Identifying False Teachers: How to Train Your Powers of Discernment and Test the Spirits

There’s a plague of false teachers infecting the church today, spreading like a virus through congregations, ministries, and movements around the world. They’re everywhere, and the damage they cause is immeasurable. And you’d be surprised at the amount of emails I receive asking me to look into a particular movement or teacher—many of whom I’ve never even heard of.

I wish I could address them all individually, expose each one for the frauds they are—but there are way too many. Literally millions, in fact. It’s impossible to keep up with them all.

But even if I can’t dismantle every false teacher one by one, what I can do, hopefully, is encourage you to practice discernment and teach you how to recognize them on your own. After all, we’re commanded to train our powers of discernment (Hebrews 5:14), to test the spirits (1 John 4:1), and to be like the Bereans—diligent students of the Word, examining everything through the lens of Scripture (Acts 17:10-11).

Discernment is our biblical safeguard against deception. Without it, we’re easy prey for wolves who twist Scripture, distort the gospel, and offer self-promoting paths that leads only to destruction.

False teachers are nothing new. They’ve been around since the early days of the church, and they’ll be around until Christ returns. But just because their existence is inevitable doesn’t mean we have to fall for their lies. The Bible gives us all the tools we need to expose these charlatans and their schemes.

So here are some things we can look for while evaluating teachers.

First, and foremost, we evaluate their doctrine. A clear indicator of a false teacher is their lack of doctrinal clarity. These are the teachers who sideline essential doctrines like sin, judgment, and the exclusivity of Christ in favor of soft, non-threatening messages. They avoid talking about hell or the consequences of sin because they don’t want to offend anyone. Instead, they emphasize evangelism techniques—how to "win" people over—while conveniently skipping over the fact that without the truth, there is no salvation. They’re more interested in numbers and influence than in faithfully preaching the gospel. But what good is evangelism if it’s void of the very truth that saves?

Other doctrines often twisted by false teachers are the doctrine of the Trinity, which they distort by either denying the distinct persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit or by blending them into a single entity, effectively rejecting the biblical teaching of one God in three persons (Oneness Pentecostals, modalists, etc.).

The deity of Christ is another target, where false teachers and movements (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, etc.) claim that Jesus is merely a created being or just a good moral teacher, stripping Him of His divine nature and equality with God.

And extremely important is the doctrine of salvation by grace alone—it is also frequently corrupted, as false teachers often add human works or personal merit into the equation, suggesting that salvation can or must be earned or that our efforts contribute to God's saving grace, in direct contradiction to the clear teaching that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9).

There are many other things that false teachers teach in an effort to please certain groups of people and we must always evaluate these teachings against the clear instruction of Scripture. These could be things such as women pastors, “gay Christianity,” or even the denial of the authority of Scripture.

Ecumenism—the push for unity with other faiths. These false teachers want to hold hands with anyone and everyone, from Muslims to Hindus to Roman Catholics to New Age mystics. They preach a message of “love” and “inclusion,” claiming that all paths lead to God.

But that’s a lie straight from hell. Jesus didn’t come to establish some all-inclusive spiritual club. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Any teacher who suggests that Christianity can or should find common ground with other religions is preaching a false gospel. Unity with falsehood is not unity—it’s compromise, and compromise with the truth is fatal.

Then, we have the "seeker-sensitive" movement—churches that resemble concert halls more than houses of worship. The focus isn’t on preaching the Word of God but on putting on a show to attract the largest crowd possible. These churches are all about gimmicks—smoke machines, light shows, rock bands, and marketing strategies to get more bodies in the pews.

But here’s the problem, when you have to entertain people to bring them in, you’ll have to keep entertaining them to keep them. The true gospel doesn’t need to be dressed up like a cheap carnival act. If a church relies on gimmicks instead of the clear proclamation of God’s Word, it’s a clear sign something is deeply wrong.

And mysticism. A lot of false teachers love their mysticism. Contemplative prayer, soaking prayer, circle-making, silence—these are nothing more than extra-biblical practices designed to lead people into some altered state of consciousness, rather than communion with the true and living God.

You won’t find any of these practices in Scripture. In fact, the Bible warns us against such things—against adding to God’s Word or seeking mystical experiences outside of the Bible (Deuteronomy 4:2, Revelation 22:18-19). But why do these false teachers push these practices so hard? Because they offer spiritual highs without the hard work of repentance, submission, and obedience. It’s easier to sell "spiritual experiences" than the hard truth of God’s Word.

Relational evangelism is another tactic of these false teachers. I’m not arguing that all forms of evangelism through relationships are bad, but false teachers will prioritize feelings and relationships over the truth of Scripture, believing that if we just "love people well" and build friendships, they’ll eventually come to Christ.

But ask yourself this—since when did the gospel become a relational project? The Bible says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). It doesn’t say faith comes through years of soft-pedaling the truth in hopes that your friend will one day ask you why you’re so nice.

The truth is that these teachers are afraid to speak the hard truths of Scripture because they don’t want to lose friendships or offend people. But the gospel is offensive—because it confronts our sin and calls us to repentance. So if this teacher is all about relational evangelism and totally against preaching the blunt truth in fear of offending people, you’ve got a false teacher on your hands.