FALSE PROPHETS
{Extracts from ‘The Prophetic Call’ by Art Katz}
In Jeremiah chapter 23:1-32, God gives us a powerful statement about true and
false prophets. Talk about an indictment! It is one thing to have Judgment
against nations, but when you begin to indict the prophets of God, when the
loftiest and the noblest thing has become the most profane, then that is a
profound statement of the low condition of a nation prior to its judgment.
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the
priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it that way! Jeremiah
5:31a
It is remarkable how self-serving this reciprocal thing is between heads of
movements or fellowships and the false teachers, and how comfortable they are
with one another and how they affirm one another. The people are in an unspoken
agreement with their ministers: “You present a biblical message. We will
pay the bill and have a Sunday service that will leave our lives free from any
kind of demand that would really affect our true vested interest and
lifestyles. We don’t want a message that is going to challenge where our heart
really is. We want to be able to say, ‘Amen’ and ‘We’ve been to
church'”-and that kind of thing. As the priest, so also the people. As the
pastor/preacher, so also the congregation.
It is into that situation we have
now come to: 2 Peter 2:1-3 In the
past there were false prophets, now there are false teachers among you. They
will gain many adherents to their destructive theories, bringing the Way of
truth into disrepute. In their greed for money and adulation, they will trade
on peoples credulity with complete fabrications.
Therefore their way will be like slippery
paths to them, they will
be driven away into the gloom and fall in it; for I shall bring calamity
upon them, the year of their punishment, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 23:12
This confirms that there is not an immediate judgment, but that there is an
appointed time in which God judges those that profane His house; those who may
have originally had authentic and holy callings. That may well be why the Lord
is allowing to continue that which is now being called prophetic and is so
popular, but for them, as with the priests and prophets of old, there will be a
year of visitation or a time when God will bring them all to judgement.
There is a consequence for false prophecy. For the preacher of it; James 3:1,
and for the believer of it, for being taken in by the ‘nice’ outcomes, that are
taught, when what the Bible prophets actually wrote, is quite different.
Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Do not
listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you…’ Jeremiah
23:15-16a Jesus said: Do not be deceived…Matthew
24:4
Notice that God still calls them prophets. It may be because the gifts and
callings of God are irrevocable. They still retain their official title, but
what they are performing under that title is in God’s sight an abomination.
There is nothing more profane than when the sacred is no longer authentically
sacred. When we take the sacred phrase, ‘Thus says the Lord’ and merely employ
it as a device to win the attention of our hearers, then we are desecrating the
sacred. We are making the sacred profane and if we are not as a godly people
setting forth the distinction between the profane and the sacred, how different
are we to the rest of the world? The ramifications of what we are talking about
are beyond any full understanding at present.
Jeremiah 23:16b-17They keep saying to
those who don’t bother to read the Word for themselves: ‘The Lord has said: You
will have peace’ and as for everyone who follow their stubborn hearts, they
say: ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’
This must be the very quintessence of what a false prophet is, namely, the
giving of a false comfort and a false assurance of peace that does not regard
the truth of the difficulties that need to be faced. It is an unwillingness to
bring a hard word. The things that are preached are normally flattering and
encouraging to the flesh, rather than challenging or threatening. False
prophets prophesy peace when the world is in turmoil! ‘Calamity will not come
upon you’ and ‘God will take you to heaven’, is sadly the kind of statement
that is coming from today’s pulpits, especially among Christians of the Western
world. They are giving false security to their flock.
But who has stood in the council of the
LORD…? Jeremiah 23:18
God requires still that His prophetic people be in His presence. I do not see
many in the earth today who are in this place. What then shall we say for all
the so called; prophets that have arisen in recent years for there are many who
profess to be prophets, but are they really hearing the council of God? Not
likely, as evidenced by how they all have a different interpretation of the
Prophetic Word. God’s judgment is
severe on those who say: this is God’s word, but it is of their own volition.
We can know when the Word is from the council of God because it has a
beneficial effect. It will affect the nation or fellowship in turning it toward
God, rather than away from Him and from their wrongful ways and practices.
Watchmen; Jeremiah 31:6, are called to come into that whole scenario and bring
the Sword of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord, and the truth of Scripture to
people who have been long spoiled by pastors and writers of things like
Prosperity theology and the rapture to heaven doctrine, that every one of us
has been exposed to by preaching, books and the media, often ignoring
scriptural truths. This is why we have so much controversy over what God
actually does intend for His people and why God will soon take action to change
everything. THEN My people will see and
hear clearly….they will finally understand and know the truth. Isaiah
32:3-4, Jeremiah 23:
There are false teachers. We are told there would be: 2 Timothy 4:3-4
The false teacher speaks words of comfort when God would not have His people to be comforted, but to be stirred up. True prophets and watchmen who promote the Prophetic Word have to bear the reprisal, the rejection and the mortification of that word coming back into their own teeth. Prophetic anguish is to present the word of God and then to have it refused, but other doctrines believed. It is mortifying and the opposite of the joy and the gratification that comes when the word of God flows out of you and into the people who are receiving it. That is like tonic for your soul. We have to be as willing for the one as the other, or we will not speak the Words of truth, but we must warn people, whether they accept it or not. Ezekiel 3:1-6 d
The Prophetic Word 