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From the book:
GREAT TRAGEDY book, pg
39. Written by Rev. E.Frank |
False Prophets and
False Christs
We are now experiencing the greatest deception in the
religious realm that has ever
been. In Mt. 24 Jesus predicted, “And many false prophets
shall rise, and shall deceive
many.” (v 11). Representatives of all religions and
denominations, churches and
fellowships naturally present themselves as being correct. On
the outside we can see a
lot of decoration with scriptures, but the Lord sees the
inside and says, “BEWARE
OF FALSE PROPHETS ...” (Mt. 7: 15). We must take this warning
to heart,
because all suspect them to be elsewhere, but here we are
dealing with the Kingdom of
God, with believers, with the church.
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Satan himself believes,
but in his own way, not
as the Scripture says. In the religions of this world and also
within Christianity, many
believe as they please. The entire earth is filled with that
type of believers. At the time
of the Reformation the question arose, who the false prophet
and the antichrist was.
In the conclusion thereof all the reformers were united, in
spite of other differences.
Our concern in this exposition chapter is about the many false
prophets and false
christs.
Who are the false prophets? How can they be recognised for
what they really are? We
shall let the Holy Scripture speak for Itself. For there is no
theological faculty, no
preacher seminar on earth, where God’s mysterious counsel is
being taught or could be
learned. It takes a Divine commission, which gives Divine
authority after the pattern
of the prophets and apostles, to have access to the revealed
Word and Will of God.
They left unto us, what was said by the all-knowing God, Who
foresaw the tragic
developments, Who already knew the end since the beginning.
First we have to come to the logical conclusion that every
falsification has to be as
close to the original as possible. A counterfeit dollar note
must look so much like the
original, that the layman will not recognise the difference.
This reminds me of a
personal experience. Many years ago, I deposited some money
into the account at the
“Bank of Commerce”. Suddenly, the clerk held up a 100 DM note
and said, “This is a
forged bill, I am required to call the criminal unit of the
police.” For a layman not at
all visible, not suspicious, but in the hand and in the eye of
the expert it was
recognised on the spot. To me this was a very important lesson.
I was not the forger
and neither were many of the people who passed the same note
to others. There are
many, who pass along forged, so-called “Christian” teachings,
without realising that
they are passing on falsifications. They do not know the
original and therefore cannot
detect the imitations.
The false prophets and false christs of today are not the
falsifiers, but they
unknowingly pass the falsifications on to others. What they
all have in common, is
that they are in a recognised, leading position, but they lead
others astray, they
mislead, they deceive, as they have also been deceived (2 Tim.
3: 13). In Mt. 24: 4 our
Lord said with emphasis, “Take heed that no man deceive you.
For many shall come in
my name, saying, I am Christ ...” (Mt. 24: 4-5) — “I have a
special anointing!” After
predicting wars and all the natural catastrophes, He once
again emphasised that many
would be deceived by false prophets (Mt. 24: 11).
False prophets and false christs do not compare their doctrine
with the Word of God.
But they appear to be genuine, so that only a Divine expert of
the Word can recognise
the counterfeits. The Greek word “Christos”, and the
equivalent Hebrew word
“Mashiach”, are known to us as “Christ” or “the Anointed”. In
the Old Testament
kings and priests were anointed. King Saul was anointed, King
David was anointed,
Aaron and his sons were also anointed. The true prophets were
called the “anointed of
God”. The Lord Himself says, “Touch not mine anointed, and do
my prophets no
harm.” (Ps. 105: 15). Jesus was THE ANOINTED ONE, THE CHRIST.
According
to Lk. 4: 17-19, He read from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 61,
“The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he hath anointed me ...” (Lk. 4: 18).
The Apostle Peter confirmed it, “ But those things, which God
before had shown by
the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he
hath so fulfilled.” (Acts 3:
18).
“... how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit,
and with power: who
went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of
the devil; for God was
with him.” (Acts 10: 38).
Our Lord warns us about the false anointed ones. They may be
anointed, but are false.
One mark applies to all who are wrong: They always stand
together against the one
who is correct, and therefore consequently against the Lord
and His Anointed (Acts 4:
24-31). Not only the Egyptians, Jannes and Jambres, stood up
against Moses, but
from their own midst, leading brothers rose against him,
namely Dathan, Korah and
others (Num. 16). They united and organised themselves and
made a plot, a direct
opposition against God, and Moses, His true prophet.
Once again, in Mt. 24, our Lord refers to the false prophets
and false christs and gives
this warning, “For there shall arise false christs, and false
prophets, and shall show
great signs and wonders , insomuch that, if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very
elect.” (v. 24). Even that: false and great signs and wonders!
Who can comprehend
this? It does not belong together at all and should not be in
the Kingdom of God. But
as Dathan and Korah, they belong to the church, but are under
false inspiration and in false doctrines. In His Church only the Lord has the right
to appoint the different
ministries. Everybody cannot do as he pleases, because that
will lead to the fall, as it
did with Lucifer, the anointed angel. The Apostle Paul warned
us about false
brethren. They are indeed brethren, but they are false. Today
we have, as our Lord
predicted, many such false prophets and false anointed ones.
They can offer signs and wonders as their legitimation.
Thereby they mislead believers
who are true at heart, but who are not founded in the
Scriptures. They are not godless
men, they are not the actual falsifiers, in their own way they
believe. They are
amicable and insist to be preachers of the full gospel and
have a convincing
appearance. They even have the marks, which were promised in
connection with the
Lord’s great commission. The whole picture looks genuine and
good. Their meetings
draw people from all denominations, and all are impressed and
astonished. The Lord
Himself said, that if it were possible, even the elect would
be deceived . Thanks be to
God, that is not possible. But the copy is so close to the
real thing, that only those,
who know the original and truly believe as the Scripture says,
will notice the difference
and see through the outer shell. The elect do not follow signs
and wonders, they follow
their Lord and Saviour. They verify all teachings, prophecies
and the whole
proclamation with the Word of God and will not permit to be
carried away, but rather
stay with the teachings of the apostles (Acts 2: 42; Eph. 2:
20; 2 Pet. 3: 2 a. o.).
There were always those, who were sent by the Lord, and the
kind, who stepped onto
the scene by their own accord. The false prophets and false
christs also step forward
independent from God, but within His Kingdom. They do not
deceive intentionally,
they are not even aware of it. They are not the falsifiers,
but do pass on that, which
was falsified. They are honest, but wrong, were themselves
born into the religious
deception. This development was also predicted by the apostles.
All the falsifications
have a long tradition. Whatever is not correct, meaning it
does not coincide with the
Bible, is automatically wrong. We have to take this warning
very seriously and must
ask:
Who today are the false prophets and false teachers who bring
in damnable heresies, of
whom the Apostle Peter warned that they would speak evil of
the way of Truth (2
Pet. 2: 1-3)?
Who today are the ones who have forsaken the right way and
gone astray in the way
of Balaam, who loved the wages of unrighteousness (2 Pet. 2:
12-19)?
Who today are the many antichrists of whom the Apostle John
writes (1 Jn. 2: 18-20)?
Who today are the many false prophets, which have gone out
into the world (1 Jn. 4:
1)?
Who today are the men of whom Paul spoke, that they would come
forth from within
the Church itself, teaching false doctrine, enticing disciples
to follow them (Acts 20:
26-32)?
Who today are those, who preach another Jesus, who proclaim
another gospel and are
under the influence of another spirit (2 Cor. 11: 4)?
Who today are they, who present themselves as apostles of
Christ, having the
appearance of angels of light, but are deceitful workers (2
Cor. 11: 10-15)?
Who today are they, of whom the Spirit of God said, that they
would appear in latter
times, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons
(1 Tim 4: 1-3)?
Whatever does not originate from God comes from Satan. No
forgery, no lie can
originate from the Truth (1 Jn. 2: 21). Indeed, it is a
tragedy, what happened in
traditional Christianity and people do not see it, as the
right was and is being
substituted with the wrong. The subjects remain, but the
content has been changed.
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