Why This Page Is Here
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Acts 20:29-30 (KJV)
Paul wept as he said those words to the elders at Ephesus. He knew the danger would not always come from outside the church. It would rise up from inside it, from men who stand in pulpits and draw crowds. That is still true, and today a preacher can reach millions of young believers through a phone before any elder in their own church has heard his name.
This page gathers careful reports on popular teachers. Each one weighs what a man teaches by the Word of God, so that believers can tell a faithful shepherd from a dangerous one, and so that parents, pastors, and friends have something sound to hand to someone they love. More reports will be added over time.
How Each Teacher Is Weighed
He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.
Proverbs 18:17 (KJV)
A report here is meant to be fair before it is anything else. Every one of them is held to the same rules.
- Scripture is the standard. Holy Scripture alone binds the conscience. The Westminster Confession of Faith and its catechisms are used as the church’s faithful summary of what Scripture teaches.
- His own words come first. The evidence is drawn first from the teacher’s own sermons, books, interviews, and his church’s written beliefs. Where a quotation carries great weight, the report names the sermon and about where in it the words come, so any believer can listen for himself.
- Critics are leads, not proof. What critics say is read for leads but never treated as evidence. A charge that cannot be traced to the man’s own words or to reliable reporting is left out, and a report says so plainly when a common charge does not hold up.
- What he gets right is told too. A man should be judged by the whole of what he teaches. Truth is still truth when it comes from a man with errors, and the report says so.
- Each finding is given its weight. A grave finding touches the foundation of the faith. A serious finding departs from clear Reformed teaching in a way that harms hearers. A caution marks a weakness believers should watch for. Sound and credit mark what is right and good.
- Each ends in a plain answer. Is he safe to sit under? A green check means yes. A red cross means no, he should not be anyone’s steady teacher. The answer stands at the top of every report and beside every name below, so no one has to read the whole report to find it.
Each report can also be downloaded in full as a PDF, sources and all, to print or pass along. The reports themselves quote the English Standard Version. On this site the same verses are given in the King James Version, like every other page here.
The Reports
In What Spirit to Use These
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 (KJV)
Not every teacher named here is called a wolf. Some are badly wrong at the root, and some are brothers whose errors are serious enough that they should not be anyone’s steady teacher. A report says which, and why, and it leaves the judging of hearts to God.
So when you use them, quote the man’s own words, not rumors about him. Do not mock him, and do not repeat charges the record does not support. Pray for him, because God can still humble a proud preacher and set a confused one straight. And if a teacher is troubling your own church, go to your elders rather than starting a campaign of your own.
The surest guard against the counterfeit is to know the true thing well. Sit under faithful preaching in a church where the elders know your name. For more help in testing a teacher yourself, read How to Spot a False Teacher, How to Spot Real Heresy, and How to Weigh “God Told Me”.