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.
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.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down,
and cast into the fire.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:15-20
Sometimes it can be difficult
to decipher if the fruit is good or bad
Lord, You said, ye shall know them by their fruits
How can we know?
The Pharisees spoke of You in their self righteousness
They knew Your word
They fought against You at every turn
You won each time,
however they never realized You won
They just got angry
I have noticed many New Age-type philosophies
creeping into the body of Christ
What exactly is the fruit we are looking for?
So that it can be crystal clear for us when we are concerned?
As the times grow darker,
we have to be able to see what is true,
to know the difference between the works of the Spirit,
the signs and wonders from Your Holy Spirit
and those works that will try to deceive us
Satan will try to deceive even the very elect
We need discernment
Some are easier to see than others,
where it gets hazy is when someone speaks the name of Jesus
and mentions God
Then we have to dig further
There is a mixture of good and bad taking place in our earth
A grey area, where people use the name of Jesus
and God but it’s not the Jesus we know
Paul spoke of another Jesus
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus,
whom we have not preached,
or if ye receive another spirit,
which ye have not received,
or another gospel, which ye have not accepted,
ye might well bear with him. 2 Corinthians 11:4
We are also told by Jesus in Matthew 24:
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,
and shall shew great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect. v 24
I watched an interview that has left me very unsettled since I saw it
The pastor said that wind came into his church,
and he even saw lightning inside the church and also felt a mist falling
The Lord used the burning bush with Moses
some of the prophets experienced wind and other types of earthly elements
Whether or not God can is not the question,
the question is, is it lifting up Christ and how?
Since His word says the following scriptures, we can ask the Lord to show us
Quench not the Spirit 1 Thessalonians 5:19
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21
Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits whether they are of God:
because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God,
who gives to all liberally and without reproach,
and it will be given to him. James 1:5
And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not:
for he that is not against us is for us. Luke 9:50
But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty,
so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3
There are no perfect answers here
My concern is I do not want to be deceived
and I’d like to be able to tell others how not to be deceived,
especially by spiritual lust, that is, those things that are miraculous
and focus on those miracles instead of Christ
What is it we need to use as our litmus test?
Grab anything you can find from the experience to test it
I noticed the pastor talked about going back in his memory
to the moment the miracles happened,
He meditated on them so he could see what God was doing
That did not seem right to me
If there is a mixture, it is best to stay away
We can go straight to the Word
to figure out some of what that pastor said
We are told to meditate on God’s word, His precepts,
pray without ceasing
We are never encouraged to think on our own thoughts
We can ask the Lord to give us understanding and wisdom,
going back and meditating on our own minds
is not something we have been told to do anywhere in the bible
Following miracles is never good
Looking for signs and wonders is not what God wants us to focus on
Jesus is our portion
Signs and wonders follow Him and us who believe,
but Jesus is our focus
Miracles are a part of Him
They happen when He decides they do and are a manifestation of His power
The Four Gospels and The Book of Acts are filled with many miracles
as well as signs and wonders
I expect we will see many of those again as the day of the Lord draws near
all the more reason for us to be able to recognize the true miracles,
the ones Jesus is really performing,
and be able to distinguish those
from the signs and wonders counterfeit Christs and false prophets produce
The Book of Revelation tells us the AntiChrist will call fire down from heaven
And he doeth great wonders,
so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth
in the sight of men, Revelation 13:13
I imagine his tactics will be very compelling
Sometimes you know something is off
You can’t quite put your finger on it but you know
The only way to test it is with the word of God
The Bible says test all things
We have to be careful because we don’t it want to quench the Holy Spirit
or refuse something from God as not from Him
Or to attribute the works of God to the devil
because we are uncomfortable with them
So we must be careful what we say
and how we learn the truth in what it is we are seeking the answers to
If we are looking for the truth, we will surely find it,
especially if we ask God for help
God will send strong delusion to those who do not love the truth:
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
because they received not the love of the truth,
that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,
that they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
Note: Please feel free to add in the comments any way that our God has shown you how to recognize the truth and how not to not be deceived or how to watch out for false teachers or doctrines.