Beware of False Prophets

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:15-16 ESV). This command, “Beware of False Prophets”, is found in a lengthy teaching session called “The Sermon on the Mount”, which begins in chapter 5 verse 3 and comes from a section titled “A Tree and Its Fruit”.

This command is a warning about a danger that could harm us and the context provides information about recognizing that danger. The danger is from people who present themselves as believers, but are not. These people are referred to as false prophets dressed up to look like sheep, but inside they are ravenous wolves determined to destroy you. They are workers of the evil one, determined to destroy the church through false teaching or as we see today, they gather information on who the real sheep are, where they live and what Christian materials they have for the purpose of a future arrest or some form of persecution.

These wolves can be recognized by their fruit. The example given is the ability to know a tree by its fruit. Inspection of the fruit determines the kind of tree and its health. One of the best test available is found in Galatians 5:22 – 23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” If the fruit is good it will display these characteristics. These characteristics must, however, be inspected to be sure they are genuine and not fake, otherwise they are only sheep clothing and not heart qualifies and the person is actually your enemy.

Prayer

Father, it appears possible that there are people who think they are sheep but are not. These people speak the Christian language and even do Christian work, but they are not born again. It seems that the intent of these people is not to deceive others, as are those labeled above as wolves, but they themselves are deceived. Their danger is their emphasis on religion and not relationship with Jesus, which allows impunity from the world to creep into our churches causing unhealthy conditions that we see in the western church. Father, we need your help in overcoming this.

See "The Commands of Jesus" Index to view other commands.