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Does God Permit Christians To Teach False Doctrine in a Fictional Format?

Whenever the false doctrines in the Left Behind Series are mentioned, the "excuse" for Christians to tolerate this is invariably, "The books are only fiction!"  This answer is designed to silence further inquiry and comment about the false doctrines and unbiblical examples throughout the Left Behind Series.  The "It's only fiction!" excuse is fast becoming a paradigm, or model, to excuse all kinds of false teachings that are traveling through the church with whirlwind speed.

Does the Bible teach that as long as false doctrine is taught in a fictional format, then this is acceptable to God?  Are God's people, followers of the truth, and who have the truth in their inward parts, permitted to "pervert the right ways of the Lord" as long as this is done in a fictional, or make-believe format?  

 

Fables Supply Questions Rather Than Godly Edifying

Let us examine God's Word about fables.  We are commanded to:

 "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do."  1 Tim. 1:4 

 Here we see what fables actually accomplish: they minister questions, or supply questions about doctrine where none should exist.  This is exactly what is happening with the fables of the Left Behind Series

Questions about doctrine are being supplied and what is dangerous is that these questions are about Bible truths that have never been questioned before!  Some obvious examples of this are the "second chance after the rapture" question, the "We won't know what the lie will be question," and the "Can a Christian, after forsaking the opportunity to confess the Lord Jesus Christ before men, be forced to take the mark of the beast and still be saved?" questions to name a few.  There are many other serious questionings of the Bible that are being presented through these fables and these are exposed in the book, God's Wrath on Left Behind.

 

Fables Can Turn People Away From the Truth

Fables are used to turn people away from the truth: "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."  2 Tim. 4:4  

God does not tolerate the use of fiction  (fables) to turn people away from the truth.  The Lord Jesus Christ used fictional stories called parables to turn people toward the truth, never away from the truth.  It is a fact that the Left Behind Series is not only turning people away from the truth, but is sometimes doing it in such a subtle fashion that we may not be aware this has happened until it is too late.  Some of the more obvious "turnings away from the truth"  have been touched upon in my articles about the Left Behind Series, but there are many more of these in the Left Behind books, and many of these teachings and examples are repeated as themes throughout the series.  

 

God's People Are Not To Heed Fables That Turn Men From the Truth

God's word commands us to not heed fables: 

"Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth."  Titus 1:14   

Christians are commanded to not heed Jewish fables because they contain false teaching that could turn them from the truth. Any fables that turn men from the truth must be shunned, not defended!  No Christian may use fables to turn men from the truth, period.  The excuse of "It's only fiction!" is not an excuse, it is an assertion that using fables that turn men away from the truth is just fine, because nobody will take it seriously.  God takes it seriously. And now, Jerry B. Jenkins admits that he wants you to take the Left Behind Series seriously.

 

God's People are Commanded To Refuse, Not Defend, Profane Fables

But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.  1 Tim. 4:7  

The opposite of accepting fables is to exercise yourself unto godliness.  Reading the Holy Bible is godly exercise; it takes effort to read the Bible "as is" and to show yourself approved unto God by studying it.  Reading fables takes little effort and is the reason why they are used to make merchandise of spiritually lazy Christians who do not want to exert the effort to "prove what is acceptable unto the Lord."  These kinds of Christians are the ones Satan knows will:

 Turn Away Their Ears From the Truth, and Be Turned unto Fables

What kinds of Christians will actually turn their ears away from the truth and prefer fables?  The Christians who "will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.  (See 2 Timothy 4:3-4)  The people referred to in this verse are Christians because they possessed the knowledge of the truth at one time, but they turned away from it for more palatable fables which were easier to swallow than the strong meat of the Word. 

Fables, which are fictional stories that turn men from the truth, are Satan's "reward" for believers who are tired of sound doctrine.  Fables are devil-designed for those who, because of their lusts,  heap to themselves false teachers to give them what they want to hear.  All Christians must purpose to distrust what they desire to hear, and instead, exercise themselves unto godliness by consuming the pure spiritual meat of the Word of God.

 

What About Fables That are a Mixture of Truth and Error?

These kinds of fables are to be rejected by the Christian, because they are profane, or polluted.  They contain light and darkness.  God is not a mixture of light and darkness: "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" and he magnifies his word even above his name.  If a fictional story that is directed toward Christians is profane (impure) and places question marks on the absolute truth of God's Word, and turns men away from the truth in any way, then this fictional work of darkness must be cast off by the people of God.  

Profane fables make merchandise of God's people (and those yet to become God's people) by perverting the right way of the Lord and God will judge all writers of such fables accordingly: 

 "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."  Matthew 18:6

 

return to: Exposing False Doctrines in the Left Behind Series

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