Are Preachers Perfect?
Generally, people have rather a warped idea of the eminence of preachers as compared to others. The misconceptions held are based upon false impressions made, not a few of which have been made by preachers themselves, who rank among the greatest offenders.
Some people seem to feel, not without the consent of "the clergy," that preachers are made out of a little better grade of clay than the rest of common mortals. That they are little replicas of God, incapable of doing wrong, and enjoy some sort of immunity from error. Overlooking the fact that preachers are just ordinary folk, people have misplaced their confidence by supposing that all that preachers teach is bound to be the truth. With neither question nor investigation, multitudes have been blindly led along in religious error by teachers who are as subject to mistakes and as liable to err as the masses whom they lead. These phrases may seem to have a strange ring, seeing they come from the pen of a preacher, but your writer would not want one to take what he says, because he says it, and rest one's salvation on such a variable and insecure foundation. If sober thought can be provoked, these words will not become as "sounding brass" or a "tinkling cymbal." The day is far spent in which we need to inquire, "What does the Bible say?" instead of "What does the preacher say?"
This is not just an idea of some man, but it is the expressed will of God. I John 4:1 says, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world." This passage tells us not to believe everything that we hear preached, but to put to a test to see if it be of God. Now, why? "Because many false prophets are gone out into the world." The word "prophet" primarily means to "teach," hence the Holy Spirit informs us that many "false teachers" are in the world. Why this warning if it matters not what one teaches or believes? Just what kind of "false teachers" did the Lord have in mind? Surely He did not refer to our public school teachers and college professors, though no doubt some advocate erroneous ideas; He was not warning against political teachers among whom there are many false ones, but He was talking about religious teachers. Not, if there are "many false teachers" in the religious world, who are they? If everything a preacher preaches is the truth because a preacher said it, who are the false teachers among us whom the Lord warned us about and told us not to believe? Furthermore, the Lord did not say there would be a bad one now and then as an exception, but He said there were "many." Some suggest that these false teachers are found in Mohammedanism, Buddhism, etc. Surely no student of the Bible would deny that these religions are false, but does such a denial warrant the conclusion that there are no false teachers outside these religions? Is the teacher who claims to believe in Christ while "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9), any better off than the Mohammedan who also follows the teachings of men but denies the Christ? Why would God condemn the Mohammedan for teaching the commandments of men and then turn and approve the so-called Christian for doing the same thing, seeing "there is no respect of persons with God" — Romans 2:11. "Well," says one. "the difference is in the fact that one believes in Christ and the other does not." Does a profession of faith in Christ grant one the liberty of casting aside the words of Christ and substituting the doctrines of men? Jesus said, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day" — John 12:48. To reject the words of Christ is actually to reject the Christ. Hence to reject the word of Christ and substitute the word of men, whether one be Mohammedan, Buddhist, Jew, or professed believer in Christ, is to become a false teacher.
The Lord said, "Believe not every spirit, but try them whether they be of God." To "try" them is to put them to a test, judge, or prove them. By what are preachers to be tried and judged? Surely not by themselves! Since the words of Christ are to judge us in the last day, they must also be our judge now. The New Testament, which is the word of Christ, is then our standard of judgment and that by which teachers are to be tried. It then becomes a question of "What does the New Testament teach?" It is not just your privilege to try the spirits to see if they are of God, the Lord commands you to do it. Ask your preacher, then, for book, chapter, and verse for what he has been teaching you. If he cannot give it, you will know that he is a false teacher, and the Lord said, "Don't believe him!"