3 Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
4 But the multitude of the city was divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles. 5 And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them, 6 they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region.
I brought up the fact that the Jews were acting (in what they thought) was God's will because of this passage in Deuteronomy 13:
1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
You see the Jews had the scriptures to back up their actions... the point I think we came up with is the qualifier that says that the person who should be put to death is actually someone who is calling us to worship gods that we did not know... which the Jews of all people should have been intimately familiar with who God is and who His Son is because God trusted them with the scriptures which spoke of Him. (Lk 24:27) But that is not the point of what I want to say... the cool thing is that I was reading this passage in Deuteronomy, 2 days before our meeting and was mediating on it... let me tell you... it is a rich piece of scripture. There is so much guidance and practical advice in its text. If you don't mind, lets look at it.
The whole passage is about what to do with those who try and lead us to serve other gods... so let us look at it in the context of our lives with the Lord and what to do with things that try to compete for our devotion to our Loving God.
1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
The first thing to notice is that this false prophet is moving in power and is "getting things done" with his message. This is not uncommon in the scriptures, Moses dealt with the magicians of Pharaoh who had power to "validate" their position. Baalum used his connection with God to give evil advice. Simon the sorcerer had power which led people astray. Remember our enemy is powerful and can and does "bless" people or ideas with power. The one that comes to my mind is the pursuit of wealth... there are people whose heart is sold to the worship of money and show people the easy way to make money. They show off there strategies (signs) and Rolexes (wonders) to impress you into pursuing after their god, Mammon. The enemies end game is to entice you away from dependance on our Loving God. This passage says there are "successful" people who seem to have the power to validate their position, but we need to realize their end game. They are false prophets that are trying to pull you from the Lord. But it is not just limited to people... there are philosophies, religions, attitudes, and ideas that can promise us
Well, what are we to do about it? Well the passage says two things about that. First off is recognition of when to act... the passage says, "of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’". The point of recognition of false prophets is not after their ministry is established or when the fruits of a person's life become evident, it is at the point of speaking falsely. Any time after that point adds difficulty. Imagine if a fire started in a wastebasket in a large building... when would the best time be to put out the fire? When it is in the basket? When it has lit the wall on fire? Let it burn itself out? Of course we all know the best time is when the fire is first started... being vigilant at the beginning saves lives. The Bible declares that our mouths have the destructive power of fire (James 3:5-6) and should be treated as such. The false prophet should be dealt with when he speaks to lead the sheep astray. This means that we, as men, need to be men of the Word of God and be able to discern the hearts of man by our experience with the Word (Hebrews 4:12).
What is interesting in this first part of the passage is that it says that "the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. " James highlights this in Chapter 1 vs 2-3 "Consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." When the Lord allows a false prophet to arise in our midst it is not a test to pass/fail (though that is in it as well) but it is the opportunity that our loving God is giving us to demonstrate our love for Him. If God protected us from every evil choice or all temptation what would our worship be worth to Him? Nothing... Satan pointed this out in Job when He told God that the only reason Job worshiped Him was because he had it so good and God protected him from every bad thing. If you are a Christian, your ultimate desire in this world should be to bring God glory (1 Cor 10:31) and unless we have the opportunity to choose something other than God, there will never be an opportunity to please Him. We should actually look at times of testing as a blessing... I am convinced that in eternity when the Lord is sharing with us what blessed His heart in our lives, it will not so much be the spiritual high times, but the times of trial, when what seems like the whole world was against us, we chose to follow the Lord. What is obedience without options? Now getting back to the point... this passage is to encourage us in taking action against false prophets not to freak us out. We are to be ready to deal with these wolves in sheep's clothing knowing full well that the Lord takes great pleasure in such actions.
Well, what are we supposed to do with these false prophets who are trying to lead us astray? Praise the Lord for the revelation within His scriptures... for He tells us in the same passage. "But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst."
Now lets get something straight... I am not advocating us lining our church with the bodies of false prophets as a warning to all those who may be eager to lead us astray... the Old Testament is like a picture book of what is really in the heart of God. The Lord wants us to mark out and separate ourselves from such people. Lets look at some scripture:
1 John 4:1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Romans 16:17
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
Titus 1:13
This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
Ephesians 5:11
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
2 Thessalonians 3:6
Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
2 Timothy 3:5
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2 John 1:10-11
If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: {11} For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
2 Thessalonians 3:14
And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
Titus 3:10
A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject;
2 Corinthians 6:17
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
Death in the OT commandment when compared to the NT is not a physical death but speaks of a death like removing a cancer from your body. This prophet needs to be cut out of our body and separated from our presence in order to let it die apart from us. This is what needs to be done. We can not tolerate it as fires of false doctrine are spreading like crazy in this day and age... we need to be men and purify ourselves from all unrighteousness and protect the body that the Lord has called us to.
Where are you with this? Do you know someone who is "preying" on the flock and are not taking action? Is there a false prophet in your own life that is calling you to serve other gods? Deal with it... separate yourself from it and let God allow it to die! Now let me tempter this study with one thing... we must like Paul always be willing to bring people back into the body when the enemy has had his way with them to teach them the benefits of godliness. We cannot banish from the church absolutely... but wisdom and discernment must always be our guide to allowing someone back into our midst.
Guys... I love you all and pray that the Lord richly blesses you. Forgive my rambling but I hope that you got something... namely how to recognize a false prophet, when to take action, and how to take action.
Love in Christ,
Sean McCrary
1 John 4:1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Romans 16:17
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
Titus 1:13
This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
Ephesians 5:11
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
2 Thessalonians 3:6
Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
2 Timothy 3:5
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2 John 1:10-11
If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: {11} For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
2 Thessalonians 3:14
And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
Titus 3:10
A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject;
2 Corinthians 6:17
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
Death in the OT commandment when compared to the NT is not a physical death but speaks of a death like removing a cancer from your body. This prophet needs to be cut out of our body and separated from our presence in order to let it die apart from us. This is what needs to be done. We can not tolerate it as fires of false doctrine are spreading like crazy in this day and age... we need to be men and purify ourselves from all unrighteousness and protect the body that the Lord has called us to.
Where are you with this? Do you know someone who is "preying" on the flock and are not taking action? Is there a false prophet in your own life that is calling you to serve other gods? Deal with it... separate yourself from it and let God allow it to die! Now let me tempter this study with one thing... we must like Paul always be willing to bring people back into the body when the enemy has had his way with them to teach them the benefits of godliness. We cannot banish from the church absolutely... but wisdom and discernment must always be our guide to allowing someone back into our midst.
Guys... I love you all and pray that the Lord richly blesses you. Forgive my rambling but I hope that you got something... namely how to recognize a false prophet, when to take action, and how to take action.
Love in Christ,
Sean McCrary
