Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Sharks & Jellyfish. Two types of deception

I have participated in a lot of forum discussion about Todd Bentley et al, since the start of the so called Lakeland revival. Despite the very clear warning given through his hurried divorce and remarriage (that started during that so-called revival) thousands will still blindly follow him and the ministries that support him.
Such a situation must surely be seen a clear line in the sand, and only the most immature new believer could have any excuse for getting caught up in the Bentley circus. A clearer indication could not be given – those “ministers” who support and promote Bentley are exposing their own falsehood and those who willing cling to an allegiance to those men and women are wilfully ignoring the blatantly obvious, choosing a lie instead of the truth.

Apart from those who willingly ignore the apostasy of Bentley and his supporters, I see another danger arising from this situation. By concentrating on exposing Bentley and his false gospel other more subtle errors will be overlooked.

In Australia there we have some very real dangers in the ocean. We have the sharks – large predatory fish that mostly, with the right precautions, can be detected and avoided before they present a real threat (my sister is an observer on an aerial shark patrol). We also have some very tiny jellyfish with an extremely toxic sting. They are not as easily noticeable and protection from the danger they present will only come through awareness of their territory.

I see Bentley and his supporters as being like the sharks. They are blatantly obvious to those who are both willing to look for the signs and to listen to the warnings of those in a position to detect the danger. Other false theologies are not so easily recognised. They are well camouflaged and slip through the defences. Like the toxic jelly fish they may have an appearance of being the same as their surroundings and their dangerous presence is not acknowledged or observed.

Ironically many of those who recognise the clear dangers of the likes of Bentley are not so discerning when it comes to more (apparently) subtle theological errors.

I have often read about the lack of discernment among those who follow Bentley. I don’t think that is the problem. It takes NO discernment to recognise the falsehood of his “ministry” and those who promote him.
What is lacking is an understanding of the TRUE gospel of Jesus Christ – and even worse than that, a lack of relationship with the TRUE Jesus Christ. These people promote a false gospel and a false saviour.

If we can’t recognise the blatantly false – what hope have we got of recognising genuinely deceptive (more subtle) false teachings and practices?

3 comments:

Brian Johnson said...

Hi Onesimus,

thanks for posting a link to my David Pawson videos link on my "New Christian UK" website.

Regarding the smaller jellyfish you mention, there are a few watering down the true gospel due to fear of man. In the light of this I started up What Is The Gospel? a few years back.

Onesimus said...

Hi Brian,
David Pawson is one of the very few reputable Bible teachers that I have found and I am always pleased to be able to direct others to his teaching so they can hear him for themselves.

After following other teachers into the errors they have taught, it is refreshing to hear someone who tells us not to believe what he says but that we should search the scripture for ourselves and see what GOD says.

Onesimus said...

Brian,
To me those smaller jellyfish represent those "acceptable" theologies that people often give little thought to but happily live alongside without noticing.
They are theologies that sometimes have centuries of acceptance even though they present a false view of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
On this blog you can read of my experience with some of those theologies.