True or False

How do you know? Isn’t that a question we ask someone when presented with new or strange-sounding ideas, especially if the person speaking isn’t well-known to us or has a history of exaggerating or stretching the truth? Call it what you will, white lies, stretching the truth, or flat-out lying, they have become pervasive and common in today’s society. We watch newscasts only to be exposed to biased reporting. How do we know?

The Bible tells us to beware of false prophets (Matt. 7:15). There is a list of seven things the Lord hates in Proverbs 6. Two of them deal with lying. We are told that “there will be false teachers who will secretly introduce destructive heresies” (2 Pet. 2:1)  and “many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words” (v.2). They’re here.

In my book, Christ In Men…Today,

one of the chapters is on Alertness. Permit a couple of thoughts from it:

• The adversary would destroy me and my family if he could
• I am able to discern false teaching because I spend time in God’s word
• Don’t let pride keep you from seeking and heeding advice from your wife
• Know your own temptations and flee circumstances that fan their flames

Scripture gives many warnings that will protect us, but only if we follow them and make them a priority in our lives. Here are a couple just from the book of Jude. There are many others.

“For certain (evil) people have crept in

[to the fellowship] unnoticed…ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into indecent behavior and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (v.4).” The Macarthur Study Bible notes calls these men “infiltrating false teachers.” Jude goes on, “These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage” (v.16). “But you ought to remember the words spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ… ‘in the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts’”(v17,18). Again, they’re already here.

Today, there are many pulpits occupied by false teachers. How do we know? Because their teaching is off-center from God’s word. How do we know? Because we read and study the word and have the Holy Spirit in us to “guide us into all the truth” (John 16:13). And “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). And we “treasure Your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against You” (Ps. 119:11).

In the above paragraphs,

Scripture identifies false teachers as greedy and flattering to gain an advantage. What kind of advantage are they seeking? For some, it could be financial. Remember the line popularized in All The President’s Men, “Follow the money”? There was a recent (2026) scandal involving a San Diego Bishop accused of embezzling  over a quarter of a million dollars. For others, they could be pawns of Satan knowingly or unknowingly.

We are living in a day of expanded criminality. The Internet is rife with scams. Our phones ring off the hook with the latest this or that. I found an apt mnemonic for the word ‘scam’: Stealing, Conning, Abusing, Milking. The only protection we have is knowledge of God’s truth found only in the Bible. Read it. Memorize it. Live it. It is God’s love letter written to you.

Judgment is coming

for all who misuse their position of leadership and trust under the false mantle of godliness. “It would be better if they had a millstone hung around their neck and cast into the sea” (Mark 9:42). Our role is to “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

For any who are caught in a snare as a false teacher or sitting under one, it’s not too late to repent and turn to the one true God, who lavishes His love and forgiveness on all who come to Him through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. The path to heaven is only through Jesus. All other roads are literally and figuratively dead ends. If you’re not sure of your next steps, click on the appendix Steps To Salvation.