Matthew 7.15-20, 12.33-35, Luke 6.43-45.
Right after Jesus’s
Pagans tend to define a prophet as someone who foretells or forecasts the future. But properly a
And usually that’s all someone has to tell people in order to be a convincing fake prophet. Do
Predicting the future’s way harder. So fake prophets avoid that as much as they can, or leave their predictions deliberately vague. Which, if you’ve read your bible, you notice God does not do. Unless he doesn’t want us to know details, and shrouds them in
Fakes can’t do this with any accuracy, so of course they avoid accuracy. That’s your first red flag.
But I digress. In
Matthew 7.15-20 KWL - 15 “Watch out for the fake prophets,
- who come to all of you dressed as sheep, but underneath they’re greedy wolves.
- 16 You’ll recognize them by their fruits.
- People don’t pluck grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles, do they?
- 17 So every good tree grows good fruits, and a rotten tree grows bad fruits.
- 18 A good tree doesn’t grow bad fruits, nor a rotten tree grow good fruits.
- 19 Every tree not growing good fruit is cut down and thrown into fire.
- 20 It’s precisely by their fruits that you’ll recognize them.”
When we follow the Spirit, his personality tends to create a serious impact on our personalities. We start to act like him. More love, joy, peace, patience, and all the godly traits Paul listed in Galatians,
If you’re a fake prophet, y’might be able to fake the prophecies convincingly. Maybe even the fruit… temporarily. People who observe you up-close, long-term, will know whether you’re producing the fruit or not. Which is why a lot of the fakes who aren’t, try to make sure people don’t observe ’em up-close, long-term. It’s why they prefer independent prophetic ministries, separate from any churches which might be able to catch ’em when they’re not performing. Why they travel, stay in town just for the weekend, and insist on separate hotel accommodations in their riders, instead of staying with any of the folks of the church, and spending significant time with anyone. Why the stuff they preach sounds so iffy when you know your bible, and the fruit they profess
Fruitless Christians in general.
There are two other passages kinda parallel to Jesus’s teaching about fake prophets. They have to do with fruitless Christians in general. They’re found elsewhere in Matthew and Luke.
Matthew 12.33-35 KWL - 33 “Either grow the tree and its fruit right, or grow the tree and its fruit rotten:
- From the fruit, you know the tree.
- 34 You viper-children, how can you speak good yet be evil?
- From the mind’s overflow, the mouth speaks.
- 35 The good person throws up good things from a good treasury.
- The evil person throws up evil things from an evil treasury.”
Luke 6.43-45 KWL - 43 “For a good tree doesn’t grow rotten fruit, nor a rotten tree grow good fruit:
- 44 Each tree is known by its own fruit.
- You don’t gather figs from thistles. You don’t reap grape bunches from thornbushes.
- 45 The good person brings up good things from the good treasury of a good mind.
- The evil brings up evil things out of an evil mind.
- From the mind’s overflow, their mouth speaks.”
We already know (or should!) there are a lot of fruitless Christians out there. Either they’re doing the fake-fruit thing, and repackaging
Hence they have little fruit. No kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, nor self-control. When they quote bible, there’s hostility behind it. Sometimes passive-aggressive; sometimes just plain aggressive. There’s anger, envy, jealousy; they want everyone to conform to their standard, biblical or not. There’s selfish ambition: They wanna be our spiritual authorities or masters. There’s fights, feuds, grudges, dissension, church splits; pastors get fired, Christians get excommunicated.
There’s even sorcery: They wield bible verses like magic spells, and think their words
Notice it’s not a matter of “being all talk” with no action. There’s plenty of action: These folks get the people of their churches to behave, conform, and even minister to the needy like Christians oughta. But don’t just look at a church’s good deeds: Look for the Spirit’s fruit. Is it there? More love, joy, peace, kindness, forgiveness, grace? Do any of a Christian’s actions look like the Holy Spirit is overflowing in our lives?
And I haven’t even got to the prophets. Bad enough that ministers act this way, but we shouldn’t see this degree of fruitlessness in ordinary Christians. Even newbies start to change in character once the Spirit gets ahold of them. Yet I’ve known self-described longtime Christians who act like the very worst Jesus-fighting
Jesus compares these folks to literal fruit. Can we get figs from thistles? Grapes from thornbushes?
Fruitless prophets in specific.
When Christians pick leaders, we regularly make the same mistakes we do with electing politicians. We’re suckers for charm, strength, and what appears to be supernatural ability. Somebody claims to be a prophet, says a few things which sound profound or positive, and suddenly everybody’s doing whatever he tells ’em, and are even willing to go with him to Guyana and drink his Kool-Aid.
These leaders’ real allegiance—to themselves and their schemes, not Jesus—are easily detected when we look at their fruit. But we don’t. We look at what the rest of humanity does. We’re impressed by the smokescreen. We’re led astray by the light show.
Paul’s requirements for
Prophecy isn’t a sign of leadership. It’s a sign of Christianity. Every Christian
In the hands of a fruitless Christian, God’s message will be so warped. It’ll be used to manipulate, control, tear down, and tear apart. What God means to strengthen, encourage, and comfort,
So watch out for fake prophets… but more importantly watch out for fruitless prophets. And watch out lest you become a fruitless prophet yourself. Work on developing the Spirit’s fruit! Watch out for those who won’t.
