Proclaim the message, persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.  2 Timothy 4:2-4 HCSB

The term “Fruit of the poisonous tree” is a metaphor used in the legal system to describe evidence that was obtained illegally either through police error or police misconduct. Furthermore, any evidence derived from evidence which was illegally obtained is also inadmissible. If the search is bad, anything obtained in the search is not to be admitted into court and anything obtained from that evidence obtained is also not to be admitted into court.

While we are on the subject of fruit, I think that we must treat false prophets in the same way. I don’t watch false prophets or listen to their teachings because I figure if one piece of their fruit is rotten or poisonous, then none of if it good for me. Yesterday, a friend shared a YouTube video by Justin Peters on Dangerous Doctrines. In this video, he listed false doctrines that are dangerous. We know that heresy leads to damnation. In listing these false doctrines, he provided examples from Kenneth Copeland, Gloria Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, and Todd White just to name a few. What really got to me is how outrageous some of their claims were. These people claim to be gods, they claim to be able to change the weather. They even claim that God cannot do anything on earth without our permission! What?

I don’t know about you, but if I pick up an apple and it has two or three worms in it. I don’t want to eat around them. I just want to throw the apple away.

Maybe it’s all my years in law enforcement and all my years of hearing about fruit from the poisonous tree, but I didn’t want to deal with officers who did things illegally or committed crimes, or so-called dirty cops.  I feel that they should be judged more harshly. James 3:1 tells us that not many should become teachers for they will be judged with greater strictness.

When a police officer commits a crime, he can go from a witness to a defendant in the courtroom. When we accept dangerous doctrines, we go from witness to defendant. We are supposed to be witnesses for Christ. But, if our learning is faulty our witness can be destroyed. If we are getting our information from those that like to twist scriptures and bend them to distort God’s word, then we can’t be considered credible. We are no longer useful as witnesses, but when we face judgment we’ve got a whole lot of explaining to do. We become defendants. Can you defend that?

When I rededicated my life to Christ, I was like a sponge just wanting to soak up all I could about God and His holy word. I listened to some of these televangelist thinking because they talked about Jesus and quoted a scripture passage they must be okay. But, as I began to grow in the Word, I saw them twisting Scriptures. I saw them making outlandish claims. I saw them bragging about all their wealth. I saw them trying to milk money from people who trusted in them and didn’t know any better.

We are all human beings and we can all make mistakes. I am sure there are those legitimate preachers that might make a mistake or say something in error, but I am talking about false teachers who promise health and prosperity. I am talking about those who are merely motivational speakers pretending to be pastors. Some call these pastors and churches, “word of faith” or “name it and claim it” preachers. They will tell you things like if you send money to them, God will bless you and give you great wealth or heal you from your sickness. Beware of preachers that tickle your ears or tell you only what you want to hear. The Bible is filled with things we don’t want to hear, but must know to avoid getting ourselves into trouble. It’s not all rainbows and lollipops, my friend.

If you saw a tree with beautiful low hanging fruit, but were told the tree was poisonous, would you pick the fruit and eat it and hope the one piece you chose was good? This is what we do when we listen to false teachers and hope to pick through and find the good. If the tree is tainted, we can’t expect the fruit not to be.

Pray to God for discernment and get a good study bible or bible commentary from a trusted pastor. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Check it out.

Have a great day!