John Piper Offers 4 Scriptural Tests for Discerning Online Christian Influencers
Theologian and Desiring God founder John Piper stressed the importance of discerning sound doctrine from false teaching, particularly in the digital age of social media influencers and podcast preachers. In a recent episode of the "Ask Pastor John" podcast, Piper answered a question from a listener who asked, "The Bible gives us a lot of warnings about false teachers, but how can I identify if someone I listen to on the internet is a false teacher?"
"Set your standards high," the 79-year-old chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, said. "Listen to people who are truly God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated, Spirit-dependent, who bear the marks in their lives of authenticity."
"Don't set the bar so low that you only stop listening to people if they can be properly called false teachers," Piper said. "Lots of people are teachers who are simply misguided and unhelpful in many ways, but might not come under the ban of being called a false teacher."
According to The Christian Post, he also laid out four biblical standards for testing internet preachers, including examining their fruit, soundness of doctrine, submission to Scripture, and fidelity to the gospel of grace. Citing Matthew 7, Piper explains Jesus' words when examining a teacher's life.
"You will recognize them by their fruits," Piper quoted. "So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit."
He admitted that it can be challenging to assess someone's personal behavior while interacting with online celebrities.
"Which is why you need to look carefully and take time and belong to a church — a real, live, human-being, flesh-and-blood, in-person church with a real, live preacher whose life you know."
Referencing the apostle Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians, Piper shared how Paul used his life as an example of the gospel's power.
"You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake," Paul wrote. "So judge us by our lives."
Regarding soundness of doctrine, Piper stressed the Bible's teaching that Jesus is the incarnate son of God referenced in 1 John 4, "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God" as well as 1 Timothy on 6, where Paul warns against anyone who "does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness."
"We need to measure the doctrines that are being taught by the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and by their implications for godliness," Piper said.
He closed his response by emphasizing the doctrine of justification by faith as central to the gospel.
"Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed," Piper said, quoting from Paul's warning in Galatians 1:8–9.
"Paul is just red-hot about this one," Piper said, noting that any gospel that reintroduces law-keeping as a means to justification is a betrayal of grace.
"You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace" (Galatians 5:4), he added.
Piper contended that discerning false teaching is a matter of life and death.
"False doctrine and false teachers aren't just misleading; they're soul-endangering. So, we must be on high alert with discernment, deeply rooted in the truth," he said.
Ultimately, Piper said that one's spiritual safety goes beyond the internet.
"The best way to protect ourselves from false teachers is to be part of a healthy, Bible-preaching church, and to be prayerfully saturated with the Bible every day."
Photo Credit: Screenshot, courtesy of the Gospel Coalition
Originally published July 15, 2025.
