“Judge not, judge not lest ye be judged.” Undoubtedly the most often misquoted, taken out of context passages in the entire Bible. Jesus does indeed warn us not to judge, but the kind of judging against which He warns us about is hypocritical judging. Judging somebody for doing something that maybe we’re really doing ourselves that is what He warns against. “Take the 2 by 4 out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Check your own sins before judging another for theirs. In fact, we are to judge safely within biblical parameters.

  “Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” Romans 16:17 Identifying and marking “them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine” of the Lord, is to be a regular part of the Christian life. In an hour when the doctrine of false teaching is multiplying, growing by leaps and bounds at an increasingly, amazingly rate, those who love the Lord must examine and test everything against the final authority of the recorded word of God (Acts 17:11). The following warning enlightens us to understand this: “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) Would the all-knowing God have put such a warning in His Word if being spoiled were not possible? People can be spoiled (derailed, made shipwreck of) through false doctrines and philosophies, which, without fail, elevate men and demote Christ (Col. 2:8-9; 18-19). These derailment elements are designed to steal glory from Christ. If we love Him, we are to “hear God’s words” and “hate every false way.” (Jn. 8:47; Ps. 119:104, 128; Amos 5:14-15)

  When it comes to matters of doctrine, when it comes to matters of theology, we absolutely are to judge on these things safely within biblical parameters. Another criticism is this, you shouldn’t name names. And some people say, “Well it’s okay if you warn people in a general sense about false teaching, but don’t ever call somebody’s name in public, don’t ever do that.”

  Well, the answer to this is that in fact there is a biblical precedent for calling out false teachers by name. The Apostle Paul did this himself on several occasions. He did it quite publicly. See… “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have wandered away from the truth. ” (2 Tim. 2:16-18). So there is a biblical precedent for calling out false teachers by name, Jesus Himself called Herod ‘that fox’. But it should not be done lightly, without malice and not in anger. Always in love!  Okay? And we don’t call somebody out as a false teacher if they differ with us on some relatively minor theological point. You know, nit picking. Maybe we’re premillennial, pretrib in our beliefs and we know somebody over here that’s pretty millennial, mid-trib, heretic. No…no. But when it comes to the fundamental doctrines of historical Christianity, the preexistence of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, the sinless life, the atonement on the cross, bodily resurrection of our Lord, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, on these issues we do draw a line in the sand and we must warn people about these wolves in sheep’s clothing or worse, wolves masquerading as shepherds. Is not an option, it is a duty.

  Here’s a criticism you’ll hear a lot from within Charismatic circles, Word of Faith circles, when one of their false teachers comes under criticism, this is almost always how they respond. “Touch not my anointed,” heard this before? *smile* “Touch not my anointed.” Well, when you hear this criticism, this is how you can respond. “Okay, that’s fine but let’s not take scripture out of context,” because that’s what they’re doing. Now touch not my anointed can be found in a couple of places in the Old Testament, one of them is Psalm chapter 105, “He permitted no man to oppress them,” referring to Israel. And He reproved kings for their sakes, “Touch not my anointed ones and do my prophets no harm.” And so, is this biblical? Yeah, it’s biblical in the sense that it’s in the Bible, but what does it mean? What does it say? Oh, by the way, there are three New Testament passages, at least three, which refer to all Christians as anointed. So if you’re here today and you know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and you’ve been born again, guess what? You’re anointed and you have the same anointing as does every other Christian. There are no super-Christians with a super-special anointing that the rest of us common peons just don’t have. They may talk and act more spiritual, more anointed but in reality they’re no more anointed than you and I. They’re Christians just like the rest of us. If you’re in Christ, you’re anointed and you have the same anointing as does every other believer. As an example, Billy Graham is no more anointed than you are. If you have Holy Spirit (the anointing) living in you than you are one of the anointed ones. There are no super-Christians.

  But in the context of this, the anointed ones refers to Israel’s patriarchs and their descendants not to today’s modern preachers, or self-acclaimed apostles or prophets, first to Israel’s patriarchs and their descendants. And the word “touch” and this is the kicker, the word “touch” actually refers to doing physical harm, not to speaking the truth. You might remember that when David had an opportunity to kill Saul, he didn’t do it. Remember that? What did he do instead? He cut off a piece of Saul’s garment and held it up and he said, “I will not touch God’s anointed.” In other words, what David was saying is. “I will not kill him”. So we may be calling out false teachers and their false doctrines, but nobody here is chasing Benny Hinn (among others) down the street with a baseball bat.

  Are we not called to be watchmen of the gate? One of the responsibilities of a watchman in the past history of God’s physical nation of Israel, was that he was appointed to watch and to warn their people of an approaching enemy so they could flee, hide, or prepare themselves militarily with bows, arrows and swords in order to protect and save their physical lives from all their enemies of gentile nations. What’s the job of a watchman today, they’re to warn of danger that has crept into the Church!

  Are you familiar with the show Lost In Space? Anytime there was danger approaching B9 Robot would call out “Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!” *smile* We’re not B9 robot from Lost In Space but there is surely danger among us and Danger! Danger, should be our cry!

  “When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.” I don’t want no blood on my hands, how bout you?

In His Love,
Elizabeth

Next installment….Faith Healers or Faith Killers…watch for it.