1 Timothy 4: 1,6 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons…… In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, {constantly} nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.” False Prophets There are lines of people that go out to the parking lot. Next to the main sanctuary are two designated buildings with projection screens for overflow. The foyers are full with the product of the famous preacher, who is going to be preaching in a matter of minutes. The anticipation is growing in the crowd as the music begins to pick up. The people get out of their seats and run to the “altar” and dance. The music slows down and so do the people. They stop there dancing and lift their arms to the sky as they listen to the smooth playing of the “worship leader”. Now the moment everyone is waiting for. The lights get brighter, and then “the man” steps up to the stage. He then begins to wax eloquent upon some teaching for which he is well known. At the end, a plea is given to the crowd. Then another more generic plea, until most of the people are at the “altar”. The prayers are said, and then it is exit stage left for the “man of God”. The people then linger around and talk about what God had just done in there midst. The story above demonstrates the problem in the church today, and I have been to places that went exactly as the story. The problem is the view of success. People I have talked to about certain movements like Toronto, Brownsville, etc. always will point to the fruit of the ministry. “What fruit is in the ministry?” I always ask. The response is the same almost everywhere. People lining up outside the doors, they are on television or the radio, people are getting saved, and the church is growing. Those may very well be true of a Godly ministry, but that is not the litmus test for a Godly ministry. Let’s look at what Jesus said about false prophets and their fruit. Matthew 7: 15-19 tells us this: ““Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” Jesus tells us that we will be able to know the false prophets by their fruit. Let’s make one thing clear right now. When I say fruit everyone thinks of the “fruit of the Spirit”; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. I am not talking of these, because those are the fruit of the Spirit. People like to point to these when talking about their favorite false prophet. They say things like, “They have love, joy, peace, etc.” That may be true but having love does not mean you have the Spirit of God. Let’s look at the Scripture again. Good trees bring good fruit and bad trees bring bad fruit. That is very simple enough, but lets look at the context of the verse. Jesus is talking about the fruit of the false prophet. That must mean the one who is prophesying must be true, or good. If the prophecy is wrong, it must be bad fruit. The fruit Jesus is talking of is whether what the prophet says, or prophesies, is true or not. It’s not whether they are a good person. It is judged on whether they have spoken by the Word of the Lord or not. There are many false prophets among us, and it is our responsibility to see it they are true or not. We are not here to find faults with people, but we are here to point to the truth and condemn the false, or bad, fruit. The discernment in the Church today is very weak when we judge a man’s ministry by what it looks like rather than the substance that is behind the message. It is not hard to spot these false prophets if you know the Word of God. If what someone says is good sound Biblical teaching, then accept it with all joy. But, if it does not line up with sound Biblical teaching, then throw it in the garbage where it belongs. Please don’t be led away so easily. Like 2 Timothy 2:15 reads, “Study to show thyself approved unto God…”
You Just Can’t Use Scripture The International Falls, Minnesota, Daily Journal has asked clergymen who write for their
church column “to refrain from quoting Scripture.” The policy reads, “Although Scripture is an important aspect to religion,
we feel it is inappropriate for our newspaper’s church column. When a writer uses a Bible or other religious text as a resource,
it seems that they are attempting more to write a sermon than a church column and they may turn
off readers.” (Daily Journal, 1/13/03) Billy Graham from the Catholic Perspective Our Sunday Visitor, a conservative Catholic newspaper, has singled out fundamentalist Christians for censure in an article (1/5/03) praising the Reverend Billy Graham. While the paper lauds Graham for his friendly overtures to the pope and his “nonconfrontational, nonpolitical tack,” it complains that Graham has become “anathema to fundamentalist Christians, mostly because he embraced and has been embraced by the Pope and other Catholics.” The paper quotes Graham, who expresses his admiration of Pope John Paul II’s “courage, determination, intellectual abilities . . . and the attempt at some kind of reconciliation [among Christian denominations].” 2Co 6:14 - Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Not “Christian”, just Rock Contemporary Christian music star Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer wants to shed the label “Christian.” She commented recently in Pulse Magazine “In 80 percent of the press written about us, ‘Christian’ is there somewhere, often used sarcastically, and it’s so irritating. I hate it. It’s always a banner, and we just don’t wanna carry that around anymore.” (CCM Magazine, 1/03) John 15:19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”
Quotes from the Koran
Ro 15:33 - Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. |