Paul mentions about those false apostles in the book of Acts. They did not follow the full counsel of God.

We are to have a critical spirit on doctrine and teaching in the Church. There are people whom were to be named for being false apostles. Why? They are ravenous wolves and they seek to get others to follow them into their errors. At a higher spiritual level, they are agents for Satan. They have deceived themselves and now want to deceive others. They are in it for the POWER and the MONEY. There are some things that they will NOT do:-

1. Refute Error

They will NOT refute error. They will want to leave it for God to sort it out. It is not scriptural. Satan comes as an angel of light. There are some fundamental doctrines and teachings (The Bible) that cannot be ignored.

• Jesus refuted the Pharisees.
• Jesus refuted the woman at the well
• Jesus refuted the woman who wanted to eat the crumbs

In Philippians 1:9, Paul wrote “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight”. Without knowledge and discernment you will accept a counterfeit of God’s love.

2. Division from Error

They will NOT divide themselves from error. There is some teaching for which there cannot be unity. To divide is to be called a bigot by the world which accepts everything.

If it is NOT truth, then it is NOT light. If it is falsehood then it is darkness. There are many things that are not for division and areas of liberty. However, there are too many whom want to sit on the fence or crossed over into the wolves.

When you leave something out, you have to fill it with something else. You have to teach the full counsel of God or put something else in its place. Instead of self-control, you have out of control. Instead of spiritual it is material or sensual.

3. Discerning Error

They cannot discern error. This is not surprising as they are deceptive and deceived themselves. The Bible talks about “sheep in wolves clothing”, how Satan “transforms himself into an angel of light” much like the snake in the garden of Eden. His servants are masquerading as truth but are false. They need to follow one of these errors:

• Another Christ (Messiah)
• Another Spirit
• Another Gospel

Jesus sent out his disciples in pairs. The apostles went out in pairs. The church met together in Acts 15 and agreed together over the doctrine that Jesus had passed down to them. The apostolic authority was not an autocratic authority. A one man show is an indicator or sign of false apostles. False apostles are often autocrats and normally one of three things will happen to highlight it:-

1. Textploitation – The Word of God is corrupted.
2. Exploitation – The people are bullied to control and for money.
3. Sexploitation – The people and children are sexually abused.

It is God’s sheep who know the voice of Jesus (John 10:27) and don’t listen to false prophets. Don’t become one of the deceived. Follow Jesus and those that follow his doctrine and teaching. The Gospel message does not change. God does not change. The Christian leaders today are to follow the same core teachings as laid down by the New Testament apostles or they are false apostles and error will follow.

Categories: Acts