By false prophets, it includes
but not limited to false pastors, teachers, apostles, evangelists or whatever
title they decide to parade themselves as.
The burden to write on
this topic is based on the rate at which many supposed Christian of today are being
swayed around by the increase of these individuals who parade themselves as
Christians, Christian leaders or spiritual leaders.
They have given birth
to a lot of supposed Christians who cannot differentiate between their left
from their right, solely depending on the personality of their supposed ‘man of
God’ for deliverance and miracles.
This article will help you
to identify them, peradventure you are among their congregation or you happen
to visit a church where they are.
Mind you, these persons
can be found either operating independently (like them running their invented
ministry), or they can be among true church of God where they are given position
of leadership, unknown to the Church authority.
So, let’s start!
Centre of Attraction
One major sign to look
out for in identifying false prophet is to find out who they are attracting people
to. Are they attracting people to themselves, the devil or to Christ? What is
the focus of their supposed ministry? Are they drawing people’s attention to
themselves or to Jesus Christ who is the centre and reason for Christianity?
It is very important to
look out for this sign, because Christianity can be simply summarized as; Jesus
Christ, reconciling human back to God. Jesus Christ is the ONLY mediator
between God and man. This is what the Bible teaches.
But we have a problem,
when a supposed ‘man of God’ decides to make himself either directly or
indirectly the mediator between his followers and God. This is a big problem! I
am sure that is not Christianity, even though it is clothed in Christian form.
A Pastor friend shared
with me and my wife, the story of a supposed church he was invited to worship. How
he angrily left the gathering when a supposed ‘man of God’ came up and declared
that his body is the pool of Bethesda, that everyone in the gathering should come
forward with a sachet of water and money. They should drop the cash on the altar
and use the water to touch his body. He said, the prophet instructed the
congregation to use the water to cure any kind of problem or sickness. You can
agree with me that there is something wrong with this practice.
Don’t get me wrong, I
am not suggesting that God cannot use any means to heal anybody. The problem is,
when healing is done in a ministry and there is nothing in the process pointing
or suggesting that Christ Jesus is the originator of the miracle, I become
suspicious of such process or individual.
Check it out; an
account is given in the book of Acts 3:12-13a, after God through the hands of
Peter healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate. Peter gave this testimony
about the story:
“And
when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye
at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or
holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of
Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath
glorified his Son Jesus…”
Apostle Peter never
took credit for it. He never said anything that suggested that it was time for
his (Peter’s) ministry to be glorified. No! He said the miracle was done to
glorify, lift, magnify, show, present Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Besides, when Jesus
Christ died, something remarkable and symbolic happened. The veil between the
Holy of Holies tore down, giving everyone access to the Holy of Holies.
“And,
behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom...”
Matthew
27:51.
What does this suggests?
It shows that what prevents laymen from coming into God’s presence was torn
down. Now, you don’t need a prophet, pastor or apostle to access heaven through
prayers. “For through him (Jesus) we both have access by one Spirit unto the
Father”. Ephesians 2:18. You now have the access through Jesus Christ to
God.
Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in
time of need. Hebrew 4:16
In Christianity, the
essence of the miracles that are done through us is to draw people to Christ.
It is not to draw people to us, our church or ministry. It is not to enrich our
pocket. It is to enlarge God’s Kingdom on earth.
When a person who
claims to be a pastor, prophets or whatever, starts making himself the centre of attraction,
that is not the true Christianity.
Special things to be
wary of in the case of false prophets
- Be careful with anyone who makes himself or herself a prayer machine for you.
- Be careful with anyone who tells you to bring offering so that your prayers can be answered.
- Be careful with anyone who ignores your sins, but tells you that your seeds can bring you your desired miracles.
- Be careful with those who prophesy in the name of the Lord so that you can constantly depend and rely on them when troubles come.
- Be careful with magicians on the altar, who does things that doesn’t have biblical bases.
- Be careful with those who will never teach you to grow spiritually to attain to great height, so that you can constantly look up to them instead of Jesus.
The NLT version of the
Bible puts James 5:17 this way: Elijah
was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would
fall, none fell for three and a half years!
What this shows is that
every man of God is just like you, you can attain to their height if you give
yourself to prayers.
Take responsibility for
your Christian life. Study the Word by yourself!
...to be continue.
...to be continue.
