This one minute short video comes from our full length video called "Roman Catholicism Series #11: Scripture Twisting - 20 Ways Religious Cults Misread the Bible" at    • Roman Catholicism Series #11:  Script...   . To see the entire 16 hour video series called "Roman Catholicism Series" go to our playlist "Dealing With Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Idolatry & the Virgin Mary" with 295 videos at    • Dealing With Roman Catholicism, Easte...   . False religions pervert the message of the Bible in many ways.

2 Peter 3:16-17, "as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest you, having been carried away by the error of unprincipled men, fall from your own steadfastness,"

"Scripture twisting" refers to the act of intentionally misinterpreting or taking verses from the Bible out of context to support a particular belief or agenda, often done by cults or groups with unorthodox interpretations, essentially distorting the meaning of the scripture to fit their own desired narrative.

In Scripture, there are many instances of people who twisted the Scriptures to their own destruction. Jeremiah 23:36, for example, addresses those who were misrepresenting the Word of God: “Each one’s word becomes their own message. So you distort the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God.” In Matthew 23:13–36, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and teachers of the law for their misinterpretations and hypocritical applications of the Scriptures. They had added human traditions to God’s law, burdening people and obscuring the law’s true intent.

Paul personally contended with false teachers who had distorted his doctrine. Speaking to the Galatians, Paul says, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6–7, ESV). Paul says that anyone who distorts the gospel of Christ should be “accursed” (verse 8, ESV). This language is similar to Peter’s warning that twisting the Scriptures will lead to destruction.

We can identify a false teacher or a false prophet by examining first and foremost their teaching and secondly their behavior in light of Scripture. If what they are teaching is not consistent with what is plainly revealed in Scripture, they are a false teacher and are to be ignored, even if they live extraordinary lives, even if they appear to have supernatural insight, or even if they seem to work great miracles. Jesus warned us that there would be false prophets who would perform great signs and would seek to lead astray, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:24, Mark 13:22).

It is, therefore, urgent not to be distracted by such things, but to focus on the content of their teaching. Our Lord explained: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits,” (Matthew 7:15-20).

The false prophet comes in the clothing of a sheep but is inwardly a wolf. He appears on the outside as a sheep but is secretly a wolf within. We are to know them by their “fruit,” not by their “clothing.” A fig tree bears figs, an apple tree bears apples, a prophet bears prophesy, and a teacher bears teaching. “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart,” (Matthew 12:33-34).

Jesus likewise said of the false teachers of his day: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness,” (Matthew 23:27). “Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it,” (Luke 11:44). The image here, drawing from the Old Testament ceremonial purity laws, is of something that looks innocuous or even pleasing on the outside, but is not only corrupt within but also makes the unsuspecting impure because of its deception. It is, therefore, imperative that we not be distracted by any outward appearance of “goodness,” but rather focus first and foremost on the window we have to what is within: the words.