Beware of False Prophets

[Lamb]

https://www.trinitylutheranottumwa.com/sermons/trinity-8-beware-of-false-prophets

"Beware of false prophets," Jesus warns.

False prophets teach contrary to God's Word while leading you to believe that they teach God's Word in truth. They lie and tell you they are telling the truth. This is the worst offense against the Second Commandment, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie or deceive by his name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks."

A very popular false teaching today that is taught by many who claim to be Christian ministers is that the Bible is not entirely reliable.

They will deny that Paul wrote his Epistles or claim that we don't have to accept everything that St. Paul or other apostles write,

The worst kind of false teaching is the teaching that claims that you must earn your own salvation. This teaching robs Christ of his glory. And it sets you up as your own false god. If you must earn your own salvation by your good works you must trust in yourself, how good you can be instead of trusting in Christ's sacrifice on the cross for your sins. Beware of false prophets, who will twist scripture and torture your conscience to convince you that Christ's death is not enough to win your salvation. Trust in Christ alone and trust in him unceasing!

But does this all really matter? Isn't it just important that we're all "Christians?" Why get so bent out of shape with the details? Indeed, this is the way most people think. People are more discerning of what brand of pop they drink than the purity of God's Word they listen to. And so, it is important for us to listen to our Lord's words once again. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves." They aren't sheep. They're wolves. What do wolves do? Wolves kill. They murder. That is Satan's goal with false teaching. His goal is to destroy your faith, to separate you from Jesus. He is not loving. He does not bring you closer to Jesus. His goal is for you to trust in yourself, despair of God's gifts, forsake God's word, to die without hope or with false hope.

So, while it is true that there are Christians, who will go to heaven, who attend churches run by false prophets, this does not mean that marking and avoiding false prophets is unimportant.

This is a matter of life and death. It is very important for you to beware of false prophets; to guard against them.

 

[tango]

It is interesting that many of the people who support false prophets and false teachers like to fall back on the words of Jesus in John 17, when he prayed that we would be one. Some people seem to think that absorbing false and dangerous doctrine is acceptable as long as it doesn't avoid breaking up some sense of unity. The trouble is that using the same logic we might as well accept the teachings of anyone else who claims something contrary to our gospel - if all that it takes is for someone to be accepted is that they claim to come in the name of God then it follows we must accept the teachings of Islam, Hinduism etc.

With regard to the rest of your post, if there is historical doubt about the authorship of specific books I think that's a very different proposition to a claim that we don't have to follow something any more. Even then there are potential minefields to navigate - for example we argue that Lev 20:13 is still relevant while merrily disregarding Lev 21:5. Whatever methods we use to justify which OT verses we keep and which we reject the fact remains we are effectively deciding which of God's commandments we believe apply to us today. Of course if doubts about historic accuracy are discussed the chances are most people who get caught up in it will have no way of knowing whether the doubts are founded or simply the latest talking point that spilled over after a discussing between archeologists or an atheists' chatroom or something.

 

[Josiah]

https://www.trinitylutheranottumwa.com/sermons/trinity-8-beware-of-false-prophets

"Beware of false prophets," Jesus warns.

False prophets teach contrary to God's Word while leading you to believe that they teach God's Word in truth. They lie and tell you they are telling the truth. This is the worst offense against the Second Commandment, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie or deceive by his name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks."

A very popular false teaching today that is taught by many who claim to be Christian ministers is that the Bible is not entirely reliable.

They will deny that Paul wrote his Epistles or claim that we don't have to accept everything that St. Paul or other apostles write,

The worst kind of false teaching is the teaching that claims that you must earn your own salvation. This teaching robs Christ of his glory. And it sets you up as your own false god. If you must earn your own salvation by your good works you must trust in yourself, how good you can be instead of trusting in Christ's sacrifice on the cross for your sins. Beware of false prophets, who will twist scripture and torture your conscience to convince you that Christ's death is not enough to win your salvation. Trust in Christ alone and trust in him unceasing!

But does this all really matter? Isn't it just important that we're all "Christians?" Why get so bent out of shape with the details? Indeed, this is the way most people think. People are more discerning of what brand of pop they drink than the purity of God's Word they listen to. And so, it is important for us to listen to our Lord's words once again. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves." They aren't sheep. They're wolves. What do wolves do? Wolves kill. They murder. That is Satan's goal with false teaching. His goal is to destroy your faith, to separate you from Jesus. He is not loving. He does not bring you closer to Jesus. His goal is for you to trust in yourself, despair of God's gifts, forsake God's word, to die without hope or with false hope.

So, while it is true that there are Christians, who will go to heaven, who attend churches run by false prophets, this does not mean that marking and avoiding false prophets is unimportant.

This is a matter of life and death. It is very important for you to beware of false prophets; to guard against them.

Good stuff.... important stuff!


Truth matters! Theology matters! False prophets (wrong teachers) are PROMISED BY GOD to arise and lead many astray.... Antichrists will come and cause the falling of many.... We are to constantly be ON GUARD.


To me, the #1 way to tell a "false prophet," an "antichrist," a "wolf in sheep's clothing" is that they ultimately deny the Savior. Thus, they destroy the Gospel and Christianity. Their central theme is that salvation ultimately is all about the one you see in the mirror, not the one dying on the Cross. Jesus is demoted to just a good teacher, a motivational speaker, a door-opener/possibility-maker, an offerer of salvation - but actually YOU save YOU by _______________ (whatever constantly changing, never fulfilled accomplishment). They chant, "Jesus is the Savior BUT (and whatever follows negates the first part of the sentence).




.

 

[tango]

Sometimes they demote Jesus by implication, by promoting us to be more or less equivalent to Jesus.

For example, a well known "teacher" (I use the word loosely because I consider him a wolf) points out (correctly) that Christ is a title rather than a surname. In the name "Jesus Christ", the word Christ doesn't mean the same as the "Trump" in "Donald Trump". It is a title - Jesus, Messiah. Jesus, Anointed One. But then he goes on to claim we can have the same Christ anointing. That would mean I could be Tango Christ, which at a stroke turns Jesus from "the Christ" into "a Christ". Denying Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is one of the marks of antichrist. Compare and contract the idea of Jesus being "a Christ" because all of us can be christs, with when Peter said "you are the Christ, the son of the living God". The Holy Spirit revealed that Jesus was the Christ. What spirit suggests I can also be a christ, just like Jesus? I'd suggest that spirit is not the Holy Spirit.