How to identify false teachers

Excellent article. However, there has to be a willingness to expose false teachers. Many are simply not willing to name names and expose error, out of a fear that they will sow discord. This was never more evident than during the days and weeks that followed MacArthur’s Strange Fire conference last fall. Dr. MacArthur and the other speakers named names. They called out false teachers. They were specific. They were biblical. And yet it didn’t take very long to encounter folks, even some who I consider friends, who were very upset with MacArthur, Johnson, and the other speakers. I was told that THEY were the ones in the wrong because they stirred up discord. At one point Dr. MacArthur affirmed that he was being (biblically) divisive. Because truth does divide from error. We do the gospel no favors when cower in fear and remain silent while false teachers influence those around us. These troubling times compel us to earnestly contending for the faith.