 any heretic will false teacher false prophet worth his weight will do this if you come across a false teacher if you come across someone who's a false prophet come across a heretic and let's just be clear guys there are false teachers there are heretics there are people out there who have evil intentions out there with designs on you remember the bible says Peter tells us that Satan walks around like a lion seeking whom he made a vow how is he going to do that well recall his most favorite way of doing it we see it in the garden when he goes to eve in Genesis 3 he says a couple things one he says did God say so what he's going to do is obviously he's going to impugn the scriptures do the scriptures really say that but then the second thing that he does and you'll see this amongst a lot of heretics a lot of false teachers in church he's going to twist what we know the scripture say which is this is what the scriptures really mean this what god really mean and in doing so it does something to your heart or more specifically to your eyes the bible says that eve saw that the fruit was desirous so what did she do she went and ate even when satan goes to jesus what does he do in matthew 460 says if you are the son of god throw yourself down for it is written he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up so that you will not strike your foot against the stone the point is every false prophet every false teacher every person who is has designs on using the scriptures or using the bible as a means for gain as paul says they're going to do just what satan did which is what use the scriptures the scriptures that he use are actually in the bible meaning they're going to open the bible they're going to quote the scriptures however they're going to twist them he does so for his own gain and he does it towards jesus if he's going to use the word against jesus what will he do towards you some will say the people that we call or that we know to be false teachers or heretics they can't be why because they use the bible they preach the scriptures they lead people to christ so the question is will someone ever who's a false teacher ever have someone who's listening to them will they ever come to christ well the fact of the matter is guys yes people have come to christ people have placed their faith in christ even while or at the hands of a false teacher i'm going to show you that in the second but they don't know that the person they're listening to is a false teacher to begin with as matter of fact their hearts their minds are open not because of the false teacher but because of god they just happen to be in the wrong area i'm going to show you what god does but let's make sure that we know that the devil is not coming at us as though he's not a falset the devil is not going to come at us with a sign that says i'm the devil or a false teacher is going to say i'm a false teacher i'm a wolf i'm a heretic no that's not what he's going to do as a matter of fact he's going to come and appear as though he is a legitimate preacher of the gospel he is going to come as though he is light why do we say that because the bible tells us in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 let's start in verse 12 he says but what i am doing i will continue to do so that i might cut off the opportunity for those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they're boasting and so paul is saying that i'm going to come against anyone or anything that is that is distorting or twisting the word of god but look what he says here verse 13 for such men are false apostles deceitful workers disguising themselves as apostles of christ so clearly we are going to find people who say that they are sent by god who are apostles uh they're matter of fact either using that very term apostles or just prophet or anyone who's bringing a false gospel they're going to tell you and lead you to believe that they are from christ look what paul says though he says no wonder for even satan disguises himself as an angel of light therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness whose end will be according to their deed now he's warning the believers he's warning the body and even people who will be potentially part of the body that these people are going to come and so we have to make sure that we warn the body of that but what happens though if you happen to find yourself or if you don't even realize it if a person is under the leadership or in a service in a church in a body of denomination that is led by a heretic a wolf again even jesus himself says that these rules are going to come these false prophets are going to come and so it should come as no surprise that they have come and that they hear and they will keep coming but what happens when you find yourself happening to listen to one of them is it possible that a person can become a christian is it possible that you can even hear the gospel sound strange but is it possible that you can even hear the gospel while being under one of these people well sure it is in philippines 115 speaking about giving the gospel he says some to be sure are preaching christ even from envy and strife but some also from good will in other words there are some that do it for the right motives some for the wrong motives he says the latter do it out of love those that do it for the good for the right reasons he says the latter do it out of love knowing that i am appointed for the defense of the gospel the former proclaimed christ out of selfish ambition selfish ambition rather than from pure motives thinking to cause my distress cosmic distress in my imprisonment what then only in every way whether in pretense or in truth christ is proclaimed and in this average ways paul's point is they're going to be some folks are going to say or speak about christ some do it for selfish reasons some do it for pure love for the right motivation but you know what at the very least at least christ be preached that sounds pretty strange though until we recall what paul said in romans in romans 10 17 he makes a statement that says so faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of christ this passage is a little bit misleading for some people let's go back and look at the word hearing when we see the word in english hearing we think because it has an i and g on it that is a verb an action but it's not this is actually a noun the word for hearing is not a verb but it is a noun it is the word from the greek word akaes which means it means a hearing it means a sound it means a report what this is is a report faith comes by a report by the report of the gospel what was happening you need to know that there is power not in the preacher but in the preach word there's power in the gospel not in the messenger but in the message for further proof of that let's look what paul says in chapter one of romans verse 16 he says for i am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes so it is the power of what's happened on the cross hard to explain unless you experience it the power of the gospel it is what causes us to believe it's not how well someone preaches it it's not even how well uh someone sings it's not the motives it's not the intention someone may have false motives bad intentions in preaching the gospel but it's the gospel that saves it's the message it's the power that emanates from that into us and so that is the main thing and so it's possible that a person can be under for example jim jones the first megachurch pastor in america who did preach out of the bible who did speak about jesus and people did place their faith in christ but he was clearly an evil person a wolf a heretic of all heretics but how is it that people became christians became believers after listening to him because it wasn't him it was the words of it was the message it was the gospel and what happened thankfully a large portion of them most of them as a matter of fact left his teaching why because the holy spirit in them began to resonate and let them understand that they know that this guy is not seemingly in leagues with what he's preaching his gospel and so for the the vast majority of them left him now 900 people did follow them and die but a lot of people did leave them there's been other well known false teachers in the history of the world who preached out of the bible joseph smith for example who brings up another testimony which is the book of Mormon but there are people in who were in the Mormon church who placed their faith in christ not really knowing what they believe but because they placed their faith in christ they have the holy spirit the holy spirit begins to alert them to show them that because they also have a level of the scriptures they go back and research the scriptures themselves and they see like a true barium this is not gospel and what do they do thank god that i've heard for myself and i have left this because they have appreciation for one who god is and two for his word there are many people who've come out of and who have left the word of faith movement who have left some of these heretical teachings behind realizing it's not them but the word of god that's more important and so can a heretic can a wolf can a false teacher you name it can these people these deceptive men or women can they will they preach the gospel will people actually listen to them and get closer to christ or come to christ yes again it's not them it is the power of god and that doesn't mean that because they said something nice that we should stay with them no remember the bible says paul says in second Timothy chapter four that the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine and what will they do they will go to people to give them to preach them what they want to hear that has certainly happened today but because they do so and they throw Jesus in the middle of it if they open the bible and preach and then in turn twist the words while they're while they're doing that because they see this as paul says as a means for gain does not mean that they are not going to have their own sort of judgment that's just the facts and so if you find yourself with someone who is preaching something that is different from a gospel even if you think that person has a good intent even if you feel like that person has led other people to christ which who knows whatever you think if what they're doing is being shown to not line up with the gospel then it is up to you to do your due diligence one study but also to then leave you're not beholden to them you are beholding to the word of god and you're beholding to christ so i hope this helps with anyone having this question having this understanding or wanting to have an understanding can someone who preaches actual gospel can they actually be a bad person they absolutely can again satan does disguise himself as an angel of life