They seduce them, and carry them out of the right way into by-paths and blind thickets of error, blasphemy and wickedness, where they are lost forever. Now the best way to deliver poor souls from being deluded and destroyed by these messengers of Satan is to display them in their true colors, so that being known poor souls may shun them, and flee from them as from hell itself. The first distinguishing mark is that they are men-pleasers. They preach more to please the ear than to profit the heart. These men handle holy things rather with wit and entertainment than with godly fear and reverence.
False teachers are soul-destroyers.
They are like evil surgeons, that skin over the wound, but never heal it. Flattery destroyed Ahab and Herod, Nero and Alexander. False teachers are hell s great enrichers. It is not bitter, but flattering words which do all the mischief, said Valerian, the Roman emperor. The second distinguishing mark of false teachers is that they are notable for casting dirt, scorn and reproach upon the person, names and credits of Christ s most faithful ambassadors.