Wolves Among Us
The Wolves Among Us • Sermon • Submitted
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· 45 viewsGo into false teachers, false doctrine, false apostles, false worship (Samaria), false prophets, etc. Explain what they look like and how they operate.
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Beware of the False
Beware of the False
I want to start a new series exposing the wolves among us or those that are false—false prophets, false apostles, false teachers, false worship, etc.—so that you are equipped to recognize these in the church I also want to show you HOW a person becomes false. This series will be an equipping and a warning so that you can guard your own soul and future ministries the Lord will birth from you.
Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.
And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.
Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said:
“Blessed are you poor,
For yours is the kingdom of God.
“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.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
The Word beware means “to alert for, watch out, be on guard, beware.” It means “to be in a continuous state of readiness to learn of any future danger, need, or error and to respond appropriately…pay attention, be on the lookout, be on one’s guard against.”
You can see that this word implies a constant state of alertness, yet, many in the church naively believe that everyone who comes to church or claims to be a Christian is a sheep. And even more ironic, I’ve found that many of these same people are quick to label other ministers who believe differently as false ministers.
For example, if you’ve been taught that miracles ceased to exist with the apostles, that tongues are demonic, and that any supernatural is of the devil, you will then categorize any minister that heals the sick, speaks in tongues, and operates in the supernatural (which is actually supposed to be natural in the Christian life) as false and someone to stay away from. I don’t have time to go into why believing all supernatural has ceased is worse than the unbelief the Pharisees demonstrated. At least they knew God did great supernatural deeds but you won’t be able to find one scripture that says so. If you think you have one, drop a comment or DM me and we’ll dissect it together.
This happened recently to my friend. Her and some ladies wanted to start a Bible study and my friend and her friend chose a Bill Johnson book. You’d have thought they invited Satan into their Bible study to have a human sacrifice. Without reading even ONE WORD, they completely rejected doing that study and began to dishonor a fellow brother in the Lord. Some might think it’s ok to do this if they “just know” the person is a false teacher but if Michael wouldn’t bring a “reviling accusation” against the enemy over Moses’ body, then why do some thing they can attack another person like some have done?
Now if you know for a fact and through careful examination of the doctrines taught and most importantly the fruit, then you can safely warn others of false doctrine and heretics as needed. But just because you’ve “heard” something about someone doesn’t give you the right to go around using your words to disparage them. If God came down to investigate Sodom and Gomorrah, then I believe it’s wisdom for us to investigate things as well.
TALK ABOUT HOW MOST OF THE CHURCH CALLS OTHERS FALSE BECAUSE THEY DON’T AGREE WITH REAL DOCTRINE. CINDY AND HER LADIES.
On the other side of this, I believe one of the most important gifts that’s either used improperly or not at all in the church is discernment. Discernment of spirits () is the ability to tell whether the Spirit of God is speaking through a person or that person’s spirit or a demonic spirit. And, again, discernment is not based on whether you like the person, what gossip you’ve heard or anything else. It is a supernatural gift. Those same people that attack other ministers because they don’t agree with their methods or their teachings will sit under a religious spirit or an antiChrist spirit every Sunday not realizing that they are actually sitting under a false minister.
DISCERNMENT IS NECESSARY BECAUSE YOU MIGHT NOT SEE A FALSE MINISTER’S FRUIT AT FIRST. With discernment, you can take note and watch. It won’t take long.
By the end of the this series, I want you to be able to clearly see the signs of a wolf.
False prophet in the Greek means “one who claims to be a prophet and is not.” This is the first indicator of a problem. Anytime anyone tells me they’re a prophet, I’m immediately suspect of their claim.
And there are some crazy people out there! I had one guy tell me he was Elijah. Ummm…ok. And what’s crazy is these might be able to prophesy VERY accurately. I immediately took note in my spirit and then watched. Sure enough, this person had all of the character traits of a false prophet—sexual immortality, divisive, and others that you’ll learn in this series.
God designed the church to recognize the gifts and callings on others not the one who think they have a gift or calling to go around proclaiming it and pushing their way into a position of influence. There are times when you have to use your function or office title to add weight to what you’re saying. We see Paul doing this many times when bringing correction to HIS churches not others’ churches.
“To come in sheep’s clothing” is an idiom that means “to pretend to be harmless when in reality one is dangerous and destructive—to pretend to be good, to act hypocritically.”
An interesting thing about sheep is they allow themselves to BE LED. And already, we see three things that are important to understand:
They proclaim an office or title they do not possess.
They pretend to be good.
They don’t allow themselves to led meaning they are not submissive to God nor leaders.
Inwardly means “the inner being of a person as the source or agent of thought or behavior.” THE INNER MAN IS ALWAYS THE SOURCE OF THOUGHT OR ACTION.
All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
That’s why it’s impossible to be evil inside and produce consistent good fruit on the outside. Eventually, the corruption “leaks” out. So what exactly is the core person of a wolf?
The word “ravenous” means “VIOLENTLY GREEDY, destructively ferocious, rapacious.” Rapacious means “inordinately greedy; predatory; extortionate.” It comes from a Latin word that means greedy and is similar to “rapere” that means “to seize” and “rape.” Greed isn’t for money only, but that is always a factor. Power, influence, sex, and control are the dominant desire of wolves.
Wolves fig. represents a “person who is particularly vicious and dangerous—vicious person. fierce person.” Of all of the beasts, a wolf was “particularly to be feared by flocks of sheep.” Wolves are characterized by an insatiable appetite, cunningly stalk their prey, and terrorizing. Basically, YOU DON’T KNOW YOU’RE BEING HUNTED UNTIL SUDDENLY THE WOLF APPEARS CREATING SUDDEN TERROR. There is a deep hostility between wolf and sheep.
It’s important to note here that prophets are not just those who foretell future events. A Biblical prophetic is a prophetic teacher or preacher that gets sheep out of ruts. So the idea of a false teacher is included in this passage.
We know from the Lord’s warning that these individuals “seem to belong to the community, and turn this appearance to destructive ends.” I.e. the wolves cannot be distinguished externally from sheep.
But listen to this: “Whether the sheep became a prey depended on the conduct of the shepherd.”
We’ll come back to this, but let me give you an example of what I’m talking about from the Bible.
PERGAMOS
PERGAMOS
“And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write,
‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword:
But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.
Revelation 2:14
The two-edged sword is important and we’ll get into it. But first, we need to understanding why the Lord points out that He’s the one coming with a two-edged sword.
The doctrine of the Nicolaitans was trying to gain traction in the churches of Asia. The church at Ephesus has firmly resisted it, but it was spreading like a virus at the church at Pergamum along with the doctrine of Balaam.
The two-edged sword is what was called “the right of the sword,” which represented the legal authority of to execute someone for a capital offense. It was a person who had the power of life or death like the proconsul of Asia. He was letting the church know that He held within His hand the power of life or death. And HE WAS READY TO USE THIS SWORD FOR SPIRITUAL SURGERY.
The word “sharp” is “oxus” in the Greek. Although, it means sharp, it was most commonly used to refer to “the sanitizing effect of a medicinal cleanser, an astringent intended to attack infection and remove disease, or an anesthetizing wine given to patients suffering with excruciating pain.” It was a solution given to numb a patient before a painful surgery. Even though the solution was bitter, it had a healing effect.
Christ was prepared “to perform a radical and potentially painful procedure to remain a spiritual infection of false doctrine in the church.
I.e. if those spreading and believing the false doctrine didn’t repent, He was prepared to remove them from the church BEFORE the entire congregation. If there was repentance, He was ready to bring healing to the church in a less painful way.
The word “sword” is “thomphaia,” is a “curved, often two-edged blade attached to a long pole that was ideal for thrashing, slicing, and hacking through densely populated enemy line.” It “reveals that Jesus was prepared to hack and thrash through the entrenched teachings of false doctrine and errant leaders…if they didn’t willingly repent.”
Note the phrase “errant leaders.” Listen to this:
“Spiritual LEADERS inside the church were advocating an accommodation with the pagan world around them in order to provide a respite from temporary pressure (from persecution)…they began to ask, ‘Is it really so bad to compromise? What would it hurt to burn a little incense to the gods’…These errant spiritual leaders were beloved and well-known brothers within the Christian community, and it was difficult for the church members to see them as evil. In addition, the fact that these individuals occupied leadership positions in the church suggest they had been long-term members of the congregation, as this would have been a requirement for visible leadership.” (No Room for Compromise by Rick Renner).
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
This was a reality then, now, and will intensify in the future. But what I want you to see is that these were LEADERS. I’m sure there are wolves in non-leadership roles who are seeking to exploit members and even take over churches. I’m also sure that there are those in leadership that, for whatever reason, are deceived and begin to turn away from the faith. If they don’t repent, the Lord will remove them. And sometimes He’ll kill the flesh to save the soul. If allowed to continue, they will become wolves. And then there are those who have “crept in unawares” just like a wolf hunts seeking prey to satisfy their fierce, violent greed for power, money, control, etc.
THE SHEPHERD’S ROLE
THE SHEPHERD’S ROLE
It’s important to understand that the safety of the sheep depends on the conduct of the shepherd.
Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
Acts 20:28
Let me give you some context for Paul’s warning. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem by the leading of Holy Spirit. The promise was persecution and tribulation and probably chains. He knew this was the last time he’d see his beloved Ephesian church. And the ONE THING on his mind was the wolves that would try to infiltrate the church after his departure because WOLVES AVOID STRONG, TRUE APOSTOLIC SHEPHERDS.
Let me read it to you in TPT:
“I know that after I leave, imposters who have no loyalty to the flock will come among you like savage wolves. Even some from among your very own ranks will rise up, twisting the truth to seduce people into following them instead of Jesus. So be alert and discerning. Remember that for three years, night and day, I’ve never stopped warning each of you, pouring out my heart to you with tears.
For THREE YEARS night and day, he warned everyone with tears! If Paul was so concerned about wolves, why are so unconcerned? Remember the wolves are the false prophets, false teachers, false ministers, and false everything else that seeks to replace the true.
Let’s look at the characteristics Paul gave us:
Imposters who have no loyalty to the flock. This means that they truly do NOT care about the flock…at all. The flock is a means to an end. The flock is expendable. Pawns. They actively seek to fleece the flock. I.e. not only will they NOT protect the flock, they will seek to destroy it for their own gain.
Savage wolves. “Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, “Thus ays the Lord God,” when the Lord had not spoken.”
Wolves tear, shed blood, and destroy people for one purpose: dishonest gain. Usually you can trace it to the money. The word “savage” emphasizes “thrust or force or violence.” It’s also tied to “heavy.” It’s anything that’s burdensome and painful like a sickness, oppressive care, bad news, severe warfare, heavy affliction or misfortune. Most often this word was used to describe the burden of living under the law. More than likely, the wolves are people who try to place heavy burdens of legalism on the flock. The main idea is that these people are CRUEL.
Within the ranks some will rise up speaking perverse or misleading things. This is the situation in Pergamos. As we learned, their very own leaders began to compromise the truth. Any time you compromise truth, it’s only a matter of time before you’re deceived completely. It’s important to understand that “speaking” here is not referring to formal messages only. It’s actually more informal speech meaning behind the scenes at Bible studies, over coffee, etc. Remember that wolves are VERY cunning and strategic with their hunting. They stalk their prey and then come out of nowhere. The idea is that it’s someone you’ve known and trusted for a long time so that when they speak misleading things, you don’t immediately dismiss it. In the Passion, it says they “twist the truth.” I.e. there’s SOME truth to what they’re saying making it even more difficult to recognize. Eventually the false doctrine can be adopted by a leader and preached from the pulpit. A sheep can turn into a wolf. The fastest way is by being offended.
Seduce you into following them instead of Jesus. This is the goal of an antichrist spirit—to replace Christ with a substitute. Since He’s the Word, the antichrist spirit and other spirits introduce doctrines that substitute the true word of God. BUT NOTE THAT THE MAIN GOAL IS TO GET PEOPLE TO FOLLOW THEM.
Paul tells the elders to “take heed to yourselves and to all of the flock,” meaning that shepherds or elders are not above being seduced. The phrase “take heed” means “to be in a continuous state of readiness to learn of any future danger, need, or error, and to respond appropriately.” It means to be on the lookout. It means to personally correctly divide the word of truth in a way that is approved by God. And then be on the alert to any false doctrine that’s being introduced into the church.
BUT WHAT IS A QUICK WAY TO DISCERN A WOLF ESPECIALLY WHEN IT CAN BE HARD TO KNOW THEIR FRUIT?
How to Recognize a Wolf?
How to Recognize a Wolf?
“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
“If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers,
The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Deut 13:1-3
Both of these passages show why using signs and wonders to determine the authenticity of a minister is dangerous. The quickest way to know if a person is a wolf is if THEY TRY TO TURN YOU AWAY FROM GOD and His ways. Unfortunately, many in the church don’t know the WAYS of God.
The Israelites repeatedly fell because they only knew His acts not His ways. Knowing His ways comes from intimacy. You live to investigate Him, how He thinks, how He works. The love of the truth is equal to LOVE FOR THE TRUTH, JESUS. True agape love and a true fear of the Lord keeps one on the way of life.
The love of the truth is equal to LOVE FOR THE TRUTH, JESUS. True agape love and a true fear of the Lord keeps one on the way of life.
The more and longer you’re around them, you’ll start noticing things that bother you—a lack of integrity, greed, shallowness, selfish ambition, etc. Those are signs of character issues. They are the fruit Jesus told us to notice. On top of that you’ll notice a flippancy with sin and even using grace and forgiveness as a cover. Also, Holy Spirit will flat out warn you. Don’t dismiss those “gut” feelings that something’s wrong. You might know what exactly but keep that feeling in your mind and be watchful in any dealings with them.
Another common tactic is sowing division in the church. A wolf always cuts off the weakest or sickest sheep from the flock and he does it so quietly that sometimes the shepherd might not even notice. But a shepherd that’s paying attention will sense in his or her spirit a pulling away. I’ve felt this many times.
We’ve even had some wolves in our group before. Holy Spirit alerted me and I began to watch carefully and pray. They’d either leave quickly after I was alerted or I’d get them out. All of it was done quickly and quietly. It wasn’t so much false doctrine; although, I’m sure that was in the future if they were allowed to continue. It was selfish ambition, division, habitual sin, and a lust for power and influence.
Over this series, we’ll
TRIBE OF BENJAMIN AND IT’S IMPORTANCE TO THE END OF THE AGE.
