False Teachers Seem True & Even Do Good Things

False Teachers Seem True & Even Do Good Things

Quoting William Gurnall . . .

\tChrist is not ashamed to call the poorest saints "brethren," but He despises to have His name seen upon a rotten-hearted hypocrite (Hebrews 2:11). Of all sinners the hypocrite does the most harm in this world and therefore will have the most torment in the other world. And yet it is religion which has constantly proved to be the most effective bait of hypocrites, as they seek to snare others into their error and sin while posing as children of God.

Ehud, for example, could not have chosen a better key to open the doors into King Eglon's presence than to say he had brought a message from God. This caused such expectation and confidence that Eglon welcomed him. When the two were alone, the king rose to hear the Word of the Lord from the deceiver--but what he received was a brutal death (Judges 3:14-30).

I confess the hypocrite may act his part so well that he may accidentally do some good. His glistening profession, heavenly speech, and eloquent preaching might bring to the sincere seeker a message of real comfort. Like an actor at center stage who stirs up passion in the audience by counterfeit tears, the hypocrite, playing his religious role, may temporally spark the believer's true graces. But that is when the Christian may be in the most serious danger, for he will not readily suspect the person who once helped him spiritually.

It would have been far better had Sisea the Canaanite done without Jael's butter and milk than to be nailed to the tent floor, having been fooled by that woman's seeming hospitality. Thus it is to our advantage not to sample free gifts and give-away graces of stage play saints, applauding and drinking ourselves drunk with their admiration. Sometimes a calculated distance from the hypocrite is the safest way to avoid having our heads nailed by errors. \t

From: \tThe Christian in Complete Armour, (year 1665)

Gurnall's writings are full of heavenly wisdom at an astounding level. Literally [i]every single sentence[/i] this man wrote reverberates with fruit and deep riches. It's amazing. I've never read a single line from this Puritan that didn't impact me in some way.

TCICA is truly indispensible; greater even, in my opinion, than Pilgrim's Progress and second only to the Word of God.

You should read "Looking Unto Jesus" by Issac Ambros. It would warrent the same response. Each sentence causes you to gaze at the beauty of Jesus Christ. What a blessing.

A friend of mine, an AG churchgoer and seasoned youth minister is going through tremendous unrest right now, and God is conditioning his heart to receive the ministry of some of these men. He told me he's so very weary of arrogant evangelists, of rigid and burdensome preaching (men who put holiness loads on the backs of their hearers without lifting the spiritual finger of grace to lighten it), the whole Pentecostal experience of tongues and signs and power, compulsory tithing, etc. He's tired, and inwardly full of hurt and failure and condemnation. By the grace of God I was able to "prescribe" 3 books to him: Thomas Watson's "The Great Gain of Godliness", John Owen's "The Mortification of Sin" and William Bridge's "A Lifting Up for the Downcast". I told him he could find them on Amazon cheap - like for 8 dollars each.

He had until then only heard of the Puritans in name only, but had no idea who they were. I shared some grace with him, and wisdom from the Word of God with humility and tenderness and his eyes welled up with tears. He told me through tears, "Why doesn't anyone preach about these things? [i]This[/i] is what we need to hear.." I told him to supplement the reading of the Bible with some of the books I mentioned. He told me he was going home and was ordering all three off Amazon.

I pray this be the beginning of a blessed journey for him..

PaulWest wrote:

[By the grace of God I was able to "prescribe" 3 books to him: Thomas Watson's "The Great Gain of Godliness", John Owen's "The Mortification of Sin" and William Bridge's "A Lifting Up for the Downcast". I told him he could find them on Amazon cheap - like for 8 dollars each.

Bah, now I will have to order these and read them :-) Thanks for the blessing brothers and the recommendations. Looking forward to the reads myself.

Gurnall's writings are full of heavenly wisdom at an astounding level. Literally every single sentence this man wrote reverberates with fruit and deep riches. It's amazing. I've never read a single line from this Puritan that didn't impact me in some way

Over a year ago I read a response similar to this one. It went on and on about this William Gurnall fellow and his book The Christian in Complete Armour. I ordered it to see what all the hype was about…to see if it truly deserved such a glowing endorsement.

I thanked Paul West then and I thank him now.

Never has a book, other than the Bible, had such a profound impact of me. These statements from Bro Paul West may seem a little over the top. I promise you…they are not.

I am so glad to hear that everyone rates Gurnall so highly. I am currently waiting for the book 'The Christian in Complete Armour' to be delivered as I recently bought it on Amazon. I ordered it on the recommendation of Brother Ravenhill after listening to him speaking in an interview.
I have read many of John Bunyans books but have yet to read books of the other puritans.

I can't hardly wait for the book to arrive now :-) :-) :-)