(Last Names Starting with “W”)
“They’re a sorry bunch–pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers–posing as Christ’s agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn’t surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they’re not getting by with anything. They’ll pay for it in the end”
(2 Corinthians 11:13-15 MSG).
What is a false teacher and how does one qualify for this list?
False teachers are those who presume to teach in their own authority (as did the scribes), often in the Name of the Lord, when He has not sent them. Though they have knowledge of Biblical truths, they are, at best, in delusion, presuming to turn others to the Kingdom of God when, in fact, they are building the corrupt kingdoms of men. At worst, they are deliberate charlatans, seeking to deceive, steal, kill, and destroy, using Biblical truths to do so.
A teacher I follow is not listed here. Does that mean they aren't false?
This list is not meant to be an exhaustive one. What is important is that one learns to discern truth from error.
“Then you shall again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God, and him who does not serve Him” (Malachi 3:18 MKJV).
No person rightfully takes upon himself the role of a teacher or any other ministry of God without God’s power and authority. In a world full of teachers, preachers, elders, deacons, speakers, writers, evangelists, pastors, prophets, and apostles, rare are the true ministers representing the Lord Jesus Christ. Many are the false, and very few the true, even as in Noah’s day.
I heard the truth for the first time from a teacher listed here on this site. How is that?
Though false teachers lead astray, the Biblical truths they teach can lead to Christ those whom God has called and is choosing. The truth quickens those being given the gift of faith. However, faith manifest in the one who receives the truth does not certify as God’s representative the one who speaks some truth. The child of faith who walks in obedience to Christ will soon enough part ways with those who mix truth with error.
This is God’s commandment:
“Therefore come out from among them and be separated, says the Lord, and do not touch the unclean thing. And I will receive you and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18 MKJV).
How can a teacher be false when they teach true things found in the Bible?
False teachers mix the holy things of God with their carnal thoughts, creating a false form of godliness. They can’t do otherwise, because they haven’t taken up the cross and submitted themselves to Christ’s righteousness. They are still in their sin nature, living unto themselves, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.
And because false teachers haven’t submitted themselves to Christ’s righteousness, they can’t lead others there. A false teacher is one who may speak truth, yet points his hearers in another direction.
An example of this would be that of a “Tijuana taxi,” or any predator of tourists who says, “Yes, I know exactly where such-and-such a place is, and I’ll take you there. On the way, I’ll tell you all you want to know about it. Please, get in.”
Guess what? He gets you there after a half-hour drive, but didn’t tell you it was only a block away from where you began with him. Meanwhile he charges you for the time or mileage.
And though he filled you in on what the place is all about, what he doesn’t, can’t, and won’t tell you is that you need a membership to enter. He drops you off at the gate, and you find out your trip was for naught.
Isn’t that just like the churches and spiritual leaders one encounters in a multiplicity of places and forms? They have truth, and they may even get you into the wedding feast, but never with a wedding garment.
Therefore, while the truth spoken is to be believed (no matter who speaks it or what affiliation the speaker may have), false teachers are not to be followed. Teachers sent of God are to be followed, as with the example given by the apostle Paul, who said by the Spirit, “Become followers of me, even as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). A false teacher leads into the emptiness of self-righteousness and death, but a true teacher leads to the fullness of Christ and life.
After reading what's written here, I still can't determine if the teacher I follow is true or false. Is there anything else I can read that may help?
See also Diabolical Doctrines, The True Marks of a Cult, and Teachings. Indeed, our entire website will help you to forsake the error and to walk in the path of truth.
(Click on the links below for a short summary of each teacher along with a link to their listing.)
Walden, Franklin
The ancient pagan gods and their worship services have never gone away – they have only been hidden under the name and presumed worship of God. So the Lord showed me at a Franklin Walden church service in 1980.
Read Franklin Walden – Teaching Baal Worship
Read Franklin Walden – Teaching Baal Worship
Warnock, George
God did not hear George Warnock's prayers. Why? When God sent a man to speak to him, George would not listen. When a man doesn't listen, it is because he is proud, but when God doesn't hear, it is to break the pride of man's power.
Read False Teacher – George Warnock
Read False Teacher – George Warnock
Warren, Rick
Falsehood Exposed on The Path of Truth – The Purpose Driven Life: Promoting Christianity Without Christ
Read False Teacher – Rick Warren
Read False Teacher – Rick Warren
Washer, Paul
The Lord said not to judge by appearance precisely because people like Paul Washer come preaching in His Name, all decked out and giving impassioned performances. Washer’s zeal is not to lift up Christ as Lord, but to lift up man (himself) as Lord. His preaching and example teach men that fleshly zeal and presumption of godliness make up true godliness. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Read False Teacher – Paul Washer
Read False Teacher – Paul Washer
Watchman Fellowship
We received the following response to The True Marks of a Cult. The writer asks us what we suggest as the alternative to the churches and religious systems that he advocates.
Read False Teachers – Watchman Fellowship
Read False Teachers – Watchman Fellowship
Watt, Jim
It does not cease to amaze us how the prophets and teachers of darkness are all equally without substance, no matter how much they know, how experienced, how religious, or how old they may be. They are all the same – empty clouds promising rain and providing not a drop ? and the older they get, the drier. They are altogether presumptuous, self-willed, proud, incorrigible, implacable, arrogant, and worse than worthless in all their ways.
Read False Teacher – Jim Watt and George Müller
Read False Teacher – Jim Watt and George Müller
Wells, David
Most often false teachers who come in the Name of Christ proclaim they agree with the Bible, from which they preach. But in reality they don’t agree, not with the Spirit of its Author. They substitute their own doctrines that confuse and lead people away from the Truth to worshipping false gods that destroy, rather than save. This is Alistair Begg and David F. Wells.
Read False Teachers – Alistair Begg and David F. Wells
Read False Teachers – Alistair Begg and David F. Wells
Welton, Jonathan
The apostle Paul declared: “To this I am ordained a preacher and an apostle (I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie), a teacher of the nations, in faith and truth” (1 Timothy 2:7 MKJV). Then there are teachers like Jonathan Welton, who mix truth and error as they teach you knowledge of spiritual things, not the faith of Christ in truth. The knowledge of spiritual things isn’t the same at all as the knowledge of Jesus Christ through a personal relationship with Him as Lord, the only way to know Him as Savior.
Read False Teacher – Jonathan Welton
Read False Teacher – Jonathan Welton
White, Ellen G.
Does proclaiming the seventh day as the Sabbath, even naming yourself after this true gift from God, make you right with Him? Did not the Pharisees have the right day, too? Adventists, despite what they think, are just another sectarian group teaching self-righteousness and divisiveness over doctrine.
Read Seventh Day Adventism
Read Seventh Day Adventism
White, James
A doctor of theology writes “The Forgotten Trinity,” seeking to return the religious masses distracted with new-fangled fads to wholehearted worship of this abominable idol. But putting a new shine on ancient heresies doesn’t make them any less lies; a polished turd is still a turd. A doctorate of theology is only a deceitful cloak over the man of sin, presuming to dissect the One True God he has never seen or known into lifeless pieces. How murderous!
Read False Teacher – James White
Read False Teacher – James White
White, Paula
“Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good” (Isaiah 7:15 KJV). When the Lord is your Shepherd, He feeds you with spiritual food that enlightens the eyes and opens the senses. He causes you to know what is good and acceptable, contrasted with what is evil and rejected. And then you won’t follow the voice of strangers, like Paula White.
Read False Teacher – Paula White
Read False Teacher – Paula White
White, Todd
How can we find a man wrong who preaches repentance and the cross of Jesus Christ? He's wrong because he preaches a false repentance and illegitmate representation of the cross, coming from a false Jesus conceived by man. Here we show a defender of Todd White how Todd perverts the words of the Bible and creates a false spiritual life for himself and his followers.
Read False Teacher – Todd White
Read False Teacher – Todd White
Wicked Tongues, Cut Off
Wiese, Bill
Bill Wiese's ministry is built around a vision he claims to have had in 1998, when Lord woke him in the middle of the night and took him on a 23-minute tour of hell. It wasn't of God.
Read False Teacher – Bill Wiese
Read False Teacher – Bill Wiese
Wiggs, Evan
Ministers of Christ never come asking for money, even implicitly or by indirect means. The children of this world who appear as ministers of Christ invariably do, because they depend on man and not on God. They cloak their covetousness behind the needs of others, whom they advertise and promote as the recipients of their “godly” attention and your money. In this narrative, see how one spider catches three others in its money web, for evil, and how the Lord catches all of them for the fire, for good.
Read False Teachers – Razia Boota, Perry Maison, Evan Wiggs, and David Servant
Read False Teachers – Razia Boota, Perry Maison, Evan Wiggs, and David Servant
Wilkerson, David
Men of God don’t spawn clones, but men do. The tragedy of David Wilkerson is that he had received some truths from God, but he chose the favor of men over the praise of God. He remained in the corrupt systems of men that he sought to reform, without success because he wasn’t reformed himself. His legacy is Carter Conlon, a preacher who never even came close to God.
Read False Teachers – David Wilkerson & Carter Conlon
Read False Teachers – David Wilkerson & Carter Conlon
Wimber, John
“But evil men and seducers will go forward to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13 MKJV). All manias end with a blow-off phase where all sense is abandoned, because people are given over to their lusts entirely. So we know that we are nearing the end of evil men and seducers when they laugh like devils and call that the worship of God.
Read The Bottom of the Barrel
Read The Bottom of the Barrel
Winfrey, Oprah
Oprah has a genius for creating programs and entertainment that makes people care about the things she cares about. Her enthusiasm is infectious, her expertise in using media unquestionable. Does this ability and passion equate to being right? Of course not – not any more than it does for anyone who doesn’t have a TV program with millions of viewers. So when Oprah takes to disputing the Lord Jesus Christ (not religion, but Him and His actual Words), it’s a slam dunk that she’s wrong. This article shows precisely how.
Read False Teachers – Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle
Read False Teachers – Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle
Wolpe, David
Everyone knows that the Jewish people are a race, but what constitutes being a Jew spiritually? There is no consensus among the Jews themselves (religious or otherwise) regarding their beliefs, so who gets to decide the matter? A prominent rabbi in the US presumes his definition of Judaism is authentic and indignantly declares that anyone who comes to believe in Jesus (Yeshua) as Messiah doesn’t remain a Jew. Oh yeah?
Read False Teacher – David Wolpe
Read False Teacher – David Wolpe
Wommack, Andrew
A religious person asks Paul to comment on Andrew Wommack’s sermon that argues against God’s sovereignty (His determination of all things). Why do people oppose this truth? Because they presume to be in charge themselves, and wield their religious convictions as the power of God to accomplish what they will. This is seen with Wommack, and the one who follows his teaching.
Read False Teacher – Andrew Wommack
Read False Teacher – Andrew Wommack
Wood, Stacy & Pamla
There is a false gospel that says that God loves everyone, which is true, and that He has put away sin in Christ, which is also true, and that if you confess these things you are already saved, which is decidedly untrue. Saying it is so does not make it so, but by faith and obedience. Otherwise, as proponents of this gospel practice, lawlessness is called grace, and accepting lawlessness is called love. One such proponent was Stacy Wood of Promised Seed Ministries, with whom we corresponded about the true love of God that leads to salvation and life.
Read False Teachers – Stacy & Pamla Wood
Read False Teachers – Stacy & Pamla Wood
Worthington, Hall & Joan
Satan presents spiritual strategies and methodologies to substitute for the authentic faith of Christ, which no man can summon, earn, or imitate, no matter how long he sits and listens. “Being still” and “thinking on the Lord” in this case are also works of the flesh.
Read False Teachers – Hall & Joan Worthington
Read False Teachers – Hall & Joan Worthington
Wyatt, Ron