Christians Criticizing Christians: Can It Be Biblical?

When it comes to Christians criticizing Christians, the battle lines are already drawn. But are the lines biblical? It is wrong to publicly evaluate the teachings of a Christian pastor, or tell the truth about a popular Christian media figure?

Evangelicals warn people about the false teachings and practices of the cults, which claim compatibility with Christianity and yet deny cardinal Christian doctrine. Our standard is truth and our judge is Scripture. Yet when apologists turn to false teachings within the Christian church, some evangelicals apply a different standard. Frequently heard objections include, "Jesus said it's wrong to judge," and, "Criticism is unloving and divisive." Christians who voice these protests fail their own test -- they criticize and judge other Christians for criticizing and judging other Christians. Furthermore, these critics fail to understand that without such scrutiny, Christians are misled into heresy and duped by those whose public ministries promote false teachings. Careful biblical criticism expresses true Christian love and affords essential safeguards to faith.

Good discernment should be practiced among believers. The Old Testament establishes this pattern. Instructions concerning false prophets in Deuteronomy 13:1-5 assume the prophet arises from the congregation of Israel. People are admonished to banish idolatry from their families: "If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend..." (v.6). Deuteronomy 13 instructs the Israelites how to practice good discernment within their communities; "You must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly." If the community is idolatrous, it must be dealt with publicly (v. 14). Psalm 50:18 states that one who sees a crime and doesn't report it has moral culpability.

The New Testament continues the theme of good discernment within the believing community, most notably when the Bereans test Paul's teachings (Acts 17:11) and the Thessalonians are commanded to test all things (1 Thess. 5:21-22). Judgment is not excluded, but unrighteous judgment is. Jesus declared: "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment" (John 7:24).

Jesus expelled the money changers from the temple, denounced the Pharisees and scribes, and rebuked the teachers of the Law. He reprimanded Peter in front of the other disciples (Matt. 16:22-23). Paul followed Jesus' example, naming false teachers in the church (2 Timothy 2:14-19) and openly criticizing Peter (Galations 2:11, 14). The procedure for public leaders caught in false teaching is for them to be rebuked publicly "so that the others may take warning" (1 Timothy 5:20).

Christian leaders are accountable to God's people whom the leaders serve, and should be "above reproach," "respectable," and "able to teach" (1 Timothy 3:2). A Christian leader who is a false teacher should be rebuked to encourage reform (Titus 1:13).

Telling the truth about false teaching in the church corresponds with the ethics and truth which are to characterize the church. The church is the "salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" (Matthew 5:13-14) only if characterized by truthfulness (v.11) and righteousness (v.16). The Christian leader has an obligation to "hold firmly the trustworthy message as it has been taught so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it" (Titus 1:9). No Christian is happy when false teaching arises, but we cannot neglect responsibility for doctrinal accountability.

Christians are sometimes uncomfortable with criticism within the church because they assume that public criticism, since it is painful, is also destructive. On the contrary, the "pain" of biblically conducted confrontation produces individual growth (1 Timothy 4:16), encourages others to Christian maturity (1 Timothy 5:19-20), promotes church strength (Ephesians 4:15), and preserves the church's reputation in the world (1 Peter 2:12).

by Bob & Gretchen Passantino (Christian Research Institute)

Faith Movement - 13 Reasons for Real Concern

All characteristics listed below do not necessarily apply to each individual faith ministry or teacher. Nevertheless, the following themes are representative and they are a matter of great concern to many in the Christian community;

1. Cultic Origins or Influences – A theology based to a significant degree upon the writings of New Thought Christian, E.W. Kenyon and to a lesser degree on the Mind Science cults.
2. Oversimplification – Quick and easy solutions are offered to complex human problems. (For example, instant success formulas replace a process of life-long sanctification.)
3. Abuse of the Bible – A consistent misinterpretation of the Bible resulting from an ignorance of biblical, systematic and historical theology.
4. False Teachings – A variety of false and occasionally heretical teachings, some of which are similar to the ancient gnostic heresy.
5. Spiritual Pride – A continued refusal to enter into dialogue with other Christian brothers who have, out of love, attempted to correct the Faith teachers. (For example, at the John Ankerberg Show we have attempted this with Kenneth Copeland and others and the authors of The Agony of Deceit reveal they “sought out those in question” to make certain they understood their teaching properly: “We have asked them to reconsider their positions in the light of Scripture and have repeatedly attempted to settle the confusion behind closed doors. All attempts have failed …”
6. Spiritual Presumption – The Faith teachers claim that their individual messages are the result of direct divine revelation and / or inspiration.
7. Worldly / Humanistic Theology – A distorted philosophy of God and Christian living is presented. (God as the “magical” provider of success, health, happiness, prosperity, power, self-esteem, etc.) as opposed to knowing God as He is and serving Him according to biblical standards.
8. Experientialism – A preference for feeling and emotionalism over against concerns of the mind and intellect; the hindering of sanctification, wisdom, and discernment by placing spiritual experience over consistent biblical study.
9. Hedonism – An emphasis on pleasure and “heaven now” with an unrealistic approach to pain, suffering, and illness; in other words, a stress on man-centered happiness rather than God-centered holiness.
10. Exclusivism – The classification of those Christians outside their camp as “carnally minded,” as those who teach “unbelief” and the false traditions of men, and even as false teachers who nullify the power of God and His Word. Some have gone so far as to imply other Christians are double-minded believers who promote “powerless defeated beliefs” inspired by Satan, calling them liars and bringers of “death.”
11. Power Religion – Stressing personal power and spiritual authority as the means to command angels, control one’s environment, and gain one’s desires.
12. Lack of Balance – A teaching limited almost exclusively to stress upon “faith,” and success/prosperity/healing to the exclusion of the 99 percent of the rest of Christian living.
13. Lack of Spiritual Integrity – This constitutes a triple denial of a minister’s divine call because: 1) what is preached involves a wrong dividing of the Word of truth (the Scriptures are distorted); 2) what should also be preached (sound doctrine, moral living, etc.) is downplayed or ignored (the Scriptures are forsaken); and 3) under these conditions Christians will never grow spiritually (the Scriptures are made void).

In essence, what is being lost to millions of Christians by the Faith teachers’ missed opportunities is almost incalculable. Rather than being taught the Bible accurately, rather than having the whole counsel of God preached, and rather than having their priorities straight, millions of Christians are being given a distorted set of spiritual values and priorities which, if not corrected, will lead to further difficulties and perhaps tragedies.

All this is why many commentators have proceeded to classify the Faith Movement as heretical. As charismatic historian D.R. McConnell summarized:

There are many peculiar ideas and practices in the Faith theology, but what merits it the label of heresy are the following:

1. its deistic view of God, who must dance to men’s attempts to manipulate the spiritual laws of the universe;
2. its demonic view of Christ, who was filled with “the satanic nature” and must be “born again” in hell;
3. its gnostic view of revelation, which demands denial of the physical senses and classifies Christians by their willingness to do so; and
4. its metaphysical view of salvation, which deifies man and spiritualizes the atonement, locating it in hell rather than on the cross, thereby subverting the crucial biblical belief that it is Christ’s physical death and shed blood, which alone atone for sin.
   

All four of these heresies may be accounted for by E.W. Kenyon’s syncretism of metaphysical thought with traditional biblical doctrine.

(taken from The Facts on the Faith Movement by John Ankerberg and John Weldon)