His nickname was
“The Most Dangerous Man in Europe”. He was Hitler’s favorite commando. His name was Otto Skorzeny, the scar-faced
Nazi special forces soldier who had earned a reputation for being able to do
any operation Hitler challenged him to do.
His covert and military feats are legendary. Then came one of his most dangerous
assignments: Operation Greif. It happened during the Battle of the Bulge in
WWII. Germany was losing ground in the
war but still dangerous. Hitler wanted
to use the false flag tactic in Operation Greif. A false flag tactic is when you carry out an
activity and make it look like it is your enemy who did it. Hitler told Skorzeny that he wanted him to
dress up like Allied soldiers, drive Allied military vehicles, use Allied
equipment in order to infiltrate the Allied forces. They were to pretend as though they were part
of the Allied forces, and while doing so they would spread rumors and false
reports, disrupt communications, and do whatever was necessary to break the
morale of the Allied soldiers. Hitler is
quoted as saying,
“I want
you to command a group of American and British troops and get them across the
Meuse and seize one of the bridges. Not,
my dear Skorzeny, real Americans or British.
I want you to create special units wearing American and British
uniforms. They will travel in captured
Allied tanks. Think of the confusion you
could cause! I envisage a whole string
of false orders which will upset communications and attack morale.”
Under the 1907
Hague Convention, Skorzeny and his men would be executed as spies if caught.
Hitler is not the
only one who has employed the false flag tactic. There is someone else who uses this technique
to cause confusion and misdirect the enemy.
Satan uses the false flag tactic against the Church of Jesus
Christ. He sends his own ambassadors to
covertly infiltrate the ranks of the Church at all levels. Like Otto Skorzeny and his men, Satan’s men
come looking like us, sounding like us, and pretending to be one of us. And like this WWII band of covert operatives,
Satan’s men undermine the progress of the Church, spread false reports, mislead,
misdirect, and all together sow confusion in the ranks of Christ’s flock.
Today we are
going to look at the Truth About False Prophets. The reason they are called false is because
they are not truly sent by God, they do not truly speak for God, and they do
not speak what is true of God. They are
false. We could turn to countless
passages in Scripture to teach about False Prophets, however, we are turning to
a seminal passage in Matthew 7:15-23. As
we descend into this passage we find ourselves on a hillside on the northern parts of the Sea of Galilee, early on in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is His famous Sermon on the Mount, and it
is here that we read our Lord’s own words as He tells us the truth about false
prophets. [Read Passage]
There are 7
Truths you need to know about false prophets.
#1: False Prophets are a
Reality
First
of all, False Prophets are a Reality.
Notice verse 15, “Watch out for false prophets.” It would seem strange for the Lord to warn us
about something if that something wasn’t real.
False Prophets are a reality. In
other words, they really do exist.
But they do not
exist, they are abundant. Do not make
the mistake of thinking that false prophets are in the minority. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the
majority of people actually are called and sent by God. A cursory review of the NT shows that the
world is actually full of false prophets – they are arguably in the
majority.
Notice first of
all the words right before this passage.
Jesus speaks of 2 roads – one road that is wide and leads to destruction
and one that is narrow and leads to salvation.
The wide road is wide BECAUSE there are so many on it – followers, and
false teachers leading them along on the path of destruction. There are more on the wide road than on the
narrow road. Then in Matthew 24:5 Jesus
warns and says, “For MANY will come in My Name, claiming ‘I am the Christ’, and will
deceive many.” In Acts 20:29
Paul warned the church leaders, “I KNOW that after I leave, savage wolves
will come in among you and will not spare the flock.” In 1 John 2:18 he says, “Dear children it is the last
hour, and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now MANY
antichrists have come.” Then in
4:2 he says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see
whether they are from God, because MANY false prophets have gone out into the
world.”
Application: We
must no longer assume that most people are truly from God. To do so today is naïve. [Quote blog, Contemplative Spirituality part
2]. We live in an age where deception is
the rule, not the exception. We must
assume that anyone could be an ambassador of Satan.
Someone might
say, “Aren’t we being a little paranoid?” Paranoid:
No. That is foolish. It is foolish to be paranoid, but, it is even
more foolish to dismiss this warning as paranoia. Rather than paranoia, this is taking
Scripture seriously? Diligent and alert
to reality? Paranoia has to do with
fear. We do not fear anyone but
God. What we are talking about is zeal
for the Lord and a jealousy for safeguarding the truth. What we are talking about is not fear driven,
but love driven – love for God. We
intentionally safeguard ourselves from being led astray by false teachers by
testing those teachers who we come across.
What else does Jesus mean when He says, “Watch out!” in verse 15?
What else does
the Bible mean when Paul says, “Watch out!
Savage wolves are coming!” in Acts 20? What else does John mean when he says, “many
false prophets have gone out into the world” in 1 John 4:2? Kings used to have cupbearers, and it was the
job of the cupbearer to sample the king’s food and drink before the king would
eat. The king tasted nothing until the
cupbearer had tasted things first. Kings
aren’t stupid, they know they have enemies.
Even within their own palace there are imposters who would like to off
them and poison was a common way to do it.
So, the king TESTED everything before he took it. There are impostors in the palace walls of
the Church who like to covertly spread poison and we need to test everything
within our walls. False prophets are a
reality.
#2: False Prophets will
Come to You
Secondly, not
only do false prophets really exist, but, you don’t have to go to them – they
will come to you. Notice verse 15 again,
“Watch
out for false prophets. THEY COME TO YOU
…” You don’t have to go to them
because they are coming to you. The next
words in that same verse underscore the point:
They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious
wolves.” Sheep don’t seek out
wolves. Wolves always seek out the
sheep. That’s because wolves are the
hunters and sheep are the hunted. Wolves
are the predators and sheep are the prey.
When men go hunting they go and seek out the animal they are
hunting. The hunted animal never seeks
out the hunter. False prophets are
hunters and hunting is what they do.
What I’m trying
to say is that you don’t have to search for them. They are searching for you. And they will find you. They will enter your world. And when they come they are going to come
trying to look and sound like you as a Christian. You have an enemy who is constantly circling
the camp looking to infiltrate and looking for ways in. Turn with me to several other passages that
warn us of false prophets and their coming to us. Turn first to 2 Corinthians 11:13-15. Next turn to Jude. Next turn to Acts 20.
Flip on your
TV. Walk into a Christian
bookstore. Turn on Christian radio. Attend your average church on Sunday
morning. More and more today there are
ideas, teachings, concepts, techniques coming into the Church that do not come
from the Bible.
Application: The application is simply what Jesus said,
“Watch out!” do not bury your head in
the sand, do not cover your eyes. They
are out there, but they are not staying out there. They are coming in here.
#3: False Prophets will
Appear Genuine
Thirdly,
false prophets will appear genuine.
Notice again verse 15, “They come to you in sheep’s clothing…” In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, “For
such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of
Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself
masquerades as an angel of light. It is
not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of
righteousness. Their end will be what
their actions deserve.”
When
you see them they appear genuine. They
look and sound legit. The best
counterfeits are the ones that look just like the real thing. That way no one is alerted to the fact that
it is a counterfeit.
If you’ve ever
been hunting or you know someone that does hunt, you know how much work goes
into being deceitful. The best hunters
are the best deceivers. They know how to
blend in with the environment. They know
how to mask any of their true smells from the animals (a lot of money is spent
and made on scent cover products). They
know what food the animal likes so they use that food as bait. They know everything the animal likes and in
order to trick the animal they make everything in the animal’s environment seem
normal and safe. They don’t want any
alarms going off in the animal’s head.
The last thing a hunter wants to see is the white bushy tail of a deer,
or the sound of that deer stomping its foot and hissing. Everything must look okay. Nothing is to be out of place. It is the hunter against the animal’s senses.
Are
you using your senses? God gives animals
acute senses to be used for detecting danger.
These God-given senses save their lives.
What does God give the Church to detect danger? He gives us His Word. It is by His Word that we test everyone and
everything we hear. Here is a good
application for our modern day: You are
better off comparing everything you hear within the church than you are
comparing everything outside the church.
In other words, knowing Satan’s lies depends on knowing God’s word.
Notice what Jesus
says in this passage. They use the name
of Jesus (verse 22). They will do
astounding things such as speaking Prophecies, exorcising of demons, performing
miracles (v22). They will be the
teachers that speak what the crowds itching ears want to hear (2 Tim. 4:3-4)
and for that they will be very popular and have large followings. Hence, that is why the road they are on is
wide and the gate they are heading towards.
Application: A ministry that is Popular does not
necessarily mean it is blessed by God. A
man or woman who uses Biblical language does not necessarily mean they are
Biblical. And do not ever believe that
miracles, prophecies, and exorcism of demons is somehow the proof that a man is
from God. The proof is the fruit of
their lips: Are they in accordance with
God’s Word?
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