DO YOU BELIEVE IN A FALSE PROPHET AND APOSTLE?
They no longer use crystal balls, but laptops.
I will show you from the scriptures that the office of prophets and apostles is the very foundation of God's household; thereafter, I will give you some hints on how to exercise some discernment.
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.In short, in these last days (or in Greek, ἐσχάτου) our focus is to hear the Son of God. He no longer speaks through the agency of the prophets as He did "long ago" (πάλαι), but through Christ Himself. The Bible is the written Word of God that we should always go to if we want to know who our God is.
In Ephesians 2:19-20, Paul reminds us that God's household is built not on some modern day prophets (or, more precisely false prophets and apostles) but on the foundation of the apostles and prophets in both the Old and New Testaments, with our Lord Jesus as the chief corner stone.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,
The Greek text uses the aorist passive verb ἐποικοδομηθέντες, which is correctly translated as 'having been built'. An aorist verb simply means 'a done deal.' It is not something in the future that Paul wrote about to the Ephesians.
Here again, we understand what Paul was referring to as the foundation of the apostles and prophets. The canon of the Scriptures consists of 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books, making it a total of only 66 books of the Bible, which were written over a period of a few thousand years. Nothing should be added to the Word of God, nor anything removed from it.
Why is it then that we see a resurgence of people who elevate themselves as "prophets" and "apostles" in recent times? Who made them prophets or apostles? Is it God, when His Word clearly points us back to the written Word of God, as the medium through which He founded the church, God's household?
My answer is: No way! God does not contradict His Word. Based on His own revelation, as clearly indicated in the Scriptures, those who claim themselves as "prophets and apostles" are actually elevating themselves to offices that no longer exist!
It is solely upon this one foundation -- the prophets of Old and the apostles -- that God built His church. These are the people whom God had personally selected, and whose writings are what we now have known as the Old and New Testaments respectively. I can tell for sure it is certainly not built on the teachings of some modern day "apostles" or "prophets"! And, the household of God whose foundation is on the prophets and apostles, with Christ as the cornerstone, should not listen to the voice of other "apostles and prophets."
How to discern false prophets and apostles?
With the advent of the Internet technology, it also means all sorts of crazy ideas are being spread across the social media. Some, like this one, are totally ridiculous and madeness!
But, this is really no difference to people who believe in Divine Code or the use of Gematria to interpret the Scriptures!
1. A false prophet or apostle will quote Scriptures, not as their final authority, but to give the appearance of having been appointed by God. They certainly would not be so blatant, since their job is to deceive "even the believers."
However, there is always the dead giveway hint concerning their teachings: "God spoke to me...." and "God revealed to me in a dream...." And, they are fond of using so-called "Divine Codes" or some form of gematria to mesmerize you.
That is the authority that their words (the so-called ρεμα) are based on. In order to mesmerize more people, they have to keep coming out with more prophecies.
Sometimes, these words supersede the authority of the Scriptures. Whereas Christ told the disciples that no one knows the time when He would return, these people claim to see visions that tell them that Christ's return is on a fixed day and time. Hence, we had the mass suicide in Guyana, South America of hundred of members of the Peoples Temple led by its founder, Jim Jones on November 18, 1978.
In the Jonestown suicide, we see how false prophets like Jim Jones capitalized on the gaps. I like the way how Dr Koh Siang Kiang of Singapore Bible Seminary puts it: "The less the Lord speaks about the subject, the more is written or speculated about!" While the Lord said He would return like a thief in the night, and the Only One who knows the time is the Father, Jim Jones predicted that God had revealed to him the exact date when Christ was to return. Revelations 22:18 is a stern warning to all of us:
I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book
If we want to discern the truth from false teachings, you just have to continue studying the Word of God. That's why if we have properly understood both Hebrews 1:1-3 and Ephesians 2:19-20 which we have just read, we would know that the only source of authority, whether prophecy or apostolic teachings that we have is in the Scriptures and not some rhema words of people claiming to hear directly from God. 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 reminds us again:
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
In order to detect a counterfeit bank note, we first need to know how to recognize the genuine notes first!
Verses 3 and 4 of the epistle of Jude also reminds us that in the last days, we will see more of these people creeping into the Christian circle unnoticed. While quoting the Scriptures, they will "slip" in some lies here and there into their teachings:
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. 4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
2. A false prophet or apostle will never openly deny Jesus as the Son of God. We read in Matthew 8:29 that even the demons admitted it: "What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?"
If their job is to deceive even the believers, these false prophets and apostles will wait till you are already mesmerized with their teachings, before they expose who they are. By then, if you have been following them, you will end up mesmerized in much the same way a frog conditions itself to the water in the boiling pot.
3. In some more blatant cases, like this African pastor who made himself invincible (click here), it is obvious what kind of a "man of God" this is. It is either (a) this was a stage act to deceive his congregation (b) he was possessed by an evil spirit. From my own experience as a young boy of 14 or 15 years old, I could feel some power entering into my body through some form of meditation. Although I was never in a trance (being fully conscious of myself), I could perform some martial arts and punch a brick wall without feeling the pain until that "thing" left me. In some cultures, even a spear could not pierce through the bodies who practise such crafts.
You have to watch the video to realize what is happening in some African churches. Due to the lack of good Bible teachings, many have been led astray by these leaders. They are following a wrong shepherd, not Christ and His Word. We are reminded of our Lord's words:
“He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” (John 8:47)
This African pastor is a very good example of how a false shepherd behaves. A simple word of discernment:
- By showing himself invincible, what was he trying to convince to his congregation?
- Who became the major focus? Who takes the precedence in this video - Christ or the pastor?
- Let's be very honest about it: is our Lord Jesus glorified through it?
- And, where in the Bible has any believer exhibiting such power?
4. Their obsession with power, authority, prosperity and prophecies, instead of holy living and teaching it based on God's Word. This is because in the last days, many prefer to hear people who can 'tickle their ears' than to listen hard hitting sermons (refer 2 Timothy 4:3). During Jeremiah's time, he was the only prophet who spoke about God's imminent judgement on the nation, while all the other false prophets preached what we now term as modern day hyper-grace practised by people such as Joseph Prince.
Because people are generally curious about what the future holds for them, it is obvious that, in order for these false prophets to get a big following, they have to delve into all kinds of prophecies. A lot of these so-called prophecies are, in fact, based on what we know from Scriptures as εσκατον (last days).
For example, Jesus told us that His return is imminent. We are told to watch and pray at all times, for we know not when He will return, but before He returns, there will be persecutions.
It is not difficult when you read the newspapers about the latest development in a certain country to start putting together a "prophecy" that people will be caught up with. This is what I see, and I conveniently opened this blogpost with a tongue-in-cheek statement that these people no longer look into a crystal ball but a laptop.
Now, when some persecution happens such as the deregistration of a local church, instead of us believing in God's Word and the prophecies therein, we hold these so-called "prophets" in high esteem, thinking that they are speaking some special revelation from God. From God's Word, we all know that persecutions have always been there through the centuries, but people are deceived by false prophets telling them all sorts of "vague" predictions that follow the general blueprint in the Bible. That is how they build their numbers of those who choose to follow them, than to follow Christ and His revealed Word.
5. They are fond of new revelations and "deeper truths" instead of God's revealed Word.
Naturally, most people are curious and they want to have their ears tickled. This is why false prophets and apostles are fond to bring in a new interpretation to anything under the sun and link it to some new revelations or prophecies; as though God has so-called "revealed" only now to them. They are the new "elites" that God has chosen to reveal His truth only now, and all the scholarly work of great men and women of God in the past "are all wrong."
This is the kind of theological rubbish that we are hearing from these false apostles. I see this also in Chuck Missler and the preachers from the New Apostolic Reformation. In one of his messages, Missler hinted that Isaiah 53 is a foretelling of some things happening in our modern times, rather than pointing to the crucifixion of Jesus.
On our local front, there is another MDiv student from a local seminary who using his shallow knowledge of Hebrew, seek to reinterpret Genesis 1:1-5 by saying that God did not "create" the earth; instead, he teaches that God was merely "filling" a piece of "land" with the living things. By saying this, he is making very serious errors by reducing the Almighty Creator God to become a mere chess player.
As I have written elsewhere, there are some who delve into extra-biblical gematria to predict the future and mesmerize their fans.
6. They preach prosperity gospel. Many of these such as Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Jimmy Swaggart, Joseph Prince and so on have been exposed by people who researched into their teachings.
Jesse Duplantis, for example, told his congregation that God wanted him to purchase a US$54 million private jet. He sought for the donations from his fans.
7. They claim that they are the final authority. Lifting out of context favourite scriptures such as Psalm 105:15, they teach their members not to challenge them. God was never referring to the New Age false prophets, but to the prophets of old that we all know:
“Do not touch My anointed ones,And do My prophets no harm.”
Again, their favourite example of how Aaron and Miriam were punished when they started to question the authenticity of their brother, Moses' special relationship with God is often used to stop people from challenging the teachings or even decisions made by these false apostles or prophets.
By using this example, these false prophets and apostles elevated themselves to the position of Moses. This is a clear sign that they are not God's prophets or apostles, for even the apostle Peter was humble enough to be confronted by Paul when he started to withdraw himself from the fellowship with non-Jewish believers.
I have heard this Miriam and Aaron story being preached by a former senior pastor of my former church a few years ago. For about ten years, I have noticed that the church had become entangled with all winds of doctrines, coming from mainly the New Age Reformation preachers. Anyone who challenges the senior pastor's decision would be told that they would suffer the fate of Miriam and Aaron.
Due to a lack of checks-and-balances, some things have gone awry leading to its recent deregistration, but after some discussions with the present pastor, I have to say that subtle persecutions have been there since as early as the late 70s to the best of my knowledge. This shows that it is certainly not something new, and certainly not a fulfillment of the so-called vague "prophecy" of 'hornet' sting by Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj, which now becomes the subject of mere speculations due to its many possibilities how the church would be shaken.
Within the larger scheme of things, we know from Scriptures that persecutions are to be expected, whether in 2020, or in the 70s. Therefore, as believers, we should just revert back to God's Word as the final authority and not go seeking for some rebranded fortune tellers who are nothing but false prophets and apostles.
END.
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