False teachers share traits with dog & its vomit

SOLOLÁ — There in the street stood the dog, lapping up its vomit — an image the Bible uses to warn against deceptive false teachers.

Seeing the proverbial dog on my way to work foreshadowed a conversation I would have later in the day with Isidro, my Kaqchikel brother in Christ, about false teachers. Scripture uses the dog-and-its-vomit to represent one who returns to his sins (II Pet. 2:22), one who leaves the path of God’s truth. The Apostle Peter cites the famous proverb (Prov. 26:11), in a passage warning believers against false teachers, wolves in shepherd’s clothing:

“For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through licentiousness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error,” Peter wrote (I Pet. 2:18). “They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls. ... For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit.’ ”

Unfortunately, we hear periodic stories here of false teachers deceiving believers. Many Guatemalan churchgoers have scant knowledge of God's Word and are all-too-easy prey for the wolves’ deceptions. Just as anemia leaves one feeling weak, a soul that feeds on spiritual junk food will be undernourished and susceptible to corrosive lies or temptations — spiritual bacteria and viruses.

Some Mayan Christians here quickly turn to God for help when they encounter financial or health problems. All too many, however, prefer to visit Christian “prophets” or even Mayan shaman to solve their problems and heal their illnesses. Perhaps it comes from a cultural tradition of placing high value on spiritual guides as authorities or deeply ingrained Catholic-Mayan syncretism.

Several years ago, a young Kaqchikel woman from this area fell ill. Her evangelical parents contacted a “prophet” they had heard on the radio. Somehow, he convinced the family that it was vital that he and the girl pray together alone. He visited regularly. Pretty soon her illness was gone and she had another problem. It took some sorting out because when they asked who had gotten her pregnant she said “the pastor,” but she meant “the prophet.” By then, of course, the so-called “prophet” was long gone.

A 17-year-old Christian girl down the hill by Lake Atitlán willingly dedicated herself to Satan, after a friend whose parents are Mayan shaman offered to help relieve stress she felt to perform well in her studies. The girl thought nothing of dedicating herself to a spirit, whose voice she soon began to hear. At least once, the voice woke her in the night, directing her to a cemetery, where he instructed her to cut her finger and bleed somewhere. Soon, she became controlled by the spirit, speaking in a frightening voice and exhibiting tremendous strength. Several shocked family members managed to prevent her from taking her life with a knife, and through much prayer, fasting and wrestling over several days — burning things she had dedicated to Satan — she was delivered.

Another family up the hill from here whose daughter fell ill, contacted a Christian “prophet” for healing. The prophet gladly offered to help, suggesting they meet at the church. Once there, however, he determined that the family didn’t “have faith,” and that it would be necessary for them all to go home till midnight while he and the young lady prayed together. The poor mother — believing her daughter would be healed by midnight — arrived with coffee for the pair at the appointed hour. There she found her daughter alone and crying.

In nearby Totonicapán, a Kiché woman recently found a doll with pins in it on her doorstep. She did what she thought anyone should: Visit a Mayan “brujo” or shaman to undo the hex she believed someone had placed on her through another brujo. No amount of convincing to the contrary could persuade her Christian sons that this is not a Christian response.

The Apostle Paul warned, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud ... having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,” II Tim. 3:1-6.

If I weren’t already convinced Guatemalans desperately need to hear, understand and put into practice God’s word, today’s conversations with Isidro, my Kaqchikel brother in Christ, galvanized my thinking. He shared the examples of the local false prophets.

The Apostle Paul gave instructions how to counter falsehood: with the truth of God’s Word.

“But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived,” the Apostle Paul continues, “But as for you continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ... Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.”

Please pray for Guatemala and for our efforts to get the audio Scriptures on the radio and in people’s homes. Unfortunately, many believers, despite attending an incredible number of church services here, are quite ignorant of God’s Word. A 2003 study by SEPAL found just 12 percent of Guatemala’s evangelicals could be considered biblically Christian. God has promised his people will be well fed and that knowledge of God will cover the earth.

“Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden,
And they shall sorrow no more at all.”

— Jeremiah 31:12

When Jesus prayed for his disciples, he prayed, “Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth,” John 17:17. Since so few Mayans can read God’s Word in their own language, the audio Scriptures are a powerful means to speak to their hearts and give them liberty in Christ.

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John Piper gives us a brief example of deceptive teaching that took my breath away.