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The Warning
Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.
Jesus' warning here about false prophets is not something new in the Scriptures. God has continually given warnings about those that would come and present lies and falsehoods as truth
In Deuteronomy 18:20-22 God warns about false prophets that would come.
In Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah warned the people to stop listening to these self proclaimed prophets.
False Prophets in the New Testament
The same theme of warning about false prophets continues throughout the New Testament. Jesus gives warning here in Matthew 7 and in Matthew 24. Peter warns in 2 Peter 2:1 telling us "But false prophets also arose among the people. Just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies . . .". The Apostle John warned about them in all three of his epistles. Paul gives warnings in most of his epistles with 2 Timothy 4:3 even telling us that part of the reason for the rise of these false prophets and teachers is because the people "will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths."
Matthew 24:23
23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
False prophets claim to be something they are not. They also claim to speak for the Lord, but they do not. Their false identity is always eventually revealed because what they say does not match the truth and what they predict does not happen. But there is another kind of false prophet that is more deceiving because they wield demonic power. In Matthew 24:24 Jesus says, "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
" 2 Thessalonians 2:9 specifically points out that this activity is in "accord with Satan."
Identifying False Prophets
How do you discern that someone is a false prophet when he performs these signs and wonders? There are two ways. First, as we have already seen in Deuteronomy 18, Scripture demands 100% accuracy when a person is giving revelation from God. If they are in error in anything they predict, then they are false. Even those who have demonic power will fail eventually because even though Satan is powerful and can do supernatural things we consider amazing, he does not control the future. Only God does.
Moses gave warning of a second kind of false prophet in Deuteronomy 13:1-5. "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them', you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
The passage goes on to say that anyone who tries to entice you away from following the LORD God, even if it were your friend, brother, son or daughter or wife that you cherish, that person should be put to death.
The first test is 100% accuracy. The second test is true doctrine. What do they say about the Lord God? What do they say about Jesus Christ? This is what John tells us in I John 4:1-3. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus, is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now if is already in the world."
Their Deception
Now look at the next two phrases in Matthew 7:15. "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." These false prophets that Jesus is warning us about are not easily spotted. You must carefully examine them and what they say. That is why the warning is to "beware," to take caution. Everyone would agree that it is easy to spot someone who is advocating a non-Christian religion. You can spot the Hare Krishna, the Buddhist, the pagan, the idol worshiper, the Hindu, and the Muslim. But it can be very difficult to identify false prophets when they claim to worship the God we worship, and even use the Bible in their teaching. They do not appear to be enemies of the flock, but rather friends.
Paul's comment in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 gives us some insight into this. "For such men are false apostles, deceitful wonders, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds. "The false prophet does not come to be part of the flock as sheep, but to lead the flock as a shepherd. That is why they are so dangerous. False prophets may look like shepherds, but inside they are ravenous wolves. Their goal is not to feed the sheep, but to feed off the sheep.
It is interesting to note that the word (αρπαγες) "ravenous" here is translated as "swindler" or "extortioner" every other time it appears in the New Testament. Peter said
of them in 2 Peter 2:3 that "in their greed they will exploit you with false words . . .". They will take advantage of the sheep to get out of them what they want to fulfill their own desires. Their concern is themselves, not that of the sheep. It may be money, it may be a sense of power and control, it may be fame or a combination of all, but the bottom line is their own self gratification. They may talk about Jesus and the Scriptures and how wonderful it is to be a Christian, but ultimately, it is their own kingdom they are working for, not the kingdom of God.
Satan is not fighting churches, he is joining them. He does more harm by sowing tares than by pulling up wheat. He accomplishes more by imitation than by outright opposition.
I went to their watv site and searched for a number of things related to this topic. I searched "Mt 24:23" & "false messiah" but nothing came up. I searched for "Mt 24" and a few sermons came up but nothing relating to the false messiah. I searched for false prophet and a bunch of stuff came up. I also type in "even the elect" an excert from Matt 24:23 and only one sermon came up but it had nothing to do with false messiahs
They have a few sermons about false prophets. Is pretty obvious why those are not on watv LOL.
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