Hyperbolic language: Proper Bible Teachers derive the passage’s authorial intent and arrive at a common meaning.
Direct Revelation from God: NO! God has said all He has to say to us through Jesus Christ, using the Holy Spirit to guide us to Jesus and in all Truth! God stopped speaking when He gave His Son, and all He has to say now is in His Word. Hebrews 1:1-2
Busywork: Fluff instead of exegesis. Simply teach the passage verbatim.
Taking words and verses out of context: THIS is a BIG ONE! You cannot cherry pick words and verses randomly and unrelated to the main passage you are teaching. Usually spiritualizing and cherry picking occurs because someone never learned or knows proper hermeneutical methods to learning or teaching.
Softening understood Christian words and concepts: Instead of using words like sin, submit, repent, obey false teachers will use words like “wrong choices, cooperate with God, resist His direction.”
Legalistic warnings and scare tactics: Telling people they “MUST DO, MUST TRY, MUST ACCOMPLISH to reap benefits of the Christian life. This is IMPOSSIBLE. If we are in Christ, we have Christ always and forever. Matthew 28:20
Quick Glance False teaching flags
- Direct Revelation
- Poor hermeneutic
- Spiritualizing
- Twisting verses, taking out of context
- Man-centered
- Legalistic
- Overblown emotionalism and language (this usually hides the vacuousness of this person’s teaching.)
One sited source Elizabeth Prata (Blog)
