Confronting The False Prophets

chapter 15, from the Book, A Future and a Hope

Jeremiah 8:11, “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.”

Ezekiel 11:13, “Now as I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell facedown and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Ah, Sovereign LORD! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel?’”

September 2009

Ahhh, Fireworks! I love it!

When people in the US see fireworks they always say “oohh!” and “aahhh!” or they honk their horns if they are in their cars! I moved to Hong Kong a while ago and we have a lot of fireworks, only we don’t watch them in our cars and we don’t say ‘ooohh’ or ‘aahhh’ when we see them … here they say, “Wahhh!”

And I remember driving home one night during university when I lived with my pastor and I saw a great blue flash in the sky that lit everything up like it was lightning, although it was a clear night and there was no thunderclap. The light came from the direction of my pastor’s house, in fact it seemed to be located directly over it, and it was odd that the light registered in my spirit more than in my eyes, although I clearly saw it as well.

Sure enough, when I got home I realized a visiting prophet / healing evangelist from Dublin was at the house ministering. That confirmed my suspicions: it was not natural lightning but spiritual fireworks, angelic combat in the heavenlies, Kingdom clashing against kingdom! Say it with me … “Wahhh!”

Forecast: 100% Chance of Fireworks

Let it be known that the chances for more spiritual fireworks as kingdoms clash as we enter these end days are 100%. Right now many of the Lord’s real servants are pressed down, suppressed, shunned, overlooked, marginalized …. but this will not continue for long. In fact the shift is already underway.

There are four or five prophecies I am aware of for this general season that describe the removing of the old leadership and a restoration of the Lord’s true servants in their rightful places.

The Back becoming the Front, by Kathleen Pirl and the Meeting Room and Olive Branch Visions by Susan O’Marra (formerly Susan Cummings) are two of the most clear ones.

Also consider Ezekiel 34.

This shift will be done by the Lord’s hand, but incidental to this will be the inevitable friction between the camps of the Fans of Man’s Plans on one end and the True Servants of God on the other—the house of King Saul and the house of King David. One of the most … explosive … characteristics of this clash will be the unavoidable confrontations of True Servants with the False Prophets. Sparks are going to fly, feathers will be ruffled and unfortunately, and in all seriousness, some of these false leaders will literally drop dead as both a judgment and as a sign to the enemies of Christ. The stakes are that high! Are we ready?

This is a word the Lord asked me to release. I put it off and then suddenly heard Him say to do it now! The word is simple: God is going to now expose and confront the false prophets, the charlatans, the blind leaders. He has led me to expound on this topic instead of releasing a word-for-word prophecy, since this revelation is well recorded in Scripture, but still not preached on well, and so not understood by most people. The Scriptural quotations on this topic are not small: around 20,000 words worth! This is a topic covered well in the Bible but overlooked in the pulpits, and there is a clear reason for that!—which is what this word is all about!

Also, this is the LONG version of this word, intended more for teachers and leaders in training. A SHORTER version with fewer scriptural quotations has also been released and is on line.

Digressions now aside, let’s roll up our sleeves and devote ourselves fully to the work of the Lord!

What Are Prophets Good For?

Just as Jesus’ ministry showed a spectrum of activity from kindness and forgiveness of sin to the humbled, harried masses at one end—on to harsh even insulting rebuke to the obstinate leaders, so does the purpose of the prophetic ministry and the service of individual prophets spread from one end of this spectrum of behavior to the other.

The purpose of sending prophets to the obedient and repentant (the ‘poor’ or especially ‘poor in spirit’ in Hebrew idioms), those whose hearts are already humble, is bringing words of Destiny, Revelation of the Divine, Intimacy and personal Communion with God. This is the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus preached to the repentant. And so notice that John the Baptist was sent to prepare people’s hearts first—to bring them into repentance or to become ‘poor in spirit’ so they could then receive the ‘greater’ blessing of this Kingdom that Jesus was bringing after him. John preached the good news of repentance unto salvation, but what was greater was Jesus’ good news of the Kingdom, which was the experience of Immanuel: healing, deliverance, divine nature, newness of life, resurrection, the very overflow of intimacy with the Divine!

But on the other end of the spectrum, the purpose of sending prophets to the disobedient, the stiff necked, the self-willed, especially the religious leaders who are high and whitewashed, is to confront them and expose their worthless religion, and authentic sin.

A sword is cutting the earth into TWO, dividing asunder soul and spirit, separating all of humanity into one camp or the other, which is going to cause many, most or even all of us to be caught up in confrontation between these two clashing kingdoms. Every believer, whether wise or unwise, is teaching, preaching and prophesying on what they think is the real ‘vision of peace’ that the Lord is calling us to pursue, and leading whoever will listen to follow them. Not all are correct, in fact most are not. And this is the cause of the buildup of tension: worthless shepherds leading trusting sheep astray, blocking and suppressing the authentic prophetic direction from one real the Good Shepherd. This is the heart of the difference of the messages of the True and False:

Real vision—authentic prophecy—is birthed out of a place of fire; this fire is not passion but HOLINESS and FEAR unto the Lord, reverence. Everything else is false.

The Love of God for bad shepherds causes Him to be slow to wrath, but the Love of God for the sheep being led astray causes Him to be eager to act! The pressure builds, the stubborn leaders refuse to turn, the sheep slip deeper into debt and hopelessness, the Spirit of God groans, the pressure builds ….

So I really have to ask you again, are you ready?

I know like me you probably want more time to think things over, but it looks like time is up because ready or not . . . here it comes!

Different Types of False Prophets

There are different types of ‘false’ prophets obviously; I see three main types. Deuteronomy describes two types very plainly: those with real demonic power who tell people to follow pagan gods; and the presumers who THINK God is speaking to them, when really He is not.

But I see what I consider a third type operating openly in most communities of believers, those who may be presuming God is speaking to them, but probably are not and are really just twisting Scripture to flatter the people and leaders in order to make a large following and secure a position of comfort in the leadership circle for themselves. These are the insincere, self-motivated, whitewashed tombs we are most warned about for they are already within the Body and plainly very popular; these are the false prophets that are the greatest threat to the sheep, and are in the greatest threat of receiving God’s wrath, especially in this season.

Demonic vs Presumptuous False Prophets

Deuteronomy makes a clear description of the first two types of false prophets: those preaching a false religion with real demonic power who are trying to actively deceive people vs. those who speak presumptuously and are just wrong.

Some in this first category preach paganism, Islam, hedonism, Communism, Hinduism, and universal spiritualism … these preachers are all false prophets, but not the ones we are most warned about. These are freely operating in the blind world, and will be a part of the one world religion already being prepared for the beast’s government. They operate in satanic inspiration, and will mesmerize followers like the devotees of Adolph Hitler who often described falling under the influence of Hitler’s mesmerizing speeches.

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 speaks of this:

¹“If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, ²and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ … ⁵That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.”

Notice the reference is to those who ACTUALLY manifest real demonic power: they foretell a miraculous sign and it really comes to pass! And then they make a call to follow them after ‘foreign gods.’ These false prophets operate in real demonic power. We are told to ‘purge this evil from among ourselves’ and so we are certain to really find a few of these among our ranks in the end days as the gospels say very clearly:

Matthew 24:24 “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible.

This is the same as Mark 13:22.

These deceivers will in fact lead the WORLD astray, and are sure to take many away from the church … but still this is not real problem of false prophets the Lord is dealing with and exposing at this time within the church.

Those Who ‘Presume’

The second type of false prophet in Deuteronomy is the presumer, the one who speaks THINKING they speak from God … but they really don’t speak from God.

Both of these categories are talked about in Deuteronomy 18:20-22, which again mentions the false who tell people to follow other gods, and the verse does say both of these kinds of false must be removed, but the word from these ‘presumers’ is that we are ‘not to be afraid of them.’

Deuteronomy 18:20-22 “²⁰But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death. ²¹You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?’ ²²If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”

These false prophets are within the church and they may even give blatantly false predictions in the name of the Lord, even big predictions and silly revelations that may even be plainly at odds with the Scriptures but we may also find them merely speaking forth uninspired ideas that are not predictions and may be even somewhat true … but still not prophecy.

Such people may really think they are speaking from the Spirit of God, since what they say sounds like something they think God might actually say. In some sense these types of ‘prophecies’ are probably harmless, and it may be that you have a person who is learning, who is trying to step out past fear and really obey God but needs more time to grow. But most real prophets, even the baby ones, move out of this mistaken inspiration very soon. Those who linger for six months or a year or more in this error are probably not growing at all and just stuck in the mire of presumption. To help them I would focus on ministering against spiritual deception, deep inner woundedness, and enquire from the Lord about the presence of generational curses from the occult.

But such presumptuous false prophecy is not always so harmless either and is still be an open door to greater deception and stray spiritual voices if not dealt with. Such people may even gather a considerable following and it may even lead to the creation of a cult is they are a vessel open for use by the enemy. So if someone speaks out claiming God is moving them to prophesy, even if it is somewhat benign, harmless or meaningless, when it’s not God, the spirit behind the words will be lacking, and caution must be exercised!

So such ‘false prophets’ operate under confusion, presumption, and even blatant self-delusion if anything, and so are still ‘false’ and need to be addressed, but I nevertheless don’t consider this kind of ‘false prophet’ to be the real threat we are facing or the real problem the Lord is confronting.

We will have to deal with both of these first two types, but the real problem is not them, the real false prophets that cause the most destruction to those in the Body of believers are, well, already active in the Body of believers.

The REAL False Prophets

You may consider this third type to be a kind of ‘presumer’ mentioned in Deuteronomy, but I see a distinction in that these schemers are not making silly or innocent mistakes, and often do not make gross predictions that could be later disproved—instead they flatter the leaders and even people, leading them astray into the bondage of man, instead of speaking to expose, purify and heal people of their sinfulness. This in fact is the key attribute distinguishing the false and the true.

The real problem is they are popular and charming, sycophantic and flattering, and spend much of their time cultivating acceptance and influence within the community—and so often very influential, but are not leading the people out of sin into the Lord’s Light, and so lead them further into darkness and death.

Let’s consider a few teachings by the foremost authority on true and false prophets: Jesus Messiah. He gave a key lesson distinguishing the true from false from within his most beloved message, the Sermon of the Mount:

Luke 6:22-23, 26 “²²Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. ²³Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

^{… 26}Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.”

This parallels the verse in Matthew 5:10-12, ¹⁰“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Luke 4:24 “’I tell you the truth,’ he continued, ‘no prophet is accepted in his hometown.’”

And then Matthew 7:13-20,

¹³“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

¹⁵“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. [this probably means their hearts are filled with the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21)]

¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Fruit of the False

The fruit of the real prophetic ministry is purity and holiness, leading people into repentance and then authentic intimacy and personal experiences with Christ in the spirit.

A message devoid of the Holy Spirit can produce no genuine repentance, holiness or intimacy with God in peoples’ lives, because that only comes through an authentic work of the Holy Spirit.

So what is the fruit of the false prophets? It is the same as the fruit of the flesh, and is the opposite of the fruit of the real Holy Spirit.

The real fire in true prophets’ hearts ACTUALLY BURNS UP the chaff of the flesh and it causes true repentance, people turning away from the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life … it is the only way to lead people to become true disciples and escape Death.

This is the clear message from Jeremiah and Ezekiel describing the failure of the false prophets to minister authentically—the false prophets that the religious leaders embraced and held in such good standing as members of their entourage, circles of power, leadership cliques, etc., yet who only led them astray into captivity and death.

False prophets build their positions and their organizations with the tools of the flesh, and whereas once that used to lean more heavily towards guilt and control, nowadays what works far more effectively is preaching messages of comfort and popularity, fame and prosperity, which comes in a similar package of concerts, entertainment, gimmicks and giveaways. People who attend a church or “believe in Christ” because of marketing and fun, gimmicks and entertainment THE LEAST LIKELY to actually become disciples of Christ since they are actually followers of popularity, comfort, fame, physical wealth and entertainment.

The fruit of the false is the fruit of the flesh which ultimately is ‘seeker-sensitive’ failure, a watered-down version of ‘ministry’ that makes no real change towards Christ-likeness in peoples’ lives. Instead of showing people their sin, and leading them to repentance, and genuine salvation, the people are blindly led to their slaughter:

Lamentations 2:14 “The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading.”

Ezekiel13:1-5 ¹“The word of the LORD came to me: ²‘Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: “Hear the word of the LORD! ³This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! ⁴Your prophets, O Israel, are like jackals among ruins. ⁵You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the LORD.”’”

Jeremiah 23:17 “‘They keep saying to those who despise me, “The LORD says: You will have peace.” And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, “No harm will come to you.”

The rest of this chapter of Ezekiel 3 is meaningful; some highlight are:

^{… 10}“Because they lead my people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, ¹¹therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth.”

^{…. 15}“‘So I will spend my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, “The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, ¹⁶those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace,” declares the Sovereign LORD.’”

^{… 19}“You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.”

^{… 22}“‘Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives, ²³therefore you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save my people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

And of course more of Jeremiah 23:

Jeremiah 23:14-22 ¹⁴“And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.

¹⁵“Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the prophets: ‘I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.’ ¹⁶This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.

¹⁷“‘They keep saying to those who despise me, “The LORD says: You will have peace.” And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, “No harm will come to you.”

¹⁸“‘But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? ¹⁹See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. ²⁰The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly. ²¹I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.

²²“‘But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.’”

Healing Serious Wounds of Sin Only Slightly

These verses show the perversion of Truth these false prophets cause where real justice is not done, even if it is claimed, where the bad get empowered to become worse, and the good, the repentant, are oppressed. This is the real calamity, that the sickness of sin and deception of the people was not treated with more seriousness:

Jeremiah 8:11 “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.”

The problem is clearly that the false prophets lead the people astray by telling them what their carnal souls want to hear, “God is saying you shall be rich and popular! You shall not have to cut back or fast, mourn or grieve! You shall have comfort and prosperity for no cost and without repentance because of God’s Grace—your license to live any life you want without consequence!!” Instead of telling them how to avoid the Lord’s destruction, how to escape Hell, and how to steer clear of Satan’s deception.

This then is the critical characteristic: the false just tell good tidings, believing God only speaks nice words, whereas the REAL TRUE Prophets are filled with power and might to declare to the wrongdoing of the people.

Worse, when the real servants and prophets of God correct this error in congregations who are living by the flesh, where the false prophets are entrenched, the True are attacked, and told to stop depressing the people and making all the leaders look bad—“Stop speaking such ‘negative’ words; God is not angry at us! That’s so Old Testament! We’re living in the dispensation of Grace!” So they ignore the true word of the Lord, and make the real prophets be silent.

Micah 2:6-7a ⁶“‘Do not prophesy,’ their prophets say. ‘Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us.’ ⁷Should it be said, O house of Jacob: ‘Is the Spirit of the LORD angry? Does he do such things?’”

Micah 3:5-8 ⁵“This is what the LORD says: ‘As for the prophets who lead my people astray, if one feeds them, they proclaim “peace”; if he does not, they prepare to wage war against him. ⁶Therefore night will come over you, without visions, and darkness, without divination. The sun will set for the prophets, and the day will go dark for them. ⁷The seers will be ashamed and the diviners disgraced. They will all cover their faces because there is no answer from God.

⁸“‘But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin.

Amos 2:11-12 ¹¹“‘I also raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from among your young men. Is this not true, people of Israel?’ declares the LORD. ¹²‘But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.’”

Persecution From Those Who Only Want
To Hear ‘Positive’ Things

True prophets will be persecuted by the Lord’s people who BELIEVE in prophets, and in prophesy, but who have turned their hearts from hearing any correction from Him, and only believe God speaks nice, fun words, that their own plans are good and that God will cause them to prosper in them, regardless of what God is really saying to them, which will increasingly be, “Repent, you are in sin!”

Matthew 23:33-34 ³³“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ³⁴Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.”

Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (The same as Luke 13:34)

Luke 11:4 “Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’”

John 12:38 “This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: ‘Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’”

This is the basis for the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount: the false prophets flatter the people and leaders, telling them what they want to hear to gain acceptance and admittance to their leadership circles. The result is NO REPENTANCE, NO CHANGE, but business as usual devoid of God’s help or direction; their destination: HELL.

The TRUE prophets however have no such personal agenda and offend the people and leaders by telling them what God is really saying. When God is saying good things, all is quiet, but when God exposes sin and wrongdoing, they speak it openly and get persecution from the unrepentant leaders and congregations. Jesus experienced this and so ought we, if indeed we are walking in his Spirit.

Matthew 13:57 “And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.’”

This statement of Jesus’ is so important, so definitive, that it is recorded in ALL FOUR GOSPELS. Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24, and John 4:44.

Real Prophecy is Birthed in FIRE

So again, to make this perfectly clear, the real defining characteristic that distinguishes the actions and treatment of the true from the false is that the true speak honestly and tell it like it is, even if that means it will offend leaders—that is in fact what they are called in this environment to do, confront Israel with her sin—whereas the false are flatterers.

The false produce religious people who live carnal lives pursuing the delusions of worldly prosperity and man’s ways and will persecute the real servants of God—whereas the fruit of the true is repentance, so people can receive Christ as King and enter into his Kingdom, and these will enjoy real intimacy, real communion. The False only produce a dead show called ‘religion.’

The Lord asked me to write this article and as I was doing so he gave me this strange word:

The Holy Spirit told me as I was writing this message that real vision is birthed out of a place of fire—this fire is not human passion but HOLINESS and FEAR unto the Lord, reverence, worship of the Divine.

The real spirit in our words as real prophets is a burning that will ignite wood, hay and stubble, revealing its presence, and DESTROYING IT. It will bring repentance, for real, not just a pretence of it for a show. Real prophecy is born of fire—the genuine holiness of the Lord—everything else is false.

Jeremiah 5:13-14 ¹³“‘The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them.’ ¹⁴Therefore this is what the LORD God Almighty says: ‘Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.’”

Jeremiah 23:28-29 ²⁸“‘Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?’ declares the LORD. ²⁹‘Is not my word like fire,’ declares the LORD, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’”

In His Name

When Jesus shares his life with us, we soon begin to live just like Him because “as He is so are we in this world”—in fact if we really die to self we will no longer live but He will live in and through us. Our life takes on the character and quality of his life, his ‘zoe’ what we translate as ‘abundant life’—the kind of life that GOD enjoys. And so if we walk like Him, we will polarize the same situations, draw the same opposition and preach the same messages to the same types of people—yes, the same warnings and even the same rebukes.

And just as there are false prophets already in our congregations—I even know a few myself and surely so do you—so some of us who walk in the ministry of Christ WILL BE CALLED to confront them, just as Jesus did. This is an absolute certainty.

I see something approaching—a confrontation between the false flatters, those who make up their own counsel, and steal words from each other (Jeremiah 23:30, “’Therefore,’ declares the LORD, ‘I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me.’”) twisting them to encourage people to pursue their own ways so they will be accepted, speaking words to appease itchy ears, not turning the blind back from their carnal, evil ways, not exposing their sin, not going up into the breaks in the wall to repair it so the people will stand firm in the Lord in the day of battle—in the Day of the Lord! I see this coming.

But Why Confrontation?

Why this confrontation between Light and Darkness, between Spirit and Flesh? Why not just let them go to hell happily? Why call some of us to stand up to their delusions, and suffer the consequences? Why not just let them slumber and shuffle over the cliff? Does the presence of false prophets in a congregation mean God has already abandoned a people to destruction? Then why bother? What is worth salvaging in all these congregations of briars and dead trees? Why bother confronting the false prophets at all?

The answer is only because God has NO DELIGHT in the death of the wicked, but that they turn from their sin and live! (Ezekiel 18:23)

The answer is because Jesus still loves them, and wants ALL to come to repentance—false prophets included.

The answer is because God is pruning his people, to prepare them for new growth.

The answer is because it is God’s mercy to BURN AWAY all that is dead, so what remains can be strengthened.

The answer is because like me you signed up to DO HIS WILL, not your own, and so will obey Him because even if we are afraid, or uncertain that this really is a good idea, He knows what He is doing, and we trust His judgment.

So we will go! Those who continue to rebel will be sent into exile, the real wilderness of hardship, and then a FAMINE will set in. A famine of God’s word because they preached rebellion and turned their hearts to follow the false.

Amos 8: 11 ‘The days are coming,’ declares the Sovereign LORD, ‘when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.’”

Some will even DROP DEAD.

Jeremiah 28:15-17 “¹⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, ‘Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. ¹⁶Therefore, this is what the LORD says: “I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.”’ ¹⁷In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.”

But those who turn will be saved.

So Take A Deep Breath ….

If God is calling you to confront someone who is a false prophet, first, take a deep breath. And walk away. Get some distance. Ask God to confirm it. Lay a fleece before Him if you need to. Go for a walk. Take a nap. If God is really telling you to do this, you will need HIS FIRE, not your anger, not your well rehearsed spiel or gimmicky routine. You will need divine wisdom, Divine coolness in the midst of crisis. You’ll need his character and his empowering grace, his power, HIS FIRE—nothing less will do. Your words and frustrations are meaningless here. The anger and pride that your flesh manifests will not cut this chain or slay this giant. If it really IS God telling you to do this, and for many of you HE IS, then prepare by resting (in the spirit), fast, soak in his empowerment from the glory of his Throne of Grace, get your sword from His Armory—maybe He’ll give you an arrow, maybe a bullwhip—Get equipped. Don’t mess around. This is the real deal. Get ready. Take another deep breath.

We all make mistakes. We see many sins in leaders’ lives a long time before they are ready to deal with them—but for some of these people, time has run out (Amos 8!). Be careful and make sure it’s God, not your frustration. Be willing to walk away. Don’t be eager to wield such words of rebuke and exposure.

But if you are called, and many of you are called, there are only two questions. 1. Will you obey and confront the false prophets? Or 2. … well, there really is no other question, is there? WILL YOU OBEY?

… And Light The Fuse

So take a third deep breath. Step up to the platform. “Mr. Ananias, Mr. Pelatiah, can I have a word with you please?”

Light that fuse and … wait for it, here it comes …. say it with me, “WAHHHH!!”