Stand Up and Speak Truth

 “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.”- 1 Peter 2:1

The sign language interpreter at Mandela’s memorial has caused quite a stir. The fact that this man was able to get on the stage and put on such a great act has me completely confused. He can tell the world about his schizophrenic experience and how he was hearing voices, but seriously, he made it on stage! You can’t even make it backstage at a Taylor Swift concert without being rundown by security! Yet, this guy made it next to the President of the United States of America! Crazy!

That’s not the point really, at least not for this post, the point is he had people fooled. He came on stage making gestures (possibly telling someone to steal second) and everyone fell for it, except for those who knew the language!

This is the lesson. As followers of Christ, we are told people will be put into positions of leadership, teaching and guiding the Church. However, we are also warned that some of those people may be out for selfish gain and hindering the message of Jesus.

We all have potential to be fooled by false teachers. We can all fall victim to the preaching or teaching that goes directly against the very words of Jesus. We hear preachers teaching hate from the pulpit or political views that go directly against Jesus and the way he taught His disciples. This is wrong and should stop.

The fact of the matter is; if we don’t know the language of our Savior, then we will be fooled. We will have someone speaking words that literally lead us to go against Scripture because we choose to nod our heads and never challenge the teaching, think for ourselves, or actually read the Bible to know it.

What if the people who knew sign language stayed silent on this matter? Then, we would all think “Mandela is a wise man” was spelled out when the cast of Grease did the hand jive. That isn’t the case, people stood up and called this man out as a fraud.

The Church needs to be aware of the real teaching. We need to start standing up against the false teachers and call them out for what they really are. Unless we like seeing people lose connection because what they read in the Bible isn’t matching up with what they are hearing behind the pulpit, then shhhh…hand jive away my friend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpPvGP_GUXs  (link to the interpreter…just in case you have only been watching Hallmark Channel Movies)

Question: Why is it hard to stand up against false teachers?