Edition 79.  June 4th  2011

False Prophets of today

News items

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●Iran's Ahmadinejad says the US is plotting to sow divisions among Arab states so that it can save Israel. He says "Israel and the US will collapse in the near future."

●Iran has secretly stocked enriched uranium for four nuclear bombs (Debka File)

●Netanyahu tells US congress that of the 300 million Arabs in the Middle East only those living in Israel enjoy full democratic rights. He warned that a nuclear Iran will lead to war and to nuclear terrorism.

●Canada backs Netanyahu over Obama.

●Canada tells G8 Summit "Lay off Israel" PM blocks all G8 efforts to get Israel to return to the 67 borders.

●Muslim dominated Algeria orders the closure of all churches in the country.

●Pakistan's Karzai threatens war against NATO.

●Gaza Palestinians say "America is the enemy of Allah"

●The troubles around the Arab states continues. It's of no real significance now...until Israel is dragged into the situation. Once Israel is involved, God's specific will and word will be in play! Come against it and His wrath, fury and anger will be invoked. The Bible reveals that this is exactly what will happen and not long from now.

►►►Important news item: According the Associated Press (AP) 4thJune 2011 The Palestinians intend escalating the mobilisation of support worldwide for a Palestinian state by September. The Palestinian's top UN diplomat, Riyad Mansour, says that the Palestinians are ready to take to the streets to demand an end to the Israeli "occupation"  The UN can only pass a resolution if a certain number of member states agree. "We are going to mobilise the largest number of forces to achieve this" he said. He went on to say that the Palestinian people are in a "state of high readiness"  Obama has called for a peace settlement by September as well, giving legitimacy to the Palestinian cause.

There is a bad moon rising for Obama!

Mansour told a group of journalists "Our independence is our right. We will never negotiate our independence with anyone."

These aspirations of the Palestinian people for independence within the greater borders of Israel flies in the face of God's revealed will. He has warned on this in numerous places. Israel will soon be dragged into the situation and so will a very angry God!

False prophets of today:

The image above is an artist's representation of the false prophet of the Revelation riding out to deceive the world. This is Satan himself in disguise. All false prophets and false prophecy have this as their source. All false prophecy is like a wrong roadmap. It may look right, but when you follow the directions, they take you to another destination!

False prophecy is spiritually charged!

We must be aware that false prophecy and false doctrine is very different from error in the general sense. With these things we are in a spiritual environment where spiritual conflict is on the go. There is a very real battle on the go in the spiritual realm for the minds, souls and eternal life of people.

The subject of false prophets actually extends to false or erroneous teaching in the broader sense as well.

The original false prophet was Satan in the garden. He caused the fall of mankind. Today it's no different at all. Satan is out there trying to lead people astray and into his kingdom.

What is a false prophet?

He's not necessarily some weirdo in a mountain cave. He could be your very own pastor, priest or very reverend in a frock.

The real dangerous false prophets are within the church.

There is a huge danger in people who've appointed themselves into ministry. They are driven by the power of self. They do not have the marks of the cross on their lives and therefore what they speak is of the world, self and demonic.

The true man of God in ministry is appointed equipped and called by God alone and not by some church board or committee.

A person who delivers a message in the name of our Lord, saying, "this is what the Lord says" and it doesn't come to pass...is a false prophet. That's the Biblical definition, like it or not. Make no mistake about this, it's not just a mistake if things prophesied don't come to pass, the person is a false prophet.

Deuteronomy 18:20-22 "'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 shal die' "and if you say in your heart, how sahll we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?- "when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if this thing does not to pass...the prophet has spoken presumptiously; you shall not be afraid of him."

If you speak in the name of the Lord how can He be wrong?

Of course, it's not wrong to weigh up evidence and present an opinion. But if you say, "the Lord told me", or "this is the word of the Lord," you're in a different place. You'd better have heard from Him!!

False prophecy leads to false believing. False beliefs are the playground of the devil himself.

The purpose of the devil working in a false prophet is to blind you and deceive you.

On a personal level, I've heard so many people speak on God's behalf and nothing happens. I'll still listen to certain things these people say, but never again to what they say in the name of the Lord. They're false prophets!

The funny thing is that many ego-freak, proud, arrogant pastors today, speak in the name of the Lord as though it's second nature. Perhaps they should read the severe judgements due to false prophets listed in the Bible!

A false prophet is easy to identify. He uses fancy catchy words to draw in the gullible. He uses worldly ways of manipulation. He's money hungry. He'll be quick to tell you that he's a prophet. He'll have many prophecies that were failures or unproven. He uses big advertising bill boards, media advertising and the like to proclaim his message.

"You will know them by their fruits", says the Bible.

What is a true prophet?

A true prophet is one who speaks in the name of the Lord and it comes to pass, every time!! God can't be wrong ever.

Now, there is a much broader area of prophecy. This website is primarily concerned with it. It's the area of Bible prophecy. This is all prophetic words spoken and recorded in the Bible. This is where debate or opinion can come into play. I really enjoy a good discussion on Bible prophecy.

Having different views on Bible prophecy, does not make you a false prophet.

A true prophet is one who is empowered by a specific gift of the Spirit. In fact this is divided into two areas in the Bible. The first is the five-fold ministry gift or office of a prophet. The second is one who is given a specific prophetic word from God for a particular situation, from time to time.

Our Lord also speaks to us through a "still small voice" deep in our hearts. This can also have a prophetic aspect to it, but should not be presented to others as a prophetic word from the Lord, unless you're absolutely sure that the "still small voice" was from God and not your own thoughts.

A true prophet will hear the word of the Lord, speak it and it will come to pass. It could be a word of inspiration, edification, direction, warning or a proclamation of judgement.

A true prophetic word can also have conditions associated. In other words it could sound like this: "If you continue in this direction you will run into disaster".

The word of a true prophet is most times given to direct, steer and warn the church.

Today's false prophets:

It pains to have to address this issue, but it's so much in the news and has big spiritual consequences that it needs to be addressed.

Firstly let me say right up front that Harold Camping is a fraud, a liar and a false prophet of note. His ministry and comments should be completely rejected.

The Bible calls a man who prophecies things which don't come to pass, a false prophet, not someone who made a mistake.

This man not only made false claims about the date and time of the coming of the Lord, but he spent untold millions declaring this to the world through mass media and elaborate advertising. He drew in many gullible people and caused many to give him huge sums of money.

What is worse is that he has been responsible for the mockery of the gift of prophecy and the entire issue of the coming of the Lord.

He is responsible for many millions turning their backs on the truth and mocking it.

2 Peter 3:3 "In the last days there will be scoffers saying where is the hope of His coming? All things will continue as they have."

He has cheapened the whole issue and in the process stolen millions of dollars as gullible people poured their life savings into his ministry.

Instead of serious repentance, he has now gone on to offer all sorts of rubbish excuses and name a new "judgement day"

His theology is so far off its simply incredible. Many of his utterances in the name of the Lord have absolutely no Biblical basis.

He proclaimed that the Lord told him He would return in 1994. This was obviously a lie.

He taught that the church age ended in 1994.

He teaches that every church in the world is apostate, except his of course!

The damage done by false prophets like Harold Camping and others is unfortunately monumental.

Modern teachers like the dangerous blasphemer, Rob Bell and others in the Emergent Church movement fit perfectly into this whole realm of false teaching and prophecy. They've twisted the old truths of the Bible. Harold Camping says that judgment is coming on a specific date. Rob Bell says that there is no hell. Both are false teachers.

The prophetic truth:

The truth is that the Lord is coming soon...very soon. The truth is that we don't know the exact time, down to the hour, but we can and must know the time and the season.

The rapture of the church does not happen in association with great earthquakes all around the world, that's the Second Coming. The church era or age of grace ends with the start of the seven year tribulation period. This period kicks off with the revealing of the antichrist and the signing of a seven year peace treaty with Israel. The entire period is called the tribulation or time of Jacob's trouble. The tribulation period starts off with a period of relative socio-political peace and ends in the worst period of time the earth has ever seen.

It's most logical that the rapture will happen as the church age ends and the seven tribulation begins.

The most likely time for the tribulation period to begin is on the Feast of Trumpets. This feast is associated with judgement. It's the next of the Feasts of the Lord still to be fulfilled.

It's quite likely and probable that this coming Feast of Trumpets will signal the start of the tribulation period.

Note I said "probable." I'll gladly accept the accusation of looking for the coming of our Lord.

One thing you can be very sure of and that is that the rapture will be the greatest event ever for the true believer and the biggest act of judgement as well. God will immediately sift between who are truly His by the new birth and all others, who will be left behind to endure the wrath of God on a Christ rejecting world.

Biblical warnings on false prophets:

False prophets in our day are a perfect fulfilment of many Bible prophecies.

The Bible is full of warnings on false prophets in both the Old and New Testaments. The warnings intensify relating to the end-time period. That's because this is when Satan himself intensifies his confusion. It's also one of Satan's ace trump cards to discredit Bible prophecy and the true prophets.

Some dire warnings include:

1John 4:1 "Do not believe every spirit but test the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

Matthew 7:15 "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves."

Matthew 24:11 "Then many false prophets will arise and deceive many."

1 Timothy 4:1 "The Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons."

Acts 20:29-30 "For I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves."

2 Peter 2:1-2 "But there were false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies..."

The answer:

The wise will reject the false prophets in totality, receive and believe the truth. The wise will not reject or cast down the truth of the soon coming of the Lord because some deceived false prophet spits out a whole lot of garbage.

Yeshua / Jesus has nothing good, or kind to say to anyone who turns away from prophecy. Matthew 16:3 "Hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the sky (weather) but you can't discern the signs of the times."

Don't reject the truth because some Californian false prophet speaks error!

Amos 3:7 "The Lord does nothing unless He reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets."

John 18:37 "...Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Jeremiah 33:3 "Call on Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know."

2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power and lying signs and wonders, and with unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason (didn't receive the love of truth) God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie."

Heaven or hell:

Young woman, deception will keep you imprisoned and hidden behind a clouded window from the truth. You need to embrace the truth and reject error. You need to set your heart after our Lord and Messiah. As you do this He will draw you forward into clear, liberating, deeply satisfying truth, and inner contentment. If not, your pride will blind you and lead you to hell. You can't be saved on your good works.

Old man I once met an old man just like you. He was an angry, wilful, self-centred, foul mouthed atheist. In his old age he finally gave up fighting everything and everyone. He turned to our Lord in surrender asking for salvation. He became a broken man, but a man at rest. Our great saviour worked in his life to break all the pride, ego, arrogance and hatred that had scarred his life. He entered deep rest. Shortly afterwards he entered eternal glory.

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Here's a wonderful depiction of Matthew receiving a word of truth from an angel. The painting was done by Rembrandt in 1661

Kind regards and many blessings...Shalom and grow in grace!