False Prophets Will Be Among Us
Jesus warned false prophets and false teachers would come, even in his name among those who profess faith in him:
Jesus, answering a question asked by his disciples, warns that after his departure many false prophets, some even claiming to come from him or be him will arise and lead many people astray.
And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."
He warns that they will perform signs and wonders to the magnitude that even the elect of God will be tempted to follow them.
For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.
The Holy Spirit warned deceitful teachings would come and draw people away from the truth:
The Holy Spirit had been declaring to the apostles, and teaching by and through them that many would depart from the faith due to false teaching as time goes on.
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
The Apostles warned false teachers would come, even from among the fellowship of believers to draw people away:
The apostle Paul, knowing he will never see this church again, gives final instruction to the elders of the church in Ephesus, warning them before his departure that false teachers would come to draw away men after themselves.
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
The apostle Paul instructing Timothy how to lead the church in Ephesus, warns him that a time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine but will instead turn to false teachers and to myths.
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 listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
The apostle Peter, knowing this will be his last letter to the churches, warns them that false teachers would be among the congregations denying the teachings of Christ and his apostles.
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
The apostle John warns the churches not to believe every teacher that comes in the name of the Holy Spirit, but to test them, because many false prophets have already come.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Signs of False Prophets And False Teachers
They will come in secretly and unnoticed:
Jesus warned that false prophets will look and sound deceptively like members of the congregation of believers.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Jude warns that deceivers will go unnoticed, but will pervert and twist the teachings of Christ.
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
The apostle Peter warns that false teachers will be among the churches, secretly bringing in twisted teachings that undermine the teachings of Christ.
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
They are blasphemous, bold, willful and despise and reject godly authority:
Jude warns that deceivers will rely on their own authority and will not submit to godly authority but instead will blaspheme the teachings of Christ and the apostles.
Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.
Jude warns that these have chosen the way of Cain (who offered to God the desires of his own heart and work of his own hands and was rejected - instead of the faith like his brother Abel who obeyed the Lord and was accepted), and that they desire to come in God's name for profit (like Balaam who desired to prophesy what is false for his own ends), and that they will perish like Korah (who was swallowed alive into a pit because he desired to exalt himself and to usurp the authority of Moses and Aaron who the Lord had exalted).
Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.
Jude reminds hearers what the apostles predicted - that deceivers would come who were devoid of the Holy Spirit, and that they would cause division among the people of God.
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit..
The apostle Peter reiterates with importance what he and the other apostles taught by the command of Christ - that men would come in the last times who would scoff at the teachings of Christ in order to follow their own sinful desires.
This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
The apostle Peter warns that deceivers would despise godly authority, boldy and willfully opposing the teachings of Christ and the apostles.
...and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.
They rely on their own authority, visions, dreams and interpretations, blaspheming about matters which they do not understand as if they were sent by and speaking for God:
Jude warns that false teachers say blasphemous things in ignorance and in their own authority, unlike those sent by the Lord.
Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
The apostle Peter warns that false teachers say and teach blasphemous things acting on instinct and ignorance.
But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction...
The apostle Paul warns about those who claim to be messengers of Christ, coming as if sent by God, disguising themselves as servants of righteousness but are opposing true servants of Christ and coming in their own false authority.
And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds
The apostle Paul warns and instructs Titus how to defend from deceivers who are teaching what is false.
For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.
The apostle Paul warns Timothy about those who do not agree with the teachings of Christ and what they will produce.
If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
The Lord warns the prophet Jeremiah about false prophets who come in the deceit of their own minds..
And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.“
Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.‘”
The Lord pronounces judgement on those who speak in His name on their own authority.
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.
They teach and promise things that are empty and void of the word, Spirit and promises of God through faith in the testimony of Christ:
Jude warns that false teachers are like hidden reefs (reefs hiding under the surface causing shipwreck), and they feed only their own desires. He describes them as clouds without rain (an empty promise in a drought), like a fruitless tree (having nothing of sustenance to offer), uprooted (having nothing to give them life), like a wild wave (that stirs up mud, mire and foam in increasing measure).
These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
The apostle Peter describes false teachers to be like wells without water (that one draws from but gets no drink), like a mist driven by a storm (not producing any water but quickly swept away by a strong breeze). He warns they will entice people by fleshly passions and promise freedom but cannot provide freedom from the world's corruption.
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.
They may have made a profession of faith in Christ, but have gone astray and do not continue in the truth or abide in the teachings of Christ:
The apostle Peter warns that they are in a worse state, because after escaping the corruption of the world (empty philosophies, empty religions, lawlessness, worldly desires, idolatry, etc.) they returned to corruption and turn away from the truth to be entangled again.
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”.
The apostle John states that those who failed to abide in and remain in the teachings of Christ never really belonged to Him in the first place.
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
The apostle Paul teaches Timothy what the Holy Spirit has specifically declared - that there will be those who once were involved in the faith, but will depart from it in exchange for what is false.
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
The writer of Hebrews warns that those who "tasted" but have fallen away are holding the Son of God and his testimony in contempt.
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
Defending Against False Teaching
Acknowledge and heed the warnings of the Holy Spirit through the apostles:
Please review the scripture in this article and recognize that these warnings were written to the body of Christ for protection and instruction in sound doctrine. The focus and majority of the apostles' teaching (in the New Testament) is to declare what sound doctrine is, and warn of the signs of false teaching. Familiarize yourself with their teachings and their warnings.
Acknowledge where the authority to teach comes from:
Jesus declares that His authority comes from the Father, and that those whom He sends also come in the authority of the Father.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Jesus prays for those who have received the Father's testimony, for those whom He is sending (the apostles) and all of us who have believed in their message.
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Luke records the teaching of the resurrected Christ amongst the apostles, and His sending of them to be witnesses to the ends of the earth by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The apostle Paul teaches and defines the authority and the purpose of that which is rooted in and grounded in the authority of Christ as well as the outcome of it.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Be devoted to sound doctrine and the understanding which comes from Christ:
The apostle Paul teaches by the power of the Holy Spirit who qualifies to be an overseer and what their calling should adhere to.
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
The apostle Paul defines the grace of God and teaches by the power of the Holy Spirit what is in accordance with sound doctrine.
But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
The apostle Paul teaches by the power of the Holy Spirit who qualifies to be an overseer and how the household of God should behave as a pillar and buttress of truth.
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.
The apostle Paul teaches by the power of the Holy Spirit what examples to follow and how a man of God can be trained in righteousness, equipped and fruitful as a member of the household of God.
You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Acknowledge and submit to godly authority for the purposes which Christ intended:
The apostle Paul teaches by the power of the Holy Spirit what a healthy body of believers through the authority of Christ is becoming.
For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
The writer of Hebrews teaches by the power of the Holy Spirit to follow the example of godly leaders, to obey them in service to Christ, to set our minds on what is to come and to not be carried away by what does not conform to His teachings, His authority, His finished work and His promises.
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
