The Apostle Paul when he warned the elders of the church in Ephesus about the false teachers who would be coming after his departure gave them and us a simple way to spot the the wolves. Said Paul:

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore be alert” (Acts 20:28–31)

Note well what Acts 20:30 says about the fierce wolves, they draw away the disciples after themselves.

The 5th century Church Father Ammonius of Alexandria, preaching on this text noted:

“In order to draw away the disciples after them.” Heretics strive to make the people their own instead of the Lord’s, so that they might boast in themselves...Paul himself checked this beforehand when he silenced and censured those who were saying, “I’m Paul’s; I’m Apollos’s; I’m Cephas’s,” since he did not want their faith to be explained by the name of a person but by Christ’s name; he wanted them all to be called Christians, even though they had been taught by different teachers. Accordingly, whenever all the teachers strive for the same goal of proclaiming the true faith, of profiting the students while suppressing their own names, they are called, by the same name, Christians."

Dr. Paul Kretzmann in his Popular Commentary noted:

[Paul] knew that after his departure from them, in a future which was not greatly distant, there would enter into the flock from without grievous, ravening, ferocious wolves, false teachers that would have no mercy on the flock, but would use every means to disrupt the congregation, to murder the souls by trying to persuade them to accept false doctrine. And in addition there would be factionists from within, out of their own membership, men that would arise...with a doctrine full of perverse and antichristian matter, with the intention of drawing away those that were already Christians, the latter thereby becoming guilty of apostasy from the truth and from the true Church of Christ. These two dangers looming up before them, the elders of Ephesus should watch, be on their guard, exert constant vigilance."

With these thoughts in mind, I would like you to listen to this episode of Fighting for the Faith in which I answer the question, "Is Jesus or Steven Furtick The One Whom the Prophets Longed to See?"

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIASr2DUXLE?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

If Steven Furtick is a true Christian teacher why is his ministry marked by pointing the people at Elevation to Steven Furtick rather than Christ?

χάρις ἔλεος εἰρήνη σοι,

@PirateChristian