Prophetic Watch 2

We will briefly look at one or two aspects common with the false prophets that you will not see with God’s prophets. These are the characteristics that will give them away for the most part since like I explained in the last post their counterfeiting of the prophetic is almost perfect.

And we will look at a few times they are talked about in scripture.

False prophets love company. It is not very easy to find a false prophet lacking company, be it the slaves or contemporaries. That is unless they are starting. They thrive in crowds.

Remember that even after Elijah killed 850 prophets at Carmel Ahab had four hundred others when Jehoshaphat came calling? Remember that even his son had his prophets?

Yet in those times only one prophet of God was called to counter their unified prophecies.

True prophets will not seek security in numbers since they have the security of the One sending them.

The other thing you will notice is that wicked rulers surround themselves with those prophets. Incidentally, the more wicked, the more the prophets.

And they both feed off each other. The ruler on the gullibility of the masses following the false prophets and the false prophets on the goodies they can access from that relationship.

False prophets will put a good word about the ruler to shield him from any uprising and the ruler pays in kind by opening his palace for their access.

Or do you not remember that all those prophets I have mentioned were being facilitated by the kings they were prophesying to? Remember that even in Egypt their lands were not confiscated because they were being fed by the king as opposed to the populace?

Another thing you will notice is that they are many times agreed on their prophecies. It is like they are reading from the same script, which in actual fact they are doing at the spiritual level.

Look at most sermons. They are in most ways similar and pass essentially the same message, the message of hope, good things are on the way even for someone coming from a whorehouse, gambling or drink den.

They have no place for rebuking sin or teaching holiness. They have no place for teaching obedience. There is no place for abandoning the world for the cause of Christ. There is no place for sacrificing and leaving everything to follow Christ.

The cross features nowhere in their prophecies except as a decoration, probably a tattoo, without caring to know that tattoos are sin in scripture.

They do not speak to the heart of man that is desperately wicked since you must feel good to fund their excesses just as those surrounding wicked rulers do.

I will repeat what I have said many times.

Probably the finest representation of the false prophet is the motivational peddler.

They will never preach holiness, repentance or self examination in the Biblical context.

And they flock together.

That is how to know the false prophet.

He lives for the moment. He exists to make people feel good.

How do you know that you are following a false prophet?

If you go to church to feel good instead of getting challenged; If you go to a fellowship to have the time of your life; If you go to church to hide from the challenges of life; it is very possible that you are following a false prophet.

Allow me to close by saying something I have said severally. And it is that the danger of the false prophet is not in just misleading the masses. It is actually in leading them to the worship of a counterfeit christ.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Matthew 24:24)

These followers are not therefore worshiping wrong; they are not just misled into worshiping Christ in error.

They are being guided in worshipping the wrong christ, or the counterfeit christ.

And that counterfeit even has signs that have been counterfeited from the actual Christ. He has rewards for those who are following him, whether wittingly or in error.

This means that when they are praying and you join them or say Amen, you are actually saying yes to the antichrist.

I have explained elsewhere that the name antichrist does not directly mean opposed to Christ as it appears. It simply means opposing the cause of Christ, the spirit of Christ, the character of Christ, the work of Christ, the salvation of Christ.

And he does that most effectively by creating a persona so close to the original that like we see in that verse it will take God’s hand to stop the elect from being deceived.

That is how bad it is.

And that is why I am writing about the prophetic watch.

We must be not only extremely alert to avoid falling under the clutches of the false prophet, we must be so attuned to God so that the slightest deviation from scripture or the Biblical standard will drive us to the closet to ascertain whether it is a simple error or the worship of a false christ.

This because revelation does not come in one swell swoop. It normally arrives in doses as someone is growing in the knowledge of the divine.

Very simple and black and white issues to a mature disciple might pose herculean dilemmas to a new believer or someone who has not grown as much.

Something that is a plain sin or rebellion to one may be a weakness to another according to the level of their maturity.

And I am writing this as a disciple maker who has seen growth over the years I have been in Christ’s service.

To the growing believer (disciple), you will be gentle as a parent as you guide them through the scriptures for the purposes of their growth and transformation.

To the other we are ordered to flee and touch no unclean thing. We are ordered not to greet or even wish them a safe journey since doing so is tantamount to participating in their wrong. We are told to deliver them to the devil they serve.

There is no middle ground when dealing with a false prophet.

In Revelation we see a church being rebuked for going soft on a false prophet (Jezebel). Another was commended for rejecting a peddler of a false doctrine.

We are supposed to come down very hard on the false prophet because he really is advocating for the worship of a counterfeit christ, what in the Old Testament is called idolatry.