Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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Paul plainly warned the saints that there were already men who introduced themselves to God's people as apostles of Christ, but were not (2Cor. 11:13). The word "apostle" means "one who is sent". So, Paul was warning the saints not to believe every man who claimed to be sent from God. Some "servants of the Lord" are in reality "ministers of Satan". Jesus said there would be many of them. In Revelation, Jesus commended one pastor for putting certain men to the test who claimed to be apostles of God and proving that they were not (2:2). John said that already there were many men who went out from him and the council of elders in Jerusalem to the churches as though they had authority from God to do so, but in reality, wrote John, "they were not of us" (1Jn. 2:19). They were of a different spirit altogether, seeking their own glory (Jn. 7:15), even as they gave every appearance of seeking the glory of God.
Someone has said that the best liars are those who believe their own lies before they tell them. This is true. The most convincing liars are liars who first convince themselves they are telling the truth. There is something very persuasive about someone who is himself fully persuaded that what he says is true. So it was with the "false apostles" of Paul's time. One secret of their success in deceiving so many saints is that they had first deceived themselves. Paul grew so frustrated with the destructive work of this growing multitude of believers who had become false teachers that he wished aloud that God would destroy them (Gal. 5:12).
Peter, too, described the work of the many false teachers that would undermine and pollute the faith of the saints with "cunningly devised fables". He reminded them that just as there were false prophets among God's Old Testament people, so "there shall be false teachers among you" and that those deceivers shall craftily bring "damnable heresies" (2Pet. 2:1). He also said that "many shall follow their pernicious ways" and that because of this multitude of followers, "the way of truth shall be evil spoken of" (2Pet. 2:2). Finally, this aged apostle earnestly warned the precious children of God that those unordained ministers would "make merchandise of you" (2Pet. 2:3).
It is impossible to think that such men no longer exist. We cannot afford to assume that the words of warning that Jesus and his apostles gave the saints applied to another time and place. They all spoke of the saints and its adversaries in the future, even of the times of the end. Therefore, it must be that their warnings will save us much sorrow and loss if we hearken to them. Because Jesus and his apostles foretold that false apostles and teachers would come, as well as lamenting their presence among the saints of their own day, we know that such men exist now. But where are they? Who are they? How can we recognize them?
As for those who come in the name of Christ Jesus, there is only one group of people who can possibly fit the descriptions found in the Bible of those who would corrupt and even turn the hearts of many saints away from the truth of Jesus. That group is the group that calls itself after the name of Christ: "Christians". They call their religion, Christianity, after the name of Christ. Jesus said they would come. Paul said they would come. Peter said they would come. John said they would come. They did come, and with their ungodly doctrines and dead rituals, they fulfilled every description that Jesus and his apostles gave to the saints concerning false apostles and teachers. Christian ministers are misguided. Even the sincere ones are wrong, not for trusting in Jesus (He is Lord of all!) but for being a part of a religion that he did not ordain to represent him. The venomous spirit of Christianity always, in time, over-rides and uses for its own glory even the best intentioned spirits of young men who decide to "enter the ministry", as Christians say it.
I know that there are many of God's children entangled in the religion of Christianity. And I know that Jesus loves each one of them dearly. Some of these precious souls are actually in the ministry, promoting the very religion of which Jesus warned us. They do not know what they are doing to themselves, to others, or to the heart of their Father. They do not know that by partaking of and promoting that Godless religion, they are being used for a purpose that is breaking Jesus' heart, and would break their hearts if they understood it. They do not know that by following the example of Christian ministers, they will become like those men. And they are the men of whom Jesus spoke: ravenous wolves who approach God's flock meekly, covered with sheep's clothing, but with the cunning, malignant spirit of Satan guiding them.
"Come out of her", my dearly loved brothers! Save yourself from the coming wrath of your God.
Some say that I have "gone off the deep end" when I say that God is calling His children to come out of Christianity. My response is that if Peter had never gone overboard, he would have never walked on the water with Jesus. I know that God is calling His people out of that unordained religion, with its unordained ministers teaching their unordained doctrines and performing their unordained ceremonies. If because of confessing that truth, I am accused of being a false teacher, I can only respond that Jesus has taught me what I know. God help me. I can do nothing but echo His loving call, once I have heard it myself. I can do nothing but what I am doing, when I see what has happened to the children of God.