

1 Peter 1:20-2:3   20. knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21. for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

 

FALSE TEACHERS ARE BREEDING SPIRITUAL HAVOC

Zambian pastor Conrad Mbewe has issued a timely warning and an observation that cannot be ignored.  In his article entitled: Charismatic Teaching Is Breeding Spiritual Havoc he writes:

“The Zambian government is concerned about the many cases of pastors defiling girls, impregnating female church members, swindling church funds, causing the death of congregants by advising them against medical treatment, etc. At their level, they are seeking to address this matter because it is conspicuously getting out of hand. We wait to see what wisdom God will give to “the powers that be”!

Two issues concern me here. Firstly, why is it that almost all of these heretics are being nursed in Charismatic circles until they are weaned and ushered upon the world’s stage as full-blown heretics?

For instance, there is the view that God still speaks to us independent of the Bible. Drink this milk for a number of years and you will soon be attributing to God the inner voices coming from your fallen self. Then there is the view of “the man of God” who is a cut above everyone else in the church. Again suck this for a few years and, before you know it, you want to be a bishop, an apostle, and God-knows what other ecclesiastical titles are being forged in this factory of madness. You also close yourself off from peer accountability structures. You are a chief!

What about the emphasis on miracles, signs, and wonders? Again, does it not make sense that once this becomes a regular diet, all that people will want is health and wealth at the fingers of ecclesiastical witch doctors? Even the blood of Jesus is no longer about appeasing the wrath of a sin-hating God but instead it is about sprinkling on cars (for safe travel), hospital beds (for healing), and wallets (for more money). This is such an obvious continuum that I am amazed that we are not seeing this. Charismatic teaching is breeding these spiritual mavericks!”

Headline in the Zambia Daily Mail 28 July 2014
Headline in the Zambia Daily Mail 28 July 2014

We are calling the sheep to forsake false teachers and to forsake any local church that harbors and feeds these enemies of Christ!  Run Sheep, Run!

You may say why should I run?  Because false teachers are dangerous!  They are dangerous to your daughters!  They are dangerous to your personal financial stability!  They are dangerous to your marriage! They are dangerous to your spiritual health!  They will lead you to destruction every time!

Our prayer is that the innocent sheep will run back with confidence to the Word of God!  Learn it, love it, live it!  Reject the false and embrace the truth!

Filed Under: Blog, Contemporary African Issues, Culture, Ministry, Theology Tagged With: Charismatic Movement, False prophets, False Teachers, pastor, Shepherd, Truth, Word of God

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