“It’s not real,” said the white-haired prospector. With a hand as weathered as the rocks he mined for decades and pale blue eyes framed by sun fissured skin, he placed the rock into the young man’s hand with these words, “It’s fool’s gold.”
These words sank the young man’s heart. He was sure this was real gold rewarding his earnest seeking. But fool’s gold sinks young hearts as well as hearts well past youth—it’s a deceiver.
The white-haired prospector’s trained eyes detect what’s real and what’s not. His heart fills with joy when others seek his guidance and saddened when many don’t and believe fool’s gold is real.
Step Out for Christ
Believers seeking comfort and trying to make sense out of today’s confusing world events “mine” technology for insight that is gold—truth. But false teachers and false prophets create fake truth—fool’s gold to deceive these seekers.
It doesn’t matter if we’re a new believer or have followed Jesus for decades, we can be fooled by fool’s gold. And if fooled—we can miss God’s call on our life this season.
That’s why we need a guide like the white-haired prospector. And our guide is the Holy Spirit.
What Does the Word Say?
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13 ESV).
Up to the final hours before going to the cross—Jesus was preparing His disciples to spread the gospel to the world.
Jesus warned they would face personal attacks and be rejected and persecuted (John 16:1-2). But far worse would be attacks on the gospel message that Jesus is the Son of God and our Savior—attacks delivered by false teachers and false prophets (Matthew 24: 4-5).
Why are false teachers dangerous?
They deliver a message of death. Their message’s purpose is to lead souls from life in Christ to death in sin.
Their father is the father of lies—their tool is lies—their target is the Word. They twist, delete, dilute or secretly introduce destructive heresies—even denying Christ (2 Peter 2:1).
Paul warns, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV).
How do we identify a false teacher?
Message Doesn’t Align with Scripture
Test their message like the Bereans who listened to Paul’s teachings in the Jewish synagogue and “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11 ESV).
No Fruit
Jesus hated the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious leaders who on the outside appeared to people to be righteous but inside were full of wickedness (Matthew 23:28).
Do some research. How do they spend ministry money? Do they bear the fruit of the Spirit? (Galatians 5:22-23). How about the fruit of repentance?(Matthew 3:8).
Why are false prophets dangerous?
False prophets give false hope by prophesizing false visions, divinations, idolatries and delusions of their minds. Their words are not from the mouth of God (Jeremiah 14:14).
How do we identify a false prophet?
Prophecy Fails the Spirit Test
John warns us not to believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God. The spirit that acknowledges that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God—the spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God—this is the spirit of the antichrist (1 John 4:1-3).
Prophecy Didn’t Happen
All prophecies recorded in the Old Testament about Jesus as the Messiah took place and with accuracy down to His birth in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) and crucifixion with criminals (Isaiah 53:12).
If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD doesn’t take place or come true, that is not a message from God (Deuteronomy 18:22).
Do some research on the “track record” of today’s prophets.
Prophecy Doesn’t Align with Biblical Prophecy
The Old and New Testaments contain future event prophecies revealed by Jesus (Matthew 24); Paul (2 Timothy 3:1-13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11), Daniel (Daniel 7-12); John (Revelation) and many other prophets and saints.
Get familiar with Bible Prophecy. We can trust God that all Bible prophecies will be fulfilled because God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants—the prophets (Amos 3:7).
The Holy Spirit – The Final Test
Bring the “rock” (teachers and prophets) to the Holy Spirit—then, we’re sure.
That’s what Jesus promised:
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13 ESV).
What Does Application Look Like?
Here’s a story of a believer seeking truth…
Her heart is anxious. Institutions, organizations, media, government, political and religious leaders she trusted as guardians of “truth” have been exposed as conduits of lies and deception.
She desperately wants comfort and understanding. What is God doing? Where is God in all of this? So, she reaches for the latest technology and keys in words to begin her search for truth.
Instantly her screen swarms with images and titles promising to deliver the truth she seeks.
Her eyes are drawn to a video of a man on a stage. His appearance is appealing and his voice booms with confidence. Guitar music streams through the air as a light show mimics shooting stars that dance on the stage’s back-drop. His words pour into her ears bringing relief to her anxious heart.
Thinking this is “truth” she’s about to hit the “subscribe” button but something makes her stop. “Something” is the Holy Spirit. An awareness floods her mind that his teaching has nothing to do with Jesus. He is a false teacher.
The next video is a woman with the spunk of a high school cheerleader. This self-proclaimed prophet delivers messages of victory and hope for the future.
In response to this prophet’s words, her anxious heart fills with hope. But instead of hitting the “subscribe” button she views a 3-month-old video of this woman and discovers her prophesies never happened. She is a false prophet.
The next video is a middle-aged woman recording from what looks like a home office. In addition to her drab appearance, her humble message delivery is different than most queued by search engines. But this woman’s message digs a channel of unease into her heart and unearths a hidden sin. Repenting, she hits the “subscribe” button. This woman teaches truth.
The Holy Spirit—the Spirit of truth—guides her to truth.
Look Up and Pray
Pray so the Holy Spirit will open our hearts, eyes and ears to truth.
Father, thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of truth to protect us from deceit. Thank You that Spirit fills us with hope and peace because he prepares us for what is to come.
We’re full of false confidence. We trust our understanding of the Word to identify false teachers. We’re certain we can discern the false from true prophets of today. And we’re deceived.
If Satan used lies and deceit in an attempt to keep Jesus from carrying out the Father’s will—we can expect the same from false teachers and false prophets.
Holy Spirit help us…
Help us seek only your guidance so we aren’t deceived by false teachers and false prophets.
Help our eyes see your revelations in the Word so we’re not deceived. We no longer want to be blind.
Help our ears hear your whisper that leads us to your message of truth. We no longer want to be deaf.
Help us live in truth so the world knows we belong to You.
In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
A Message for My Sisters
This blog is lengthier than most because there’s much to say about this topic. I’ve been fooled—many times—by today’s false prophets.
In 2020 and early 2021, I turned to today’s prophets to ease my troubled heart in a world that appeared to unravel before my eyes. I experienced emotional highs, fueled by hope inspiring prophesies, and debilitating emotional lows when they didn’t come to pass.
The result? I was distracted, discouraged and missing God’s call on my life. But God disciplines His children. I now look at this experience as a “fire drill” showing me I had much to learn about the deception His church faces.
What I am sharing is what I learned and only scratches the surface of this topic. But my prayer is it keeps us stepping out for Christ in this season!
Your Sister in Christ,
Nancy
