Recognizing False Prophets!

hello to my wonderful friends and partners and i pray the lord today will bless you and anoint and use you and i have a very important message today recognizing false prophets now why am i talking about this well because there is a need today to talk about this to protect you because i really care for you and i care about your walk in the lord i just mean that with all of my heart you become my family we've been together now for goodness over a year and a half daily and it's been wonderful to see what god has done and to jesus be the praise lord i thank you for what you're about to show us through your word speak clearly lord to your people in jesus wonderful name amen amen we are working on the studio in the other room that's why we we're not able to tape in the studio this is my office by the way i'm coming to you from i have my beautiful brand new book that i'm working on i'll tell you about that later and i want to get into the word so why do i want to talk about recognizing false prophets well because god's word has a lot to say about it and i think since god's word has a lot to say about it we need to see what does god say about that well first of all let's look at first john chapter 4 verse 1 and by the way thank you for being with me i really really enjoy being with you i just meet them with all of my heart it says believe beloved believe not every spirit first john 4 verse 1 but try the spirits or test the spirits whether they are of god why because many false prophets are gone out into the world how amazing that john focuses on this one thing when he says that there will be spirits in the world that will try to bring deception beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of god and what does he focus on one thing only false prophecy not anything else so he says now you have to try the spirit on prophecy amazing it doesn't say anything else here and then he says hereby know ye the spirit of god every spirit that confesseth that jesus christ is come in the flesh is of god and every spirit that confesses not that jesus christ has come in the flesh is not of god and then he says this is that spirit of antichrist now in the early church they dealt with false prophets who were denying the deity of the lord but now today we have a different problem we have that too but we have also additional problems with prophecy so um we need to heed the warnings of scripture for example in matthew 7 15 it says beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing so it's very hard to discern them because of the way they look so how do we tell they look like they are good people holy people godly people caring people but are they so there's a few things we have to look at to to to because we cannot really tell sometimes when you look at the outer appearance because they they they look like anyone else they look like they're godly and so on and so forth but look what it says in ii timothy 3 verse 5. i think that's the first thing we really look at first thing we look at it says having a form of godliness so they look godly but denying the power thereof meaning they lean more on themselves than the power of god they lean more on their gift than the power of god they lean more on what they've learned than the holy spirit and his power that's what it means they're not dependent on the power of god they are so gifted in their own self they actually don't even need the holy spirit in their life because false prophets don't have the holy spirit in their life now you know i'm going to show you tomorrow how to how to test really like i'm going to give you a list of things to look at but let's just look at at some other things today that i think are extremely powerful so first they deny the power but what does that really even mean to deny the power of god because sometimes it's really hard to tell it's hard to tell when they look right they seem to be right everything looks normal okay they may deny the power of god but a lot of people who do that you just can't really tell beyond that and sometimes it's even hard to tell how are they denying the part of god so let's look at uh matthew matthew 23. now this is this is key because the lord said something very powerful here that i think we really need to look at i'm going to read beginning at verse 25 matthew 23 woe unto you scribes and pharisees hypocrites for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the plateau but within they are full of extortion and excess thou blind pharisee cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter and the outside that the outside may be clean also until you scribes and pharisees hypocrites you are like unto whited sepulchers which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead man's bones of all uncleanness even so ye are outwardly appear righteous unto men but within are full of hypocrisy and iniquity so what the lord is really saying to us here is don't look at the outside because the outside looks just right because when we look at the outside we can be easily deceived so what do we look at well mark 7 answers what we look at i'm giving you know scriptures slowly to help you kind of understand it watch this is mark 7 20 right through right through 23 that which cometh out of the man that defiles the man because from within out of the heart proceed evil thoughts adulteries fornication murders thefts greed wickedness deceit it's all coming from what they say listen to what they say pay attention to what they say not just the prophecy they give listen to what they say what comes out of their lips lasciviousness now that word is an old word that just means wickedness basically an evil eye i remember a guy coming to our church in occ it was quite powerful but i'm sitting with him on the platform and he looks at this blonde and says to me who is she evil i and that's when i said to myself i'll never have him again because all he cared about is he want to know who the girl was blasphemy pride or the other guy who came once to me and said you know he said i have a very big ministry i should not be here i don't need this i you don't give me the offerings i'm looking for that's what he said to me and i'm thinking i thought it's about people and their needs rather than your money and your greed he expressed his greed and his pride in seconds i knew uh-uh i won't have him again so it's it's what you it's it's what they say now you cannot usually tell in one meeting but you have to keep listening that's how you test it takes time to know the facts about someone foolishness all these evil things come from within and defile the man now the lord uh pointed some some amazing things to be here number one evil thoughts when you listen to someone you can tell their evil thoughts or what thoughts they have it doesn't take long before you know he doesn't have a clean mind or he does because by the things they say by the words they say but here's a big one greed the bible focuses on that in many scriptures about greed and the prophetic in in in second corinthians that's why today you know people sell prophecy what's behind it greed they do it for money yeah i'm being wrong frankly i don't care anymore what people think about me i want to finish well with the lord i don't care about finishing work or impressing people i should say i want to finish order with the lord if if anybody thinks different yeah it's okay now we we we all for uh focus on this verse in second corinthians 11 13 for such are false apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of christ but who is he talking about now you have to go back to see who he who he is talking about okay now he begins with saying have i committed an offense in verse seven have i committed an offense in abasing myself that you might be exalted because i have preached to you the gospel of god freely without asking you for money i robbed other churches taking wages of them to do you service he accepted offerings from other churches because we all need offerings so we can pay our bills but when the when the motive is i'm doing it for money i'm doing it for money i have a little audience here about it by the way but that's why i keep looking at them when they when the reason they are they they go preach it's because they're looking for an offering rather than blessing people's lives i remember a man of god telling me years ago when i was young he said always remember benny money follows ministry not the other way around money always follows ministry not the other way around today though it's money first and then ministry in some places so paul is talking about this he said when i was present with you and wanted he was in need financially i was chargeable to no man for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from macedonia supplied in all things i've kept myself from being burdensome to you and then verse 10 says as the truth of christ is in me no man shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of archaea that's western greece in in in present day southern west wherefore because i love you not god knoweth for what i do that i will do that i may cut off occasion from them listen to these words which desire occasion that were in their glory they may be found as we are so he says listen there are people looking for an occasion to use you to make money they're looking for a way to make money i'm trying to cut off that occasion so you would know the difference between me and them i'm not looking for your money they are and then he says for such are false apostles it's the money that's connected here the lord said the same thing in mark greed covetousness it's what comes out of them deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of christ and marvel not he says and no marvel for satan himself is transformed into an angel of light so it's no great thing if his ministers also are transformed as ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their work now how do we know that it's it's usually about money well let me give you a few more scriptures uh because you always see it tied with with money in one way or another it's all about what they're going to get out of it and they'll talk about it and today you know it's very sad that you see people asking for money when they prophesy people sometimes prophesy for money they actually charge for it ezekiel in ezekiel 34 we see another example of it and here's what it says ezekiel 34 verse 2 right to verse 3. son of man prophesy against the shepherds of israel prophesy and say unto them thus says the lord god unto the shepherds will be to the shepherds that feed themselves here we go again should not the shepherds feed the flock you eat the fat and you clothe yourself with the wool and you kill them that are fed but you're not feeding the flock so it's not about teaching the bible anymore out there it's about using the gift to promote oneself i know i'm being raw but you know i think the time has come for someone like me to say what the bible says because i have seen it with my own eyes i've been in ministry now 48 something years i began in december of 74. that's a long time i was i've been in ministry longer than a lot of you young people have been even alive i've seen it all i've seen the the real and the not real i've seen the catherine cummings real oral roberts real rex hamburg real corinthian boom real basilis link real these were real people derek prince real and so many more i've known way more real people than not so real people but now i'm i'm hearing and i'm uh you know being aware of individuals that prophesy not according to god's word the heart is not there for the people it's about the gift being used so it's about the gift being used so um now those same people who who are uh doing it for money also the same people you you'll always uh see both connected together in some cases but let me just give you just one or two scriptures let me let me go to romans 16. in romans 16 and verse 17 it says this now i beseech you brother and mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them now anyone who can cause division has a voice is someone known how can they cause division if nobody knows them and i've seen it happen in my in my experience whenever a church has someone come in with the prophetic that is not pure they usually turn people against the pastor or they turn people against other people to gain their attention or to gain their loyalties so they can keep them in ministry and give them longevity with money so they come into a church the pastor is innocent he doesn't so sad so many pastors don't even know what the bible teaches about this and they want to see a crowd so they invite someone with a gift they come and they and they come again and they come again and they come again because the prophetic draws crowds people are intrigued i'm looking for a word from god people are starving for a word so bad they'll they'll listen to anyone who has a message for them from god well all the messages we know is in the bible if we would just read the bible we would not be looking for for prophets to give us messages from god so but anyways still that's my opinion if you know the lord jesus and you know his word why do you need people to come and tell you that says the lord we do need prophets i'm not saying we don't we do need prophets like agabus to warn us about a coming event to protect us or in the old covenant the same thing happened and we need prophecy to edify us to exhort us to build us but not to harm us in any way including financially including financially but people today are so starving for a word they want to know about what to do about their son their daughter their business their this their that they'll just go and listen to these men in pack auditoriums and women pack auditoriums but the end result is harm and division because the more they come to that church the more influence they have with the people and the less influence that the pastor has i've seen churches split after pastors leave churches and that man took over with that prophetic gift and brought a lot of pain and confusion tomorrow i'm going to give you the signs of the true prophets and there are many of them there are many good holy godly bible grounded prophets and prophets says and i know them some of them well and people like that have longevity so the one thing you look for is how long do they last if they last a long time it's because god is with them and they have the real gift and the real walk and the real walk there are many that i respect greatly that i know well and i don't want to have to name names because there's no need but i just don't want people to to think you know all of them are bad no they are not all bad there are many wonderful people today in the prophetic who are absolutely godly and the one thing you know about them they magnify jesus all the time they turn people's eyes to jesus all the time they are solid in the word of god solid so when they minister it's not about the gift it's about the word in them the word in them is so real and powerful so real and powerful but there's longevity those that have lasted and a lot of them to you know a lot of the ones that i've gotten to know over the years are now you know they're they're older people they've they've been there for so long longevity longevity is one of the greatest guarantees that man is of god or he will not have lasted i've learned years ago a lie has a has a very very short life a lie has a short life the truth long life so when when you see longevity then there's something good there something good so we have to watch those newcomers how long will they last if suddenly they disappear off the scene well then we know something went wrong but longevity has it's a big sign so when you go to listen to a prophet look at his age see what he's done for the lord before you go and receive anything from him now if they're young yeah there's some good ones who are young but i would not trust the young as much they haven't had the time to prove themselves any ministry in any ministry do you remember some of you and maybe you don't back in the 70s there was many children evangelists with healing ministries not one of them today is still here yeah you you guys haven't heard of this have you check it out one of them became a movie star he was quite famous by the way people are people are are mesmerized i guess is the right word with children evangelists who pray for the sick who preach and may i add uh some of them quite gifted well there's a lot of gifted people out there who are young all over the world gifted musically and other with other things too so you have these children or there were many i there are still one or two running around i'm sure right now i would not trust my soul to a kid who's 10 years old where is the longevity there that can give me peace they have a gift means nothing i'm almost 70 years old so i don't really care anymore what people think about me i want to protect you be careful of people who are gifted and who are too young to be trusted yet too young to be trusted yet let's see how long they last i'll give you one more thing to think about are they married what does their wife think about them do they have children or are they single still looking and have girlfriends these things i've just learned from life when they're married there is stability and how long have they been married and do their children show the results of ministry in their own life maybe not all the children sometimes you know some children of some pastors don't want to serve the lord you know doesn't mean that they're off somehow but do they have ministry that is proven when i look at billy graham you know what impresses me not just that the man touched the world his children franklin and his daughters and his grandchildren wow how about oral same how about regular same now i'm going to say one more thing before i go i've seen women who stayed single who are mighty and stayed godly kathryn kuhlman kuritan boom it's easier for a woman to have longevity and be single than for a man to have longevity and be single my experience i'm just giving you my experience single evangelists not one of them that i know has lasted who had powerful ministries healing ministries prophetic ministries not one of them is is even around and they were younger than me they're gone i know it's a shock but the married ones lived a long life i think marriage gives people stability in ministry and i'm talking about men women that's totally different they don't need marriage women don't need marriage to have longevity because they're married to the lord jesus they're married to the lord and then you see that longevity is still there like miss miss schumann you know she was married but she didn't stay married lived a beautiful life holy life amazing life as a single woman so did corey and so many others all right maybe i took too long today but we'll continue tomorrow this was just a good heart-to-heart talk between family lord i pray that you will bless your people protect your people and dear jesus let them know your your voice your voice and show them your word and protect them in jesus name in these days and in the future for your glory amen now listen tomorrow i'm going to show you the positive signs and what the bible says and how to judge prophecy tomorrow i'm going to talk about how do you judge prophecy okay it's time to give to the lord's work and you know that it's in the bible and as you give god will bless you and meet your needs because that's his blessed promise now lord bless them as they give in the name of jesus i give you the glory and the praise and gospel said amen amen and amen all right i'll see you tomorrow much love and shalom you

Channel: Benny Hinn Ministries

Views: 21,521

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Length: 32min 52sec (1972 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 15 2021