In this episode of Order Within, I delve into the crucial topic of false prophets, exploring their characteristics and methods.
Through close study of scripture, including passages from Matthew, First Kings, Jeremiah, Timothy, and Ezekiel, I shed light on how to identify and understand false prophets and their misleading messages.
I emphasize the importance of aligning one's life with God's teachings and being vigilant to avoid deception.
The episode concludes with a prayer for guidance and discernment in recognizing and standing against false prophets. I hope you enjoy it. Please share your thoughts in the comments!
For my readers, the edited transcript is below.
Table of Contents:
00:00 Introduction and Today's Topic
00:52 Understanding False Prophets
01:43 Personal Reflections and Mistakes
02:55 Scriptural Insights on False Prophets
04:32 Characteristics of False Prophets
05:47 Examples from Scripture
08:02 False Messages and Ungodly Behavior
15:40 Manipulation and Deception
19:46 True vs. False Prophets
25:08 Encouragement and Final Thoughts
27:10 Closing Prayer and Farewell
Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello and welcome, I'm your host, Brandon Ward, back with another episode of Order Within. We've got an interesting topic today. We're going to be talking about false prophets. Been thinking about this a lot lately, and I think it's super relevant because of the world that we're living in. And the more I study scripture, the more I pray, the more I do my best to align my life with God and living righteous, the more prominence you see of false prophets.
[00:00:44] And just wanting to understand what that means and clarify it in the world so that we can navigate the world. For us as followers of faith, for faith oriented people, for followers of Christ, is understanding false prophets, what they are, how they operate, the characteristics that they have, how they manipulate, all these different things, these are some of the things we're going to talk about in today's show.
[00:01:15] Because if we're not careful, we can be misled by false prophets. People that knowingly are being false prophets and people that are unknowingly being false prophets. So it's understanding those characteristics and what to look for. And it's very prominent in today's world because ultimately, we're living in a fallen world.
[00:01:40] And if we're not careful, we can get swept up into it. I know at points in my life, I have been really captured by the world in a lot of ways. Just by the way I'm living, the things that I'm doing, you know, the beliefs that I had at that point in my life in the past, you know. I was, I was just making a, making a lot of mistakes living for myself.
[00:02:05] And a lot of this was unknowing, right? I thought I was doing the right thing because I was pursuing the ways of the world. And that was a mistake I made. Was that, there, there is the ways of the world and then there's God's way. And ultimately, we're here to follow God's way and live in alignment with, with our Creator, with the Heavenly Father.
[00:02:31] And if we don't do that, then there are consequences and we often suffer because of that and so that's something You know, I had to learn the long hard way the long and hard way. And so my my hope is is that by sharing these things? Can offer some guidance to you offer some help to you and maybe not make those same mistakes
[00:02:55] We're going to look at some scripture. We're looking at Matthew 7, this is Jesus talking about true and false prophets.
[00:03:02] So, He says, "watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes? Or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit, you will recognize them."
[00:03:44] That's some really good stuff there.
[00:03:49] Just based on what Jesus is saying and how he's describing false prophets. Ultimately, it's the way they show up in the world and the results that they produce in the world, the outcomes that they create with their actions are what are going to determine That fruit that he is describing, right? The things that they create, the fruit that they bear, is a representation of who they are.
[00:04:17] And the way they see the world, and the way they interact with the world. And, good fruit, bad fruit, will be determined by, What they're teaching, and who they are, and how they're treating others. And so, one thing that's very important there, Relative to characteristics is the deceptive piece. They come to us in sheep's clothing, but inwardly, they are ferocious wolves.
[00:04:45] So they are presenting themselves in a different manner. They are presenting themselves in a light, innocent, safe manner. But really, they are dangerous because a sheep is prey, right? A sheep is an animal that we use on a farm that we can get milk from, and cheese, and meat, and Their fur, all these wonderful things.
[00:05:08] So, a sheep can be a man's companion. But a wolf is a danger. That is a predator. A wolf could kill a man. A wolf could do a lot of harm. So when these individuals are deceiving us, they are coming as if they are safe. But really, they are dangerous. They are preying on us.
[00:05:27] And that is the thing, that is the thing that we must be mindful of. Is that they are attempting to deceive us to appear to be safe, but they are not. They are not.
[00:05:42] Another characteristic of false prophets. And so I'm looking at first Kings 22, verse 13 to 14.
[00:05:52] So this is a scenario where the, the king is trying to get advice from his prophets. And all the other prophets were prophesying in favor for the king. But they're doing this in a self serving manner. Not because they're being honest or genuine, but because they want to please the king, they want to tell him what he wants to hear so that they can be in his favor, because he's upset right now.
[00:06:17] He's, he doesn't believe that he can succeed in a battle against this group of people. And so, he's asking his prophets, his prophets are saying that yes, you will be successful. Against, they're saying, Rameth Gilead, and you will be victorious. For the Lord will give it to the king's hand. But the messenger had gone to summon Micaiah, and said to him, look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.
[00:06:54] So, verse 14 says, But  Micaiah said, As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what the Lord tells me.
[00:07:04] So, again, they are wanting him to share a prophecy in favor of the king whether or not it is true. And  Micaiah is saying that I can only share what the Lord tells me. And basically being honest in it. So he's being an honest and true prophet, which is serving God, serving the Lord. But so many false prophets have self serving motives, and they do this to manipulate.
[00:07:36] They do this to mislead, to and they will say and do whatever they need to in order to serve themselves, to fulfill the motives that they have. And in this instance, the motives are to please the king because they are trying to stay in favor with him to tell him what he wants to hear.
[00:07:56] Another characteristic is going to be false messages. We're in Jeremiah, starting at verse 9, that goes through and talks about lying prophets. And he says, Concerning the prophets, my heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a strong man overcome by wine, because of the Lord and His holy words.
[00:08:20] The land is full of adulterers. Because of the curse, the land lies parched, and the pastures in the wilderness are withered. The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly. Both prophet and priest are godless. Even in my temple, I find their wickedness, declares the Lord. Therefore, their path will become slippery.
[00:08:42] They will be banished to darkness. And there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished, declares the Lord. Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing. They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible.
[00:09:03] They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers so that not one of them turns from their wickedness. They are like Sodom to me, the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah. Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty says concerning the prophets. I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned wine, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.
[00:09:32] This is what the Lord Almighty says. Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you. They will fill you with false hope. They speak visions from their own mind, not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep saying to those who despise me, the Lord says, you will have peace. And to all who follows the stubbornness of their hearts, they say, no harm will come to you.
[00:09:56] But which of them has stood in the counsel of the Lord to see or hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purpose of his heart, and days to come you will understand it clearly, I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their messages.
[00:10:24] I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. Am I only a God nearby, declares the Lord, and not a God far away?
[00:10:41] Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them, declares the Lord? Do I not fill heaven and earth, declares the Lord?
[00:10:49] So what he's talking about, what God is talking about here, is that people will come and tell us all kinds of falsehoods. False messages. They'll give us false hope. They'll mislead us.
[00:11:02] To manipulate us. And they will not tell us the truth. They will not tell us what is really happening. They will not tell us that we are living wickedly. And when you look at the world today, I can't think about how much, how prominent that is. Because we are not being told the truth about ourselves, the world that we live in.
[00:11:22] We are not being told the truth about our behavior. The mistakes that we make, the way that we live, the damage that this causes us, we are not being told these things. The world tells us that you can do whatever you want, that there are no consequences, that we must be tolerant.
[00:11:40] We must not say anything to anyone else. We must not be offensive. We must care, we must tolerate everything, unless you want to live a godly life, then we can't tolerate that, because oh no, that goes against the ways of the world or whatever it is that they share with us. And because of this, we get swept in to all these lies.
[00:12:05] We get swept in to these messages that don't serve us, they end up harming us, they take us further away from God. And that is what God is doing here. He is warning us. He is telling us, be mindful of these false prophets and the messages that they share. Be mindful if they are taking you away from the Lord. Because so many people don't even realize that there is a way that God has decreed.
[00:12:32] And that is the danger. It's not realizing that there is a way of living that's aligned with God and that God calls us to live specifically and live in His way. And so, so many come and deny God's way and then make their own way. And that's something that we must be mindful of.
[00:12:57] Another aspect is that false prophets promote ungodly behavior that's kind of leaning in to the last one here. As we were talking about in Jeremiah there it talks about ungodly behavior. But I'm also going to look at Timothy.
[00:13:13] So we're looking at First Timothy chapter 6 verse 3 through 5.
[00:13:22] False teachers and the love of money. These are the things you are to teach and insist on. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ into godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions, and constant friction.
[00:13:49] Between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth, and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
[00:14:09] Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
[00:14:29] So that was actually Timothy chapter 6, verse 3 through 10.
[00:14:36] I went a little further there. So again, The worship of money, right? Ungodly behavior. Pursuing things. Because what he's saying there is that we will do anything in pursuit of money. And often we will sacrifice our godly ways. We will turn away from the Lord to pursue money. And that is so much of what happens.
[00:14:59] That's a prominent ungodly behavior. And false prophets will lead us to do these things. And think about where we are now in the world. Think about how much materialism we worship, money we worship, all the false idols around status and celebrity and material gain with no regard to God and our Heavenly Father, our, and Christ, the Savior.
[00:15:26] There's none of these things, right? The Holy Spirit, the Trinity. We don't talk about these things in modern culture. It's done outside of that. Modern culture promotes these very ungodly behaviors.
[00:15:40] So, other things that false prophets do, they manipulate us. They do this through deception and charisma. In that first verse from Matthew that I read, that's one of the key components that they're talking about, is deceiving us and using charisma. Positive traits. They want us to believe that they are good people, so they can be charismatic.
[00:16:04] They can be cheerful. They can appear to be all these things, but at the heart of it, they are deceiving us.
[00:16:10] They are leading us away from God, and that is the danger, is that we can get pulled into these manipulations, and we have to be mindful, right? Again, this is why studying The Bible, praying, and living a life aligned with God is so crucial. When we don't do this, we become blind in the world. And we become susceptible and vulnerable to manipulation and deception.
[00:16:39] So we have to be careful from that perspective. Ultimately, this comes down to people that are trying to get us to follow their ways and not the ways of God.
[00:16:51] That's the biggest crux that we have to face in a lot of ways in the world, is that people are seeking to dethrone God. They want to dethrone Christ and sit there themselves. They themselves want to sit on the throne of judgment. They want people to be obedient to them and dependent on them.
[00:17:12] In Timothy 2, I'm looking at chapter 4 here, He says, In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in the view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge, preach the word. Be prepared and seasoned and out of season, correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and careful instruction.
[00:17:33] For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship.
[00:17:54] Do the work of an evangelist to charge, discharge all the duties of your ministry. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of Righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
[00:18:21] And so, there. It's talking about how people will manipulate us. They will manipulate doctrine. They will manipulate all kinds of things. And they will come up with their own version of what they want. Because they don't want to hear the Word of God.
[00:18:36] They don't want to align with the Word of God and live true to Him. They want to pursue their own desires. So they will come up with all kinds of doctrines, and beliefs, and perspectives to make that justified. And that is a huge difference, a huge difference in how people operate. And so we have to be mindful of that too.
[00:18:59] Again, looking at the prominence of that characteristic in this world. Where people are manipulating desires. They are coming up with their own versions of things. And truthfully, y'all, before I started reading the Bible, before I started studying this way, I realized that I had been captured by some of these things.
[00:19:18] My arrogance of believing that I knew better, that I didn't need the Word, that I have what I need in this world, the modern world, that was a lie. I was deceived. I was being misled into thinking that, oh, I only need to study science or psychology. Things of the material world, that was wrong and we have to be mindful of that.
[00:19:43] We have to be mindful of that.
[00:19:46] So the last couple pieces here that we're looking at are the differences between true and false prophets. So the source of the message matters, right? If it's coming from God. That's a, that's a huge piece that we have to be mindful of.
[00:20:04] And I'm looking at Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 13, verse 1 through 7 here, says the word of the Lord came to me, son of man, Prophecy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying.
[00:20:17] Say to those who prophecy out of their own imagination, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says. Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals among ruins. You have not gone up to the breaches in the wall to repair it for all the people of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord.
[00:20:42] Their visions are false, and their divinations a lie. Even though the Lord has not sent them, they say, The Lord declares, and expect Him to fulfill their words. Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, The Lord declares, though I have not spoken? Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says.
[00:21:05] Because of your false words and lying visions, I am against you, declares the Sovereign Lord.
[00:21:11] So again, y'all, people making up their own prophecies, their own messages, saying that they are prophesying. I am seeing the future. I see this. This is what I envision. Not this is what God envisions. That is a key distinction.
[00:21:29] People that are serving God versus those that are serving themselves. Another aspect is going to be whether they are consistent with Scripture or not, and this is a huge difference too, are people sound with their Scripture?
[00:21:42] I'm learning, right? I'm growing in my faith and growing in my study of the Scripture.
[00:21:47] I have so much to learn still. I'm so far away. I mean, I'm still through my first pass of reading the Bible. So I'm not claiming to be an expert on the Scripture. But that's a big tell with people. Are they aligned with Scripture? Do they study Scripture? Do they read it frequently? That matters a lot, and we want to follow people, we want to be aligned with people who study the Scripture, who sit with it.
[00:22:11] Because it changes you. It brings you closer to God. And it helps you to see the world, it helps us to see the world with clear eyes. And so, we want to, we want to notice whether people are consistent with scripture or not. Because that's a big indicator as well. Another aspect, as I mentioned earlier, is the fruits of their labor.
[00:22:32] What is the word that they're sharing becoming? Are you living a more righteous life? Are you finding more peace, more strength, more courage in God? Do you find empowerment in the things that they're saying? Does it bring you closer to God? Does it bring you closer to Scripture? Does it want, does it encourage you to pray?
[00:22:51] Do you feel closer to the Lord? These things matter. That's the fruits of that labor. Or do you feel further away? Do you feel more drawn into the world? Do you feel more propelled to pursue materialism and status and money and all of these things? Those are the fruits of the labor of those prophets, and we must be mindful of those that mislead us away from God.
[00:23:16] And then the last characteristic there of true and false differences is the glorification of God.
[00:23:22] So we're looking at 1 John chapter 4 verse 1 through 3. 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. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God. Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.
[00:23:45] But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and even now is already in the world.
[00:23:56] That's John talking about the Antichrist in the world already then. So think about now. We must glorify God and we must glorify Christ.
[00:24:08] Because Christ was God on, in the earth, right? Our Heavenly Father sent His Son to live upon the earth, here with us, in the flesh, so that He may live, He may conquer the sins of this world. He died and was resurrected to show us all the things that He said was true, and that He is truly the Son of God. He is resurrected, He lives eternally, and now He is pouring out the Holy Spirit upon us.
[00:24:34] That is the gift of Christ. That is the gift of God. Christ is a gift from our Creator. And so we must know that and that is a great way to judge those of whether they are false or true prophets. Are they glorifying Christ? Are they glorifying God? Because if they are not, run in the opposite direction. And there's a whole lot of glorification going on in the world that is not glorifying God. And y'all know that.
[00:25:02] So we have to be mindful of these things and we have to look out for these different characteristics. Now, that's a lot, right? There's a lot of different components that we're looking at here.
[00:25:14] When we're looking at true and false prophets. And when we're distinguishing the difference. We have to arm ourselves with this knowledge. And this is why studying Scripture is so helpful. Because it can guide us in this world. It can set us straight. It can give us boundaries. It can show us what to look out for.
[00:25:32] What to avoid. And what to pursue. And that is the the aim here is I hope to encourage you to also study the Bible, to also pray, to also reach out to God, to Christ, to, to ask for help, to ask for guidance, to call them in your life.
[00:25:52] They will do incredible things because when you have God, you have Christ, and you have the Holy Spirit, we are unlocked as spiritual beings.
[00:26:02] We are unlocked as children of God. That is the magic of it. And when Christ died for us, he unlocked that Holy Trinity and poured out the Holy Spirit onto the world, into the world. And so here we are today seeking to continue that path to continue to walk with that torch of God. That all those individuals in the Bible that we've been talking about have led up to and culminated with Christ.
[00:26:30] And here we are continuing the work of Christ, our Savior. What a amazing mission to be a part of too. What an incredible journey, an incredible legacy to be part of. So we have to stay present, we have to stay ever ready in the world because false prophets abound. They are all around us with their false messaging. And so we have to be diligent and ready and present to face the world that we are in.
[00:27:00] Because we are here to stand apart. We are here to preach the word of God. And we are here to praise the name of Jesus.
[00:27:10] So, with that being said, let's do a real quick prayer. Heavenly Father, we pray that you may help us know the difference between true and false prophets. We pray that you may guide us and show us those false prophets in this world, so that we may stand against them and that we may know the difference between those that are true and false.
[00:27:27] We pray that we may follow your ways, Father, that Christ may lead us in our lives and that Jesus may take us by the hand and show us what is true and what is false, so that we may be powerful children of your ways and that we may be representatives of you here on the earth.
[00:27:47] So that we may help manifest and establish your kingdom of God. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
[00:27:56] Alright y'all, I really hope you enjoyed that episode. That's all I got for this one. I'll be back next week. I'm really enjoying it. Again, if you're new to the channel here, new to the podcast. Welcome. I appreciate you being here. If you haven't checked out the SubStack yet I would love to see you there.
[00:28:11] It's really grown a lot of engagement happening. It's a great community that's happening there I'm very excited about it. So if if you will join me, I'd love to have you otherwise That's all I got for this episode. God bless and until next time
Share this post