Greater religious freedom brings the danger of the invasion of many false teachers. Scripture warns us of such teachers (2 Pet. 2:1-3). Some of the more obvious dangers are the false cults like Mormonism and falsely-called Jehovah’s Witnesses. From India has come Hinduism and its stepchild, Transcendental Meditation.
There are many plainly anti-Christian religions. They are enemies of all the basic truths of Scripture. They are especially dangerous in their attacks on the Person of Christ and His saving work. But there are other dangerous false teachers that are not so easily discovered. They would not deny the work of Christ or His deity directly. They are much more subtle. Often they work within existing Christian denominations.
The so-called Church of Christ came to Romania about two years ago. They would not deny the major truths of Christ’s birth, death, burial, and resurrection. They are very cunning in their falsehoods. They were allowed to speak in some of the other churches. At first, they did not explain that they believed you must receive their baptism to have eternal life. They did not mention that they believed only their members were true Christians. But, now they have established several churches in different towns and continually seek to deceive the careless.
Another group held a recent evangelistic crusade in Bucharest. The “evangelist” was part of a movement that Robert Tilton, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Fred K.C. Price, Benny Hinn, Larry Lea, Morris Cerullo, and others are involved in. Their movement is large, vocal, and influential, calling themselves the “Word of Faith” because they declare that a person can claim from God health, power, and riches simply by “speaking the word of faith.” According to the above-named teachers, if you simply name it, you can claim it as your possession. God then must reward your words by giving you what you have claimed. According to this group, God is obligated to reward the word of men.
Such teachings appeal to the desires of men for wealth and power. It is not surprising that many of these “Faith Churches” are quite large. This heresy quickly gains many gullible followers since it appeals to their earthly desire for gain.
Like all false teachers, Mr. Wilkerson, the preacher at this crusade, did not go into detail to explain some of his strange doctrines. He vaguely mentioned that Christ descended into hell. What he did not explain was that he and the “Word of Faith” leaders teach that Christ went into torment–not simply the realm of the dead. And, supposedly, while in the place of torment, He was suffering as if He was a lost soul, being subjected to the devil and his demons. Christ is said to have entered into combat with Satan, person to person. And after defeating Satan, the Lord then supposedly rose up from the place of punishment as a “born-again soul.” The keys of hell were thought to be the possession of the devil, and Christ was to have taken these keys from the enemy. To be sure, Christ has the authority over death and the realm of the dead, but our Lord did not suffer in torment nor fight the enemy in hell to obtain such authority. Our Lord’s saving work did defeat Satan, but it was on Golgotha.
Satan is not in hell now and will only be sent there in judgment. The concept of Christ going into hell is based falsely on Acts 2:31 in the English Bible. The translation in the Romanian Bible is more clear. The suffering of our Lord for sinners was not in the place of torment but on the cross at Golgotha. There He suffered for our sins. The Saviour had the judgment and suffering for sinners placed on Him by his heavenly Father, not by Satan (Isa. 53:6). And when the Lord Jesus completed His suffering in the place of sinners, He said, “It is finished!” (Jn. 19:30), which plainly means His sufferings to pay for our salvation were completed once and forever at Calvary. Does the Scripture teach that the Son of God completed our salvation by His death, burial, and resurrection? Or does it teach or even mention that our Lord suffered in hell at the hands of Satan? There is only one way of eternal life. It is not through Christ’s imaginary descent into torment, but, as stated in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5, through the gospel of salvation provided through the cross.
False teachers may mention the cross. Often they use the cross as a symbol. They may mention the historical facts of the gospel. But how is eternal life received? Is it by baptism? Confessions? Prayers? Religious service? Our good works? Must we keep the law or observe the Sabbath day? The Scriptures are clear: as God’s free gift through personal faith in the Lord Jesus, we receive life everlasting (Eph. 2:8-9; Jn. 5:24).
Many false teachers use guile, something we should never use in our gospel presentation (1 Thess. 2:3-5). They have many ways to attract and trap. Some advertise special messages on Bible prophecy, health, or success. Some, like the Rich Wilkerson team, create a special atmosphere of excitement through beautiful and upbeat music. They use such to distract from their shallow, unscriptural message.
Often, when the public invitation is given at the close of the meeting, the evangelist does not clearly explain the basis of the invitation. In order to get the greatest possible crowd to come to the front, the evangelist gives a vague and unclear invitation. And often the call to respond is given in an emotional way. And as the people come forward, the evangelist will take photographs and videos in order to advertise in America “how wonderful and successful” their crusade was in Romania and how much God has blessed their ministry. This is done in order to raise thousands of dollars of support for this “great evangelistic preacher.”
Yes, religious freedom can be dangerous. Prior to the revolution, many of the strange teachings from the West were hindered from entering the country of Romania. But now, many religious errors are here. Nevertheless “the Word of God standeth sure.” Our mandate is to “preach the Word.” We look to the Lord to accomplish His work in spite of the enemy sowing his tares under cover of darkness.