SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/12/2021 8:28 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Definition of a False Prophet”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 7:15
Message of the
verse: “15
"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but
inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
What we will be looking at over the
next few days is the first sub-section under the main section of “Warning”
which we looked at in our last SD. As we
got through this sub-section we will see that the Bible has much to say in
order to describe a false prophet.
After the fall of man into sin way
back in the 3rd chapter of Genesis we know that God had a plan to
redeem mankind and one of the ways to get His message out was through His true
representatives and they have been marked by two things: First they are divinely commissioned, and two
they present a divine message. MacArthur
writes “They are called by God, and they declare the message of God and only
that message. A true prophet is God’s
voice to men.”
Now
we want to look at what Moses said when God called him which is found in Exodus
4:10-12 “10 Then Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been
eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your
servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." 11 The LORD said to
him, "Who has made man’s
mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I,
the LORD? 12 “Now
then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to
say.’”
From
this section of Scripture in exodus we know that God had called Moses to do a
great work, however as we look at a false prophet we can see that the most
dangerous characteristic of them is that they too, claim to be from God and to
speak on His behalf. Let us look at what
God tells Jeremiah in Jeremiah 5:30-31 “30 "An appalling and horrible
thing Has happened in the land: 31 The prophets prophesy falsely, And the
priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what
will you do at the end of it?” One more
verse from Jeremiah found in 14:14 “Then the LORD said to me, "The
prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I
have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a
false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.”
Now
we will look at Jeremiah 23:14, 16, and 21.
14 “Also among the prophets
of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: The committing of adultery and
walking in falsehood; And they strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no
one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like
Sodom, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
16 Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of the
prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They
speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the LORD.” “21 “I did not send these prophets,
But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied.”
Like
I said we will be looking at a lot of OT Scripture to help us better understand
more about false prophets and now we want to look at a promise of judgment the
Lord told Zechariah in Zechariah 11:16 “"For behold, I am going to raise
up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the
scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the
flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.” Now this kind of shepherd is a greater danger
to the flock than even wild animals, and the reason is because he comes among
them as their own protector. MacArthur
writes “Under the guise of the one who is supposed to feed and care for them,
he instead slaughters and eats them himself.
That is a picture of the antichrist, who is the prototype of all false
prophets.”
In
MacArthur commentary he talks a lot about what happened to the “People’s Temple
Christian Church” where Jim Jones was their so called spiritual leader. This is a long section and so I will wait
until tomorrow to write about it that will most come from MacArthur’s
commentary. This is perhaps one of the
most horrific things that a false prophet has done in our country at that
time.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I must understand exactly what are the
credentials of a false prophet, and then must rely on the Spirit of God to keep
me away from them for after listening to MacArthur’s sermon on what happened to
these people from the People’s Temple Christian Church I know that some that
Jones attracted were believers who had to have let their guard down and were
sucked into the teachings of this false prophet.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I want to continue to learn more about
different revivals that have happened through church history and continue to
pray that revival will come to me, my family, my Sunday school class and our
church.
2/12/2021 8:58 AM
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