Latter-Day False Prophets – Part 1

1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;

3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. Deut. 13:1-5

There is this business of people going to heaven… people who claim to have been supernaturally taken up to heaven. There are people, especially preachers, who claim to have visited heaven and who love describing their experiences. They describe in detail everything they saw and heard in heaven. You will hear someone say, “I saw Elijah”. Or, “I saw a store full of arms and legs and Jesus weeping because there are people who need them and are not claiming them.”

Some of these people have even written books about their heavenly experiences. Others choose to tell it on TV, where the realism can be better appreciated. Believers, on the other hand, love this heavenly talk. They love to hear descriptions of the things in heaven.

Personally, though, for the time being I will ask to be excused from believing in these beautiful stories. I am not saying people have not been caught up to heaven, and that they have not seen and heard things there. But among all those whose stories I have heard, there is only one man whose account I can believe in – the Apostle Paul’s. As I said, that’s me. The reason for my believing only in Paul is because among all the accounts that I have heard, it is only Paul who never described what he saw or heard in heaven. And he tells us why he would not talk about what he saw in heaven. In fact, it is important that we read the entire account of Paul in relation to his going to heaven.

“1 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) 4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” (v. 1-4)

Notice that even though he later on lets on that it was he who was caught up to heaven (v. 7), Paul does not explicitly state that it was he who went up to heaven. He does not say, “I was caught up to the third heaven” or, “It was I who was taken up to heaven.” Paul, being a true man of God, knew that the issue of being caught up to the third heaven is too spiritual for a man to say, “I was…”

But the scripture that destroys all the claims of descriptions of heaven is verse 4.

“… he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”

Paul tells us the reason he did not describe his experiences in heaven. It was because they are “unspeakable”! And that is as it ought to be. I cannot imagine you and I describing God or the things in heaven as if we were talking about meeting the pope. And the things of heaven being unspeakable, therefore, the Bible authoritatively states that it is “not lawful” for a man to utter them. That ought to be clear enough, but again man has a propensity for blatantly ignoring what God has said.

So, what is it with today’s self-proclaimed apostles and prophets who claim their ministries originated from a trip they made to heaven, and who go into all the details of the mandates they were given? Either they heard words different from the ones that Paul heard, in which case they are carrying a different doctrine and should be steered clear of; OR (if they heard words equivalent to those that Paul heard) they are deliberately breaking God’s law, for God through the Apostle Paul expressly says that it is “not lawful” for a man to utter words that he has heard in heaven.

Either way, these false prophets end up losing the debate.

And yet… it is these prophets who are reining in more crowds of believers than even Jesus Himself could pull during His earthly ministry!

Notice verses 1 and 2:

“1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them”.

Nearly – or possibly all – of the world’s false denominations began with a vision, a sign or a miracle. Modern-day false prophets are performing even more incredible signs and wonders; and believers are flocking to them, eager to see these signs. But the prophets are leading God’s people away from God. One of the things they are leading God’s people into is materialism. Inspired by the spirit of covetousness, they are leading God’s people into idolatry. Scripture calls covetousness “idolatry” (Col. 3:5).  But the Bible also tell us:

“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry”.

From the Arctic to Antarctica, these prophets are prophesying only positive and good things to their hearers. Sadly, modern-day prophets are even leading God’s people into manifest demonically-inspired doctrines. But, even if they do all these miracles and prophesy all these things, the Bible says:

3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

God is allowing these false prophets into our midst in order to prove us. God is testing us! And He says:

“Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams”.

God is testing whether it is the world we love, or Him. When we love the world, we will love the ‘good news’ these worldly prophets are telling us. It is just as it says in 2 Tim. 4:3-4:

“3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

We should beware of these “positive confession” prophets. They are leading us away from the cross, from Christ. Why would we rather not cleave to the Apostle Paul’s doctrine of suffering with Christ? For that is the true doctrine of Christ.

We should also beware of prophets who claim to have been handed their mandate in heaven. It is so easy for one to be led into demonic visions and dreams, and the Bible says these false prophets definitely are under the power of demons.

Finally:

“5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.”

God says to put such people to death. Under the new covenant of Christ, we wouldn’t literally stone them or kill them with the sword. But I believe a good way of putting these prophets to death is by not giving heed to them or their teachings. The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 that one of the ways that God will punish unbelievers is by banishing them away from His presence (ignoring them).

“Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power”.

But, incredibly, these false prophets are the very people believers are worshipping as if they were God Himself! Incredible.