Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Satan, on the other hand, came “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). Satan “is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). Today, Satan is repeating the lie told from day one in the Garden of Eden: “Yea, hath God said?” (Genesis 3:1). Before this, there were no questions or dilemmas. “Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4), the serpent told the woman, “then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). The attack and lie of the Serpent comes against God’s Word. The Serpent suggests that people can disobey the Word of God without consequence, that people’s eyes can be opened with some higher mystical experience and that people can be as gods. In other words, the Serpent would have us do what is right in our own eyes though it be contrary to God’s commandments. Satan seeks to give the creature the right to sit in judgment against the Creator and His word.
“He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). The weapon of choice in Satan’s murdering and stealing and destroying is a lie. It is not a dagger, not a sword, neither guns nor bombs but a lie that Satan has designed for inflicting spiritual and eternal damage in the lives of people. “The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Today, many people are being devoured, swallowed up, murdered spiritually, and destroyed for eternity by the lies of Satan, little do they know that they are being told and preached by professing Christian leaders. They speak lies.
We live in a time so similar to the days of the prophet Jeremiah, just prior to the Babylonian captivity, that it’s frightening. “Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness. . . For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. . . I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies” (Jeremiah 23:9,11,14). It was the prophet and priest of Jeremiah’s day, the spiritual leadership of the people who spoke lies.
It is the church that Satan has targeted because Washington DC and Hollywood are already convinced that the devil doesn’t exist. Satan, “the god of this world”, has “blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). It is the profane pastors, teachers, leaders and authors within Christianity today that demonstrate how the lies of Satan are being propagated in the church. “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:13,14). R.A. Torrey wrote:
When Satan gets into the pulpit, or the theological chair, and pretends to teach Christianity, when in reality he is corrupting it; pretends to be teaching Christian evidences when in reality he is undermining the very foundations of faith; pretends to be teaching Biblical Introduction, when in reality he is making the Bible out to be a book that is not worthy of being introduced — then look out for him; he is at his most dangerous work.
As the Serpent was in the Garden, so he is now behind the pulpit preaching another gospel, within the house of God, on the pages of Christian books and on the screens of computers in Christian homes. Satan’s goal is to rob the faith in and application of a single verse or word from the Living God. “Yea, hath God said?” (Genesis 3:1). The lies from the pulpit today compromise the inspiration, the context, the authority, the clarity and the power of the Word of God.
Of these false and profane pastors, teachers, leaders and authors we are told to beware because they “come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Thus these profane, ferocious and wild wolves are in the church masquerading as sheep. Sheep’s clothing suggests that outwardly these false prophets look like Christians. They are in our midst of worship and fellowship, attending our gatherings and meetings. They look and smell like sheep but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Speaking to the church at Ephesus, Paul warned of false elders, “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29). They look and act and sound like Christians, but inwardly they are liars and workers of iniquity. They speak and prophesy in the name of Christ, they do many wonderful works in His name. Jesus said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22,23).
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4). These false prophets come into the church subtly polluting the body with their damnable heresies. They speak with cunning and crafty wisdom of men, but not according to the foolishness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These ministers of Satan are often unaware of the havoc they are wreaking and remain ignorant of the devastating nature and catastrophic effect of their lies because they themselves are also deceived “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived (2 Timothy 3:13).
They have crept into the church and they broaden the narrow way which leads to life. These are “certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4). Likewise, Peter warned of false teachers “who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1). We are exhorted to depart from such false prophets as these that pose themselves as Christians but pervert the teachings of Christ. Paul said, “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17).
How do we discern a wolf which outwardly looks and sounds like a sheep? Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). What is in the heart of these false prophets will manifest their true allegiance. The fruit of the Spirit which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22,23). Even these fruits and deeds of the Spirit may be counterfeited and will be forged by these false prophets. Jesus also taught, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:33-37). Thus, you will know a false prophet not only by their deeds but also by the things they say and teach. Their words and deeds may be tested by the doctrines of the Bible. Jesus said, “For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” (Luke 6:43).
Jeremiah, a true prophet of God told, “And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings. But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered” (Jeremiah 11:8,9). Jeremiah was a docile lamb, a tree with fruits of the Spirit and the testimony of Jesus. But the false prophets sought to destroy him. Just as the entire nation of Israel in Jeremiah’s day accepted the false prophets as true prophets of God, so Satan still has his pastors, teachers, leaders and authors within the church today. Just as the wolf has camouflaged itself in sheep’s wool, so these leaders fit into mainstream Christianity with their smooth, crafty and subtle words, even Scriptural words. It is time the Church prays for spiritual discernment between fleece and fur.
Notice how Satan quoted the Word of God in his brutal attack of temptation against Christ: “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone” (Matthew 4:6). This then, the Word of God, is the first thing to be diluted, undermined and sabotaged in the attack of Satan against the church of God. “Yea, hath God said?” (Genesis 3:1). The enemy knows that by the Word of God is our only armor and offensive weapon. If he can disarm us by spoiling the truth of God, then the Christian is defenseless and unable to retaliate.
Christ responded to Satan’s attack with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God: “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matthew 4:7). Thus the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17) is our only offensive weapon against these lies of Satan, against these devious and cunning strategies of manipulation that have crept into the Church through the sermons, books, videos and blogs of false prophets.
We are told to “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2). In doing so, it is important to expose these men by name as the Apostle Paul did similarly telling Timothy of Hymenaeus, Alexander and Philetus: “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. . . . Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. . . . Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words” (1 Timothy 1:19,20; 2 Timothy 2:15-18; 4:14-15). These men were named of Paul because they were enemies of the truth. And the Apostle John to Gaius wrote: “Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not” (3 John 1:9). It is my hope that those being led astray along with their leaders will repent and find the true mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life according to the word of God.
Our battle is not against flesh and blood. The battle is not against Rob Bell, Joel Osteen or Rick Warren but against the spiritual principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this world, against the spiritual wickedness in high places behind the scenes (Ephesians 6:12). “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh (2 Corinthians 2:3). This is a raging and bloody spiritual battle for the souls of men. The kingdom of light against the kingdom of darkness. The truth of Jesus Christ against the lies of the enemy.
“Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. . . Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 23:15,16,32).