“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” – Revelation 2:2-5

WHILE IT IS Biblically commanded and commendable to expose deceptive and heretical teaching that pervades modern Christianity, it is also lamentable how some lose their way in the process. The first few years may entail success and credibility, but as time adds to the years, rather than growing in faith and grace, a spiritual neglect and decay sets in, oftentimes unbeknown to those who are attempting to save others trapped in heterodoxy.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mathew 7:21-23) – have we included in this sober warning some of those that expose false teaching yet remain unregenerate? “But Lord, I preached the truth; I exposed heresy and pulled so many out of the fire…Surely, Lord, You have overlooked the fruit I bore in Your name…I was persuaded in that having a sound knowledge of the truth ensured my salvation.” Does it really occur to us that while we may have a tremendous knowledge of truth, we may not be known by the Truth Himself?

There are numerous unbelievers who oftentimes display more discernment than some Christians. It is not always mandatory to be a Christian in order to detect these erroneous teachers; some of it is so blatantly obvious the simplest child could mark much of the nonsense and stupidity that goes on among these spiritual con-artist’s.

I have known close family members, who in their early years as a Christian sought closeness with God, turn sour and bitter over the years due to time and energy being consumed with nothing but exposing deception – the likes of Kenneth Hagen, Kenneth Copeland, Morris Curello, Jim Baker, Benny Hinn, along with every other form of charismatic chaos. I find it somewhat odd nowadays that many Christians, to include respected leaders, attempt to ‘expose’ the ‘Health, Wealth and Prosperity Gospel’, as if it’s one of the latest vogue’s. This kind of heresy has been heavily under fire (in a good way) since the middle of the 1980’s. The way in which many harp on it nowadays is like watching a crowd of enthusiasts ‘flog a dead horse’. Expose them, yes, but be aware of history; look at the plethora of footprints already in the snow made by those who have already done the homework.

Obviously, over the last twenty or thirty years, there has been new and various waves of heresy that have breached the walls of many churches. Some are a little more subtle to detect and certainly not easy to confront. As Christians, we are responsible in knowing and rightly handling the Word of God, but never with the motive to expose false teaching, but to build ourselves and others up in the most holy faith which must always be the overruling priority. Bankers were once trained to become so familiar with genuine bills, they could easily recognise a forged note. We as Christians ought to be so entrenched in the Word of Truth, delighting in it and growing in it that we would inevitably discern error without having to look for it.

As stated before in other articles, the greatest deception of Satan is not blatantly obvious. I believe His greatest tares are sown so close to the truth. If the devil can fill up reformed churches while blinding the people to the truth, he is succeeding in his work.

The devil’s best way to damn people to hell is to have the truth preached without the unction of the Holy Spirit. Some of you are already familiar with the story of a Puritan who, while in his dream, saw the devil preaching the gospel on a street corner, at which point he challenged the devil and asked him as to why on earth he was preaching the gospel when his work is to damn souls to hell, not save them. The devil replied by stating that the best way to damn souls to hell is to preach the gospel without the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Do we think that God will automatically empower preachers if they haven’t sought His face, to know Him behind closed doors, to encounter their emptiness in order to be filled with Him? This is called unction, not just function of intellect! Oh! There is some great oratory and diction from the pulpit nowadays, but it is far from preaching. They are well trained with all their degrees and PhD’s. They can eloquently distinguish right from wrong, but there is missing when you hear some of them speak; there is no sincerity, no genuineness or authenticity in their delivery; they are detached from the truths they proclaim. They lack a heavenly conviction.

It is grieving to know that while many zealously hold to the truth, they are not gripped and internally changed by it. They may have changed outwardly, but inwardly there is no spiritual life. You can never fellowship with such people. You might socialise, which is a different matter altogether. You may discuss the shell of great truths, but to be moved in your hearts together that leads to worshipping God in spirit and in truth is utterly impossible, for what does darkness and light have in common?

If Satan is unable to prevent our efforts in successfully exposing deception, he will powerfully attempt to drive us to excess and imbalance. If he can shift our focus from communing with God, drinking from His Word and knowing Him through prayer, to where we instead prioritise our work for ‘God’, it is more than likely we are labouring for the enemy, or at least heading for spiritual ‘burn-out’.

It is no good in endeavouring to walk with God; Are you presently walking with God – not with your books, articles and conferences – are you walking now with God Himself? Do you know Him in the very moment you are now drawing your breath? This is not mysticism; this is Christianity! Are we delighting in God? Do we longingly desire to know God impressing upon our hearts that we are His and He is ours? Do we still have that conviction? Are we growing in that realisation? Does the truth of God’s Word burn brighter – that we are eternally loved and secure in Him? Do you desire Him more than anything else your eye sees? Do you desire Him more than all your comforts, money and health; does your security in Him far outweigh all earthly security and popularity? Some of us do not understand the weight and implications of these serious questions until we are on the very threshold of losing everything, then it is a different light wherein such questions truly present themselves for what they really are.

There is the dangerous possibility while earnestly contending for the truth and expressing intolerance toward heresy, we may lose the sole reason and purpose for doing so. We may well neglect our own walk with God – “But [despite all your labours of discerning right and wrong which will amount to nothing if you do not repent] I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love [the most imperative aspect] you had [for Me] at first.” This is the blindside that occurs (if we neglect our first love) while tenaciously exposing false teaching. Our love for the truth must always start, continue and end in devotion to Christ. We must never forget that the Christian life, first and foremost, is about communing with God; it is literally fellowship with God. While our soul suffers the absence of that fire, we are walking into enemy territory for which we are ill-prepared and wide open to be being outwitted by Satan’s wiles.