False Prophets, False Teachers, & False Doctrine
Notes
Transcript
Prophets
Prophets
Before we begin to examine false prophets it is important to understand what prophets are and their office.
According to the old testament, a prophet (naba) had several functions or purposes in which he operated under the call and anointing of God:
To speak prophecy in regards to encouraging or restoring covenant faithfulness.
To tell the future events in an effort to encourage obedience or to warn against disobedience.
It is equally important to understand the office of the prophet (profetes or profetou) from a New Testament base:
1. to speak forth, speak out, to divulge or make known.
So with the ushering in of the New Covenant, what was the purpose of the prophet in the New Testament and the early church? It was very much the same as the Old Testament: to speak prophecy in regards to encouraging or restoring covenant faithfulness and to tell future events in an effort to encourage obedience or to warn against disobedience. The prophets in the early church worked along with the Apostles and did what was best for the Christian cause. They instructed, comforted, encouraged, rebuked, convicted, stimulated, and gave guidance to the believers.
Again, it is VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THAT PROPHETS IN BOTH OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT OPERATED BY THE INSPIRATION OF GOD THROUGH THE HOLY GHOST!
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.
[Yet] first [you must] understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is [a matter] of any personal or private or special interpretation (loosening, solving).
For no prophecy ever originated because some man willed it [to do so—it never came by human impulse], but men spoke from God who were borne along (moved and impelled) by the Holy Spirit.
The scriptures did not come from man’s own understanding or by human initiative, human impulse, human desires.
Fun Fact: The first person acknowledged to be a prophet in the Bible is? Abraham.
Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
God speaking to Abimelech in a dream by night took Sarai, Abraham’s wife to be his wife because Abraham had a nice looking wife and he was afraid that King Abimelech would kill him and take Sarah as his own wife. So Abraham thought of this brilliant plan (sarcastically) to lie to the King and Sarah went along with Abraham. However, even though Abraham and Sarah was messing up....it is good to know that God was keeping them in their mess. God said in verse 6 “That I know you were trying to do the right thing and that Abraham and Sarah lied to you, but I was the one that kept you from sinning against me, and I was the one the suffered you not to touch her”. So now give Abraham back his wife and restore her to him because he is a prophet.
There are both male and female prophets in scripture.
List of female prophets:
Miriam- Moses’ sister (Exodus).
Deborah- was a female judge in Israel.
Isaiah’ wife- the prophet Isaiah’s wife was a prophetess (Isaiah 8:3).
Huldah- was prophetess in which Josiah inquired about the book of the Law (2 Kings 22:14).
New Testament:
Anna- servant at the Temple (Luke 2:36-38).
Philips 4 daughters (Acts 21:8-9).
These are not all of the prophetesses of the Bible but these are a few of them. I believe there are like 9 all together....I’ll have to research to make sure that number is correct.
Increased prophetic activity:
Increased prophetic activity:
The prophet Joel said that there would be an increase in prophetic activity in the end times:
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
With the increase activity of prophets you have to also realize that their will be an increase activity of false prophets.
Critically thinking:
Why will there be an increase activity of false prophets? Because it is Satan’s design:
And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
So if true prophets are inspired by God, who are the false prophets inspired by?
This is a complicated question because some are inspired by Satan while others are inspired by self.
False Prophet vs Real Prophet.
False Prophet vs Real Prophet.
What is the difference between a false prophet and a real prophet? Well that is a easy question.....or so it seems to be an easy question. Real prophets when they prophesy their prophecies come true. False prophets when they prophesy their prophecies don’t come true. So initially, we should be able to identify the difference between a real and false prophet.....but there is more.
Power Thought: To be able to truly tell the difference between a false prophet and a real prophet you have to examine the scriptures.
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. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Marks of a True Prophet
Marks of a True Prophet
A true prophet is motivated by loyalty to God. This means that even if the prophet received a word from God that was unpopular with the people, or that could even cause his very life to be threatened he was motivated to speak what “thus sayeth the Lord” in faith that God would keep and bless him/her.
Remember that the primary function of a prophet is to prophesy in regards to encouraging or restoring covenant faithfulness, to foretell of future events to encourage obedience or to warn and or discourage disobedience.
Let’s consider several of the Old Testament prophets and see if they measure to the scripture/spiritual litmus test:
Moses: Did Moses prophesy encouraging covenant faithfulness? Absolutely.....God used him to write the covenant. Give an example. Deut 4:1.
Samuel: Did Samuel prophesy and encourage covenant faithfulness, foretelling of future events and encourage obedience or warn of disobedience? Absolutely. Give an example. 1 Samuel 7:3
Elijah: Did Elijah prophesy and encourage covenant faithfulness, foretelling of future events and encouraged obedience or warn of disobedience? Absolutely. Give an example. 1 Kings 18:21
These are three good examples of what a true prophet should look like. What other things were these prophets able to accomplish? Miracles! Give one example for each:
Moses: Rod turned to a serpent (Ex. 7:10-12).
Samuel: As Samuel sacrfices, God destroys the Philistines (1 Sam 7:10-12).
Elijah: The widow of Zarapheth is provided with food (1 King 17:10-16).
Sometimes the true prophet may be different than all of the other so-called prophets.
Marks of a False Prophet
Marks of a False Prophet
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
A false prophet was often motivated not by loyalty to God, but by a desire for popularity. This is what makes this such a dangerous time right now, with the invention of social media and access to the internet, their has risen a horde of false prophets throughout the world and their goal is not to speak what God is truly saying but to speak things that will captivate people.
There is an astonishing correlation between those who are wounded and false prophets/false teachers (expound on this). There are some who are false prophets or false teachers that go into ministry as a way to be liked by people. They want to feel important, they want to make a name for themselves. Consequently, some of these people wrestle with low-self esteem and rejection. These wounds make it easy for some to engage in false teaching and false prophecy because their whole make up is to be accepted amongst people. Maybe they were neglected as children or perhaps they experienced a traumatic event in childhood such as molestation or abandonment and they use ministry as a way to be loved and accepted by others. However, ministry is one the last things you want to do. Because ministry, yes it deals with people and ministering to people and yes some will accept you and love you, and yes you can reach many souls....but the bulk of it, your going to have to deal with rejection. You’re going to have people that don’t like you, you are not going to be able to please everyone and no everyone isn’t going to listen to you or respect you. You are going to have to deal with people who you give them the word of the LORD and then minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years later are going to act like nothing you said mattered. They are going to talk about you, some may even lie on you, others will plot against you, they will smile in your face and stab you in your back.
But guess what, when you are truly called of God none of that stuff matters, because what truly matters is that you please the LORD!
Many of these false prophets are very convinced that they are speaking on behalf of God. However, what has happened is that there are some who use to hear from God but started listening to their own ideas and opinions or they never really heard from God originally and are just speaking their own ideas and thoughts. Sometimes, it is never the intention of a false prophet to speak falsely, yet wrong motivations and desires of self produced error in the prophets prophecy.
Although we live in a era where false-prophets are rising rapidly, we do have guidelines and measures that we can use to identify whether a person is truly a prophet or rather they are a false prophet. The word of God is by all means the fail-safe tool used to discern whether prophecy is true or if it is false.
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Motivations:
What I am about to say doesn’t just apply to false-prophets but for anyone serving in ministry. Your motivation has to be to please God and to operate in His will and not your own will. Whether it be prophet, pastor, apostle, elder, minister, evangelist, church mother, missionary, deacon, usher, choir member, or musician.....your heart must be right and you must make sure that your motivation and service is to please God!
(Simon the Sorcerer)
In the scriptures, we see a very good example of where some Old Testament prophets loyalty laid:
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Another mark of a false prophet says this:
Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
In the Old Testament era, the words of the false prophet spoke to Israel’s nation pride. In today’s era the words of the false prophet speaks to a person’s personal pride.
This speaks to the times that we currently live in today:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
Important Note: I’m not saying that all prophets do this......but you have some that don’t need to depend on God....all they have to do is pull up your Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram account and get all the information they need.
Important Note: Some of these false prophets can work through the spirit of divination, it is the same spirit that soothsayers, psychics, and the like use. Divination seeks knowledge of the future and even knowledge of present realities by supernatural means that is not of God.
Types of divination:
Known types:
Crystal ball reading: fortune-telling by gazing into a crystal ball or reflective objects.
Palm Reading: fortune-telling by reading ones palm.
Necromancy: speaking to the dead or dead corpses, summoning spirits as apparitions or visions.
Numerology: any belief in the divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events.
Horoscopes: Reading of the astrological chart or diagram representing the sun, moon, planets, astrological aspects, and sensitive angels at the time of an event such as a person’s birth.
Lesser known:
Aeroancy: divination conducted by interpeting atmospheric conditions.
Arithmancy: a form of divination based upon assigning numerical value to a word or phrase. This practice is used heavily in Kabbalah.
Ariolation: divination conducted by building altars.
Chronomancy: divination of the best times to do something. Lucky days and unlucky days....used a lot in ancient China.
Kabblah: Jewish mysticism- this is a very dangerous one because some of these practices are being re-introduced into the church by some of these false teachers and false prophets.
Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the LORD’S house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon: And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the LORD: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD, Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the LORD’S house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place. Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people; The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent him.
Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and brake it. And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way. Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the prophet, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron. For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also. Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Implications of False Prophets
Implications of False Prophets
To be a false prophet has some very, very, very serious implications attached to it. It is a very serious thing to say you are a prophet but you truly aren’t one. It is a very serious thing to say that God said a thing when in fact He really didn’t say anything. Essentially, to prophesy and say that God said this when in fact He did not is to basically lie on God and to lie on God is a very very very serious thing.
But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
So please understand that back then there was no such thing as making an honest mistake or a misinterpretation. Because if you prophesied and it did not come to pass.....YOU DIED. Well that seems harsh.....but remember the seriousness of false prophecy......YOU LIED ON GOD! I know that we are living in the dispensation of grace and today’s time is not like the Old Testament times when you messed up and you were put to death, or that God himself would step in and administer punishment or justice. However it is a serious thing to say something that God did not say!
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
False Teachers
False Teachers
False Doctrine
False Doctrine
Thought: You cannot use scripture to justify or to prove your point of view. To do so puts us in a position to bend the scriptures to our will rather than the will of God. Note that Satan himself knows scripture and will use it and bend it to conform to his will rather than the will of God. In using the scripture to justify our thoughts and or actions we can use the scripture out of text. When we use the scriptures out of text we do not use the scripture as it was originally intended for.