Greetings to all my brothers and sisters in Christ!
As I return from my hiatus with blogging, I will share an effective means whereby we can discern false prophets. The key scriptural text which will support this teaching is found in Matthew 7(bold emphases mine) from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount when He discusses false prophets:
Matthew 7:15-23
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Interestingly, Jesus decides to compares the false prophets to “ferocious wolves” within this passage. The wolves are described as masquerading in sheep’s clothing. This disguise helps them blend in with the other sheep so that they are undetected. Of course, most people are familiar with this basic, surface level truth. An intriguing fact is that one form of sheep’s clothing is in having all of the right doctrine! Yes, these individuals are often times even perfectly biblical with their doctrinal beliefs, yet they are still false prophets!! False prophets also have phenomenal supernatural abilities, including: prophesying, exorcisms and miraculous healing. They are also in many cases very eloquent and dynamic speakers. In Jesus’ eyes, all of these capabilities means very little as far as true spirituality and holiness is concerned!
The question that remains unanswered needs further analysis so that the believer can be equipped to detect these false prophets. First, what did Jesus mean when he compared the false prophets to “ferocious wolves”? Secondly, what does the wolf want when he comes covering himself with sheep’s clothing in the midst of the sheep? He does not come to bless the sheep. He pretends to be one of them but his central aim is to extract something for himself. A wolf comes into the midst of sheep only to get something from himself. Ultimately, the wolf wants to bite off whatever he can from the sheep to feed himself. He’s greedy, he’s ravenous. He wants to bite off from the sheep as much as he can get from the sheep to feed himself. That’s one mark of a false prophet. The definitive way we detect a false prophet is through their greedy appetite. Their uncontrolled appetite will eat up whatever is yours and take it for themselves. In other words, the main thing they are seeking after is your money and your possessions.
What I have come to realize is that it is not enough to assess the accuracy of the “minister’s” doctrine. Simply put, if you only base your judgment on the accuracy of doctrine, you will be deceived. It is necessary to go underneath the sheep’s clothing to see what he truly seeks. The false prophet is after the money of the sheep in practically every case. Astonishingly, he will even exploit the holy scriptures just to obtain your money! “Servants of God” are called to be like Jesus Christ and shepherd the flock spiritually. Yet, in the entire Bible, one never sees Jesus asking people for money within his entire ministry. Believer, beware of this cunning deception that exists within Christendom and do not give these false prophets your money. They do not care about you and your welfare. They want to subtly destroy you, your money and your possessions. They will stop at nothing to achieve their demonic goal.
He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says.
God the Father, please protect us from all the deception that exists within Christendom. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Reference:
Theological Reflections 