FALSE PROPHETS/TEACHERS
Warning;
Matthew 7:15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves”.
Acts 20:28-31 “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears”.
Psalm 119:163 “I hate and abhor falsehood
but I love your law”.


Introduction and definition:

The false prophet is a label given to a person who is viewed as illegitimately claiming charismatic authority within a religious group. The individual may be seen as one who falsely claims the gift of prophecy, or who uses that gift for demagogy or evil ends. While this definition may apply to all religions; in Christianity and Judaism, a false prophet is one who misrepresents God in misguiding people to follow other gods. He or she would claim to have been sent by God but God never sent him/her.
To know false prophets well we need to be acquainted with true prophets who deliver God’s message to the people. Many times God’s prophets have been misunderstood and labeled false prophets. Let us therefore compare and contrast true and false prophets.
True prophets preach repentance and obedience (Jeremiah 26:4-6 “Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth”). He or she speaks by divine inspiration, revealing or interpreting the will of God.
False prophets teach disobedience and are motivated by money (Micah 3:9-12 “ Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice
and distort all that is right; who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD and say, "Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us." Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets”.).
Many people actually prefer false prophets:
Jeremiah 5:31 “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?”

Discerning the false prophets:

1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world”.
The inability to discern a false prophet from a true prophet will open the way for deception. It is of paramount importance that God’s people engage in a comprehensive endeavor to ensure that we have the ability to discern false prophets. The problem we have is that they do not present their true color. They present half truth to obtain a following. By the time you realize you are completely entangled.
A simple guidance on how to discern false prophets is:
KNOW THE TRUTH
John 17:17 “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth”.
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God”.
MARK AND AVOID THEM
Romans 16:17 “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them”.
Pivotal to the concept of identifying false prophets, is that a false prophet seeks to turn people away from the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore brother and sister watch the direction of worship. God’s prophets have been called upon to correct defects in the worship of God in both Israel and the church. Jeremiah 26:2 “This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD's house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the LORD. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word”.
Always compare everything to the word of God.
OUR DUTY CONCERNING FALSE PROPHETS/TEACHERS
When we read all of Paul’s epistles we note that the most hindrance to the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was false teachers/prophets. This is the reason Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:3-7 “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.” This problem existed in Colossae, Ephesus and Galatians.
The church at Galatia was threatened by false teachers from Jerusalem. These men were committed believers but they had wrong attitude to the true gospel. They taught that; for the gentiles to be saved, they had to adopt the Law of Moses and be circumcised.
The problem of false teachers /prophets is common to the church all the way from time of Paul up to today. It is therefore important to consider seriously on how to handle them.
Paul instructed Timothy to stop the false teachers. This means they should not be allowed to continue spreading their malicious message. They must be stopped. To stop them demands understanding three things: their error, their goal, and their motive.
(1) Understanding their error;
- They were teaching another doctrine
- Fables and endless genealogies.
In this regard Paul gave Timothy apostolic authority to command those false teachers to stop their teachings. False teachers and their error cannot be dealt lightly in the church; it must be dealt with immediately and firmly.
Let’s now deal with the specifics of the error; they were teaching another doctrine (heresy); that gentiles must add the Law of Moses to atoning work of Jesus Christ to be saved... Instead of preaching the true gospel they told stories (fables) about genealogies.
(2)Understanding their goal;
Their goal is polluting the essence of the church. What God wants to see in the church is love. Jesus said that the identifying mark is love (John 13:35). It’s essential that the church be marked by people who love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and love their neighbor as themselves (Matt. 22:37-39).
(3)Understanding their motive;
Their motive is to attack the gospel of Jesus Christ so that it does not accomplish its purpose. For that reason they provide speculations instead of truth.
The presence of false teachers (always a problem for the church in any age and place) requires leaders who have the ability to expound and defend the faith. This also reminds us that exposing false teachers is a task that belongs to the leadership of the church as the shepherds who are to protect the sheep from the wolves who come in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15Acts 20:28). Protection against such is done, of course, through sound biblical exposition. Unfortunately today, too often church leaders are too involved with administrative duties and in seeking to keep the flock entertained.