reading

Judge Not

Published by:
Burning Bush Communications
7300 W. 147th St.
Apple Valley, MN 55124
www.wretched.tv

© 2015 Todd Friel. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means—electronic, mechanical, photographic (photocopying), recording, or otherwise—without prior permission in writing.

Edited by Lynn Copeland

Cover, page design, and layout by Genesis Publishing Group

ISBN 978-0-9969612-0-2
eISBN 978-0-9969612-1-9

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,1 975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked “NLT” are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked “KJV” are from the King James Version.

Printed in the United States of America

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Why This Book Is Slightly Snarky

Part One: Discernment Disasters

Chapter 1: Judging Christians for Judging Christians

Chapter 2: Not Naming Names

Chapter 3: Circular Firing Squads

Part Two: Ecclesiastical Calamities

Chapter 4: Pastors Who Think Jesus Needs Help

Chapter 5: Youth Group Madness

Chapter 6: Happy-Clappy Church

Chapter 7: Non-Christian Preaching

Chapter 8: Really Lame Worship Music

Chapter 9: Regular Attenders

Chapter 10: Manipulative Altar Calls

Chapter 11: Divorce in the Church

Chapter 12: Not Disciplining Wayward Saints

Part Three: Theological Train Wrecks

Chapter 13: Twisting Scripture

Chapter 14: Hearing from God

Chapter 15: Describing Hell Inaccurately

Chapter 16: Making God the Red Cross

Chapter 17: Giving Wrong Salvation Instructions, Part 1

Chapter 18: Giving Wrong Salvation Instructions, Part 2

Chapter 19: Compromising on Creation

Part Four: Wonky Evangelical Movements

Chapter 20: Big-Haired Christian TV

Chapter 21: Messed-up Messianic Movements

Chapter 22: Christian Syncretism

Chapter 23: Radical Christianity

Chapter 24: Reclaiming America

Chapter 25: Unbiblical Ecumenism

Chapter 26: The New Apostolic Reformation

Chapter 27: Jesus Culture

Chapter 28: Gospel Off-centeredness

Part Five: Toxic Trends

Chapter 29: Embracing Christian Celebrities

Chapter 30: Telling Everyone to Tithe

Chapter 31: Dumping Kids in Daycare

Chapter 32: Purity Ring Obsession

Chapter 33: Short-term Mission Trips

Chapter 34: Heavenly Tourism Books

Chapter 35: No or Bad Evangelism

Part Six: Bad Attitudes

Chapter 36: Acting More Like Republicans than Christians

Chapter 37: Being Disgusted by Homosexuals

Chapter 38: Being Immigration Jerks

Chapter 39: Chronological Snobbery

Part Seven: The Solution

Chapter 40: A High View of Scripture

Imagine a woman who lets her husband spend inordinate amounts of time at coffee shops in order to write books. Imagine a woman who picks up the slack in her hubby’s absence. Imagine a woman who works tirelessly to run a home so her husband can run to Starbucks. That is my wife. I am indebted to her and overwhelmed by how amazing she is.

Thank you to Emily, Haley, and Jack for being my children. Granted, you had no choice, but my love for you grows more profound every year. Not only do I love you, but I like you a lot too.

Thank you to my church family. You have helped me to learn that the most annoying person in my church is me. That is a tremendous gift.

Thank you to the dignified shepherds who continue to faithfully pastor local churches. You are the true heroes of American Christianity.

Thank you to Phil Johnson, John MacArthur, and Steve Lawson for being godly men who courageously speak the truth in love, no matter what it costs you.

Thank you to my editor, Lynn Copeland. Without her extraordinary contribution, this book wld reed like this.

Thanks also to Joel Anderson who uses his patience and skills to masterfully navigate the business world of Christian publishing.

Thank you for reading this. Your willingness to undoubtedly have your tootsies stepped on is quite admirable.

INTRODUCTION

Have you noticed the world is going bonkers?

• Legalized marijuana. Apparently police officers in some states successfully eradicated all crime and had an abundance of free time on their hands, so they petitioned their legislators to pass a law that would create some havoc.

• Gay marriage. Bye-bye to two thousand years of cultural norms. Who knew that we had been following the beliefs of morons for two millennia?

• Trans issues. On M*A*S*H Corporal Klinger cross-dressed in order to be deemed section 8 (crazy) and kicked out of the army. Today, cross dressers are heralded as brave.

• Language. Hollywood makes a living talking like wounded pirates. Nice work, Leo; over 600 f-bombs in one movie. Impressive.

• Pornography. What used to be a teenaged boy’s dirty little secret is now a First Amendment-protected right. Since when is porn a form of speech?

• Baby burners. First Great Britain, then Oregon used aborted babies as fuel to produce electricity. Paging the bottom of the barrel. Perhaps it could be worse—Planned Parenthood could be selling aborted baby body parts for cash. Oh, wait.

The list could go on and on, but then we would have to fight for ledge space on the tallest building in town in a mad rush to take our own lives. Our nation is not just on a slippery slope, America voluntarily jumped onto a toboggan and progressives shoved us down a steep and icy hill.

Virtually every societal indicator points in one direction: south.

• The CDC reports there are over two million divorces per year. That is four million trashed lives. And don’t forget the kids.

• Over 40 percent of children are born to single mothers. Who needs a dad, anyway?

• According to the FBI, almost three hundred thousand girls are at risk of being exploited by the sex trade. Deplorable.

• America is the world’s leader in abortions, slaughtering over four thousand unborn children per day. We’re #1!

• The SAT Report on College and Career Readiness shows that fewer than half of all high-schoolers who take the SAT are ready for college.

What happened? How did we get here? The answer is as obvious as the mullet on Joel Osteen’s head.

The Root of the Problem

Societal ills such as divorce, abortion, racism, violence, ignorance, and sexually transmitted diseases are not the problem; they are the fruits of a much greater crisis. A little bit of math will make that plain:

• There are slightly more than 13,000 Starbucks in America.

• There are slightly fewer than 13,000 McDonald’s in the US.

• Combined, there are 99,000 public elementary and secondary schools in the land of the free.

If you tally these ubiquitous institutions, you get a whopping total of 125,000. You can’t drive for more than a few minutes anywhere in this country without seeing a weird green mermaid, golden arches, or government indoctrination center. They are everywhere.

As omnipresent as these establishments are, you can’t swing a dead cat (never a bad idea) without hitting one of the 350,000 Protestant churches in the US.

What’s the Point?

Every culture is a product of the dominant “cult.” The single largest moral influence in America is the Protestant church. If American culture is ailing morally, it is because the Protestant church is ailing.

With almost three times as many Protestant churches as Starbucks, McDonald’s, and public schools combined, our country should not be in a moral tailspin in virtually every measurable category: morality, family, national debt, abortion, race relations, out-of-wedlock births, STDs, profanity, crime, drugs, Beyonce. With 350,000 Christian outposts, our national anthem should be “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”

Clearly, something is horribly wrong with the Protestant church. Need proof?

• Pastor Rodney Howard Brown gets his audiences “drunk on the Spirit,” resulting in grown men and women falling down on the floor as they laugh demonically.

• A youth pastor in Florida put peanut butter in his armpits and had the kids lick it out in an effort to get them excited about church.

Not persuaded that evangelicalism is a wee bit out of control? Here are some of the fine retail products produced by evangelical Christianity:

• “Let My People Go” toilet seats

• Men’s boxer shorts with an embroidered fish symbol

• A pig nativity set

• Christian BBQ sauce (including the “flames of hell” flavor)

• The Jesus Toaster that makes toast with Jesus’ face on it

• “Looking Good for Jesus” Cosmetic Kit

• Testamint breath mints

• Ezekiel 4:9 Bread (originally used in the Bible as a bread of judgment baked over animal manure)

How Did We Get Here?

In an effort to make Jesus more palatable to our society’s post-modern sensitivities, some clever evangelicals emerged in the 1980s to lead a revolution called the “Church Growth Movement” or “Seeker-Sensitive Movement.” This group of well-intentioned men determined that the best way to grow our churches was to survey unbelievers and ask them, “What would church have to be like in order for you to attend?”

That’s right, instead of going to the highways and byways and compelling people to come into the kingdom, we rang the doorbells of unbelievers and asked them what it would take to get them to come into a church building.

What a shock—the pagans informed us they don’t want a God of righteousness, judgment, rules, or demands! They spoke, we listened. Voilà! Joel Osteen.

• Out with high church, in with hipster church.

• Out with sanctuaries, in with multipurpose facilities.

• Out with theologically robust hymns, in with mind-numbingly repetitious contemporary praise songs.

• Out with verse-by-verse preaching, in with self-help sermons.

• Out with theology, in with life-enhancement.

• Out with formal clothes, in with casual attire.

• Out with church discipline, in with church growth.

• Out with repentance, in with, “Ask Jesus into your heart.”

• Out with transcendent, in with immanent.

• Out with a God of wrath, in with Jesus the nice guy.

Based on the input of heathens, we refashioned our faith to accommodate their anti-God animosity. The church became Burger King, telling the world they can have God their way. Needless to say, God is not a hamburger.

Contemporary evangelical Christianity has remade God into an image that would be unrecognizable to the early Christian church. The fruit of this error is self-evident:

• Pure Life Ministries conducted a five-year study and determined that 68 percent of evangelical men view pornography regularly. No wonder we lost the marriage war; how can we proclaim purity when Christian men are busy with their own perversion?

• The same study concluded that 50 percent of evangelical pastors regularly view filth on the computer. No wonder we don’t hear many sermons on the subject.

• A LifeWay study discovered that 55 percent of evangelicals believe we must contribute something to our salvation. Note: these are Protestants, not Catholics. If you listen carefully, you can hear the Reformers spinning in their graves like a lathe.

• 34 percent of professing Protestants have been divorced.¹

• Protestant Christian women account for 37 percent of America’s abortions.²

The Greatest Tragedy

A toaster that makes bread with the face of “hippy Jesus” is bad enough; the real tragedy is that we have turned Jesus into Barney. Jesus is no longer thought of as the King of kings and Lord of lords; Jesus has been turned into a purple dinosaur who longs for us to be His buddy.

Jesus made it clear that He has indeed made His enemies His friends (John 15:15), but Jesus never intended to be a knock-around chum who exists to be our bestie. Consider the apostle Paul’s description of the world’s “nicest” teacher:

The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed. (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10)

If that isn’t scary enough, here is the apostle John’s description of Jesus when He returns to judge the world in righteousness.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:11-16)

Paul and John were not the only politically incorrect preachers in the New Testament. Here are the words of Jesus Christ Himself:

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Then He will also say to those on His left, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels… These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-33,34,41,46)

Clearly, Jesus is not a hippy-dippy peacenik. When the King returns, He is going to war. What would cause the God of love to do battle with little ol’ us?

Because God loves righteousness, He must hate sin. Because the foundation of God’s throne is righteousness and justice (Psalm 89:14), He must and will punish all lawbreakers.

A judge who refuses to uphold the law is a corrupt and wicked judge. God is neither of those things. Because God is good, He will see to it that every criminal is brought to justice for every crime ever committed.

When He punishes sin, no stone will be left unturned. The One who made the eye also sees; the One who made the ear also hears (Psalm 94:9).

• Every lie has been written in God’s books.

• Every act of fornication has been noted.

• Every pornographic perusal has been recorded.

• Every angry word has been heard.

• Every failure to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength has been archived.

• Every sinful thought has been transcribed in God’s record book.

When God’s gavel is slammed, He will proclaim every criminal “guilty as charged,” and Jesus will thunder, “Depart from Me” (Matthew 7:23) as He casts millions into hell. Jesus Himself will sentence guilty criminals to eternal conscious torment.

Eternal, conscious, torment.

No relief. No naps. No daydreams. No reprieve. No acquittals. No happy memories. No water. No light. No comfort. No joy. No hope. Nothing but the relentless wrath of God poured out on every sinner for every sin ever committed. Jesus Himself said that He is going to grind lawbreakers to powder (Matthew 21:44).

Why must God treat sinners so severely? Because God is not nice, nice, nice; He is holy, holy, holy (Isaiah 6:3).

A crime committed against the state is one thing; a crime committed against the Creator of the universe is another thing altogether. Every willful act of disobedience is not just an “oops,” it is a high-handed crime against our Sovereign. Our offenses demand eternal, conscious torment because our offenses have been committed against Moral Perfection and Goodness. How dare we?

Unlike OJ’s jury, a clever lawyer will not deceive God on Judgment Day. God Himself will be the prosecuting attorney who is the eyewitness to every crime that has ever been committed. There will be no escaping the sentence of the Just Judge of all the earth who will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31).

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31). We are doomed. Rightly doomed.

Reconciled Rebels

Unless God Himself intervenes and rescues us, we are without hope.

Unless God Himself pays our debt, we must pay the price for our sins.

Unless someone takes our punishment for us, we must receive the just dues for our sinful labors.

Enter the God-man, Jesus Christ!

Before the universe was created, the Son of God volunteered to come to this wicked world and take on human flesh, live a perfect life, and die a violent death. Jesus Christ volunteered to receive the wrath of God that you and I deserve.

Jesus Christ, God Himself, became our representative when He took on human flesh. Jesus Christ, God Himself, satisfies the wrath of God the Father because He sacrificed Himself on our behalf.

When Jesus hung on the cross, God saw us hanging there and poured out His wrath on our representative. For those who are in Christ Jesus, when God now looks at us, He sees His perfect Son. Talk about a great exchange!

Jesus, who never sinned, became our sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because of His sacrifice on our behalf, God can be just and the justifier of those who repent and trust Jesus (Romans 3:26).

Every epic tale pales in comparison to the true narrative of the life, death, and resurrection of King Jesus. He who is a King became a pauper to die for beggars to make them kings.

Wretched, vile, wicked, hateful, fist-shaking rebels can be reconciled to this gracious King if they will repent and place their trust in Him. That is amazing grace. That is astonishing love.

Even Better Than That

The sinner who repents and trusts Jesus is not only forgiven for his sin debt, but is also credited with every good deed that Jesus performed.

• Jesus passively received the punishment for your sin when He was scourged, beaten, and crucified. His suffering is the satisfactory payment for our crimes against God.

• Jesus actively kept every law and performed every good deed possible and thus fulfilled all righteousness. When a person repents, the righteousness of Jesus is credited to the sinner’s account.

Think of it like this: you, a vile, guilty criminal, stands before the just Judge who not only proclaims you are forgiven for your crimes, but

He hails you as “Citizen of the Century” because of the work of Jesus Christ. That is the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And what do we see in the evangelical church in America?

• Sex sermons teaching people how to have Song of Solomon sex

• Movie-themed sermon series

• Back to the ’80s sermon series (featuring the contemporary tunes of AC/DC and Duran Duran)

• Prosperity preachers who grow rich as the sheep grow poor

• Worship music that is not quite as profound as “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”

We have taken the greatest true story ever told and reduced it to trivial silliness. In our effort to woo people to Jesus, we have turned Him into a first-century Tony Robbins.

The Result of Unbiblical Efforts

When sin is reduced to mere mistakes, the redemptive work of Jesus makes no sense.

When God’s laws are forsaken, the suffering of Jesus is diminished to a mere example.

When rebellion is turned into “problems,” redemption is replaced with life-enhancement skills.

When hell is cast aside, heaven is not very desirable.

When God is presented as a mere life-improvement coach, He is robbed of His glory.

When our view of the cross is not high, our appreciation for God is low.

But our Almighty God is not low. God is glorious, magnificent, beyond comparison. When we misrepresent God, calamity after calamity ensues. The chief disasters are:

• Unbelievers never hear the true, glorious gospel.

• False converts go to hell thinking they know Jesus.

• God is robbed of His glory.

Do we really love God when we reduce Him to a beggar? Do we really love people when we encourage them to sing vapid Christian music on their way to hell?

Judge Not is not intended to be an overcorrection that creates a stale, dusty, fire-and-brimstone, curmudgeonly Christianity. Nor is this book written to tell churches and Christians exactly what to do.

Judge Not offers a biblical examination of the contemporary evangelical church to see what is ailing her. This book is not written in anger toward the church; this is a loving call for the church to judge rightly. We must return to our biblical roots and get back to the original charter of the Captain of our Salvation. Through this book, my hope is that:

• The Lamb might receive the full reward for His suffering

• Sinners can be saved from the wrath of God

• God might be known and enjoyed forever

• The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9)

• Straying churches will right their courses and be salt and light to a lost, confused and damned culture

It is almost certain that your toes will get stepped on as you read this. Are you kidding? I stepped on my own toes as I wrote this. The intention of Judge Not is not to annoy you; at least, not on purpose. Nor is it written to make the world more moral.

This book is written so that souls will get saved and God will be glorified. The bonus? The morality of our nation will change because the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has changed hearts.

Judge Not is a loving, biblical critique of the modern evangelical church, of which I am a part, that Jesus might be seen as the amazing Savior He is that God will be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).

If my critiques are not biblical, then carry on. If, however, any of these criticisms are Scriptural, then I beg you to join me in repenting and returning to God’s original intention for His bride, the Christian church.

1 “New Marriage and Divorce Statistics Released,” Barna Group, March 31, 2008 <http://tinyurl.com/ph9xom4>.

2 “An Overview of Abortion in the United States,” Guttmacher Institute, January 2014, p. 31 <www.guttmacher.org/presentations/abort_slides.pdf>.

CHAPTER 1

Let’s put it this way: if Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley were a dinosaur, he would be a Kookasuarus rex. Several years ago, this flamboyant fraud took the evangelical world by storm when he led a so-called healing revival in Lakeland, Florida. Included in his highlight reel:

• Bentley kneed a man in the guts to cure his stomach cancer.

• Bentley prayed in the name of “the Father, Son, and Bam!”

• He bragged that he kicked a woman in the face with his boot to heal her, claiming God told him to.

The GOD TV channel aired this circus for months as millions heralded the praises of a tattooed charlatan. Conversely, criticism of this MMA-style healer resulted in scowls from the greater evangelical community. Christian radio hosts who denounced “Bam Bam Bentley” were swiftly and unapologetically fired for being too judgmental.

You read that right. Kick a cancer patient in the guts, you get hailed as a modern-day faith healer. Criticize the Cancer Kicker and you get the boot. Amazing.

When it was discovered that the metal-faced healer with a penchant for hurting his customers was drunk and having an affair during these televised spectacles, none of the aforementioned radio stations returned the dismissed hosts back to the airwaves. Why? These DJs had committed one of Christianity’s greatest contemporary crimes: judging other professing Christians.

“Judge not lest ye be judged” has become the battle cry not only for biblically illiterate secularists, but for professing evangelicals as well. Postmodern hypersensitivity is not a malady merely for unbelievers; Christians are downright allergic to judging.

More Proof

To be charitable, “Bishop” T. D. Jakes is a heretic. He does not believe in the historic and orthodox understanding of the Trinity: one God in three distinct persons. T. D. believes that God is one person with three separate, non-concurrent manifestations: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In other words, if T. D. Jakes went to a party with God, he could not attend with the Father, Son, and Spirit at the same time. T. D. could attend with only one manifestation of God at a time. That is a heresy called modalism. The Council of Nicea condemned this teaching as heresy in AD 325.

An entire ancient Christian creed is dedicated to condemning this aberrant view of the Trinitarian Godhead. Here is a short snippet from the lengthy Athanasian Creed of AD 385.

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the universal faith. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled; without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

In other words, if you don’t believe what you are about to read, you are going to hell.

And the [universal] faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit…

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; and yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; and yet they are not three Lords but one Lord…

He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.³

Gulp. Based on the teachings of Jesus Himself, the early church taught that people went to hell for believing what T. D. Jakes professes. Yet today, if you judge T. D. Jakes for being a heretic, then you are the bad guy and labeled a mean, judgmental troublemaker, and a divisive, legalistic Pharisee.

The scent of irony can be smelled by a rock: judge a false teacher and you are called names and told not to judge.

When our ministry posted a video pointing out the uncomfortable truth that Bishop Jakes is a heretical prosperity preacher, we felt the love. Here are just two typo-ridden comments posted on our YouTube video that criticized the bejeweled big bad wolf:

• TODD FRIEL YOU NEED JESUS NOT THEOLOGY. I WOUNDER IF TODD EVER THINKS HES WRONG. CAUSE I SEE NOTHING BUT PRIDE IN THIS MAN, NOT HUMILITY. (AARON I)

• I WONDER HOW MANY PEOPLE FREIL COULD HAVE VISITED IN THE HOSPITAL OR JUST TOLD SOMEONE THAT THEY ARE LOVED-IN THE TIME IT TAKES FOR HIM TO ATTACK OTHER PEOPLE. YOU’RE VERY ACCOMPLISHED AT BEING “BIBLICAL” AND “ACCURATE”, SIR…. NOW TRY BEING “RIGHT”!!. WOLVES WILL HAVE MUCH TO ANSWER FOR. I PRAY FOR YOUR REPENTANCE. WE NEED MEN OF ACTION, NOT MORE CRITICS AND COWARDS. (DAN W.)

T. D. Jakes is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but I was chastised and called a wolf for calling T. D. a wolf. Here’s a question worth pondering: are Aaron and Dan right, or are the Scriptures, Athanasius, and two thousand years of church agreement correct? This would be funny if the consequences weren’t so infernal.

Evangelicals have become downright adamant about ambiguity. Christians cringe when they hear statements like this:

• The whole world deserves to go to hell.

• The father of unbelievers is the devil.

• False teachers are sons of hell.

While those statements are indeed strong, they were uttered by the Prince of Peace Himself (John 3:18; 8:44; Matthew 23:15).

The apostle Paul was divinely inspired to tell the false teachers in Galatia, “If you like circumcision so much, why don’t you go all the way and castrate yourselves?” (Galatians 5:12, paraphrased). If today’s evangelicals lived in Galatia, they would have labeled the divinely inspired Paul divisive and judgmental for writing that.

Am I suggesting we pick a nit over every theological nuance? Nope. But being nitpicky is a far cry from judging gross error. If theology isn’t so important, why does the Bible contain so much of it?

What About “Judge Not”?

Jesus did indeed say, “Do not judge…” (Matthew 7:1), but He didn’t intend it to mean, “Never make a judgment about anything.” There are at least six reasons why Jesus could not have been forbidding all forms of judgment:

1. Jesus was making a judgment call when He said, “Do not judge.”

2. In the same passage, Jesus not only tells us to judge certain people but He judges some to be “dogs” and “swine” (Matthew 7:2-6).

3. Jesus also told us to “judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). If we are not to judge anything, then Jesus contradicted Himself.

4. Scripture tells us that, as saints, we will judge the world (1 Corinthians 6:2). Many, many verses instruct us who, what, and how we are to judge.

5. Jesus was very judgmental when He called some Pharisees “sons of hell,” “blind guides,” “hypocrites,” and “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:15,16,27).

6. Never judging is entirely impractical. You could not order food from a menu if all judging is a sin.

So what is Jesus saying in this verse? He is telling us how to judge. As always, context helps us to understand the meaning of a verse.

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)

Understanding the context, we know what Jesus was clearly stating here:

• Don’t nitpick people to death.

• Only judge others once you have judged yourself using the same standard.

• Do not judge with a self-righteous attitude.

Commands to Judge

The New Testament is replete with commands to judge. In fact, every book of the New Testament, except Philemon, tells us to practice discernment and be on the alert for false teachers. Here are just three examples:

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)

Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. (Romans 16:17)

Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. (Jude 3)

What happened to obeying these oft-repeated New Testament commands? Why do we refuse to obey Jesus when He warned us that wolves would devour the sheep if we fail to sound the alarm?

Paul was downright incredulous that the Corinthian Christians were failing to judge an immoral man in their midst (1 Corinthians 5:12,13). I suspect he would be equally perturbed with us for failing to cleanse our own temples.

How embarrassing that an animal-rights organization, and not the church, stopped a prosperity preacher in South Africa from feeding his congregation live snakes. The SPCA has more passion for its ideals than we do.⁴

Do we not love our Savior? Do we not love the truth? Do we not love people? Do we not love the false teachers who will perish on the Day of Judgment?

Loving God and Truth

Loving truth is the same as loving God because He is the truth (John 14:6). If we love God, we will pursue truth tenaciously and defend it at all costs.

Turn on most Christian TV programs and you will see absolutely ridiculous shenanigans. The evangelical view of Scripture must be staggeringly low to allow charlatans to mangle the Word of God beyond recognition. How little fear of the Lord must we possess to simply ignore the rank heresy that deceives people into thinking they are on a highway to heaven when they are not. How loveless can we be?

God is jealous for His reputation, and we should be too. But sadly, we are not.

Loving People and False Teachers

How cruel are we to allow Todd Bentley to tell cancer patients they are healed when they are not? How loving are we when we permit T. D. Jakes to rip off millions of dollars from low-income people? While he wears alligator shoes, poor people are persuaded to send their last dime to him. The government may not consider his religious swindling to be criminal, but God does. And so should we.

Biblically illiterate poor people are being bilked out of billions of dollars. That’s “b” as in balderdash. Who is being mean in this scenario: the watchmen on the wall or the people who allow an enemy through the gate?

Ironically, in an effort to protect false teachers from criticism, the “nice” people who refuse to judge anyone (except those who judge false teachers) are not being nice to the false teachers themselves. If a heretic dies in his sins, he is going to hell. Don’t we care about T. D. Jakes, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, and every other wolf with bad hair? Don’t we care?

My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:19,20)

The souls of false teachers and their countless followers are in jeopardy. Do we not love them enough to rebuke them and expose their deceptive teaching? In our effort to be nice, we are not being kind at all.

If You Think This Is Harsh

As Charles Spurgeon eloquently put it, this refusal to confront error is “treason to Christ, treachery to truth, and cruelty to souls.” Consider these words from the man esteemed to be the “Prince of Preachers”:

It makes me indignant when I hear another gospel put before the people with enticing words, by men who would fain make merchandise of souls; and I marvel at those who have soft words for such deceivers…

I would to God we had all more of such decision, for the lack of it is depriving our religious life of its backbone and substituting for honest manliness a mass of the tremulous jelly of mutual flattery.

He who does not hate the false does not love the true; and he to whom it is all the same whether it be God’s word or man’s, is himself unrenewed at heart. Oh, if some of you were like your fathers you would not have tolerated in this age the wagon loads of trash under which the gospel has been of late buried by ministers of your own choosing…

I beg the Lord to give back to the churches such a love to his truth that they may discern the spirits, and cast out those which are not of God…

If we love our Lord we shall keep his words, and stand fast in the faith, coming out from among the false teachers; nor is this inconsistent with charity, for the truest love to those who err is not to fraternize with them in their error, but to be faithful to Jesus in all things.⁵

How Ironic, or Something

The book you hold in your hands will not be carried in most Christian bookstores. They sell books loaded with more bologna than an Oscar Mayer plant, but they will not carry a book that even remotely criticizes the doctrines of demons.

If Peter wrote his second epistle today, I suspect most Christian bookstores would not carry it.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit [make merchandise out of] you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Once upon a time, the church feared for a person’s soul and was willing to actually remove people from fellowship for teaching heresy. Today, the Evangelical Theological Society wouldn’t give a rank heretic the “left foot of fellowship” if his soul depended on it. And it does! Where is Athanasius when we need him?

When theology is not defended, everyone suffers; people perish, the world thinks Christianity is a fool’s religion, and God is not known as the amazing Savior He is. Do we need greater incentive than that to begin judging rightly?

If we love God, truth, and people, we must practice biblical discernment.

Judging Christians for judging Christians has to stop.

3 Athanasian Creed, Christian Classics Ethereal Library <www.ccel.org/creeds/athanasian.creed.html>.

4 Carey Lodge, “Pastor who fed his congregation live snakes to face court,” Christianity Today, 20 July 2015 <www.christiantoday.com/article/pastor.who.fed.his.congregation.live.snakes.to.face.court/59546.htm>.

5 C. H. Spurgeon, “Under Constraint,” a sermon preached April 28, 1878, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London.

CHAPTER 2

If you want to become a pariah in the evangelical world, name the names of Christians with whom you disagree. You might as well boil a vat of water and throw yourself in.

The second highest evangelical crime you can commit is to identify a rank false teacher by name. You can hint and describe the false teacher, but you cannot actually name the person’s name. It has almost become absurd.

On Christian radio, you can say, “There is a false teacher with funky hair who flails his white Nehru jacket, knocking people over while claiming to heal them. He owns a private jet and his last name rhymes with Sin.”

But you cannot, you must not utter the name Benny Hinn. Why? Evangelicals do not permit the naming of names.

Theologian J. Sidlow Baxter captured the zeitgeist of today’s evangelical heebie-jeebies:

Such are the people who today, with sickly kindness, will tolerate teachers of error in our pulpits because they are such smooth-mannered and amiable gentlemen. They would rather allow error to be preached and souls to be deceived than hurt the preacher’s feelings. Let Baal be worshipped rather than drought come! Let the cancer kill its victim rather than the cruel surgeon use the knife! … The best thing that could happen to some so-called Christian ministers of today is that they should be denounced in God’s name by their hearers.⁶

How did we get to the place where we cannot utter the obvious? We certainly didn’t take our cue from the Bible or church history.

Naming Names in the Bible

The Bible identifies individuals who promote false teaching—by name. Some of the names mentioned in Scripture are obvious:

• Paul called out Phygelus and Hermogenes for abandoning him for fear of being persecuted (2 Timothy 1:15). Today, Paul would not be allowed to preach at most evangelical churches for being so mean.

• Paul called Hymenaeus and Philetus heretics whose teaching had spread like gangrene (2 Timothy 2:17). Paul’s Christian TV show would get canceled for such divisive talk.

• Paul called Jannes and Jambres “men of depraved mind” (2 Timothy 3:8). If Paul did that on Christian radio, the phone lines would light up demanding his termination.

• Paul called Demas a worldly deserter (2 Timothy 4:9). Hater.

• Paul called Alexander a false teacher for opposing his teaching (2 Timothy 4:14). Christians would probably threaten Paul with a tent boycott.

• John labeled Diotrephes a slanderous, domineering church boss in 3 John 9. A Christianity Today headline would read: “The Disciple of Grace Becomes the Disciple of Hate.”

Why did these apostles do what is unthinkable today? Because they recognized the seriousness of false teaching. They took Jesus’ words seriously:

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. (John 10:11-13)

Jesus labeled false teachers “wolves.” With language like that, Jesus would be looking for a new church to pastor.

In addition to these specific occurrences, there are some less obvious examples of “name calling” in the Bible:

• While I have no doubt we will see Adam in heaven, I am also pretty certain he is not going to want to wear his name tag and be identified as the man responsible for placing the entire universe under a curse.

• The Old Testament doesn’t concern itself with religious political correctness; it names the names of dozens of rotten kings.

• Jesus publicly boxed the ears of the Pharisees in Matthew 23. While Matthew doesn’t identify them for us, those who watched Jesus rebuke them knew their names.

• Have you ever heard of parents who name their child “Judas”? Nope. Judas would probably prefer not to be known as the one who betrayed the Savior, but the Bible doesn’t concern itself with the feelings of betrayers.

• Why did Paul publicly rebuke Peter, the chief apostle, and then record the encounter for all to read in Galatians 2:11-14? Because truth was more important than reputation to Paul.

• Not that we care, but Satan is named by name. Frankly, it is amazing that evangelicals are willing to use his moniker when we are so averse to naming names.

• Paul told Timothy to rebuke sinners in front of everyone (1 Timothy 5:20). Those who witnessed this public rebuking knew the names of the rebuked.

To comment on every Old and New Testament verse dealing with false teachers would require an entire book. In fact, entire books of the New Testament are dedicated to the subject of false teachers. Where are the Peters and Judes today?

Naming Names Throughout Church History

The church has always been willing to name names. The early church fathers actually memorialized heretics by naming their heresies after them. Arius denied the divinity of Jesus and rejected the orthodox understanding of the Trinity. For his trouble, this fourth-century bishop has Arianism named after him.

Pelagius has had to live with Pelagianism since the fifth century for denying original sin and elevating human will over divine sovereignty.

The Reformers never blushed to name names. Lelius and Faustus Sozzini have the distinction of leading the granddaddy of all heresies, Socinianism. This teaching denied the Trinity, the incarnation and deity of Jesus, the substitutionary atonement, the reality of hell, the Bible’s inspiration, and pretty much every other major biblical doctrine.

Martin Luther was downright pugnacious when it came to false teachings and false teachers:

I was born to fight with devils and factions… It is my business to remove obstructions, to cut down thorns, to fill up quagmires, and to open and make straight the paths; but, if I must, necessarily, have some failing, let me rather speak the truth with too great severity, than once to act the hypocrite and conceal the truth.⁷

Not only did Luther name names, he called people names! “The pope employs most wicked tricks… Next to Satan there is no greater rascal than the pope.”⁸ There would be no Lutheran Church today if Dr. Luther lived in the twenty-first century.

The great saints who came before us understood the necessity and benefits of identifying false teachers. We do not.

The Benefits of Naming Names

There are at least five benefits of the delicate business of publicly identifying false teachers:

1. Naming names causes factions to develop, which reveal false converts (1 Corinthians 11:19). Isn’t it better to know if someone is headed to hell before they die and go there?

2. If a shepherd is not willing to warn the sheep about wolves, then he is revealed as a hireling (John 10:11-13). Imagine a shepherd who refuses to alert his sheep that danger looms. “Umm, fellas, there is something that could eat you, but I don’t want to be a hater and tell you what and where it is.” Jesus tells us that man is a poser and not a true under-shepherd.

3. We show love to the false teachers by exposing them in hopes they will repent. Benny Hinn is headed to hell (Philippians 3:19). If we love Benny, we will name him for his sake.

4. We show love to true teachers who do not have to wonder if someone is talking about them. Good teachers want to be rebuked if they are in error. If they hear another preacher talk about false teachers, they genuinely want to know, “Is it I?” To name the name of a false teacher allows the faithful preacher to say, “Whew.”

5. We show love to the sheep who could be devoured by wolves. The images of hundreds of thousands of gullible souls packed onto a field in Mumbai, India, to hear Benny Hinn should break our hearts.

Objections

In our politically correct day, the squeamish might still object:

• Naming names is mean. If that is true, then the Bible is very, very mean.

• Paul could name names because he was an apostle. Fair enough, but Paul himself tells us—multiple times—that we are supposed to be imitators of him (1 Corinthians 4:16; 11:1; Philippians 3:17; 4:9). Paul also tells Timothy, and by extension us, to rebuke and reprove error (2 Timothy 2:4).

• We all have some bad teaching, so we shouldn’t throw stones from glass houses. True, we all have some unknown wrong beliefs, but that does not mean we are false teachers. False teachers happily teach heresy and we are commanded to mark and avoid them (Romans 16:17).

We Have a Duty

John Calvin once said, “A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.” It’s a sad day when dogs understand what we don’t.

Can you imagine Franklin Roosevelt giving a fireside chat to talk about a scrawny German with a funky moustache who is murdering Jews by the millions? Roosevelt swore an oath to protect and defend this nation; do we owe God less?

Even Barack Obama called Boko Haram a “terrorist” organization. He wasn’t convincing, but he still called them by name. By the way, how did it make you feel when he refused to correctly label them “Islamic terrorists”?

False teachers are far worse than military threats. Generals, fascists, and dictators can only kill the body; false teachers kill the soul. That is why Paul told the Ephesians to expose those who promote false teaching:

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. (Ephesians 5:11)

It is impossible to expose workers of darkness if we do not bring them into the light by identifying them by name. You and I are not charged to be heresy hunters, but when we see it, we are commanded to “mark false teachers and avoid them” (Romans 16:17). The Greek word for “mark” means to “scope out” or “take aim at” Gun-loving evangelicals are more likely to shoot at discerning Christians instead of taking aim at rank heretics.

The Highest of High Crimes

If an Old Testament prophet claimed he was speaking for God and it was discovered that he was not, the penalty was stiff: he was to be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 13:5). The single greatest crime a man can commit is to talk about God wrongly.

Perhaps you think the slaughter of little children is worse than false teaching. While infanticide is most certainly a horrific sin, it is infinitely worse to misrepresent God. This is the essence of the second commandment: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).

To teach wrongly about God is to lie about Him and slander the most infinitely wonderful, perfect, and majestic Being in the universe. We may think false teaching is no big deal, but God disagrees. Because God is truth, He detests lies—especially lies about Himself.

If we love God, people, and false teachers, we will name names as if eternity depended on it. Because it does.

Not naming names has to stop.

6 J. Sidlow Baxter, Mark These Men: A Unique Look at Selected Men of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1992), p. 17.

7 Encyclopaedia Americana, Francis Lieber, ed. (Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1844), pp. 152-153.

8 Martin Luther, Table Talk, between Jan. 8 and Mar. 23, 1532, No. 1359, p. 143.

CHAPTER 3

Imagine an auto repair shop that doesn’t know how to diagnose a broken-down car.

Or a doctor who can’t figure out what is ailing his patients.

Or a Christian discernment ministry that doesn’t know how to discern.

National Enquirer