Beware of False Christians

By Michael J. Talmo October 25, 2024

The Republican Party and right-wing religious organizations claim to know what the will of God is. In the name of God and Jesus, they want to replace our secular government with a Christian theocracy. This is known as Christian nationalism, which is spelled out in Project 2025, promoted by a right-wing think tank called The Heritage Foundation, and in the Seven Mountain Mandate, which began in 1975 when three evangelicals claimed they got a message from God. But does the Bible actually say this is what God and Jesus really want? Absolutely, unequivocally NO! Not by a long shot. Not even close.

In Matthew 7:15, Jesus issued this warning:

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

In verse 21, Jesus further decreed:

“Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

Just what did Jesus mean by that? What does doing the will of the Father/God actually mean?

Satan rules the world

When Jesus was in the desert, where he fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was tempted by the Devil. In Luke 4:5-7, Satan took him up to a high mountain and showed him all of the kingdoms on Earth. He told Jesus that they are his to give to whomever he wants and that he will give them to him if he will agree to worship him. Jesus rejected Satan’s offer to rule the world, but he never disputed his authority. As stated in II Corinthians 4:4, Satan is “the god of this world.”

But the false Christians of this world want power now. They want to rule in this world, which belongs to the Devil. To rule now is to give in to the temptation that Jesus resisted. This is why he declared to Pilate in John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight.”

Is the plain and obvious truth becoming clear, folks? Anyone who holds political office is not and cannot be a Christian. As stated in Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters.” So, if you wield the power of government, you serve the Devil because the governments of the world belong to him.

What a false Christian really is

According to the Bible, the Archangel Lucifer (Satan), along with a third of the rebel angels who follow him, now known as demons and devils, rule by deception. Revelation 12:4,9 emphatically states that Satan has deceived the entire world. And the primary instrument of his deception is Christianity. Yes, there are religious groups that worship Satan. But true Satanism isn’t devil worship; it’s counterfeit Christianity, which in chapter 17 of Revelation is depicted as a great whore that sits “upon many waters,” or “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” Over two billion people who think they are worshiping God and following the teachings of Jesus are actually worshiping Satan the Devil.

The Apostle Paul is blatantly clear about this in II Corinthians 11:4, 13-15:

“For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him…For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

But people who are deceived don’t know they are deceived, which is why it says in Matthew 7:22-23 that in the day of judgment these false ministers will be shocked to hear Jesus tell them he never knew them even though they prophesied, cast out devils, and did other great works in his name. They thought they devoted their lives to God when they didn’t. In other words, as stated in Paul’s epistle to the Romans, chapter 10:2-3, these ministers/priests and the people who follow them “have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”

Bottom line: who you obey is your god regardless of what you claim, as clearly stated in Romans 6:16. False Christians sincerely believe in God, but as stated in Titus 3:16, “in works they deny him.” James 2:20 declares that “faith without works is dead.” That’s the master key, folks. That’s how you know which Christians are false: look at what they do. Or as stated in Matthew 7: ‘by their fruits ye shall know them.” Here are some examples of false Christianity’s rotten fruit.

They don’t love their neighbor

In Matthew 22: 36-40, Jesus is asked what the great commandment in the law is. Jesus replied by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” He then quoted Leviticus 19:18: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

In Luke chapter 10, and in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus explains that “thy neighbor” are those in need, such as the sick, the poor, the afflicted, those in prison, etc. Not providing help to these people is rejecting Christ himself. It’s denying God. Jesus is very clear on this: You will be judged on how you treat those in need of help. Praying for the needy and wishing them luck means nothing, as explained in James chapter 2. You have to actually do something.

Many of today’s right-wing Republicans, evangelical ministers, and their conservative followers who claim to be Christians are selfish and xenophobic. They hate foreigners and oppose giving them refuge even to save their lives. Most are against a social safety net, as in welfare, Social Security, universal health care, and protecting the environment. They have no problem seeing the rich get richer at the expense of the rest of us. They balk at having to pay taxes for programs that help those less fortunate. Their fellow humans aren’t their problem. They also want to force women to give birth, but in most cases won’t adopt these unwanted children or even provide them with any kind of government assistance. “I got mine, screw you” is their attitude, which is the mark of a false Christian.

They are compulsive liars

I John 2:4 pulls no punches when it comes to who knows God and who doesn’t:

“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

True Christians, as explained in Revelation 12:17, “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” which, as explained in Romans 8:6-9, is the Holy Spirit. If you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you aren’t a Christian, because, as stated in Acts 5:32, God only gives the Holy Spirit “to them that obey him.”

James 2:10-11 makes it clear that the commandments Christians are supposed to obey are the Ten Commandments. To break even one of them is to break all of them. In doing so, you “become a transgressor of the law,” because, as stated in I John 3:4,8, “sin is the transgression of the law.” And those who sin, transgress the law, are “of the devil.”

The Ninth Commandment prohibits lying. It clearly states, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” Yet, false Christians just can’t help themselves. They just love to lie. Here are but a few examples.

During the September 10, 2024 debate with Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, who calls himself “a non-denominational Christian,” started raving about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio: “They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in; they’re eating the cats; they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” As reported here and here, all of these outlandish claims are false. ABC News reported that even Ohio’s Republican Governor, Mike DeWine, said that Trump’s claims weren’t true and that a few days after the debate, Springfield has received “at least 33 separate bomb threats.”

Then there’s the Christian nation lie. False Christians claim that America was founded on Christian principles even though God, Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity aren’t mentioned anywhere in the U.S. Constitution, the document that actually governs us. In this 2013 article, historian Richard Carrier, PhD, debunks the Christian nation lie. He explains that the three branches of government–the right to trial by jury, the right to keep and bear arms in defense of the state, the understanding that all men are created equal and share the same natural rights–our entire system of government was invented by the ancient Greeks centuries before Christ. Our Founding Fathers knew this and wrote about it.

To dispel any further doubts, the Treaty of Tripoli, drafted in 1796 under the Administration of George Washington, ratified by unanimous vote in the US Senate, and signed into law by our second president John Adams in 1797, emphatically states in Article 11 that “the government of the United States of America is not in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

LGBTQ lies: “There are only two genders.” “Men are XY and women are XX.” These are two of the many lies false Christians tell about transgender people in order to persecute them and deny their existence. In reality, sex and gender are not the same. As explained here, sex refers to biological characteristics, while gender is a social construct or the roles men and women are expected to play in a given society or culture. But as explained here, here, and here, biological sex is a spectrum. Many people have a mix of biological characteristics. There are men who have XX chromosomes, and there are women born with XY chromosomes. Many people have different combinations of chromosomes along with the reproductive organs of both sexes. These people are referred to as intersex and are a lot more common than we think.

Cultures and civilizations throughout history have recognized multiple gender identities, as documented here and here. To name some, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient Japan, Ancient Egypt, and Native American tribes all recognized multiple genders as do modern societies today. Transgender is not something new or a fad, as false Christians claim. Even the Jewish Talmud recognizes eight different genders.

In 2022, anti-trans fanatic Matt Walsh, a Catholic who calls himself a “theocratic fascist,” got caught in a huge whopper on Joe Rogan’s show. Rogan asked Walsh how many kids were on puberty blockers, which temporarily halt the onset of puberty. Walsh replied, “We’re into the millions now at this point. Yeah, that would be my guess.” Rogan’s producer, Jamie Vernon, decided to fact-check that assertion. Turns out only 4,780 adolescents had been placed on puberty blockers between 2017 and 2022. Here is the video clip from the interview. Incidentally, puberty blockers, not to be confused with hormone replacement therapy for transitioning, are also used to treat precocious puberty, prostrate and breast cancer, and endometriosis, which, as reported here, is, and will continue to be, perfectly okay.

In John 8:44, Jesus calls Satan the father of all lies and says that those who lie are his children.

Proverbs 19:9 sums it up best:

“A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.”

They love war

In Matthew 5:9, Jesus spoke these powerful words:

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

Nowhere is false Christianity more evident than when it comes to war. As reported by Pew Research, all 45 of our US presidents, with two possible exceptions, have identified as Christian. Throughout our history, the overwhelming majority of US Congressmen have identified as Christians. Nevertheless, US history has been a history of endless war.

A 2011 article in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Intercultural Relations reported what should be obvious to all but the politically asleep: the United States is “a global empire seeking hegemonic economic, political, and cultural control of the world.” Its privatized for-profit military-industrial complex, a global network of military bases combined with its unsurpassed military might, which includes thousands of nuclear weapons along with “an extensive national security system that now endangers the legal rights of its own citizens,” threatens not only our freedom but the survival of the entire planet.

The article further explained that “The USA has been continuously at war since the earliest days of its existence as a nation.” Even prior to becoming a nation in 1776, New World settlers launched a campaign of violence and destruction against the indigenous native tribes. The rationalization used to justify all of this violence, lust for power, and war is the belief in “manifest destiny” along with American “exceptionalism.” In other words, the United States “is a culture of war rooted within a widespread ethos that uses military force in pursuit of self-interests.”

These ambitious pursers of “manifest destiny” and American “exceptionalism” forgot Jesus’ words in Mark 8:36:

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul.”

Harvard University’s Systemic Justice Project did a scathing report on the big business of war: “The Weapons Industry Kills: How U.S. Corporations Export Death Around the World.” It states:

“The United States is the largest exporter of weapons globally. Through direct commercial sales and State Department-managed Foreign Military Sales, U.S. manufacturers sell obscene quantities of weapons. These weapons go directly into the hands of government regimes that use them against civilians, in extrajudicial killings, and to commit further human rights abuses.”

In other words, weapons made by US corporations are being used to commit war crimes and mass murder innocent people throughout the world, which includes children. Nevertheless, as stated in the report, “nobody holds companies remotely responsible for selling weapons to brutally oppressive regimes.” For example, President Joe Biden, who professes Catholicism, continues to supply Israel with weapons in spite of the fact that their brutal war of aggression has killed over 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Over 15,000 of that number are children. The Lancet explained why the death toll is really much higher than that. And that’s not counting Lebanon and Iran.

And do you notice that when it comes to social programs that help poor and middle-class people, you will constantly hear Republican politicians and talking heads in the mainstream media cackle ad nauseam, “How are we going to pay for it?” But when it comes to war, you just about never hear that. I wonder why.

Warmongering false Christians ignore Jesus’ warning in Matthew 26:52:

“all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

They love to judge and punish others

Throughout the New Testament, Christians are told to treat others with love and compassion and not to harm others or try to punish them for any wrongs they do. But carnally minded false Christians (Romans 8:6-7) just can’t help themselves. They are incapable of peaceful coexistence and ignore the teachings of the book they claim to believe in.

Matthew 7: 1-2:

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Matthew 6:14-15:

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

In Matthew 13:24-30, 37-42, Jesus told and later explained the parable of the wheat and the tares (weeds). A farmer (Jesus) planted wheat (true Christians) in a field (the world). But while others slept, the farmer’s enemy (Satan) planted weeds (wicked people). When the wheat and the weeds both sprang up, Jesus’ human servants wanted to rip the weeds out of the ground. But Jesus told them not to because “while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.” In other words, people often aren’t capable of determining who is good and who is bad and will punish the innocent with the guilty, so it’s better to let the reapers in the time of harvest (the angels when Jesus returns to rule the Earth) make that determination.

People get angry, hate, and fear for many different reasons. But they are often manipulated into reacting this way for no logical reason. When someone or some group, especially politicians or religious leaders, are able to activate people’s deepest fears and prejudices, the reasoning processes in the brain shut down, the primitive brain takes over, and they become a lynch mob. Christians are warned to avoid this in II Timothy 2:24-26:

“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing them that oppose themselves; If God preadventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

This is why Jesus said in John 6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” Meaning, God has to open a person’s mind to repentance. He chooses who He wants to be in His church. Maybe He has plans for someone you consider wicked, and if you kill that person or imprison them, it interferes with His purpose for them.

But are we supposed to let the wicked go unpunished, including those who physically harm others? Romans 12:19-21 tells Christians to “avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst give him drink…Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” In Matthew 5:44 Jesus says, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

But there is one form of persecution true Christians are supposed to avoid. I Peter 4:15:

“But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.”

Again, false Christians just can’t help themselves. They want to meddle in other people’s lives and persecute them if they think or live contrary to their moralistic standards. They obsess over things they know nothing about, asking “foolish and unlearned questions” (II Timothy 2:23). They fritter away their time on how other people are having sex, on who they marry, on what they are reading and viewing, on what’s going on in other women’s wombs, on what a woman is, and on who is in the bathroom. Many false Christians even want to impose the death penalty for these trivial matters.

In Genesis 18:22-33, Abraham set an example of what true a Christian is when God was preparing to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness. Abraham, though terrified in God’s presence, begs Him to spare them. He banters back and forth with God. First, he asks God, if He finds fifty righteous people in the twin cities, would He be willing to spare them? God says that He would. Abraham then keeps lowering the number until he gets to ten, and God still agrees. If He finds ten righteous people, He won’t destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham asked God to show mercy. Today’s false Christians don’t know the meaning of the word. They would revel at witnessing God wreck havoc and destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah. They delight in the pain and suffering of others.

False Christians are oblivious to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:7:

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

Face the truth or remain lost

Standing up for who you are and being true to yourself in the face of adversity and persecution are what true Christians are supposed to do. It’s also what any decent human being must do regardless of what they believe. And make no mistake, to stand up for peace, the poor, the sick, and for truth, to say no to the evil that those in power do will make those who are part of the current system and deceived by it despise you, do you harm, and maybe even kill you.

“All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,” declares II Timothy 3:12. But false Christians will use business and government to persecute others. Therein lies the difference, folks.