False Prophets Will EXPOSE Themselves!
I remembered the time I would diligently research on false prophets, their names, doctrines, etc. to expose them. What I discovered more often times than not is that their heresies are almost very common to each other. Like how many preachers do you have teaching Arminianism? A LOT! How many preachers do you have teaching salvation by works? A LOT! How many of them are ecumenicals? A LOT! And to be honest, there's a lot of false prophets out there that I don't really have all the time in the world to research about them. But as said, do not focus on persons, focus on the heresies. If I attack heresies, it will automatically refute the heretic. I don't have to keep mentioning their names, they are already mentioning themselves.
Now how do false prophets expose themselves? Here are ways that I found out that false prophets will expose themselves:
1.) They strive to be recognized to be great among men.
It is a huge contrast to the prophet of God. Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24 and John 4:4 will show the difference. A prophet is NEVER welcome by his own people. Every time I hear the word a prophet of God, it comes into my mind, "Man what a hard life he's going to live." Elijah was one true prophet. I couldn't forget the fact that Ahab called Ahab as "Hast thou come unto me MINE ENEMY?!" Ahab was a wicked man with a wicked help-meet in Jezebel. Remember what he did to Micaiah the prophet of God? During the time he and Jehoshaphat were preparing for war, he had false prophets speak and then... there's Micaiah who he locked up for speaking the truth.
Now I'd like to use the example of Jeremian vs. Hananiah in Jeremiah 28. Jeremiah spoke the truth, people stoned him and Hananiah the false prophet spoke lies just so he could be great among other men. Today, many claim to be prophets for the sake of popularity rather than preach God's Word. The incident of Jeremiah's rejection vs. Hananiah's popularity shows this. Anybody who claims to be a prophet of God (ex. rebuking others to control them rather than to see right prevail) to set himself as a popular person, is nothing more than a fraud artist to stay away from.
In the New Testament, one may even think about the Pharisees. They only cared about their popularity more than morality. When they saw Jesus do the signs as Isaiah had predicted, what did they do? They sought to get rid of Jesus because He was a threat to their popularity. Today there are also modern day Pharisees existing in the form of the Roman Catholic clergy. The Roman Church is persecuted but not for righteousness sake. The Pope gets the most attention in the world than the President of America. Everywhere the Pope goes, he is treated like a celebrity. The Cardinals always expect the best seats in gatherings. Don't that all sound like Matthew 23?
You can even think of preachers who have their egos. It saddened me to think some Baptist preachers were even inclined to align themselves wit the Vatican. The "Baptist" preacher the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became an important icon in the Evangelicals and Catholics Together movement. After all, while I do appreciate that Martin Luther King Jr. fought for the rights of blacks and went against homosexuality but he also became a bridge for ecumenism. He had an audience with Pope Paul VI, he was openly having fellowship with the JESUITS, later documents proved he was receiving money from the Jesuit Order and so on. To be honest, it's a shame to how Martin Luther King Jr. gets a holiday named after him (and no surprise, the Vatican HONORS him) while Martin Luther is not even given a holiday. If any great preacher should get an American holiday it should be the likes of the Protestant pastor Billy Sunday... who protested against all the wrongs that America was propagating during his day!
2.) They are given in to money.
My favorite example of the false prophet given in to money is... Balaam! Balaam was a prophet who was soon forced to utter the birth of the Messiah in Numbers 24:17. Balaam was willing to curse the people of Israel for a meager sum of money from the King of Moab. Dr. Vernon McGee calls him, "The Prophet for Profit". In short, Balaam was a lover of money. 1 Timothy 6:10 warns that in the latter days, the love of money will be the cause of a lot of worldly evil.
Today's false prophets are no better... they love to extort people's money. Some false prophets are even known for their dangerous prosperity gospel. I remembered how Pastor Armando Borja in Christian Church of Cebu mentioned about how it works. It is the gospel of money. People want a quick buck so they end up joining some of these Charismatic Crowds. After all, they want to get rich fast right? Jim Bakker one of the worst Jesuit controlled pastors of the Evangelicals and Catholics Together movement conned people into giving him money, promising them God will return in double if they kept giving to him. It was one of the worst evangelical shams in history.
To make a quick buck, some misquote Malachi 3:10 to get people to give tithes and offerings. Now I do believe in tithing and offerings... they are necessary to keep the missions of a local New Testament church going on. Pastors still need to feed their families. The problem is when you teach Malachi 3:10 as a billionaire's assurance rather than teach that God's blessings are not always material. When there's not enough room to receive it... now it's because most of them will be spiritual. I've known some faithful tithers who never reached the level of Bill Gates. They give tithes not because they believe they will be billionaires but because they love God and want to be a blessing to others.
3.) They speak according to the viewpoint of the world
1 John 4:5-6 warn of preachers who are given to speak according to the viewpoint of the world. John 15:18-19 tells the disciples of Christ that they are not of the world and the world loves its own... and the world rejects them who are not of the world. James 4:4 warns that to be friends with the world is to be enemies of God. Remember either you are an enemy of God or a friend of God... you cannot be both and there is no neutral ground. The problem is this... false prophets will show how they are friends of the world by their actions.
Why is works salvation a popular doctrine? It is because it appeals to man's flesh and pride. It appeals to the idea that man is fine and nothing is wrong, just be good and you'll be fine never mind God's standards are much higher (James 2:10-11). Why is the message of salvation by Christ and not by works not popular? It is because it denies the lie that there are many ways to Heaven, it teaches that Jesus is the only Way which the unsaved man will label as bigotry and fanaticism. Jesus already warned in John 15:18 that the world hated Him before the world hated His followers.
Another dangerous method by false prophets is the feel good, it will be alright doctrine. To be honest, I hate it whenever I see a copy of Joel Osteen's book "Your Best Life Now" in bookstores. While I normally won't be mentioning too many names but he's becoming too popular not to mention. Pastor Paul David Washer in one of his sermons attacked Joel Osteen's prosperity gospel as one of God's many judgments against people who love their sin. I would dare agree with that false prophets are the judgment of people who hate the truth.
4.) Actions speak louder than words
It's irritating to keep hearing false prophets with their doctrines especially works salvation and conditional security. They are quick to accuse that those who teach the idea that salvation cannot be lost are automatically Antinomians. Now I am aware that there are Antinomians who teach eternal security while denying that salvation brings change... the Arminian is quick t judge. The teach that to teach man cannot lose salvation is tantamount to teaching Arminianism. Worse they have their infamous false dilemma that goes like this, "You cannot show me a verse in Scripture you can stumble down and still remain saved."
However here is one thing that can be warned about false prophets. Matthew 7:15-16 warns that by their fruits you will know them. After they preach a works-based gospel, after saying that salvation is conditional, after they brag they cannot be refuted, after they claim that a Christian can lose their salvation every time they sin and must do good works to gain it back, one supreme irony starts to surface. Their actions will speak louder than words.
Some of the worst scandals of pastors happen among works salvationists. A false prophet could be uttering that if you commit any of the sins in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, you will lose your salvation can be caught doing them. One example is Eliseo Soriano reveals himself to be a thief, extortioner, reviler and HOMOSEXUAL and yet he hasn't swallowed any of his words. Some of these false prophets who preach conditional security were later caught in the casino doing the same sins they condemned could make them lose their salvation.
On the other hand, some preachers they accused were teaching a license to sin can be shown to be more upright and godly than they are. Charles Spurgeon who taught the Biblical doctrine of the perseverance of the saints so viciously fought the sins of his day. Billy Sunday was a real sin buster to the core. On the other hand, some of these conditional security preachers were later caught dead by their own sins. The fact of Christianity is good works are done not to stay saved but as the continuous result of being saved. If I cannot lose my salvation then certainly, I will continue to do good works because I'm saved. If I sin, God will chastise me while leaving the rest of the sinful world alone to their own misery (Hebrews 12:5-6). My good works are a result of God's grace. I am an overcomer but not by myself, it's by God. Good works for the Christian are a result of salvation. On the other hand, the unbeliever cannot do any good works, only dead works that look good but are not good because they are not saved.
Just as I love to say let he who sinned not teach works salvation and eternal security.