Wherever there is truth, there will always be someone trying to undermine it with falsehoods and lies. From the beginning recorded history, lies have been offered as an alternative to the truth God and when believed, have brought devastating painful consequences.
1 John 2:18–23 (NKJV) “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”
Fast forward to our own day and age and you will find a proliferation of false teachings and false prophets. They are literally everywhere. Thanks to technology, including YouTube, anyone can say anything and gain a semblance of credibility as if they could be trusted outright. That’s unfortunate since many have been led astray by straight up liars.
Yes, you have a responsibility to ‘test all things’ and hold fast to what is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21–22 (NKJV) “Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”
It’s essential you learn to refuse to receive lies or your own spiritual life will shrivel up and eventually die.
Acts 17:10–12 (NKJV) “Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.”
What are some tell tale signs of a false teacher or a false prophet?
1. A False Prophet preaches a false god.
This is simple enough but often overlooked. Their teachings will not point you to the all powerful God of which they say they are speaking but rather to themselves, in some way always tearing down men and women they dislike.
Deuteronomy 13:1–5 (NKJV) “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.”
2. A false prophet denies the true Deity of Jesus Christ!
Every false teacher gets Jesus Christ wrong, especially that He is God in human flesh, 100% God AND 100% man.
1 John 4:1–3 (NKJV) “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”
3. A false prophet will live an immoral sin filled life, including but not limited to pride, thievery, sexual corruption, and loving money so much he will steal from you in Jesus name!
Don’t listen to men or women living in obvious sin.
2 Peter 2:10–12 (NKJV) “and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,”
Jude 3–4 (NKJV) “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Jude 8 (NKJV) “Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.
Jude 10–13 (NKJV) “But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”
Jude 16 (NKJV) “These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.”
Jude 19 (NKJV) “These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.”
4. A false prophet’s ministry will be filled with gossip, slander, false teaching, and empty talk.
In order to prop up their false teachings, false prophets usually seek to tear others down. Pride is at work here.
2 Peter 2:18–19 (NKJV) “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.”
BONUS OBSERVATION:
5. A false prophet makes false predictions that don’t come true.
False prophets abound today and spout off false supposed prophetic future predictions that didn’t come to pass. These are to be rejected no matter what their explanation is. They are fortunate not to live in the days of the Old Testament where they would be stoned to death. In grace, they are to be rejected with the hopes they repent and humble themselves before God and man.
Deuteronomy 18:20–22 (NKJV) “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”
