The Pilgrim
Coram Deo
Bill
unworthy1
brother Michael“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Matthew 7:15
Now listen to me, in the case of the sheep’s clothing, what you have here is not some guy crawling on all fours into the flock with a sheep’s head hanging over his head. Shepherds for the most part, wore cloaks made of the wool of the sheep,’ do you see? The wool of the sheep when it was sheared was made into cloth for garments, the mark of a shepherd was he wore a wool cloak. Israel is much like California the evenings are very cold, even in the summer it cools down, and they needed that. The idea is not that he comes dressed like a sheep, the idea is that he comes dressed like a what? Shepherd, wearing the garment made from the sheep, sheep’s clothing is just another term for wool, And so as the false prophet wore the garment of the prophet, the false shepherd wears the garment of the shepherd. It isn’t that we’re dealing with a sheep who’s infiltrated, it is that we’re dealing with a shepherd who has infiltrated. And we find out that though he looks to be a shepherd he is a wolf, and he’s very subtle.
There are three kinds of false prophets, I see in the Bible, three kinds, and this is a definitive statement that might help you in understanding it.
It is the third kind of false prophet, I call the deceiver, that is the one Jesus is referring to here, this is the one you don’t see, this is the one who comes with the cloak of the shepherd. This is not the cultist, this is not the Mormon or the Jehovah’s Witness or, or somebody who belongs to Christian Science who, who openly and flagrantly teaches false doctrine, those are apostates or heretics. This is the one who talks about Jesus and he talks about the cross and he talks about God and he talks about the Bible and he talks about the church and the Holy Spirit and he hangs around with people that are true Christians and he mingles within the framework of evangelicalism, and he’s on the radio and he’s on television and he’s in the pulpit and he’s on the platform and he writes the books, and he always looks like a Christian. That’s the one Jesus refers to. Not heretics, heretics are obvious. Apostates are obvious too because they’ve denied the faith. But these are subtle. The Lord is not warning us against heretics, He’s not warning us against apostates, He’s warning us against people who sound like they teach the Gospel, who sound like Christians, who use the speech of the Bible, the speech of the Gospel, but it’s only a guise. They express orthodox terminology.
“Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.”
-C.H. Spurgeon
I agree with Mac’s assessment of this verse and his warning about those who come as if they were pastors of God’s people. Such as Joel Osteen, Robert Schuller, and the entire emergent movement. These folks are professing themselves to be pastors, claiming to preach the Bible – but deny it in myriad ways, not all of them subtle.
Part two is even more to the point and disturbing. We all agree that the “big boys” fall into the heretic or apostate category, but what if you see these warning signs in some one closer to home? Your own pastor, maybe. Or a revered teacher? Or a close friend? Family member?
Thank you, Lyn for sharing this.
Coram Deo, Spurgeon’s quote nails it well. The closer the deception is to the truth, obviously the more difficult it is to discern. How critical it is for the Holy Spirit to guide and protect us.
What blows my mind constantly is how many who call themselves Christians are so willing to accept deceivers because of the truths they give (as bait to hook the crowds), and are so willing to ignore the errors. I guess I just don’t get it.
Regarding the subtle deception: I’ve been using my Army training to provide an example on what we need to do in order to properly discern between Truth and near-truth.
I was an engineer officer, responsible for tactical construction in times of war. We had to insure we built – even short term buildings – on good soil. Organic material and clay will decay or slip-slide away and cause the building to fail. It is not always possible to discern the difference between these categories of soil with your eye or fingers, as the differences are often very subtle.
We were taught to take a small pinch of soil and put it in our mouths, push it between the tongue and teeth. If it’s smooth like powdered sugar, it’s clay or organic. If it’s rough like salt, it’s good soil.
This fine examination is an example of the care we must take in testing what men say about God and His Word. Some error is easy to spot, some is so subtle that we must take it carefully in hand to see if it is safe to build on.
A great read, read this last night.
Thank you!
“Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than the truth itself.”
-Ireneaus (181 AD.)
Yes! YES!!…and they are the rule today, not the exception!
They preach a broader road that leads to destruction…Blind guides they echo what the echos say, and there isn’t a moments time of seeking the Truth from The TRUTH. They buy their sermons from pastor’s.com and a thousand other places, and think a “move of God” is a better interest rate from the bank on their next building project. God builds men men build buildings….when they aren’t working on a widow’s purse, or their golf game.
I think it’s safe to say that 99 out of every 100 “pastors”, “prophets” or “evangelists” in America are wolves in sheeps clothing.
Perilous times….
Deuteronomy 13:1-3 1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’–which you have not known–’and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Matthew 24:11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
UServant,
I think you bold statement regarding 99 out of 100 may just be a little off…………………..
I listened to the second part the other day. It is a sobering warning to think about and some good things to look out for in a pastor.
or should I say “bad things to look out for in a pastor”?
EMERGENT CHURCH HERETIC SERMON JAM OSTEEN !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkDAleCCm2Q
EMERGENT CHURCH HERETIC SERMON JAM ROB BELL
WOW, thank you.I always wanted to write in my site something like that. Can I take part of your post to my blog?