False Prophets and Their Gardens

What are Prophets?

Matthew 7:15 ““Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Open with Greg Locke, before i was converted.

pastor Greg Locke, this is a guy that i used to personally listen to, he used to offer biblical responses to cultural issues like should christians have tattoos and other subjects. He presented himself as a God fearing pastor and a righteous example. He eventually snuck things into his church, he actually kicked people out of his church that chose to wear a mask during covid. Again, he kicked people out who chose to wear masks. He devorced his wife and married the church secretary according to a number of online sources and witnesses. He is involved in deliverance ministry, casting out demons. He has said wild things from the pulpit including calling out people in his church from the stage. He claims to have received revelation from a demon about witches in his church. He is a false teacher.

Greg Locke, now a obvious example did not start out that way. Neither did mark driscoll. its also odd that these false teachers found a nice comfortable home in the charismatic crowd, a movement that is riddle with covering up scandals, Mike winger on youtube is revealing alot of CHarismatic coverups of abuse.

Prophets are men (and in NT women) who speak Gods Word in Gods name.

Deuteronomy 18:18–22 “‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. ‘But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ “You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”

2 Peter 1:21 “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

the word for “moved” also means to carry or bear, some of your translation have “carried” these prophets were carried along, this was not and act of there will but the Holy Spirit’s

go into argument with Johnathan Foreman and the Davis professor.

This is the same way theologians and laymen communicate the doctrine of inspiration. 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;”

The significance of the 2 Tim passage is that the word for “inspired” means “God breathed”, the word or scripture is God’s breath its His words.

we see from Deuteronomy that a prophet in addition to speaking Gods word in His name but that false prophets are to be put to death. We do not live in a theocracy or under theonomic rule so we don’t kill them today but we do give them to the Lord.

Paul commands us to mark and avoid them Romans 16:17–18 “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.”

From Deuteronomy we know that the people who the word was given to were to obey and submit to the Word because it came from God. Deuteronomy 18:19 “‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.”

Dont overlook this detail, they are not held accountable to obedience of the Word by the people, but God Himself.

Today we are still to submit to the word and sit under the teaching of the elders in the local church.

TWe see that God even holds believers personally responsible for sin in the New Testament Ananais and Saphira in Acts 5 and some people in Corinth were sick and even “asleep” (dead) because they took unworthy of the Lords table in 1 Corinthians 11.

Today we mostly hold people accountable via church discipline, God still holds people accountable but it is hard to discern if it is at all. we are told though that personally accountability to God is coming for all people, even believers, but they will be spared judgment.

Prophets spoke Gods Word in God’s name, not by their own will but “moved” physically by the spirit, and the Word was authoritative in the lives of the audience because it was God’s word.

God in His foreknowledge and wisdom included in Deuteronomy a test for a prophet, a way to objectively prove if one is false or not.

Deuteronomy 18:21–22 ““You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”

NOTE: it is essential for the role of a prophet for them accurately predict things to come to pass. The test to prove a false prophet or a true prophet is on the accuracies of their foretelling AND forth-telling

Many in charismatic circles today liken prophet to teaching and discernment so much where anyone can have a prophetic gift and be a prophet. the issue is that prophets essentially foretell, forthtelling, preaching and calling to repentance was in addition to this.

Michael Brown broadens the scope of the prophet to identifying sin in peoples life’s, hearing from God, and forthtelling. Forth-telling is communicating God’s present day truth I.E. Scripture. The issue with this is it thins the definition out to meet there purpose which is to claim the title and promote their doctrine on Gifts.

Prophets are men (sometimes women) carried along by the Spirit, not their own will, communicating God’s Word in God’s name. These prophets are to be tested in accordance to the accuracy of their foretelling.

The connection: prophets and teachers

Relevant to our passage today Jesus undoubtedly is referring to false prophets and not teachers. Commentators like the Bible knowledge commentary use this almost synonymously, this i think is appropriate for one significant reason.

The functions of prophet, preacher, and teacher overlap enough for the warning to apply.

Just like preaching and teaching, there is overlap between the two but they are different.

Even the prophets who exclusively forthtold or preached and warned were specially appointed by God in a unique way compared to teachers and preachers.

Explain Forth-telling vs foretelling

prophets most of the time did more forthtelling than fore telling. with a few exceptions most of the prophets in the Old Testament and even the New Testament called people to repentance and obdedience to Gods Law. This is forthtelling because they are communicating God’s existing truth.

Moses was doing alot of foretelling in his lifetime as the first prophet aside from Enoch. He was a prophet in the since of he recieved Word and foreknowledge of what will happen if Israel disobeyed. Deut 27- the end communicates this

Deuteronomy 11:26–28 ““See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.”

Deuteronomy 30:15–16 ““See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.”

Deuteronomy 34:10 “Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,”

what i hope this brief survey shows is that Moses was a prophet in the fullest sense, He recieved new revelation in the form of God’s law and commands, he foretold of the consequences of disobedience, and he warned and called people to repentance.

Prophets after Moses did more forth-telling, think of the minor prophets calling out sin and bring Gods word to them.

Today we do not receive private revelation or new prophesies from God but we do forth tell his word. Preachers and teachers partake in a way in the role of a prophet and should not be excluded from Jesus warning in this passage.

Teachers and preachers people who bring God’s Word to God’s people filled with the spirit should be included in this warning of false prophets. Teachers and preachers alike, even me tonight exegete and explain God’s Word this is forthtelling. When Jesus says beware of false prophets in our modern context should by necessity include teachers.

If you don’t think I provided enough justification Paul in Galatians says all people who preach another gospel are cursed.

there are other false categories… Paul refers to false apostles in first Corinthians 11. who teach another Christ. In Galatians he warns of false teachers who teach another gospel.

2 Corinthians 11:4 “For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”

2 Corinthians 11:13 “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.”

Paul here calls these men false apostles but what they are doing is what false teachers do today! preaching another Christ.

Jude makes the most compelling case to apply Jesus warning to false teachers…

Jude 4 “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Jude 12–16 “These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.”

The false teachers of Jude crept in unaware, much like the wolves in sheep clothing Jesus is talking about. These false teachers creep and sneak and they want to lead people away!

Enoch was a prophet in the fullest sense, he recieved new revelation from God, he did less forth-telling and more foretelling. This quote may or may not be from the book of Enoch, many think so, the authors of the Bible Knowledge commentary (a popular source not a critical source) offer this as an explanation but they introduce an idea that Jude received this not through the apocryphal book but by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Later in Matthew describes false prophets and false Messiahs as leading people astray.

Matthew 24:4–5 “And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”

Matthew 24:24–28 ““For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. “Behold, I have told you in advance. “So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”

Today if you teach another Christ or teach a heresy or lead people astray you are guilty of being a false prophet.

Ravenous wolves

returning to our text Jesus characterizes false teachers as wolves in sheeps clothing bjut are ravenous wolves.

Please note the nature of false prophets and teachers are predatory

Paul reveals this in refering to the false apostles 2 Corinthians 11:12 “But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting.”

And Jude warns of this in Jude 4 “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Peter in his second epistle writes 2 Peter 2:1–3 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

This is the character that marks a false teacher in our day, a wolf, after his own gain, leading people astray.

“wolves in sheeps clothing” - The wolf-sheep isn't trying to be DEI or progressive, the wolf wears it to be among the sheep, its wearing sheep skin, it devoured a sheep to get it. Before you accuse me of abusing the illustration… Jesus, God incarnate, out of all the ways to describe false teachers chose to do it as a wolf in sheeps clothing, it doesnt take much imagination to consider how violent a wolf would be to a sheep.

Next false teachers are immoral, this is not derrived from this passage but is discovered in Jude and 2 Peter 2.

Jude 5–8 “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.”

Jude tells us that false teachers are immoral, by their dreaming they defile the flesh like in Sodom, and reject authority (and subsequently accountability, and revile angelic majesties. (explain verse further, soddom and gommorah are examples of the fate of false teachers and their immorality).

Notice the punishment for false teachers is condemnation and destruction… Jude 3 and 2 Peter 2:3 indicate there condementation was set before hand or long ago, this is denoting the sovereignty of God in their destruction.

This is the danger of false teaching, the teacher is destined for hell fire, their victims will be held accountable because they have been warned by Christ and the apostles. These people Christ will say depart from me just a few verses later in this chapter in Matthew.

1 John 4:1–3 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from 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 from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”

John warns the saints to test the spirit, false prophets and teachers do not have the holy spirit they are led by there father the devil.

Examples

Obvious example would be Joel Osteen, Keneth Copeland.

Joel Osteen is a advocate for the health and wealth gospel…

Keneth copeland performed a perverted and demonic Lord’s supper.

HE GETS US - Did Jesus Struggle? read thgrough and show the sneaky language

Hananiah in Jeremiah 28, gave a false prophecy and then Jeremiah prophesied of Hananiah’s death because of his false prophecy and it came about that very year.

Ahab had 400 false prophets in 1 Kings 22, he consulted Mecaiah whom he hated because he only prophesied Evil (what the king didnt want to hear). He listened to the false ones and went to battle, lost and died.