Fruit & False Prophets
February 1, 2004
Dear Friends,
We all know by experience that often what appears to be a simple and straightforward concept in Scripture is much deeper than what we once supposed. Take the comments of Jesus in Matthew 7 as an example. Jesus says “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.”
We have all seen fruit trees. You can walk up to a peach tree, see the fruit and know what it is. We can go up to an apple tree and know instantly that you are not looking at a orange tree. It doesn’t have apples on one side and oranges on the other side. This is simple and straightforward teaching, right? Wrong.
Jesus goes on to say “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
Are men either all evil or all good? Can we walk up to a person and instantly know what type of person they are? It would be very convenient if it were so obvious. You see someone do something evil and you know that they always do evil things. You see someone do something good and you know instantly that they always do good. Experience has taught us that things are not so plain. People do both bad and good. A man might be the pillar of the community doing all sorts of good deeds but also cheating on his taxes. A woman might appear to be the epitome of virtue in the ecclesia but have a penchant for gossip. Also these activities are regrettable, they don’t necessarily make the person a wolf or a false prophet.
The fact is that it is not so obvious who the sheep and the wolves are. Jesus has already given us a clue that this is so. They come in “sheep’s clothing.” They are hiding. They are professing to be one thing while inwardly they are another. It would be a waste of time for Jesus to exhort us to “beware” if it was so incredibly obvious. You don’t need to waste your time telling someone that water is wet. The bad news is that these wolves are not so obvious at all. That is what makes the false prophet so dangerous. This is not a “wheat and tares” issue where you can let them all grow up together until the Kingdom. This is a dangerous situation as wolves kill sheep. Wolves destroy. If left uncontested, they can completely destroy an ecclesia or even multiple ecclesias.
This is the fruit of which Jesus speaks. It is the most sordid kind of contagious sin. What sort of fruit does the individual bring to an ecclesia? Is the individual’s presence exemplified by the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control?” (Gal. 5:22-23 JNT) Or, is the individual’s presence exemplified by the works of the flesh: “sexual immorality, impurity and indecency; idol-worship and misuse of drugs in connection with the occult; in feuding, fighting, becoming jealous and getting angry; in selfish ambition, factionalism, intrigue and envy; in drunkenness, orgies.” (Gal. 5:19-21 JNT) When you hold up these two lists next to each other the matter is very plain. There is no mixing up these defining characteristics. In other words, a false prophet can perform good deeds and other acts of charity, but ultimately the heart of the wolf is made manifest by the effect it inflicts upon the ecclesia. You don’t need to judge their hearts, you just have to discern the fruit it bears. The fact that Jesus wants us to be constantly vigilant against this type of individual gives us a hint of the severity of the danger.
On false prophets, we can give no better counsel than that of Scripture: “Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the guardians, to feed the Church of God which he bought with the blood of his own Son. I know quite well that when I have gone fierce wolves will invade you and will have no mercy on the flock. Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them. So be on your guard.” (Acts 20:28-31 NJB)
May God give us hearts of discernment in these Last Days!
Have a great week!
__________________
Please keep Sis. Becky McIntosh from Atlanta in your prayers. She has been diagnosed with cancer.
NJB = The New Jerusalem Bible
JNT = The Jewish New Testament
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