“The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.” — Jeremiah 28:15
“Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad… and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life.” — Ezekiel 13:22
“Then the Lord said unto me… I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision… a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.” — Jeremiah 14:14
“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” — Romans 16:17-18
“For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” — Ephesians 5:5-6
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” — Colossians 2:8
Thankfully the scriptures give instruction to prepare us against the deceit of false preachers. The first bulwark against false preaching is to know that those who deny the divinity of Christ are not true witnesses for God.
“For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” — 2 John 1:7
The second bulwark against the deception of false teaching is personal preparation through daily feasting on the words of Christ and the prophets — and abiding by the precepts of scripture and diligently striving to keep the commandments.
“Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived… Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul… ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him.” — Deuteronomy 11:16-22
“Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” — 2 Timothy 3:13-17
The third bulwark against the deception of false teaching is our reliance upon God’s authorized apostles and prophets to help us correctly interpret the scriptures.
“And he gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”—Ephesians 4:11-14
The struggle to know which pastors and teachers to follow is real. And the cost of following after those who are blind, or worse, who lye in wait to deceive, is no small matter. As Christ said, “They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” — Matthew 15:14
Jesus Christ himself gives the best warning of false preachers and the best antidote to deception in these words:
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
“Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
“Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
— Matthew 7:15-20
On this principle of false preaching we must be careful because there are many honorable, faithful, and good people who are not Christian; and within the Christian world there are many sects who disagree on doctrine. Disagreements often get heated within the Christian world; and sadly there is often too little Christian charity in our interactions with each other.
It is then not surprising, but none the less sad, when there is harsh condemnation of those who have not received the testimony of Christ. I am saddened when I see Christians uncharitably attacking good and faithful Jewish people, as if to say they can’t possibly have anything virtuous or good to share because they don’t share our belief in Jesus Christ; or that an association with them is spiritually dangerous. I do not believe this is how Christ intended us to act when we asked us to beware of false prophets.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There are many Christians who say that I am not a Christian, that the teachers of my faith are wolves in sheep’s clothing. There are many pastors that sow hatred and division between their flock and members of my church. We are not alone. I have heard harsh words from Protestants toward Catholics and vice versa.
As a Latter-day Saint I have been taught and I believe that Jesus Christ is the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. I believe that Jesus Christ, under the direction of His Father, was the creator of the earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). Jesus Christ is the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world, the unblemished lamb, the infinite sacrifice for sin. He gave His life to atone for the sins of all mankind. His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth. He is my Savior and yours. He accepts all who come unto him with broken hearts and contrite spirits. He is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no way to heaven but through Him. He taught the truths of eternity, His gospel is a message of peace and goodwill. He rose from the grave to “become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20), and because He lives, all men shall live again.
Most important of all, is my personal knowledge of Christ. The witness I have of his presence in my daily life. I have felt his power lift me, heal me, strengthen me and sustain me in my walk in this life. I know from his word that he expects me to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments, but I have learned in the trying that only through Christ can I do the good that I am able to do. That only through His atonement and daily repentance and trusting in Him — or in other words, only by his grace — will I enter into his rest and be reunited with my Father in Heaven.
This is my testimony of Christ. I cannot consider myself anything except a Christian. I understand well the differences in doctrine, the charges placed at my church. It may be because of the many experiences I have had as a Latter-day Saint that I am sensitive to how Christians interact with each other and those of other religions.
While we must be firm in our testimony of Christ we must also be examples of his love in our dealings with all people. There is a difference between those sources we look to for primary spiritual guidance in our lives and being open to and uplifted by all people of good influence.
In my church, as in most Christian sects, we have official statements that describe the basic tenets of our beliefs. One such document we call, “The Articles of Faith.” The last article, the 13th, makes this declarative statement about how we are to judge which teachings outside of our own church we ought to seek after.
“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” — Joseph Smith.
Remember, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” If we can allow ourselves to be uplifted by those things that are virtuous, lovely, of good report and praiseworthy, then we will build greater unity in the faith. I pray we will do this until we all come together, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, for unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:5-6)
Do those we look to for spiritual guidance preach what we need to hear, or what we want to hear? Are their words flattery? Do they make us feel comfortable in our sin? Flattering words that give permission to act in sinful ways are vain and deceptive preaching. There is no true love or compassion in such lies, they only cause us to sin, which can have no effect except our own misery.
“They became idolatrous, because they were deceived by the vain and flattering words… for they did speak flattering things unto them.” — Mosiah 11:7, Book of Mormon
“For it came to pass that they did deceive many with their flattering words, who were in the church, and did cause them to commit many sins.” — Mosiah 26:6, Book of Mormon
For those who refrain from teaching the truth because they fear the truth will offend and be hard for some to accept, this warning is an important one:
“But behold, it is better that thy soul should be lost than that thou shouldst be the means of bringing many souls down to destruction, by thy lying and by thy flattering words.” — Alma 30:47, Book of Mormon
“And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.”
“Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark.” — 2 Nephi 28:8-9, Book of Mormon
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