Matthew 7.15-20,
12.33-35,
Luke 6.43-45.
Right after
By
But of course if there’s a real thing, and it’s valuable, there’s gonna be knock-offs and counterfeits. Hence there are such creatures as fake prophets. More than likely you’ve met some. They pretend to hear God—and they’ve learned some really good tricks to make it sound like they really did!—but they didn’t. For one of many reasons:
- Money, obviously. Churches might pay them to visit, and prophesy over people. Conferences might hire them as speakers. They could sell books and videos. Fans will send ’em money on a regular basis… instead of
financially supporting their churches like they should. - Control over others. They want people to listen to them and obey, because they supposedly speak for God. They want your pastor and church to obey them. They want the government to obey them. When they say jump, you don’t even ask “How high”—you just try to jump as high as you can.
- When sad people hear good news, it makes them so very happy. Well, prophets are in a great position to give sad people good news: Tell ’em what they want to hear! Tell ’em what they’re dying to hear. “You’re worried your
atheist grandma went to hell when she died; well I’ve got some great news for you! She repented at the last second and I can see her in heaven right now, giving Jesus a big ol’ hug!” They’ll get so much love for saying such things. Feels great! - People often presume prophets are extra-special Christians. God’s favorites. More gifted, more blessed, probably more devout. They wanna get revered like Roman Catholics revere their saints, so they try to make sure everybody’s aware they’re a prophet—i.e. automatic sainthood.
- And thanks to that automatic sainthood, fewer people are gonna notice—or believe it—when you sin. It’s a great cover for hypocrites.
There are plenty others. Hence there have always been fake prophets. And in
Matthew 7.15-20 KWL 15 “Watch out for the fake prophets,- who come to you² dressed as sheep,
- but underneath they’re greedy wolves.
16 You’ll² recognize them by their fruits.- People don’t pluck grapes from thornbushes,
- nor 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’ll² recognize them.”
When we follow the Spirit, usually his personality makes a serious impact on our personalities. We begin 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 legitimately producing 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 a weekend, and their riders insist on separate hotel accommodations—instead of staying with anyone from the church, and spending significant time with them. It’s why the stuff they preach sounds so iffy when you actually know your bible… and why the fruit they profess
Fleshly Christians in general.
There are two other passages kinda parallel to Jesus’s teaching about fake prophets. They have to do with
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 Viper children!- How can you² speak good yet be evil?
- From the mind’s overflow,
- the mouth speaks.
35 The good person puts forth- good things from a good treasury.
- The evil person puts forth
- 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.- One doesn’t gather figs from thistles.
- One doesn’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 bad-fruit-producing fleshly Christians out there. Either they’re doing the fake-fruit thing, and trying to describe
Hence they have little good fruit. No kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, nor self-control. When they quote bible, there’s anger and hostility behind it. Sometimes passive-aggressive; sometimes just plain aggressive. There’s envy and 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,
There’s even sorcery. Nope, not kidding nor exaggerating: 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 fleshliness 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?
Fleshly prophets in specific.
When Christians
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 the same irrelevant junk as the rest of humanity. 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 fleshly 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 prophets with bad fruit. And watch out lest you become a fleshly prophet yourself. Work on developing the Spirit’s fruit! Watch out for those who won’t.
