There seems to be a prevalent idea among many that false prophet's are easily recognizable. That what they teach and what they say will be so patently false that no God fearing believer would ever be tricked or persuaded by them, nor follow them. Oh! If that were only the case! The fact is, that many "believers" are both vulnerable and susceptible to following after false prophets. Whether it be due to a lack of knowledge or an insufficient understanding of the word of God, or even an outright apostasy from the word of God, many are ripe for deception! Jesus emphatically stated that, "For...false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." Many in the Church seem to think that the term "false prophets" primarily refers to teachers of non Christian false religious systems. While the label of "false prophets" certainly does include those, the real issue and more immediate danger of which the scriptures warn against are those who are within the ranks of the church itself. The 'wolves in sheep's clothing'. It should be noted that almost all of the false prophets in the Old Testament were indeed Jews who were accepted by the people as legitimate prophets. I call them the "Populist Prophets", these were the prophets that would only preach the pleasant words of peace and prosperity along with soothing words of comfort that lulled the people into a state of spiritual complacency. They were only interested in gathering a following. They only wanted the accolades and approval of the people. (After all, the masses wont buy your books if they don't like you or what your saying!) Therefore, their words were never sharp nor piercing or convicting, nor would they warn the people of the dire consequences of their sins. The populist prophet dares not speak of the apostasy of Gods people from His ways. However, God tells us regarding these prophet's: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ (But) ...“I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings." (Jer.23:16-23) True prophets of God speak the whole counsel of God. They speak both His reproof and rebuke for apostasy and sin, as well as His redemption for those who repent and return back to Him! Another commonly held false idea is that false prophet's will always be wrong in their predictions and never be correct, and that if someone predicts or prophesies something and it indeed does happen, then that must automatically mean that they are in fact a true prophet. However again, we are warned in Deuteronomy 13; “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass...(Notice that the prediction was true and came to pass...) "..of which he spoke to you..." (but then he says), ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ Again, The Lord says! (V3) "...you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul..." Did you catch that? God is actually using that false prophet to test your fidelity to Him and His truth! It doesn't matter if the prophet seems to be genuine if in the end he's leading you astray from serving the one true God in Spirit and in Truth! Therefore; “You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.” (Deut. 13:4-5) (Of course in this new dispensation we would not literally put to death a false prophet, but we are to "put them to death" in the sense of not allowing their words into our hearts and minds! Consider them "dead" and do not follow after them!) No lie is of the truth To what end will a false prophet speak truth? Truth is truth regardless of its source. (Even Paul quoted a truth from the pagan Greek poets in order to make a valid point to his Greek audience. Acts 17:28) However, even liars will speak truth if it serves their ends. Therefore, to misappropriate a truth in order to substantiate a lie, turns the truth into a lie. Therefore, the scripture says that no lie is of the truth! The sad fact is people really are too easily led astray, and particularly so called "spiritual people". I have found through my 37+ years of following Jesus that far too many Christians are quite gullible. Wild and crazy conspiracy theories tend to run amok in Christian circles. Honestly, it is a bit of a curiosity and quite puzzling to me. Worse still, too many Christians tend to accept signs and wonders at face value with very little discernment. Whether it's because of an ignorance of what God's word says about such things, or whether it's because "spiritual" people can oftentimes tend to have an inordinate desire towards mysticism that sometimes borders on the superstitious, or supernaturalism, these “spiritual” propensities can lead us into great deception if they are not governed by the absolute truth of the Word of God! Make no mistake about it! The Word of Truth is our only safeguard against the deception of false prophets! My friends! You must hold fast to the word of God! Do not hold to the word of men, no matter how spiritual sounding, or well intended they may seem to be! Ask yourself, where are their words leading me? Are they leading me to flee from sin and to love and serve God sacrificially? Or, are they actually leading me to serve my own self interests and selfish desires under a guise of godliness? (I realize a lot of honest self examination is what is needed here! Especially when it comes to following some of our “favorite” “leaders”! None of us like the thought of having been deceived or led astray!) In these last days they are calling good 'evil' and evil 'good'. So many people are under such a strong delusion that the only explanation is that it can only be a supernatural phenomena! It's actually very scary when you think of it. It's also exactly what the Word of God said would happen in the last days. "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12) The entire Planet is rushing towards judgment and a rising Pied Piper will be leading the way! The ultimate false prophet is about to take the stage! And multitudes will follow him and genuinely believe that he's of God! They will be tricked by his appearance, for he will look like and have the appearance of being a lamb, and they will be enraptured by his words for he'll speak with great authority! He will perform signs, miracles, and wonders which will have them fully convinced that he's a servant of God, when in reality he's a pawn of the devil! This is how John describes this coming false prophet in the book of Revelation. “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast (The anti-Christ) in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth—by those signs which he was granted to do..." (Rev. 13:11-13) When reading Revelation 13:13 remember what God warned of in Deuteronomy 13! “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Even so, Marantha! Come Lord Jesus! - Andy White
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