Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): We welcome you to this broadcast of Power Walk with Pastor Paul Cannings. We're excited to have you join us today as we begin a new series titled "Steps to Spiritual Growth." Pastor Cannings shares about Jesus warning his disciples about false prophets who will come in his name in the last days.

He also talks about how critical it is for us to be able to discern truth. This is also part of the process for us to move from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity. Based on this warning, Pastor Cannings brings this message: "Beware of False Teachers."

Dr. Paul Cannings: One of the things that Jesus Christ is repetitive about is false teachers. Why is that so huge? Jesus Christ views teachings in two categories. It's either truth or a lie. He does not see moderation. The Holy Spirit is the truth. Satan is a liar and has been a liar from the beginning. If I'm a lukewarm christian, he spits us out. He's not interested in middle ground. That's why people say there's gray areas in the Bible. They don't exist. That's not true. There is a truth and there is a lie.

Jesus Christ wants us to learn the truth because that connects us to our salvation. It connects us to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is how we work out our salvation in fear and trembling. Who is working within us both the will and to do for his good purpose? So when I'm committed to the truth, I'm driven to the work of the Holy Spirit. When I'm driven to the work of the Holy Spirit, that is my salvation over the influence that the flesh can have when it keeps stinking in our face. The nation of Israel is where it is when Christ finds it because of false teachers. So if the church is going to drift away from God again, the thing he has to address is how we stay connected to the truth.

So let's take a look at this and we're going to first look at Matthew 24, verse 5. Let's start in verse 4. Please understand, Jesus Christ wants to make sure that we can identify false teachers. Because if we can't, they are so deceptive that they could steer even the best of the best scholars away from God. No preacher, I don't care how much education he has, how much experience he has, if he ever stops focusing with a complete dependency on the Holy Spirit to interpret the scriptures, he could go off the deep end.

Why sometimes the greatest preachers can start teaching wrong? What happened to him? The person has developed such an understanding of the scriptures that they became dependent on their intellect, not their spiritual influence, and that transitions how they function as a pastor or as a teacher. So that's why he says this in verse 4 of Matthew chapter 24. He says, "And Jesus answered and said to them, 'See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in my name, saying, "I am the Christ," and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and all this other stuff.'"

So just look at verse 5. Many will come in my name, saying, "I am the Christ," and they will mislead many. One of the first things that would take place is that the many will come. And when is he saying this? 2,000 years ago. So you can't imagine how many will come now, the false teachers. I hinted to how they function last week, but I want to take you through this process by going now to Ephesians chapter 4. In Ephesians chapter 4, follow me to verse 14.

Matter of fact, in Kenya, they got this guy locked up in jail who took people out to the desert and starved them trying to experience God from starvation. He's locked up in prison now in Kenya because he led them out. And it's right there in the Bible where it says they will lead you out to deserts to experience God. In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 14 he says, "As a result, we are no longer to be children."

In other words, when we become susceptible to false doctrine, we are literally functioning like children. I actually learned this when our little thing was watching cartoons on Saturday with my sons. Having a good old time. And I realized right away how impressionable my kids were. Because right after we looked at the Ninja Turtles, they're on the bed doing all these different karate moves and I said, "Wow." And then they wanted to get the Ninja Turtle pajamas and I'm going, "What in the world?" So watching cartoons, I realized how impressionable they were.

So what I've learned is that as children, we can easily become impressed with a person who maybe speaks eloquently and can put together words that tickle our ears. Or persons that may seem successful because the preacher has this big car or big house or all these different things. And we could become impressed and wanting success and chase that person thinking that's success, when the Bible is saying if you love mammon, God will not be your Lord. So we literally in a country that is driven by money can get that way by looking at a preacher.

So when we do that, the Bible is saying we're saying loud that we're impressionable and we are children. He literally would call us infants when we get further down the road in Hebrews chapter 5. So he says as a result, we no longer to be children. What is he saying as a result? The pastor must do his job in equipping the saints, verse 12. He must teach them the work to do. He must work for the church so the people are built up. He must focus on getting people to grow to the fullness of God.

And when he gets people to grow to the fullness of God, they can't be children no more, so they're not easily tossed by every wind of doctrine. So that's why it's important for a pastor to be a pastor-teacher, not a pastor that is just trying to do a song and a dance and send you home happy. Because if that happens, you stay children and when you stay children, you're tossed by any wind of doctrine. Preachers will try to be very original and it will sound so entertaining and make so much sense.

Please hear me. These are not nonsensical people. They make a lot of sense. Satan could trick the world because he made a lot of sense with Eve. He tried to trick Jesus Christ because he could make a lot of sense. "Come on Jesus, you're the top of this pinnacle and you're Jesus. You trying to tell me if you throw down yourself here he wouldn't send angels after you? Makes sense. Ain't going to happen. In other words, you're not supposed to die falling off of a pinnacle of a temple. You're supposed to die on a cross."

So there's no way this is going to happen. Make sense. Satan follows common sense and that's why it's easy for people to find a wave because it makes sense. And that's how they end up deceived. Don't sit around thinking that we could never be deceived. If you do that, you will not become as dependent on studying the word of God, diving into the word of God in order for us to experience the work of the Holy Spirit that keeps us centered.

If I just do the Bible in my head, I could literally put together all that I've learned over the years and study this Bible and put together a lesson of 60 pages on one verse. But if I did it that way, I may communicate information, but it would not be spirit-driven. And when it's not spirit-driven, it doesn't teach a person who is seeking to grow spiritually anything. Don't ever think you can't be tricked. Bad company corrupts good character, period.

Because Satan is so crafty, he thinks he could come to Christ, take two words out, and trick Jesus. Because this situation is that deceptive. And please, we've got it worse in our world. We've got AI and we've got podcasts galore coming out of our ears. Podcasts are everywhere. There is so much information accessible to us today that it's easier for us to be tricked. And see, you want to go into the major things like dispensationalism and covenant theology. No, the simplest things.

For instance, I had a person try to talk me into being a vegan. I said, "I ain't going to keep that." He says, "But let me tell you, it is just not good to eat all this stuff." And I'm going, "What?" I was like 50-something, so meat worked for a long time. So he starts trying to make it biblical. And I go, "Hold up a minute." In Genesis, we do good with vegetables only because in Genesis we started that way. We get energy and all these different things because we were made eating vegetables only.

I said, "Let's follow for a minute." He says, "Oh man, it's not like that. It's just looking at dietary plans." No, everything you need for life and godliness is in the Bible. I said, "So God then later on said, 'Kill and eat.' Then you go to 1 Timothy, he says everything is good, pray over it. Do everything in moderation." So I can't eat ribs all the time, I can't eat fried chicken all the time. So you're right that I need to be balanced with greens and meat.

But at the same time, if you try to teach me all I need is greens and that is a biblical thing, you're violating Romans 14. If I was to come to you and I try to convince you that this is the way to go eating meat, I'm wrong. He says, "I have become your master over what God is saying is good." But if you tell me greens is the only way to go, the Bible says you're weak in faith. He says, "Man, that's not all in the Bible." I said, "It's in the Bible."

We look at those things and we want to go to the major biblical things and the Bible is going, "No, until you see me as your GPS system for everything in life, you will not live with a level of dependency and you're going to be easily taken away by the trickery and deceit of Satan." That's exactly what he said in that verse. It's the trickery and his craftiness in deceitful scheming. And he could wipe us all out. There's not a person that could withstand him.

So how do I stay grounded so that I'm not carried away with false doctrine and end up corrupt? Not that false doctrine isn't trickery and nice to hear and all of this other stuff, but it would lead you to the death of the Holy Spirit's movement in your life.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings, for this timely message when social media especially has exploded and the potential for false teachers to have a global audience with the click of a button has increased. Now if you have any concerns about a teaching you've encountered that doesn't seem right and you're looking for direction, feel free to reach out to us for clarification. You can log on to powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org.

Or call us at 281-260-7402. And when you contact us, ask about Pastor Cannings' latest release, "When We Pray." Order a copy for yourself or a family member today.

Dr. Paul Cannings: One of the hardest things in ministry is not actually doing ministry when God has blessed you to be this equipped, but it's to get the resources to get it done. Oh folks, that's the hardest. We've stepped out in faith because we believe that. But we pray that God will touch your heart to partnership with us. And you could do that simply by going to our website. It's a secure website. And pressing the donate button.

And on that button you will be able to become a partner with us and we will seek to bless you for being a blessing to us. I pray that God would move on your heart to be our partner. God bless you.

Guest (Male): Power Walk Ministries is a listener-supported broadcast. We ask you to consider a one-time or ongoing financial contribution to our ministry, which keeps us on the air. Log on to powerwalkministries.org to make a contribution today. Our mailing address is Power Walk Ministries, P.O. Box 920517, Houston, Texas, 77092. We appreciate your partnership.

And now as we leave you, remember, as we just heard from Pastor Cannings, we are warned in scripture about the dangers of false doctrines. So let's stay grounded in God's word with the help of the Holy Spirit.