PROPHETS WHO FAIL: A message on true & false prophets. (9 DEC 2016)

“If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?” (A) Our age is an age of violent spiritual warfare, & we need clear trumpet sounds from our prophets, but instead we have a confusing discordant cacophony of unharmonious noises coming from all kinds of people who claim to be spokespeople for God. For instance, one gay minister is marrying gay couples, while another says homosexuality is an abomination. The quality of the trumpet affects the quality of the sound it produces; likewise the quality of spiritual life a prophet (or spokesperson for God) has, affects the quality of the message he gives, as this message will discuss. We are encouraged by God’s Word to test the spirit behind a prophet as well as whether his message is scriptural.(B) Christ warned, “Take heed no man deceive you.”(C)

GOD’S PEOPLE. There is a verse in the Bible that reminds me of most believers: like believers, this verse is both little known, but spiritually significant. And not only does it describe believers by way of analogy, it describes the believer rather poetically: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou has the dew of thy youth.” (PS 110:3) What the Lord is telling us here in this verse is very significant…. WHO? “thy people”… Their CHARACTER? “holiness”… Their attitude? “willingly”, in other words, volunteers who joyfully serve the Lord. God’s people are a willing people. What is the “day of power” in a sinner’s heart? It is that moment that Christ knocks on the door to your heart with an irresistible calling. Zachaeus had that moment when he was up in a tree, & Yahshua said, “Make haste, & come down!” Three other rather poetic concepts are integrated into this verse: 1) these people have given themselves in the “dew of their youth” and 2) they have “beauties of holiness”, in other words gems & pearls of spiritual beauty in their character. 3) the dew comes from the “womb of the morning”…it is divinely created & mysteriously appears like dew. The thunderstorm arrives with lightening & thunder announcing it. But sparkling dew drops are whispers of nature that quietly appear. So it is with believers. God quietly speaks to their heart. The creation of a spiritually beautiful believer is a very subtle quiet thing–without all the fanfare the world gives its heroes. Since we are warned that there will be many false prophets who shall deceive many in the end days,(D) it’s worth noting how they are the opposite of God’s people.

THE ANTITHESIS. The fake believer is the opposite: he is someone who has come to God by his own mind & may not be able to tell you of the Lord’s “day of power” in his life; he is probably quite vocal in proclaiming his status; & he could care less about holiness (as long as he looks good), & instead of doing it as a volunteer, he is out to get worldly rewards. Christ’s disciples returned from a 2×2 missionary trip very excited because the demons had submitted to them when they used the name of Jesus (Yahoshua). But Christ answers their enthusiasm with: “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (E) In other words, don’t celebrate the battle you won, celebrate winning the war!! And this truism has application to the subject of false prophets, because there will be false prophets that declare to the Lord, “Hey I cast out demons in your name” (a battle won) & “did I not prophecy in your name?”, but Christ will say, “I never knew you” (the war for their soul was lost).(F) Now don’t get me wrong, Yahshua said one of the signs of his believers is that they would cast out demons (aka devils, spirits).(G)

DO THEY SERVE GOD OR MAMMON? So we must look at the entire picture of a prophet to differentiate: is the man out to get rich? does he care about obedience to God & holiness? Is he full of himself or humble? But the fact he prophecies in Christ’s name is not a litmus test. Many will do that and Christ will tell them on judgment day, “I never knew you.” (F again). One of the Illuminati’s worldly prophets, Karl Marx, said, “Money plays the largest part in determining the course of history.” Which is it? the false god of money or YHWH God that is in control??

THE 3 MAJOR PROPHETS WARN OF FALSE PROPHETS. Jeremiah, Ezekiel & Isaiah are termed the major prophets, & they all deal with the false. Isaiah emphasizes a category of people who are spiritually deaf & spiritually blind.(H) Jeremiah says the same.(I) The primary chapters that deal w/ false prophets are EZK 13 & JER 23. Let’s look at EZK 13 for what God says (thru Ezekiel) on false prophets… 1) v.2: they prophecy out of their own hearts. 2) v.4: they are like foxes (or jackals) they mischievously prey on people causing havoc. 3) vs. 5, 12, 14-15: they are not protecting the gaps or creating a hedge of protection, instead they have built unsafe walls that are then whitewashed to hide their weaknesses. (At this pt. let me interject that this gets my righteous indignation going.) It is so-o-o true that both young Christians & adults are NOT given information, training & wisdom to protect them. Young Christians are sent out into the harsh world without the spiritual tools to survive. Adults are not told anything practical about their enemy. But new & old church members suffer defeat after defeat because their pastors are not protecting them. 4) vs. 6-9: The false prophets have seen occult divinations (i.e. lying spirits) & vain vanities (vain visions to boost their egos). 5) v. 10: These false prophets seduce people (tickle their ears with what they want to hear) saying “peace, peace” when “there is no peace”! Jeremiah echos this when he says the false prophets offer salvation when there is no salvation.(J) It’s no surprise that when the prophet has no divine authority behind his words, that his words give no security.

“WOLF! WOLF!”‘ & EMPTY WORDS, EMPTY VISIONS. Down thru history, there have been countless false prophets sounding alarms. Pope Sylvester II had the entire Catholic church convinced the end of the world was coming on New Year’s eve 999 A.D. Harold Camping announced via his radio network that Christ was returning between Sept. 15-27, 1994. The J.W.s have had a whole series of Armageddon end-of-the-world dates–that they now claim they did not make. And here in Portland, John Gunther, predicted the exact day that an earthquake would destroy Portland…it was most bizarre that mainstream news carried the prophecy of an unknown Christian for days, until I later learned he was a programmed Illuminati multiple (MPD). The Word teaches that ultimately it is Satan & his seducing spirits behind these false prophecies.(K) And it will get worse as time goes on: “But evil men and impostors will grow worse & worse, deceiving & being deceived.”(L) These false prophets will appear & perform signs.(M) Yet, they are misled by their own lusts & desires.(N)

FIG TREE OR OMEGA GENERATION. Many Christians are concerned that we are in the final end days, and they are concerned that we may see such Biblical prophecies such as 1/4 dying from famine (O) and that we Christians will be hated by all nations (P), & even killed by people thinking they are doing God a service. The topic of this message could be extended into something book size…but one final verse comes to mind: “Multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision! For the Day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision.”(Q) Heavenly Father, deliver us from evil, and give us the discernment to spot the wolves in sheep clothing. Help us make Spirit-led decisions. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

INTERUPTING THINGS WITH A THOUGHT from the other side. Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d’Estaing, as I remember an Illuminati mmbr from an ancient French noble family, who was France’s leader & afterwards became the head of the EU’s Convention on the Future of Europe, made an interesting comment: “The World is unhappy because it doesn’t know where it is going, and because it senses that, if it knew, it would discover that it was heading for disaster.” That’s the path Satan & his World Order want to take us on.

(A) 1 COR 14:8 (B) “test every spirit”=1 JN 4:1; make sure it is scriptural=ACTS 17:11 (C) MT 24:4 (D) MT 24:11, MK 13:10 (E) LK 10:20 (F) MT 7:22-23 (G) MK 16:17 (H) ISA 6:9, 43:8 (I) JER 5:21 (J) JER 6:14, 8:11 (K) cf. 1 KGS 22:6-28, 1 TIM 4:1 (L) 2 TIM 3:13 (M) MK 13:22-23 (N) 2 PTR 2:1-2 (O) REV 6:7-8 (P) MT 24:9, similar prophetic words are in MK & LK (Q) JOEL 3:14