By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
We’re continuing in our study of the Sermon on the Mount about the upside down Kingdoms we live in. Today’s topic is false leaders or wolves in sheep’s clothing as it says in Matt 7:15-29 “Watch out for false prophets.
They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?
Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
We have a responsibility to know the Word of God sufficiently well to pick up on false teachings. I think here is our first breakdown. People attend church but pay little attention to the spoken word or even the written Word.
Too many spend no time studying the Word. It feels like we take God’s grace for granted and let our emotions drive us rather than knowing and relying on the written word of God,
If God has an additional word to bring to a situation, then we need to know if it matches the written Word in character and nature. That’s why we’re taught to check the prophet’s and teacher’s words before believing and acting on them.
How will we spot false leaders if we don’t know the original? It seems an odd concept that you have to know something to spot something false, but we do it all the time.
Bank tellers spot counterfeit money by knowing the feel of real money. We spot intellectual fraud when listening to someone talk about a topic we know well.
The Bible is the written word of God and as such we need to know it so that we know the nature of God. I think this is our second breakdown.
False prophets may sound good, but their theology leads to a bad understanding of who God is…and that leads to disaster.
Just in my lifetime I have seen the results of people like Jim Jones in Ghana, the hyper-faith movement that distorts the relationship between God and us, L. Ron Hubbard who founded Scientology that among other things believes in a form of reincarnation.
“By their fruit you will recognize them.” Marshal Applewhite told his followers the only way to exit this life for the afterlife was to commit suicide. Thirty-eight followers did.
Had those people known the word of God adequately to know God’s nature, they would have realized that they were being lied to.
Good trees bear good fruit, and bad trees bear bad fruit, and the opposite cannot be true. Good trees do not bear bad fruit, and bad trees don’t bear bad fruit. I don’t want to put too fine a point on this.
Good ministries can sometimes get things wrong and bad ministries can sometimes get things right, but the preponderance of the fruit will show the root of the person or ministry.
For instance, as for good people and a good lifestyle, the Mormons are excellent. I see much good in how they live. But they deny that Christ is equal with the Father, a basic tenant of Christology.
My own Mennonite theology believes that we are to live as Christ lived yet I know that I personally fall far short of Christ’s example.
If the Church lived our faith fully depended on God’s power and love, people would see and believe. But we don’t. We try to live in our power and share what we have with the “world”.
The problem with that is that we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and fill us so all that we have to give others is what we have and not what God wishes to give them.
“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
That should cause most of us to pause. The cost of following a false prophet or their teachings is that we can ultimately end up being cut down.
Knowing the Word of God and the nature of God are the best defense to being deceived by a false prophet.
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.