The Marks of a False Prophet

-The Marks of a False Prophet-

Matthew 7:15-20 - 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.

            On July 1, 2018, we were invited to a men’s service at another church, so my pastor took his four deacons (including myself) along with him right after our church service. Of course, I have visited this church in the previous year in 2017 when we were invited there for a men’s service, but at that time, it was my pastor, his wife, and myself, and the service was great. But this time, it was a little out of the ordinary: I will get to that in a little bit. When we walked in, we were offered a small bottle of water so we could quench our thirst. We walked in the sanctuary to be seated. The pastor of the small local church at a strip mall is a nice and generous guy. Before the service began, my pastor gave me a gold dollar coin to put in the collections plate. Before that, we were having a little bit of fun. I was testing him of his surname origin. He has a good sense of humor.

            When the service began, the pastor of the church gave a brief opening, one of our deacons played the keyboard for the music, and my pastor was called to the front to speak a little bit. After all of this, then the pastor had gave an introduction to the guest minister. When the guest minister went to the pulpit, he started to introduce himself: he talked about his sinful past and so on, and then he started preaching. He was preaching from the Bible and gave a good word, but when time passed by, things started to get weird and strange; he started calling certain people one-by-one to the front: he was using olive oil to anoint certain people and then having them to do strange things. Normally, I’ve seen ministers put one of their fingers on the tip of the bottle of the olive oil for the anointing to come, but this minister actually POURED olive oil in his hand, which is kind of odd. He rubbed his hands together, and then laid his hands on them. One of our deacons was called to the front, the minister poured olive oil in his hand, placed his hands together, and then laid them on the person. He had him to walk to him back and forth, to and fro, and when he was praying over him, he was “slain in the Spirit,” (a Charismatic Pentecostal heresy I do not subscribe to). It seemed like he was “knocked out” for several minutes.

            There are several parts of his activities I remember, but some, I don’t. On one person, he made a prophecy that so-and-so would receive a blessing in “seven days,” but of course, that never happened.  He started to go all over the congregation for individuals to pray over. He eventually came to me. To be honest, I was hoping that he wouldn’t do anything strange to me, but thankfully, he didn’t. Instead, he was talking to be about the belly. He placed his hand upon my belly, and he mentioned the scripture John 7:38 which says, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Of course I already know that. Eventually, he moved on…

            As I said before, things started to get weird and strange. There was a woman who was sitting three to four chairs away from me, she was screaming like she was in agony; she started to be “slain in the Spirit,” on the other side of the congregation on the left; there was another woman which was going through the same thing, except for the scream, but she was falling over chairs like she was having a seizure; and lastly, there was a woman who fell down to the floor, but guess what, mucus was coming out of her nose, and she was experiencing it too! I tell you there was a lot of “speaking in tongues” in there too! The service went on for hours like it was never going to end. For the whole time, I held my peace and kept my silence, but in my mind, I said “Wow!” I’ve seen people speak in tongues, and getting slain in the Spirit and falling down, but to tell you the truth, I have never seen anything like this! I was already discerning in my mind, “Is this really from God?”

            The title of this article is actually the title of the sermon my pastor preached on July 15, 2019. He was exposing the evil tactics of the guest minister we seen. I was afraid to even question his tactics, because I would be accused of “blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.” Thankfully, my pastor exposed him. I forgot his name, but God knows. There are plethora false teachers and false prophets who claim to speak in Jesus’ name, especially this one pulled a fake prophecy. If you do that, there is something wrong. When you read Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus gives a stern warning to people who will claim to do all sorts of things in His name, but they were actually doing them for their own glory:

Matthew 7:21-23 - Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

            In conclusion, we as Bible-believing Holy Ghost-filled Christians need to keep our spiritual eyes open with discernment. There are people who preach only for admiration of men. For example, one person can say about him or her, “Ooh, so-and-so can preach, and he preached so well!” Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with receiving admiration, for there are some well-known preachers who I personally admire. But God must receive all the glory. God is a Jealous God, and He won’t share the glory with men. Again, all the glory belongs to Him along.

1 John 4:1 - Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Luke 6:46 – “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets.”

            And due to the fact that we continuously need spiritual discernment, we should be able to tell whether or not who is being true or false. Check this out, Satan does wonders and miracles too. That’s why we should be careful. The Devil has some people on his team too. Many people are being deceived by him today, so that’s why false prophets and false teachers ought to be exposed, marked, and avoided (Romans 16:17-18). George W. Bush claims to be a Christian, but when you read his beliefs, he is a Universalist in his dogma. He believes that Christians and Muslims worship the “same God.” He believes that there are “different routes of getting to the Almighty.” When he was asked whether or not the Bible is the Word of God, he said, “You know. Probably not. … No, I’m not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it, but I do think that the New Testament for example is … has got … You know, the important lesson is ‘God sent a son.’”

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 – “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

            

            Thank you for listening to me. Let’s continue to expose false prophets and false teachers, and continue the effort of soul-winning (winning souls to Christ!)

-Brother Vick