Whom Do We Listen To? Part 2

Whom Do We Listen To? Part 2
Wednesday, April 15, 2026 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Apostasy / Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / Spiritual warfare / The church / Thought for Today / Truth telling

Whom do we listen to? How often are we captivated by false teachers, charismatic speakers who tell us what we want to hear, teaching what is false yet having a ring of truth?

2 Corinthians 11:4 (NAU): “For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”

2 Corinthians 11:19–20 (NAU): “For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly. For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face.”

That describes only too well how we so often tolerate false prophets and false teachers. We let them speak, we let them enslave us, we let them take advantage of us.

False teachers and false prophets don’t announce, “We’re false.” They will look genuine, much of what they speak may even be biblically true. But what “truth” is spoken is done in order to gain our acceptance, the main goal is to deceive, to lead astray. As Scripture states, they will appear as angels of light, they will disguise themselves as something they are not, just as Satan does.

2 Corinthians 11:13–15 (NAU): “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 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 deeds.”

They may say they value Scripture quite highly, but will go on to undermine it, to teach a low view of it, to disregard what doesn’t suit them. In conjunction with that, they may teach that the Holy Spirit is giving new revelation, revelation that supersedes what Scripture directly states. After all, since the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth, doesn’t that mean He is giving us brand new revelation, truths that change what we once may have held to be true? What Scriptures they do site will typically be taken out of context and twisted in some way.

The phenomena is not new. For example, Muhammad got “new revelation.” Joseph Smith got “new revelation.” Both denigrated the Bible and replaced its core teaching, salvation through Christ alone, with something else. We should not be surprised when others do the same today. It is critical to realize: false teachers count on Christians not knowing—or from their standpoint even better—not believing, what Scripture directly states.

They may use a deliberately faulty translation such as “The Passion Translation”—a version that was changed to fit the teachings of The New Apostolic Reformation, or “The Mirror Bible,” a lesser known paraphrase and commentary by Dr. Francois du Toit, mislabeled as a Bible, a “version” in which he has imported his universalist, New Age, mystical, and other non-biblical beliefs.

If astute Christians have warned against a group and their teachings, that group’s terminology may be changed to make those teachings sound different. Instead of proclaiming “universal salvation,” they might trumpet “inclusivism,” that all are included in God. If part of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), they may seek to hide or disguise that connection. Note: if the group references the term “five-fold ministry,” the group or church is almost certainly part of the NAR or allied with them.

A false teacher may start with what is biblically true, but then push that truth to extremes, twisting it into something far different from what Scripture tells us. Indeed, the most enticing biblical error typically starts with something that is true. On any given occasion they may blatantly contradict themselves. They may even justify the contradiction, as the “Holy Spirit” leads them into new truth (but would the Holy Spirit ever be self-contradictory?).

As we saw in the previous post, we must be on our guard, to be diligent that we are not led astray.

In the next few posts, we will examine the teachings of one specific individual, one who, sadly, serves as an all too example for many of these points.

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