What Is A False Teacher?

How To Identify a False Teacher— False Teaching

What is a False Teacher? - John MacArthur helps us to Identify a False Teacher.
He recommends 5 Key Points to look for in a False Teacher: Pride, Selfishness, Deception, Irreverence, and Destruction. This Article is an Excerpt from John MacArthur's Teachings called: "CONCERNS OF A TRUE PASTOR: HUMILITY AND SELFLESSNESS."

What is a False Teacher?

5 Characteristics of False Teachers

By John MacArthur

When I sat down and just started writing out Characteristics of False Teachers, these are the things that showed up on my list: Pride, Selfishness, Deception, Irreverence, and Destruction. Those would be probably the First Five Features of False Teachers that would be on my list of the, say, a DOZEN or so. Here are the First 5 Characteristics of a False Teacher:

1 - False Teachers are Proud - PRIDE

They are concerned for their own Popularity. They are concerned for their own Fame. They are concerned for their own Notoriety. They are concerned for their own Prestige. They’re concerned to See themselves and Hear themselves in the Public Eye. They want Large Crowds, as it were, to bow down in great homage to them. They’re Characterized by Pride and they will do anything to gain the ground they need to gain for the welfare of their own Personal Ego, including any amount of Compromise necessary.

2 - False Teachers are Characterized by Selfishness - SELFISHNESS

They tend to be Self-Centered. They are concerned for their own Comfort. They are concerned for their own Popularity. They are concerned for their own Prosperity. In the end, it’s all about Money, Fame, and Prestige and Notoriety equals an increased Bank Account. They are in it for the Money and the Personal material benefits that they can gain as they endeavor to feed their Selfish Desires.

3 - They are Characterized by Deception - DECEPTION

They usually can weave a very sophisticated web of Deception in their Teaching because they tend to be Articulate, if they’re going to be Successful, and they endeavor to engage other people to aid them in their deceitful enterprise which gives it the, sort of, facade of credibility.

4 - They’re Irreverent - IRREVERENT

If there’s anything that sort of dominates in my thinking about False Teachers, it is their Irreverence. They have absolutely no regard for God. The fact that they would go against God, that they would elevate themselves the way they do, that they would Pervert the Truth indicates their utter Irreverence. They have little, if any, regard for God, His Word, His Truth, His Glory, His Honor…

5 - They are Spiritually Destructive - DESTRUCTIVE

They seek to Use People; they seek to Abuse People. They seek to Lead People into Error, which destroys them—into Sin, which Pollutes Them.

So, as you look at False Teachers—

With regard to the WORLD, they are Proud and they seek Fame and Popularity.

With regard to THEMSELVES, they are Self-centered, Selfish, Self-aggrandizing, Self-gratifying.

With regard to the NATURE OF THEIR MINISTRY, they are Dishonest and Deceptive and Lack Integrity.

With regard to God, they are utterly Irreverent; in fact, they are Blasphemous. And,

With regard to the PEOPLE THAT THEY INFLUENCE, they are Spiritually Destructive.

So, their Relationship to the WORLD, their Relationship to the MINISTRY, their relationship to THEMSELVES, their Relationship to GOD, their Relationship to THEIR PEOPLE all reflects the DEVIATION OF THEIR HEARTS.

What Are The Characteristics of a True Minister?

On the other hand, if you were to write a list of Characteristics of the True Minister, a True Pastor, a True Shepherd, a True Preacher, a Faithful Pastor…you would start by saying he is Humble and then you probably would say he is Lovingly Sacrificial, instead of Selfish. He is Honest and has Integrity, rather than Deceptive. And, he is Reverent and Worships and Honors God, rather than being Irreverent. And, he is Spiritually Strengthening and Edifying. You would be right. Remember now, Paul is writing, in defining his own Attitudes here, against the background of these False Teachers whose Attitudes should have become obvious to the people in Corinth. A Faithful Pastor is Humble, Unselfish, Honest, Reverent, and Spiritually Edifying, just the opposite of False Teachers.

EXCERPTS FROM— "CONCERNS OF A TRUE PASTOR: HUMILITY AND SELFLESSNESS"