Wake up! Open your spiritual eyes and see that your very soul is being duped! Modern day false prophets are very real today. Prevalent terms used in the past were witch, warlock, sorcerer, wizard, etc. Nowadays, you don’t hear that as much because satan has become even more crafty in his deception and he is advancing with the times. He blends in more with mainstream interests and now false prophets are cloaked in popular professions: coach, singer, author, writer, pastor, etc.
This is not to say that all coaches, singers, authors, writers, or pastors, are modern day false prophets, by any means.
I say this to say that false prophets are cleverly disguised as many things and many of us are being hoodwinked and bamboozled by these wolves in sheep’s clothing.
So how are you being tricked? The enemy feeds on your basic fears: that you are not good enough, good-looking enough, smart enough, popular enough, worthy enough, or have enough money, etc. Then he works hard to feed your FLESH by putting people (false prophets) and circumstances in place to seduce you—and it’s working for so many and they don’t even know it.
The Holy Bible states this about false prophets: “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act…. A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit…. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” (see Matthew 7:15-17, 20 [NLT])
My Christian friend, I urge you to look at these people’s actions. Listen to what they talk about. Are they teaching you lessons supported by the Bible or are they teaching you things that are contradictory to the Bible? False prophets make it sound good by using familiar words and catchy phrases that get your soul (mind, will, emotions) all riled up, but what are they speaking to your spirit? Nothing! In all honesty, they don’t care about your spirit.
Now we know that a good tree will produce good fruit and a bad tree will produce bad fruit. So, we are supposed to test people to see if they are really a false prophet, to see what kind of fruit (actions) they have (see 1 John 4:1). So, let’s look at their fruit.
We know that the fruit of the (Holy) Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patient endurance), gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness (humility), and temperance (self-control) (see Galations 5:22-23 [KJV]). We also know that the fruit of sin is sexual immorality (adultery, fornication, etc.), impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry (putting anything before God, ego), sorcery (spells), hostility, quarreling (arguing), jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition (greed), dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, and wild parties (see Galations 5:19-21 [NLT]). So when you test a person to see who they are, look at his or her fruit! If this person is seducing you to believe that it’s okay to have many sex partners, then s/he is bearing the fruit of sexual immorality, which you know IS NOT OF GOD. And if a person is enticing you to use sex to get what you want, s/he is bearing the fruit of lustful pleasures, idolatry, and impurity which again, is not of God.
Become diligent in challenging what you are being taught in order to see if you are under the influence of false prophets. Remember, no one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and man (flesh, sin) (see Matthew 6:24). False prophets cannot serve both God and the flesh. They serve the flesh. They may come with glitz and glamour which may be very provocative and serve the purpose of sucking you into a life of sin under the guise of you actually getting your life together. Don’t be fooled by the glitz and glamour. Don’t be led astray. All that glitters ain’t gold. Dig past the shallow. See what fruit they really bear.
Here’s more scripture on false prophets:
Jeremiah 23:32 [NLT] “I am against these false prophets. Their imaginary dreams are flagrant lies that lead my people into sin. I did not send or appoint them, and they have no message at all for my people. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Jeremiah 22:28 [NLT] “Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true messengers faithfully proclaim my every word. There is a difference between straw and grain!”
Hosea 4:5 [NLT] “So you will stumble in broad daylight, and your false prophets will fall with you in the night.”
Mark 13:22 [NLT] “For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.”
Deuteronomy 13:5 [NLT] “The false prophets or visionaries who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the Lord you God, who redeemed you from slavery and brought you out of the land of Egypt. Since they try to lead you astray from the way the Lord you God commanded you to live, you must put them to death. In this way you will purge the evil from among you.”
1 John 4:1-3 [NLT] “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not form God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.
Ezekiel 14:10 [NLT] “False prophets and those who seek their guidance will all be punished for their sins.”
In spirit and in truth,
By the way, here’s a related post, if you’re interested: Do You Really Believe? And have you checked out my book, Grown & Virtuous: 28 Simple Lessons to Unveil the Spiritual Diva In You?
