Wicked Prophets Abound

I attended a "prophecy conference" once in a small town we lived in. I thought I was attending a Bible study, what I encountered was devastating foolishness. The prophecy wasn't anything to do with the end times, but rather a charlatan working his wiles on weak minded people looking for a spiritual high.

A man in the pulpit told idiotic stories, made the people laugh all through the preaching, told everyone they had a wonderful prediction for their life and invited them to line up to hear their personal prediction.

I was shaking my head all the way through the non-sense, the preacher noticed that I was disapproving of him, called me out in the middle of the preaching to mock me in front of a couple of hundred people. He then saw my son sitting next to me, calling him out, inviting him to come up to the podium. I told him not to go and he didn't. After the meeting a friend overheard this foolish preacher telling someone that my son was going to commit suicide.

After the preaching this miserable preacher had the people line up, the line was very long, to hear their prediction. Everyone got a special story for their life, all good and wonderful. The smiling faces and laughing voices were like clanging symbols to me.

One lady in the mess was discouraged, because when she was next in line to hear her prediction, the preacher told her he knew she like to bake cookies. The woman was portly and grandmotherly looking, she told him she didn't bake cookies, he then treated her with dismissiveness, even mocking her. I was so glad that woman saw the evil of this wicked man.

One thing I noticed in all this is that everyone who was excited to hear the preacher and have their fortune predicted, were given a good report, a slap on the back and went away happy. The one person, me, who did not approve was called out for ridicule and an evil prediction was given for my son.

One way to expose a wicked person is to disapprove of their actions or words and watch what comes out of them. They are enraged and vindictive when anyone challenges their authority or reveals their lies.

Proverbs 6:12-16 "A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:"

No New Prophecy

Please do not place on my wall anything having to do with self proclaimed modern day "prophetesses" or "prophets." All prophecy has already been written in the word of God, there is nothing new needed for the believer to live by faith. 

 

Matthew 12:39"But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;"

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 "6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil."

I understand the temptation to learn about our fate here on earth and what we might do to thwart anything coming against us, but lets remember that we are not a people who are worried about our fate, we know that whatever we go through will be in God's hands.

We also know that if the Lord has a plan to hide us from difficulty, He may not tell us ahead of time, He will just say to us one day, "I want you to go here", even without us knowing why we are going to a place, it may be a place of protection. Often our life circumstances change, it isn't until later down the road that we see why. He may also not protect our bodies from hardship, we know this because very godly believers get ill are rejected by family and encounter many life difficulties, they are blessings from God to build our character and stretch our spiritual muscles. God always protects our spirit, but may not protect our bodies or circumstances.

If God ordains that we go through hard things, then we need to remember that He knew all about it before it came to us and will give us strength to go through it. 

 

Isaiah 40:29 "29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak."

Psalm 29:11 "The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace."

The peace we have is not physical peace but rather Spiritual, the strength we have is not physical strength but Spiritual. Christ is our peace and our strength. We tend to focus on the physical often, thinking we have no peace because of the life we live and that we have no strength because our body is failing, but the Lord focuses on our spiritual well being.

I have at times agonized over something that I wanted to happen or didn't want to happen, as I prayed I became content. My peace left me temporarily while I was hoping for something to happen or not happen, that was not the will of God. As I returned to trust in Christ, He gave me peace that remains, if a change is going to happen, then that is up to Him and not me.

There have been times when I placed my trust more in my feelings than in Christ. I had to repent from paying attention to my feelings more than God, then is when the peace returned. I learned over the years to ignore my feelings and go to prayer. Wonderful things can happen in our soul when we disregard the flesh and pay close attention to God's Word and His principles.

The more we focus on perceived fears, emotions and desires, the greater possibility of deception and the less tranquility we experience.

I recall the story of Corry Ten Boom, a woman captured by the Nazi's, placed in a prison camp to endure many hardships and the loss of her sister who died there. She had a period of discouragement while in that camp, but when she began to focus on Christ, her joy and trust returned to her. 

 

“Often I have heard people say, ‘How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!’ Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. ‘No, Corrie,’ said Betsie, ‘He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.” ” Corrie concludes, “There is an ocean of God’s love available—there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love—whatever the circumstances.” Corry Ten Boom

All these internet warnings about the existence of concentration camps being prepared for U.S. citizens, may or may not be true, but it is not our business to fret over what might or might not be happening behind the scenes. Our business is to keep our eyes on Christ, obey Him as He leads and endure whatever He has for us with hope and expectation as we live out our lives for Him, no matter what is done to us on earth. Our future is not only bright but spectacularly so, when we consider our salvation and the events to come. 

 

We have no need of more prophets to tell us future events, we can rely on the Holy Spirit Who lives in each one of us, to guide us as we go. 

 

Warning: Matthew 24:11 "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many."