Beware of false prophets

Matthew 7:15-20 (NKJV) “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

The answer for what is good fruit is written in Luke 3:7-11 (NKJV) Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” All false prophets, false teachers and false brothers do not like this, they will not preach this.

Apostle Paul gave instruction on material possession in 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 (NIV) What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

Jesus set an example for us to understand what is good fruit, Acts 10:38 … God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

Doing good works is Go’s will, 1 Peter 2:15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. It is written, Ephesians 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God —- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. This is the evidence of someone who are saved. In another word, those who don’t like to do good works indicates they don’t like to do God’s will, they are likely not saved.

Whether the fruit is good or bad depend on doing or not doing God’s will, that’s right after verse 20. Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 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 perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Therefore, “only he who does the will of my Father” can be a true prophet. Those who don’t are false prophets. With this principle, we can find the same in other scriptures like 1 John 2:5-6 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. In the same way, any prophet doesn’t walk as Jesus did is a false prophet. When it comes to applying these scriptures in real life, each still have to make a choice, either men’s way or Jesus’ way. Men’s way usually based on our knowledge and understanding to discern, but our not so pure hearts will always distort and twist the scripture. Jesus’ way is following exactly God’s will, “I judge only as I hear” from the Father, as he said, “ I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me“. Those who follow Jesus would do the same by seeking the Lord for instruction and discernment to judge.

Based on this, we can always pray something like Psalms 119:66 Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands. Teach me to judge who is false.
Psalms 119:125-128 I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes. It is time for you to act, O Lord; your law is being broken. Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold, and because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.
Psalms 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge
Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits
Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God
And this is the spirit of the Antichrist

It is written, 1 Corinthians 14:29-32 (NKJV) Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. The warning is “let the others judge” whenever prophet speaks. That means don’t trust any prophet, only trusting God. This is profound, if others have to judge what they say, what about preachers and teachers, should others judge as well?

God’s word warned us not to trust any prophecy without judging what he said, “two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge“. There is no guarantee a prophet has the Holy Spirit all the time, for “the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets“. Apostle John explicitly warn everyone, 1 John 4:1-3 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. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. But the warning have been widely overlooked for a very long time.

Jesus warned us not to trust leaders chosen by men, Revelation 2:2 (NKJV), “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; We have to watch out for evil people and liars, those who say they are apostles. The scriptures says only God appoint apostles and leaders. 1 Corinthians 12:28, And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. Bare in mind the scripture is talking about God’s church, not necessary the visible church build by men. There large number of people who do not join any local church, because they can’t find one teaching or preaching God’s word.

Many God’s children do not know they have been lead away from their only one teacher, the Christ. Due to pride and ignorance, men’s opinion mixed with scripture become widely acceptable as truth. I have been thinking 1 John 4:3, “every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God“. But I have no idea how to do it. After seeking the Lord for a few days, then I started researching on the history of many theologies. They were packaged nicely, even as early as 2nd and 3rd century. Lots of “experts” arranged biblical teaching into categories, for example, “the nature of God,” “the work of Christ,” “the doctrine of the church”. It’s real intention was feeding new believers with a controlled version of what Christianity should teach. They find the word “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” is not good enough to describe his nature, they need to add a lot more stuff to help the flock understanding the gospel “properly”.

In the end, these theologies removed many teachings from Jesus. Firstly, the cost of becoming Jesus’ disciple, as he said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me“. We see Jesus denied himself everyday, “…… you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.” To follow his example means abandoning our own understanding, knowledge and experience, trusting the Lord, giving up our own plans and ambitions or whatever our flesh desire, then we can do our heavenly Father’s will. Without becoming a disciple, it’s very difficult to learn anything from Jesus.

The warning of the spirit of antichrist is hidden from most people, but that spirit is everywhere for thousands of years, as John stated, “you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world“. So many are deceived by all kinds of men-made doctrines or theologies coming directly or indirectly from that spirit. Many young believers eager to serve God but end up with more confusion than before. A guest speaker from Astrongerfaith podcast #150 went through the training and served in a Presbyterian church as a vocational minister over a decade. She had everything worked out, but God told her something quite the opposite. Through her encounter with God we can catch a glimpse of what those doctrines and training may do to nice people.

It was rotting on the inside and it looked like it was great on the outside

The episode started with a question from the host, “The more of God that seemed to be blocked in a lot of our background and training and the environments we were in.” At around 14:10 the host asked Kate; “but spiritually that’s interesting. But you’re living a life of of ministry. You’re in the word. You’re in the church. You’re immersed in scripture. I mean, how is that not nourishing you? Like you feel like you almost describe some of that in the call, as you sound like a malnourished spiritual person. Though you were, you know, immersed in an environment full of nourishment, right, for others. How is that?”

I think that question had pointed out the truth that many people are not willing to see, those trainings and environment produced negative result to the spiritual growth. The guest from podcast #111 Chip Wallace had no such training, so he was able to seek God’s will by asking in the morning “what are we doing today?” Just like the Lord’s prayer instructed, asking for daily bread. The real spiritual food, as Jesus said “my food is to do the will of Him who sent me.” Kate failed to deny herself, she had her own plan all worked out, but Chip doesn’t. He was transformed by reading Jesus’ words in tears, then started to live for Christ. Chip is blessed due to his pure heart, so that he can see God. But many people don’t. The tragedy is only few pray something like psalm 51:10 “create in me a pure heart“, or psalm 90:12 “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart onto wisdom.“

Kate’s answer @17:26 is “our ditch is to know everything up here (in the head) and yet be starved in here (the heart). And I think that’s what happened to me. I didn’t think I didn’t know it was happening when it was happening, but it was happening.”

The cause of this ditch is always our head knowledge included too many wrong concepts made up by men. Those trainings are not focused on holiness, righteousness of God nor what is sin. Repentance and total surrender are missing. A few guests from A Stronger Faith podcast understood this, In podcast #97, Cathy Baillis had to take 3 prayer sessions for a total surrender. In #144, Sheila Self immediately went into repentance mode after the encounter. In #110 @54:30, Voyle Glover totally surrendered his will to God. In #88 @24:30, Debbie Schneider also stated it was the total surrender that renewed her. In general, the whole counsel of God has been replaced by doctrines of men in those trainings.

The encounter happened after Kate was sick, she seek the Lord for an answer, God showed her a picture of a big tree was cut down. She remembered the city’s decision and reason to cut down that tree. She said at 42:35, “Because it was rotting on the inside and it looked like it was great on the outside. It was a strong, mighty oak tree and we had to cut it down because it was rotting on the inside and posing a danger to those around it. And God said (something) like, ‘That’s you’.”

At 1:04:10, the host think the barricade was being held by Kate through her training, through her work and environment. Kate had the identity of seminary trained, a communicator of God. But God put a picture in her mind (the big tree rotting on the inside) and said “This is you.” Kate said “It was probably the conviction of sin and repentance kick started the whole thing.” God revealed things she was unwilling to see or could not see.

This revelation is not for Kate alone, many others are like that tree, “rotting on the inside and it looked like it was great on the outside”. This also confirmed A W Pink’s observation in his writing “Studies on Saving Faith”, in part one he wrote, ” If the “message” now being delivered in Mission Halls be examined, if the “tracts” which are scattered among the unchurched masses are scrutinized, if the “open-air” speakers are carefully listened to, if the “sermons” or “addresses” of a “Soul-winning campaign” are analyzed; in short, if modern “Evangelism” is weighed in the balances of Holy Writ, it will be found lacking — lacking that which is vital to a genuine conversion, lacking what is essential if sinners are to be shown their need of a Savior, lacking that which will produce the transfigured lives of new creatures in Christ Jesus.

…… But serious indeed as is the above indictment, it is only half of it — the negative side — that which is lacking. Worse still is that which is being retailed by the cheap-jack evangelists of the day. The positive content of their message is nothing but a throwing of dust in the eyes of the sinner. His soul is put to sleep by the Devil’s opiate, ministered in a most unsuspecting form. Those who really receive the “message” which is now being given out from most of the “orthodox” pulpits and platforms today, are being fatally deceived! It is a way which seems right unto a man, but unless God sovereignly intervenes by a miracle of grace — all who follow it will surely find that the ends thereof are the ways of death. Tens of thousands who confidently imagine they are bound for Heaven, will get a terrible disillusionment when they awake in Hell! “

A simple lesson richer than any sermons

It remains me an article I collected around 15 years ago, about the last part of a sermon by Leonard Ravenhill. It’s a short story told by Catherine Booth-Clibborn, known as “La Maréchale”, the first daughter of William Booth. She had a conversation with a simple girl, and learned a profound lesson than any sermon she had ever heard.

Yesterday I was reading a book about the life of La Maréchale, and I’d to talk about that book, she was the daughter of the Salvation Army founder. Even at 85, she was still able to move people deeply with her sermons.

“One evening,” she said, “I went to Brussels and arrived at a large house filled with vintage furniture and valuable decorations. The owner was a Christian. I noticed every morning at 9 o’clock, a lovely girl would come out of the servants’ dormitory, radiant.

One day, I asked her, ‘Dear, I want to ask you a question. These days during breakfast, I noticed that when you come out of the servants’ dormitory, you’re absolutely radiant!’

She replied, ‘I start at 5 a.m.’
Five a.m. That’s so early!
Yes, breakfast is at 8 a.m. I usually light the last fireplace at 7:30.
How do you manage it?’

‘I just kneel before the furnace, sweep all the ashes aside, and put them into a bucket. I take some paper and kindling. (After all, it’s not easy to light coal!) I go into a room and light a fireplace, then go to the next one, then the next. When I return, the first one has gone out, so I light it again. Finally, I complete my 12 fireplaces just before 8 a.m.’

Wouldn’t you get annoyed?’
‘No.’
Do you think those fires will go out?’
‘Yes, they often go out.’
Do you get up earlier to pray?’
‘She said, ‘Not very early.’
Then, how do you maintain your spiritual life?’

‘She replied, ‘Every time I light a fire, I say, ‘Jesus, when I light this fire, also light a fire within me.’ The fire of Your will, the fire of love, the fire of joy, the fire of peace, and the fire of compassion.’

Please today ignite within me again Your loving flame. Light within me a flame of dedication to You!’

Here is a lovely little girl speaking with the most powerful woman in the world. At the age of 21, she went to Paris to preach to all the prostitutes, shaking the entire city. The underworld queen was there, the scholars from the Sorbonne (the precursor of the University of Paris) were there, and those bearded men with cigars, the intellectuals, came to listen to her preach.

However, La Maréchale said that the lessons the young woman taught her were richer than anything she had ever heard in sermons.

She had to light the fire, using a blowpipe to blow on it. She said, ‘Every morning, I never miss saying, ‘Lord, when I light this fire, light a fire within me.’ The fire of Your will, the fire of love, the fire of joy, the fire of peace, and the fire of compassion.’

La Maréchale was right, for decades many messages preached in the pulpits have no power, no anointing. She may not have realized taking up one’s cross means to ditch men’s doctrines and rely on prayer. For it is written in Matthew 18:3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Too many scholars, theologians, and preachers have not become like little children, they have limited knowledge of the scriptures. Maybe they are influential and eloquent, but they are only experts of men’s doctrine. They need to learn what’s written, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.” It is through prayer we can come closer to God. Now let’s pray Psalm 90 and 66 (NKJV);

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
You turn man to destruction, And say, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.
You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up:
In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers.
For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified.
You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh.
The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Return, O LORD! How long? And have compassion on Your servants.
Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, The years in which we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children.
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.

Psalms 66:1-20 (NKJV) MAKE a joyful shout to God, all the earth!
Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious.
Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You.
All the earth shall worship You And sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name.” ​Selah
Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men.
He turned the sea into dry land; They went through the river on foot. There we will rejoice in Him.
He rules by His power forever; His eyes observe the nations; Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. ​Selah
Oh, bless our God, you peoples! And make the voice of His praise to be heard,
Who keeps our soul among the living, And does not allow our feet to be moved.
For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.
You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs.
You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.
I will go into Your house with burnt offerings; I will pay You my vows,
Which my lips have uttered And my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble.
I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals, With the sweet aroma of rams; I will offer bulls with goats. ​Selah
Come and hear, all you who fear God, And I will declare what He has done for my soul.
I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me!