My fellow Christians what does this mean to you? Are we careful who we follow?

Question

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit

Whatever this means to you follow it. To me it means that not all those who appear to teach are teaching what is right.

Answer 1

"My sheep hear my voice,and they follow me and I know them,another they will not follow". John 10:27

We certainly need to be wide awake, there are many deceivers that have led many astray. Very good question.

Answer 2

False prophets are the wolves in sheeps clothing.

There are many false prophets. That is why no one should believe any one claiming to hear this or that from the Lord. Only after testing the Prophet to see if that person truly heard from the Lord.

Does the Prophet tempt you to leave the LORD God (Yahweh Elohim) & go after other gods? Does the Prophet say that The Messiah never came yet? Does the Prophet deny the Father & the Son? Does the Prophet say that you need to give money or do this & do that to be good enouph for salvation (eternal life)? Does what the Prophet predicts for sure will happen come to pass (Sometimes people repent and a prophetic judgment doesn't come to pass. Peoples prayers can change a possible bad prophetic word. 1 example, Jonah.) Does the Prophet change the Message of the Gospel in the Holy Bible? Does the Prophet deny the saving power of the cross? Is their Jesus a different Jesus than the biblical Jesus? Is their gospel different than the biblical one? Are they adding to the gospel message or changing it? These are a few testing questions.

The fruit from an honest heart will prophecy the truth. The fruit from a deceptive heart will prophecy deception. Not that the honest heart is 100% correct all the time. Nor is the deceptive heart 100% deceptive all the time.

When one compares grapes with thorns. Grapes produce a sweet fruit juice. Thorns wound. Same with figs & thistles. So also the seeds we sow are good (wheat, Word of God. truth, positive, peace) or bad (tares, slanders, deception, negative, fears). Jesus said that we reap what we sow. So planting these seeds produce a tare, doubt, a false doctrine, a slander, death; or produces faith, truth, loveliness, peace, life, etc.


Personally, I discern false Prophets easily by just two questions; Do they deny what Jesus did for us on the cross is sufficient to redeem us & give us eternal life? Is Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God?. Finally, I get confirmation in my spiritman that I am discerning correctly. And many times the Pastor's next message will confirm the discernment also.

This is the Power of the Gospel & the devil doesn't want us to have victory in our lives. So the false prophets are sent of the devil. The power to over darkness & spiritual wickedness in high places is received by faith in God, Jesus atoning blood, Jesus resurrection from the dead & the Holy Spirit seal/anointing, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit (All of them to profit, be victorious in the body of Christ.).


Some easily discerned bad trees are the slanders against men of God, that love Jesus Christ of Nazareth, in these answers. Too many times, people slander true Christians. They are just being bad trees with bad fruit that makes people sick. Life & death is in the power of the tongue (not so much just written). Those that love the fruit will eat the fruit & the fruit produces life or death. What fruit our you going to voice later today? Are you going to voice the slanders? Those that love it will eat it and death is in it. Or are you going to voice faith, hope or love? Those that love it will eat it and life is in it.

Answer 3

False prophets are known by the result of what they say. One way is what they say does not come to pass. Or the result is harmful or sinful. New Testament prophets exhort, edify or comfort believers since there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. God has given believers the gift of discernment of spirit so that they can know whether someone is speaking by the Spirit of God. Believers should also test all prophecies as all true prophecies will be in line with God's words.

Answer 4

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

This verse goes hand-in-hand with the scripture you quoted. Basically, it all means to beware of what a person does and says while invoking the name of God.

A televangelist (or anyone) who uses God as a way to get rich, to gain power or has any other personal agenda is a false profit (my opinion...I'm not judging anyone). Look at what they do and listen to what they say. If a person shows by words or actions that they're not living by the word of God, they're false prophets.

Answer 5

Dear Debra;

There are those that will tell people what they believe they want to hear but the truth sometime is very hard to accept. Many people in the ministry are there for profit and not for sharing truth. When Jesus departed this earth, he left humanity with the greatest gift in my opinion, that being everyone have the same abilities to seek truth as he. Following others is not what Jesus' message was.

Answer 6

Yes, be sure to follow only those who tell you what you want to hear, because anyone else is a false prophet...
...people like Copernicus, Galileo, Socrates and Gandhi...

... and then there was that Jew in Israel 2000 years ago, spouted a lot of nonsense that the wise guys of that day -knew- was "false"... he got his comeuppance didn't he?

Yes, let's persecute all of those people who speak uncomfortable truths.

Answer 7

I think it means to beware of who joins you in fellowship, and we must be especially careful of those whom we accept as leaders and teachers of the Word. I serve on a church staff, and we've had countless people walk through our doors wanting to testify in front of the body. We must be trust the Lord to lead us through the Holy Spirit. We need that discernment and wisdom that is not of this world.

I remember my first experiences with "false prophets." I was in high school and a couple of fellows started attending our church at different times. They were loose cannons that started spouting off whenever they had the opportunity. One of the fellows had never been baptized, and he told the pastor one Sunday morning that the Lord told him that he needed to be baptized by immersion that morning. It takes 12 hours to fill a baptistery. The pastor replied, "The Lord didn't send me that line." They talked later, and the fellow eventually left the church by his choice.

Answer 8

Greetings sister, This means that anyone who is preaching any doctrine other than CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED as a means of salvation should be rejected. You will know if they represent CHRIST or not by how they conduct their lives.... If CHRIST likeness is their goal for themselves then they will do their best to walk in love towards GOD and towards their fellow man. Also if they are trying to add law keeping to grace they should be rejected as this greatly hinders the HOLY SPIRITS work of sanctification within us...
~GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU IN CHRIST~

Answer 9

I wonder which trees in my garden are the evil ones now... are the trees plotting to get me? I'm going to fill my trees with Magic Puppies and that will protect the trees from evil and it will protect me also.

Answer 10

Its the same in any sector - lawyers - car sales men - insurance companies. They all pretend to care - they are there - for you. Ya right! Most are in it for what they can get - the caring part is so they can vacuum the money out of your pocket.