BEWARE OF FALSE TEACHERS AND PROPHETS!

Matthew 7:15-16 TLB

"Beware of false teachers who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are wolves and will tear you apart. [16] You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You need never confuse grapevines with thorn bushes or figs with thistles.


A false prophet is a person who spreads false teachings or messages while claiming to speak the Word of God. False prophets function in their prophetic role illegitimately or for the purpose of deception. The Bible denounces false prophets for leading people astray. Wherever the stern demands of true discipleship are taught, there are false prophets who advocate the wide gate and easy way.

Jesus said to beware of false prophets because, as we know, wherever the true way of God is taught, there will always be false prophets and teachers who disguise themselves as genuine prophets.

Jeremiah 14:14 describes false prophets, and God says they prophesy lies. We should know their character. The Lord gives us an important insight into false prophets in Jeremiah 23:21–33: "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran—Not to save souls, but to profit themselves. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied—They never received the word at my mouth; yet they went, publishing their own deceits, and pretending them to be revelations from God."

This is the face of many churches and ministries today. Even people who don’t belong to any denomination have labelled themselves prophets of God, dispersing false doctrines gained, according to Isaiah 8:19-21, from familiar spirits and mediums to deceive God’s people. The Lord is not pleased with this and condemns them.

1 Kings 22 tells of the difference between a true prophet of God and a false one. Jehoshaphat wanted a true prophet to speak into his and King Ahab’s mission to retake the city of Ramoth in Gilead. Jehoshaphat rightly suspected that the predictions of victory from Ahab’s 400 counsellors were from false prophets who didn’t have the Spirit of God. These false prophets merely said what the king wanted to hear and collected their salary from the royal treasury. Unlike Micaiah, whose words came to pass, proving him to be the true prophet of God with the Spirit of God.

Like Ahab, this generation only wants to hear what pleases them. 2 Timothy 3:2 warns that the time will come (that time is now) when men will not hear the practical truths of the Gospel. They will prefer speculative opinions, which either do no good to the soul or corrupt and destroy it, to that wholesome doctrine of "deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow me," which Jesus Christ gave in Matthew 16:24-26.

Jesus teaches about false prophets in His Sermon on the Mount, saying that by their fruit we will recognize them. Do people pick mangos from orange trees or bananas from plantain? Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. All false prophets, according to Ezekiel 22:28, profess themselves to be prophets of God but have been unfaithful in the discharge of their office. They soothe the people in their sins and pretend to have oracles of peace and safety even when the Lord has not spoken to them.

They water down the truth until, as C. H. Spurgeon said, “There is not enough left to make soup for a sick grasshopper.” These men who profess to be speaking for God come in sheep’s clothing, giving the appearance of being true believers. But inwardly they are ravenous wolves, i.e., they are vicious unbelievers who prey on the immature, the unstable, and the gullible.

Beware of false prophets! There are those who seek to hear from a “prophet” before they take any step. According to 1 John 4:1, don’t believe every prophet to be a man sent of God. Put these prophets to the test. Try them by the Spirit and word of God because a true prophet’s teachings are consistent with Scripture. Beware of false prophets.

PRAYER: Lord, God! Grant me the grace, wisdom and discernment to listen and hear what the Spirit is saying and not false doctrines in Jesus’ name, amen.

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/womenoflight/episodes/BEWARE-OF-FALSE-TEACHERS-AND-PROPHETS-e2vkf06

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