Discerning the False Teacher

30 Oct

“What more common than to hear it said of some false teacher in this day:

‘He is so good, so devoted, so kind, so zealous, so laborious, so humble, so self-denying, so charitable, so earnest, so fervent, so clever, so evidently sincere, there can be no danger and no harm in hearing him. Besides he preaches so much real Gospel: no one can preach a better sermon than he does sometimes! I never can and never will believe he is unsound.’

“Who does not hear continually such talk as this? What discerning eye can fail to see that many Churchmen expect unsound teachers to be open vendors of poison, and cannot realize that they often appear as ‘angels of light,’ and are far too wise to be always saying all they think, and showing their whole hand and mind. But so it is. Never was it so needful to remember the words, ‘The serpent beguiled Eve by his subtilty.’”

~ J.C. Ryle

Warnings to the Churches, “Apostolic Fears”, 131.

3 Responses to “Discerning the False Teacher”

  1. donsands November 1, 2009 at 8:56 pm #

    I love Ryle as well.
    Nice blog you have here.
    Came over from Tim Challies.

    Lord bless.

    I post Bishop Ryle every now and then.

    I just posted one of his quotes, (just in case your interested): http://dlsands.blogspot.com/2009/10/jesus-said-to-him-peter-if-it-is-my.html

    Reply
  2. Acidri November 4, 2009 at 4:18 am #

    Interesting blog. I do agree with you further more The Bible should remain the acid test for every lying and deceptive spirit…..please feel free to visit my blog. Leave a commen, cast a stone or draw a line in the sand.
    https://7drizzles7.wordpress.com/

    Reply

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  1. How to Spot a False Teacher « Homebuilders Online - October 30, 2009

    [...] By III Leave a Comment Categories: Uncategorized Thanks to Erik over at JC Ryle Quotes, who shares some wisdom from Ryle, a 19th century pastor, on how to spot a false [...]

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