So here’s a thought…Does a false prophet know he’s a false prophet? I pondered this as I chopped down weeds that came up to my chest. When I came in and plugged false prophets into the bible study search engine I use I was surprised at how much the subject is covered. Jesus talked extensively about false prophets, almost always in reference to the last days. After studying what the bible says my conclusion is sometimes false prophets know they are false and sometimes they don’t, but most of the time they are very aware of what they do.
2 Timothy 2.13, in the context of the last days, it says “Evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Now 2 Timothy didn’t directly refer to false prophets in this but 2 Peter definitely does, and the description Peter gives is pretty similar to what Paul described in his letter to Timothy. I don’t think there is a question that a false prophet would also be considered an evil man or an imposter. But they are “deceiving and being deceived”. Deception is the ultimate tool of the devil. He is a liar and the father of lies.
Jesus said "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them.” (Mathew 7.15) Jesus, the son of God who is God, also said in Mathew 24.10 “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold”. There are many descriptions of what these last days, the days just before Jesus returns and puts an end to it, and those descriptions tell of a great corruption in the church, of doctrines creeping in that allow and even encourage that which God called evil. It’s a time when you have a hard time knowing who is good and who isn’t, a time of lies and deceit. I’ve known many con men in my day, people who first gain your trust and make you think they are truly good people who are looking out for your best interest, but in reality are setting you up for a fall. Listen to what the prophet Micah said about that nearly three thousand years ago.
Micah 2.1 Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning's light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. 2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellowman of his inheritance. 3 Therefore, the LORD says: "I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity. 4 In that day men will ridicule you; they will taunt you with this mournful song: 'We are utterly ruined; my people's possession is divided up. He takes it from me! He assigns our fields to traitors.' " 5 Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the LORD to divide the land by lot.
6 "Do not prophesy," their prophets say. "Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us." 7 Should it be said, O house of Jacob: "Is the Spirit of the LORD angry? Does he do such things?" "Do not my words do good to him whose ways are upright? 8 Lately my people have risen up like an enemy. You strip off the rich robe from those who pass by without a care, like men returning from battle. 9 You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes. You take away my blessing from their children forever. 10 Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined, beyond all remedy. 11 If a liar and deceiver comes and says, 'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' he would be just the prophet for this people!
The false prophets don’t warn of the consequences of sin, they don’t tell of dire straits. They speak words you want to hear, words of plenty and future joy, words that tickle your ears. Here’s another question, what’s the difference between a prophet (a real one) and a psychic? A true prophet hears from God and relays those words. Most of the time they are words designed to reveal works of darkness, to bring to the light evils that are practiced. And they do so with the purpose of bringing a change and repentance, of restoring a right relationship with God and thus avoiding His judgment, reaping the rewards of sin sowed. A psychic either hears from demonic forces or their own imagination and thus every word they speak is deception. Oh, they might be able to forecast some future event but even that is designed to further deception.
2 Timothy 3.1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. 6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
I can see someone, as they read this, telling themselves that they do not match ALL of the things mentioned in the verse above, and thus excusing themselves from being included. You don’t get it do you? I pray that you do, that your eyes open to the truth none of us want to see.
2 Timothy 3.16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Now we get to what Peter, the disciple and then apostle who walked with Jesus and was told by Him that he would be a rock, a foundation of the church, has to say. Peter didn’t mince words by any means.
2 Peter 2.1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign LORD who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
This clearly refers to those within the church. These are people who wear the “Christian” label and wear it sometimes loudly and proudly. It’s nothing new, has been a problem throughout the history of the church, and even before Jesus was born. Religion has always been a source of power and influence that many crave. It’s not so much the power and influence that is the enticement but the “Hey, look at me” accolades one gets, the ego boost and pride feeding respect as others, in essence, come worship at your feet. A lot of people enjoy quoting “The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil” but the fact is that pride is the base root of all sin. It was Lucifer’s pride in himself, his amplified self esteem, that led to his rebellion against his Creator. I wonder at that, at how this pride so blinded him that he honestly thought he could take over, supplant the creator of himself and the entire universe. I suspect that the devil is still blinded and still believes he can overthrow God. Some preach that he is out to destroy all that is good in his anger and spite, despite knowing he is defeated. I don’t pretend to know for sure but suspect that somewhere in the lie Satan believes, his own lie that he formulated, he thinks he can win.
Meantime, back to this study of whether false prophets know they are false. Some do but I think that most do not, that they are deceived and truly believe the lies they tell. Ultimately the root of these destructive heresies is Satan but how these false teachers and prophets got to this point is an important subject to address. What we know is that the devil is out to corrupt all that is of God, and the first point of attack will be the bible. One of the reasons so many in the ministry lost their faith was the teachings they received when they went to seminary to train. There, at the heart of church, they hear all the doubts and controversies that plant seeds of unbelief. I am sure that Satan has worked hard over the centuries to place those there who are his minions. Men of “Great Learning” who know, or at least present all kinds of controversies and do it in the name of knowledge. Ultimately the goal is to justify, to make right in their own eyes, sin in whatever form it comes. In order to do this they must chip away at the standard, the firm unchanging rock of God, His words and will as recorded in the bible.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)-- 9 if this is so, then the LORD knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
Here we can find comfort, that God can and does rescue us. Note the delineation showed, Godly men versus unrighteous. The cold hard fact is that both of these are choices made and that we must make similar choices every day. The fear of the Lord is a doctrine that many have watered down in these last days. Fear is now defined as awe and respect. While awe and respect are correct parts of the definition of the Fear of the Lord they are not all of it. The fact is that we will all stand before the living God and be judged. We will be judged on our words and our deeds. Another doctrine that has crept in the church is designed to negate that part of it. “We are saved by grace, not works” is so often quoted it is one of the best known phrases in the scriptures. This illustrates the danger, and I really mean Danger, of not looking at everything the bible says, of just picking out the parts that you like and leaving out or avoiding what you don’t like.
10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; 11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the LORD. 12 But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish. 13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done.
Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed--an accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey--a beast without speech--who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."
Nuff said. The last verse is Jeremiah 23. 1 "Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD. 2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done," declares the LORD.
This is for all those who have been placed in positions of leadership, who have accepted the responsibility of leading others into a deeper walk with God. A recent study, one done with close personal interviews of people in paid ministerial positions, pastors and others, found that 20% of them had lost their faith. They either no longer believed that God existed and were thus atheists, or had become so disillusioned that they no longer believed the bible or most of what their church taught. But they remained in their positions because of the paycheck, practicing a lie in their minds.
This is a start of what has been foretold by the true prophets of God and by Jesus himself. There are some hard times ahead of us and we are just seeing the birth pangs. Part of what we plan with this farm is with that in mind. It will be a place that is self sufficient and thus able to produce food and medicinal herbs no matter what happens in the world.
