Why is false doctrine more appealing than Bible truth?

There is no question that over the last few years there has been a huge increase in false teachers outside the churches and apostasy within the churches of Christendom. The example of Saddleback Church is just the tip of the iceberg. The Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles already warned us many times that there would be an increase in false teachers and false prophets before the Second Coming of Christ. But that still leaves us with the question of why false teachings are more appealing than Bible truth.

There could be several reasons as to why people fail to, or refuse to, accept the truth and hold fast to it. And why they choose what is false and unbiblical, and cling to it desperately.

1. Many have not been systematically taught Bible truth within their churches. That is the responsibility of the leadership, and the leaders have neglected their responsiblity. But Paul said that those elders who labor in the Word and doctrine are worthy of “double honor” (1 Tim 5:17). Where are those elders?

2. Many have failed to commit themselves to serious personal Bible study, and prefer to watch teachers on TV or listen to radio sermons. But what did Paul have to say about personal study? Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Tim 2:15). So when they are shown the truth, they double down in their errors rather than repent of their false beliefs.

3. Many have succumbed to the false notion that emotionalism replaces a sober and clear understanding of the Word of God. The phenomena of so-called “holy laughter” and hopping and jumping around entered into many churches, and undermined Christians with nonsensical behavior which is supposedly “spiritual”.

4. Many have believed the lie from Satan that salvation (justification) is a result of saving faith plus something else (particularly water baptism). The idea that one must do something to either be saved or maintain salvation has great appeal since it involves earning or meriting salvation to some degree. The common wisdom that there are “no free lunches” has been carried over to the spiritual realm. But there is generally a very poor understanding of the finished work of Christ. Even to this day too many Christians do not really understand justification by grace through faith and imputed righteousness.

5. The whole truth regarding what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished in His sufferings, His death, His burial, and His resurrection has not been fully presented by too many pastors and teachers. Neither have all the various facets of salvation been tied together to show how they are all connected, and that salvation is a work of God from start to finish. Which means that too many believers have a shallow and superificial understanding of the finished work of Christ. And this impacts their confidence in God and Christ and Gospel truth.

6. The rise of false gospels has been gladly accepted by many since the issues of sin, repentance, practical holiness and righteousness have been either neglected, or have not been properly presented. The pernicious doctrines of Five Point Calvinism have done nothing to help people believe the true Gospel. The Prosperity Gospel has been equally pernicious in creating false expectations. Then we have the cults growing by leaps and bounds because the lie always sounds better than the truth.

7. Then there is the issue of discipling and shepherding. Too many churches have failed to see that Christ gave a plurality of elders to every church so that the burden of shepherding individual Christians (particularly new converts) would not fall on just one man. As a result the lambs are being left to fend for themselves and the wolves have a great time.

8. Too many churches are now trying to accommodate the winds of change by having women as pastors, supporting same sex marriages, encouraging the LGBTQ agenda, not speaking out against transgenderism and sexual perversion, and even violating the laws of the land by encouraging illegal migrant invasion. The world has entered into the churches and few are questioning this.

9. Then we have the false unity of ecumenism being promoted by the church of Rome, as well as other apostate churches, and people are led to believe that this is actually promoting Christian unity. But how can there be unity between light and darkness? The church of Rome will never change, but hopes to bring all the other denominations under its umbrella.

As we can see, the spiritual warfare which originates from principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places is having a huge impact on Christians and churches. But God has provided the “whole armor of God” to stand against all of them. It is up to every child of God to do so.

I would conclude that many of us have rejected the truth of God for something we thought was more appealing. “What can I get out of this” is the mentality of such futile thinking.

Gods word pierces to the very core of our being. We would have to acknowledge that in God’s sight we are utterly depraved and literally the living dead.

Immediate temporal gratification is an easier route to take than to actually bear your cross daily. Thanks be to God that Christ has provided a remedy for this sickness and by the work of the Holy Spirit grows the new creation into a righteous that pleases the Father.

Or the very short answer but no doubt is at very heart of it is, people love their sin instead of loving God.

A.k.a “Why don’t people agree with my version of scripture?”

Which version of “church” should the people follow: Baptist, Roman, Ecumenical, Lutheran, Bible-believing, Charismatic, Methodist, Mennonite, British, Croatian, Christ, Universalist, Apostolic….? The box churches have failed the people: being more concerned about their 501c3 status and their hegemony of influence over the people. They mixed with the world to improve cash flow and to secure their place at the political table. They would rather make converts than invest in the next generation, giving privilege to the rich and powerful.

Find one pastor willing to give up their pulpit to eliminate one division.

1 Corinthians 1:11-13 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?

You mean when someone suggested they should call their denomination “Church of Christ” (for example) no one said “Wait a sec. What about 1 Corinthians 1:11-13?” They all profess to be “Bible-believing” but all denominations ignore the very word they claim to extoll. And we wonder why there is a absence of sound doctrine?

”I know” (and I’m being foolish here) let’s blame the people!”

Give me a break.

Well, I honestly didn’t expect this answer from you but I agree with you 100%.
So now let me ask you another question in relation to your post history and your viewpoint.
How do you resolve this conflict of ”why don’t people agree with my version of scripture”?
Do you think someone Has to be right or are you more open minded?
Me for example I resolved this years ago. I think all Christians are right despite disagreements because if you try to find who’s right, Christianity doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on.
I will also tell you something else which you might understand if you’re open minded.
The 12 Apostles were the first 12 Protestants.
Why does it have to be like this? Well, because God respects and wants free-willed creatures not robots.
That’s my 2 cents.

I’m sure we agree about more than we disagree about.

How can every Christian be right while disagreeing? That makes no sense lol. Sounds like "Your truth my truth" kind of relativism.

Many people have systematically been taught the Bible, have studied the Bible for themselves, have been shepherded, etc., etc. But it comes down to loving the truth. If a person doesn't genuinely love truth, no amount of Bible study, shepherding or anything else will matter. Oftentimes the shepherds are themselves deceived.

"The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved." 2 Thessalonians:9-10

Bad seminaries eventually lead to bad churches, and the lack of authority from the word of God. Also, this is bound to happen in the last days. There will be a fallen away.

You are quite right. Christians -- above all -- should love the truth and seek the truth no matter what. And the Lord has given us the truth, and told us that we will know it, and it will make us free. Indeed Christ (the Word) Himself is "the Truth", and every word of God is pure. Therefore everything must be filtered through the written Word of God. Christ also said that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth, and John said that we have an unction from the Holy One (the Holy Spirit) and we will know all things (1 John 2:20). Which means that there are no excuses.

If the pew sitter is ignorant, lazy and fooled they have no one to blame but themselves especially in this age of information.

The people receive the churches they want, many pastors are not leaders any more they are people pleasers.
It works both ways.

Correct, not much of a leg to stand on, being confused about prophecy/Mystery
12 and 1, faith and works, etc, etc. etc., so will any ( seeking God's Approval? )
consider the following, or just continue in Confusion?:

"faith PLUS works"? continued: Further Confirmation by:

( God's Context Of ) prophecy/covenant-law Scriptures, Spoken By Christ on earth
To Twelve apostles for the Twelve tribes Israel:

I have decided to Follow ( The earthly ) Jesus?

A) Do I follow Him, and the doctrine He Spoke as The:

Humble Christ, on the earth, To Israel, 12 ( Jewish or protestant? ) apostles,
Under The Law/covenants/Prophecy:

1) Repent (change mind about sin/agree With God "it is Wrong!") or perish
(Luk 13:3,5, 24:47 Mar 1:4)
+
2) believe the gospel of the kingdom (Mat 4:23, 9:35, 24:14; Mar 1:14,15)
+
3) be water baptized "For the remission of sin" (Mar 1:4 Luk 3:3, 7:29:30, 24:47;
Act 2:38)
+
4) "show works meet for repentance" (Mat 3:8), because,
+
5) "to the twelve tribes of Israel," "faith Without works is dead"
(James 1:1, 2:17,26)
+
6) "keep the commandments" to "enter life" (Mat 19:17)
+
7) "one thing thou lackest...sell ALL/take up cross/follow Jesus"
(Mar 10:17-23)
+
8) pray as a watchman, for Great Tribulation, man of sin, son of perdition, and
signs of the end times, and Second Coming?

A) Do I follow His earthly prophecy "faith PLUS works" program of covenants and law?
( OT, Mat - John, Heb - Rev ) or:

Rightly Divided (2 Timothy 2:15) From “Things That Differ” (online)

B) Do I follow Him As The Risen And Glorified "Head Of His Church" and ask:

I have decided to Follow ( The Heavenly ) LORD Jesus?

And, His Heavenly Pure Grace Program, According To The Revelation Of The Mystery?
(His Doctrine in Romans - Philemon)

Of course, Under God's Other Context Of Grace for The ( Heavenly ) ONE Body
Of Christ, Which began with ( ONE apostle ) Paul, Baptized By The ONE Spirit,
as the first 'member' of the ONE New man...
(Ephesians 2:15; 1 Timothy 1:16; Romans 11:13; Ephesians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 12:13),

...it is ( as Paul states 21 x ) "But Now":

1) Have repentance toward God (change mind about sin/agree With God "it is Wrong!")
(Acts 20:21)
+
2) Have faith toward The LORD Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21), and trust/believe The Gospel
Of The Grace Of God: His Death ( ALL-Sufficient Work On The Cross ), Burial, And
Resurrection, According To The Scripture (Ephesians 2:5-9; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
+
3) Acknowledge I am Spiritually Baptized By The ONE Baptism Of The Holy Spirit
Into The ONE (Spiritual Organism) Body Of Christ, Seated In the Heavenlies
(Ephesians 4:5; Colossians 2:12; Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 12:13)
+
4) Acknowledge Christ Is Living in me, so I allow Him to, through me:
+
5) To Fulfil:

All Of His Law, In ONE Word: ►► love ◄◄ thy neighbor
as thyself!" (Galatians 5:14; Romans 13:8-10)
+
6) Study God's Word Of Truth, Rightly Divided to show myself "Approved Unto God"
(2 Timothy 2:15), and all the rest of these Bible study rules!
+
7) Work with my hands to "give to them in need," and the LORD "shall supply all my need"
(Ephesians 4:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12; 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12; 1 Timothy 5:8)
+
8) Be a humble prayer warrior and:
"...look, watch, and Patiently WAIT For..." = The LORD Jesus Christ!
(2 Thessalonians 2:1; Romans 8:18-19; Romans 8:23; Romans 8:25; 1 Corinthians 1:7;
Ephesians 6:12-18; Philippians 3:20; Colossians 4:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 1:10;
1 Thessalonians 5:5-11; Titus 2:13)
+
9) Put on the FULL armour of God and stand, in the spiritual warfare I wrestle with
(Ephesians 6:10-18)
+
10)
Eph 6:19 "And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I
may open my mouth boldly, to make known the Mystery Of The Gospel,"
+
11)
Eph 3:9 "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of The Mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ"
+
12) Acknowledge that I am going to give an account at Judgment (1 Corinthians 3:8-15;
Romans 14:12), at my Heavenly Home-Going ( Great GRACE Departure! )

According to these and all the details of God's Sound Doctrinal Blueprint In
Romans Through Philemon? (1 Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:3; Titus 1:9):

Titus 2:1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

Or:

C) Do I speak after following the Many, who homogenize A) + B) into
Massive Confusion?

Final question would be: Which Option, Under Grace Today, should I take
To Honor and Glorify God, Who Plainly and Clear Says in Romans 11:6:


Precious friend(s), thanks again. I appreciate all your prayerful and careful
consideration of this Eternally Important Matter.

Amen.

I think the following verse can reveal a lot about why so much false doctrine is doing the rounds..

(Proverbs 14:12) "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

And as we know::

(2 Timothy 4:3-4) "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; {4} And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

The church is not the place of evangelism the world is, once these two were confused the church was overrun by false teachers and false professors.

Some churches, maybe, but that's a rather blanket statement. I don't know what influence the church has over people, you'll have to fill me in on that one. Nor do I know what you mean by securing their place that the political table either. I think you're confusing tv evangelists with "box churches".



Quite often the division in the church is started by someone who dislikes what a pastor does or says. We had a women in our church who played the organ. She wasn't particularly good at it but, small church, we made it through. Then she insisted the church needed a new organ and she found one she wanted that was too expensive. Of course the pastor wanted to check out other options and she got angry and tried to get people against the pastor. She didn't get support and left angry. Her name came up one Sunday with our pastor as we were leaving. I knew he was upset by her leaving. I said "Well first of all, she could barely play the organ we have, and a small church didn't need an expensive organ. Lastly, she's started trouble in every church she's attended." If you meet her in town she will be quick to talk about how bad the pastor is and what he did to her. I've been in a lot of churches and talked to many pastors and much of the division in the church is because of a church member that wants their own way, no matter what.

who is it more appealing to? false doctrine can be more appealing because the devil comes to steal, kill & destroy. also, 1 of the devil's biggest tricks is to give you something immediately because he knows when you are on gods' side, it usually takes awhile for answered prayer. plus, i think the devil knows his time is short so his temptations are more numerous & powerful leading people to follow suit in sin.

My view

The congregation relies on the Minister --to be a Minister does not require you to be Born Again and there lies the problem ------

If the Minister who today can get a licence on line without even going to a seminary is not Born Again then they belong to this World and their god is Satan -- they are False teachers from the get go -----Bible is very clear that the Natural man cannot understand the Scriptures ----- so Non Born Again Ministers cannot teach the truth of the Scriptures --therefore the people in the pews are being deceived -----and are being led straight to Hell -----if they stay with their Non Born Again Pastor --------

People need to wise up and get to know the Scriptures so they can detect False teachers preaching False doctrine ------People look up to their Pastor to feed them truth but you cannot trust any of them today to give the full truth of God's Word -------a Half truth is a Lie -------

Study: Only 37% of American Pastors Have a Biblical Worldview

https://answersingenesis.org/cultur...ent-american-pastors-have-biblical-worldview/

What is the dominant religion of pastors filling pulpits of “Christian” churches across the US? A new study from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University found that a staggering 62% of pastors don’t have a biblical worldview. Instead, they have a worldview of syncretism—in other words, a little bit of this and a little bit of that, mixed together with Christianity.

Rather than building their thinking on God’s Word, the majority of pastors are basing their beliefs on “personal preferences.” In other words, it’s like I’ve been saying for years: many in the church, including its leaders, have set themselves up as the authority over God and his Word. It’s a devastating disease and it’s infecting both pulpits and pews!


I say
God warns of Mixing the Old with the New ---God hates mixture ----as when you mix together your neither hot nor cold but your lukewarm and God will spew you out of His Mouth ------

Today Lukewarmness in the Church is rampant ------and deception is in the forefront -----

Satan is alive and well and right today is laughing all the way to his soul bank as he has many deposits already made and many more to make ----







there are many who will join his team in the last days --------

That is really quite shocking.

“Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭51:4‬ ‭

a false doctrine appeals to people because of this when they see the light of Christs word

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:19-21‬ ‭KJV‬‬

people reject the gospel because as they hear it more and more they realize “ this is going to lead me to repent and stop sinning it’s going to “reprove my deeds “ if I continue . And because some live sin but also want to think they are saved while enjoying sinful living they then did this not wanting the light but wanting what the light promises for those who walk in that light

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭4:3-4‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Man doesn’t want to perish but they don’t want to stop serving Sin either so they reject the truth and light of the gospel and create alternate routes to god that allows them to keep sinning

A.k.a “Why don’t people agree with my version of scripture?”

Agreed but ouch!