The Deception of False Teachers

“Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God; So was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed, both by David and by Absalom.” -2 Sam. 16:23

Ahithophel was a trusted counselor of King David up to the point until David’s son, Absalom, developed a conspiracy to overthrow David and take his throne. Absalom sent for Ahithophel and he joined his ranks as a member of his royal counsel in the coup.
Ahithophel, likely with biased and clouded judgement since he was Bathsheba’s grandfather, counseled Absalom to not only sleep openly with David’s concubines, but he also advised Absalom to hunt down and kill David. The above verse is how his counsel was regarded in those days.

Sin and “esteemed” counsel seen as one “consulting the word of God” cannot go together. False teaching and misrepresenting God’s Word are not new practices; they’ve been around forever.

One thing to note here though, when we talk about being aware of the “false teachers,” we usually think of psychotic nutcases like David Koresh, cult leaders. False teachers and false teaching, more times than not, are not so ‘in your face.’ They’re deceptive, intelligent, twisting a little here and a little there to get people pulled in. And before you know it, people who should have “known better” are all of a sudden believing this false teaching is “as if one consulted the word of God.”

Know your Bibles and be on the watch. Many popular, best-selling-author “preachers” out there are simply Ahithophels in modern church clothing.