Matthew 7: 15 – 23
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
In the kingdom of God, there are both wheat and tares, the good and the bad, the genuine and the fake. Those who are truly of God and those who are not. The wheat are the genuine children and ministers of God and the tares are the fake children and ministers of God. They Bible teaches that both sets will co-exist and co-operate together in the kingdom.
So, our scripture this week tell us to beware of false prophets. To beware of those who outwardly seem to be true ministers of God, but inwardly are only after what they can gain. They are after money and things they can get from unsuspecting followers. They are after fame, glamour popularity, power, money and much more. Even when they are seemingly doing wonderful works for people, there is secret reason behind. It is to ultimately benefit them.
The Lord Jesus is warning us of this and saying beware, because they will come like they are for real. I mean for real! They will pretend that they are real ministers of God. He goes on to say that by their fruits we will know them. So, that means we are to look at the fruit of their lives. Not at the signs, the wonders, the miracles, the mighty and captivating words but at the fruit of their lives. Do the things they do and say line up with scripture? Is their lifestyle like that of Jesus or like that of the world? Have they created new doctrines and methods that you cannot collaborate in the Bible? Are they pointing you to Jesus or pointing you to themselves and the power and authority they have? Is their talk all about self and little bits here and there about the Lord? These are some questions to ask yourself.
Ladies, not everyone who says Lord, Lord is really of the Lord. You can have “men” and “women” of God who cast out demons, and do seemingly great and awesome works signs and wonders. They speak and they seem to be so accurate. They declare and things happen but it is still not of God.
In Matthew 24: 24 – 25 we see the Lord speaking again and saying: 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.
The reality is that there are false ministers, false prophets in our midst today operating like they are real. So, we as daughters of the true God, must watch and pray. We must be alert and sensitive to the Spirit of God. We must stay close to the Holy Spirit so he can show us what is real and what is not We must not be gullible women (2 Timothy 3: 6) swept away by oratory words, lying signs and wonders.
Our Lord Jesus warns us before hand to be careful because He loves us so much and does not want us to fall into the wrong hands. Let’s take our needs to Jesus, because he truly cares for us, rather than fall into the hands of a false prophet or minister while looking for our needs to be met.
I pray that the Lord will help us all in Jesus’ name…