Yesterday, I was blessed to receive a phone call from a friend of almost 30 years. Though we only knew each other in passing those many years ago, our conversation yesterday revealed a unity in spirit and purpose regarding ministry…and what we both feel God is revealing and speaking today. We both expressed a feeling of URGENCY…that time is short, and Jesus Christ is soon to return.
It was during this conversation…and our discussions on recent FB posts and/or sermons…that a specific truth suddenly became so clear in my mind and spirit.
I write a great deal about the dangers of FALSE TEACHING and FALSE DOCTRINE within the Church. As I have written, Scripture deals EXTENSIVELY with this very subject. Repeatedly, Paul and Peter and John and even Jesus would WARN the people that “perilous times” would come.
Read these passages carefully (some included, some only referenced due to length - but take the time to read them: I want the Word of God to speak to you)…then, after these passages, I will write what God revealed as I talked with my friend by phone yesterday. (These passages are just a FEW of the Scriptures dealing with false prophets/false teaching/false doctrine. If you want to read what God revealed FIRST, skip down to the end of these listed passages. But I encourage you to read these Scriptures either way.)
1 Kings 18:22
(False prophets are numerous.)
Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
1 Kings 22
(400 prophets prophesy by a “lying spirit“, while Micaiah alone remains a true prophet for the Lord. The lying prophets spoke VICTORY, while God was truly speaking DEFEAT.)
Isaiah 30:8-11
(The people of God no longer want to hear the truth, desiring that only “good things” be spoken to them.)
8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, And note it on a scroll, That it may be for time to come, Forever and ever: 9 That this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the Lord; 10 Who say to the seers, "Do not see," And to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. 11 Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us."
Jeremiah 5:31
(Lying prophets speak “good things“)
The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?
Jeremiah 14:13-15
(Lying prophets speak “good things“-continue reading further to see/learn the catastrophic results)
13 Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.' " 14 And the Lord said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land'--'By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed!
Jeremiah 23:16-22
(This entire chapter is such a revealing look into the realm of prophets who speak “blessings” as the Lord speaks “repent”: the false prophets speak lies and “false dreams“, and God is “against them“)
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: "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. 17 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.' " 18 For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? 19 Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury-- A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. 21 "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 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.
Jeremiah 27:14
(This entire chapter reveals the tremendous error and lies being spoken by the false prophets, again claiming “blessing” while God is proclaiming “destruction”)
Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon,' for they prophesy a lie to you;
These are just a small sample of instances in the Old Testament where the prophets spoke LIES…leading to terrible consequences when the people BELIEVED the lies. In every case, the LIES spoken refer to words of BLESSING and COMFORT and PEACE…yet, God was NOT speaking these words! I cannot possibly even include every Old Testament reference regarding LYING PROPHETS…false prophets…because they are so numerous. (Read Ezekiel and the other books of the Prophets in the Old Testament: there are CONSTANT battles between prophets speaking TRUTH and prophets speaking LIES.)
Now…what about the New Testament…
Matthew 7:15
(False prophets come looking harmless, but they bring destruction and death)
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
Matthew 23:34, 37
(TRUE prophets are sent…but the people reject them…and even kill them)
Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,…O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
Matthew 24:11,24
(False prophets will fool many people as they use "signs and wonders" (fake miracles, etc) to deceive even the strongest Christians...but those who only know the Word superficially.)
Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many…For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Luke 6:26
(A warning to beware when only good things are spoken…believing that those speaking blessing are “good men”…and beware of those speaking words of compliment)
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Romans 11:3
(True prophets are hated and killed…as they seek to destroy and silence truth)
"Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life"?
2 Peter 2:1
(False prophets will come from “among the people”…they will be from your town or your denomination…they will be people who are known by many…and they will preach LIES)
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
1 John 4:1
(The ultimate command, telling us that we are NOT to believe everything that we hear from a “prophet”…and we are to “test” their words by the Word of God)
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
There are MANY MORE passages of Scripture which deal with false prophets and false teaching. These are just a few. But, just with these, we can see the focus on this issue is THROUGHOUT God’s Word. False prophets were a problem in the Old Testament…and they were still a problem in the New Testament. But…we are told that “in the last days”, that false prophets will increase in number. They will come as “wolves in sheep’s clothing”…appearing harmless. Yet, they will bring in “destructive heresies”. They will do this “secretly”, according to God’s Word. And, they will deceive the people with “great swelling words.” They will use “enticing” words of “seduction.”
Let’s take those words and summarize them in a very simple way: False prophets will come with the appearance of GOOD…they will SEEM to be good, honest, even godly people. They will speak with words which actually DRAW the people in: the words will be APPEALING, and what is offered even sounds “too good to be true.” These false prophets will be masters at hiding lies (false teaching/false doctrine) within the truth: in other words, they will expertly MIX the two, with the LIES being hidden in a WRAP of truth. Their teachings will speak of GROWTH…proclaiming blessings to come. Yet, what these false teachings will eventually bring is DESTRUCTION.
Now…here is where we get the revelation which God gave as I spoke with my friend yesterday:
How dangerous and effective is FALSE TEACHING and FALSE DOCTRINE which comes from these FALSE PROPHETS? How does all the FALSE work in the life of a person to bring DESTRUCTION?
Let’s look at this subject by observing the reality of the need for BALANCE.
Balance is EXTREMELY important in our lives. I have known people who struggled with inner ear problems…and it can wreak havoc on a person’s BALANCE. We probably never give much thought to the importance of BALANCE in our everyday lives. We probably gave more attention to BALANCE when we were children…as we played on the playground. Did you ever stand in the middle of a teeter-totter and try to make it BALANCE? Or did you ever try to walk across the top of the monkey bars without falling? (I know…what were we thinking?!)
But, what would life be like without BALANCE?
In reality, life would be virtually IMPOSSIBLE! Almost EVERY normal act of life would become EXTREMELY difficult!
Spiritually, false doctrine gets us OFF BALANCE. And, as we see today, that false doctrine can range from an EXTREME focus on GRACE…a grace which denies OBEDIENCE…to an EXTREME focus on OBEDIENCE…which discounts the work of GRACE for salvation. In the mix of these extremes, we find all manner of false doctrine being taught from pulpits in churches across America. I have dealt which many of these in previous writings…and I will not elaborate on those here now.
Now…you may ask: But HOW does this false doctrine get us off balance…and why is it so dangerous?
Let me give you a VERY elementary description and example:
Stand up…and then I want you to stand on only ONE LEG. How easy is that to do? How easy is that to do CONTINUOUSLY? How easy is that to do WHEN SOMEONE IS TRYING TO KNOCK YOU OFF YOUR FEET?!
Hear me on this…Satan is trying to DESTROY us. Satan is trying to KNOCK US DOWN. Do not be deceived: Satan is on the ATTACK!
Spiritually, we find BALANCE when we have BOTH FEET placed FIRMLY on THE ROCK! Jesus is our FOUNDATION…and we must be FIRMLY PLANTED AND ROOTED in HIM!
But notice this truth here…even if we are standing on THE ROCK…we are not STRONG and SAFE and SECURE on THE ROCK if we fail to maintain our BALANCE!
PLEASE LISTEN: Satan is and/or will be ON THE ATTACK! And…he is after YOU…and ME…and any other Christian! Satan wants you to FALL! Satan wants to see you lying on the ground…DEFEATED and BEATEN!
But…Satan knows that he cannot be successful in his attempts against us IF WE REMAIN BALANCED…with our two feet firmly planted on THE ROCK…Christ Jesus!
So…picture it this way: if Satan can get us UNBALANCED…if Satan can get us to stand SHAKILY on THE ROCK…if Satan can get us to simply stand on ONE FOOT…then Satan can MUCH MORE EASILY knock us down!
Try this: stand with two feet on the ground…then get someone to push against you. As they “come against you”…as Satan will…you can better thwart their pressure against you when your two feet are FIRMLY PLANTED.
Now…try this: stand with only ONE foot on the ground…then get someone to push against you. As they NOW “come against you”…as Satan will…you have no BALANCE by which you can successfully thwart their pressure against you!
Again…PLEASE HEAR ME…this is Satan’s tactic! Satan wants people UNBALANCED. Satan wants us “out of balance”…he wants us UNSTEADY!
Satan knows that when we are BALANCED in the Word of God…we can “resist” him. Remember: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
Our ability to RESIST the devil is based on our position of BALANCE!
False prophets and false teachers introduce false doctrine into the BODY (the Church…believers) under the delusion of Satan, which allows Satan to bring about an UNBALANCED CONDITION to the people. From this perilous stance, the people cannot properly resist Satan. THIS is the danger of FALSE DOCTRINE!
I pray that this TRUTH will open the eyes of at least ONE PERSON who is under the deception of false doctrine. And I pray that this will help MANY understand and recognize the seriousness of this issue.
False doctrine is DESTRUCTIVE and DEADLY. Beware of FALSE PROPHETS…and seek TRUTH and BALANCE.
In Christ,
Ron
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