Amazing Facts with Doug Batchelor

Proving The Prophets

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: AFDB

Program Code: AFDB000196S


00:02 male announcer: This presentation is brought to you
00:03 by the friends of the Amazing Facts ministry.
00:10 Doug Batchelor: The 14th century Aztec Empire was one of
00:14 the most powerful and sophisticated civilizations in
00:17 the western hemisphere.
00:19 Yet this kingdom of 2 million people was conquered within a
00:23 year by a Spanish force of just 600 lightly armored men.
00:28 How did it happen?
00:30 Well, the Aztecs believed in the coming of Quetzalcoatl, a
00:34 legendary feathered, bearded, light-skinned god-king who was
00:38 going to come from across the sea to Mexico.
00:41 When the conquistadors arrived in 1519, Hernán Cortés
00:46 impersonated this god of the Aztecs to befuddle the
00:49 superstitious king, Montezuma.
00:52 By fooling the native people, Cortés completed his conquest
00:56 that included enslaving and murdering many of them.
01:00 The vague prophecies of their Aztec god easily paved the way
01:05 for a counterfeit.
01:07 Jesus has foretold in the last days many false Christs and
01:11 false prophets will use great signs and wonders to deceive, if
01:15 it were possible, even God's very elect.
01:18 He also said, "Most people will be deceived."
01:22 Will you?
01:23 And that's why you need to join me for today's program as we
01:26 learn from the Bible how to identify false Christs
01:30 and false prophets.
01:36 Doug: We're going to start with a story in the Bible, one
01:38 of my favorites.
01:39 Just to give you the background, it's based on 1 Kings 22, most
01:43 of the chapter.
01:45 King Ahab, bad king, northern kingdom, he finally made peace
01:49 with King Jehoshaphat, kind of Judah, southern kingdom.
01:53 King Ahab invited Jehoshaphat up to the northern kingdom and
01:58 said, "Why don't we join forces and let's go fight against Syria
02:02 because they took the city of Ramoth Gilead from us and let's
02:05 see if we can recover it."
02:07 And Jehoshaphat was being very generous.
02:09 He said, "My horses are like your horses and my chariots like
02:12 your chariots.
02:13 I'm going to join together.
02:15 Let's work together to win this battle."
02:16 And then Jehoshaphat said, "Well, let's inquire
02:18 of the Lord."
02:20 He was a godly king.
02:21 Ahab was not such a godly king.
02:22 His wife was involved in Baal worship.
02:26 And so, Ahab said, "Oh, no problem.
02:28 I've got a lot of prophets."
02:29 And he called out the prophets of Baal.
02:32 And they all came and they had a pep rally and they said, "Go
02:34 fight against the Syrians.
02:35 You'll recover Ramoth Gilead.
02:37 Go fight, fight, fight.
02:38 Win, win, win, you're going to win.
02:39 God is with you."
02:41 And Ahab said, "You know."
02:42 Or rather, Jehoshaphat said, "These guys all look like
02:44 prophets of Baal."
02:46 He said, "Ahab, nothing personal, but are there any
02:49 prophets of Jehovah here that we could inquire of?"
02:52 Ahab got a little bit tense and he said, "Och, yeah,
02:55 there's one guy.
02:57 His name is Micaiah, the son of Imlah, but he never says
02:59 anything good about me."
03:02 And Jehoshaphat said, "Nah, don't be so hard on him.
03:04 Let's give him a chance."
03:06 So Ahab sent a messenger to go fetch Micaiah and, in the
03:11 meantime, they continued the pep rally.
03:13 "You're going to beat the Syrians and you're going to win
03:15 and God is with you and--" So the messenger that goes to fetch
03:19 Micaiah, he says to Micaiah, as they're on their way to this
03:24 assembly, he said, "Look, they're having a great time.
03:27 It's very positive."
03:29 He said, "Strong morale, everyone's encouraged.
03:32 Don't go say anything negative."
03:34 Micaiah says, "I will have to say what the Lord tells me to
03:37 say, whether it's popular or not."
03:42 So he finally comes before Ahab.
03:44 The two kings are on their throne and all the prophets are
03:46 gathered around and they're all prophesying positive things
03:49 about this battle.
03:50 And Ahab says, "Okay, Micaiah, should we go up to
03:55 Ramoth Gilead or not?"
03:57 And Micaiah said, "Go and prosper."
04:00 Ahab said, "No, tell me the truth.
04:01 I know you're being sarcastic."
04:03 He said, "Okay, I saw Israel scattered on the mountains as
04:07 sheep having no shepherd, and these prophets are lying to you.
04:12 The Lord has told me."
04:14 I'm condensing the whole chapter.
04:16 Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, he said, "I told you he'd say
04:19 nothing good about me.
04:20 Micaiah clearly said, 'Do not go into that battle.'"
04:24 Ahab said,
04:25 "We're going to put you in prison until I come again
04:27 in peace."
04:28 Micaiah said, "If you ever return in peace, the Lord has
04:32 not spoken by me."
04:35 So they went into battle, and Ahab was a little worried
04:37 because he knew these prophets of God like Elijah, everything
04:40 Elijah said, happened.
04:41 Micaiah was friends with Elijah and he said, "All right, well,"
04:45 he says, "I'm going to get killed in battle so what I'll do
04:47 is I'm going to have Jehoshaphat dress up in his king's attire
04:51 and go into the battle.
04:52 I'm going to dress up like a soldier and stay
04:54 on the outskirts.
04:55 I'll be safe. I'll make sure.
04:57 I'll put on my armor.
04:58 Nothing's going to happen to me.
04:59 I'm going to be extra careful so I survive this battle and prove
05:02 the prophet wrong."
05:04 Well, you know, the Bible tells us that "a certain soldier drew
05:08 a bow at random."
05:09 We don't even know if it was one of his own soldiers.
05:12 "And he struck the king of Israel in the joints
05:14 of his armor."
05:16 He hit a vital artery and he began to bleed seriously.
05:20 Instead of getting medical treatment, he was so proud he
05:22 said, "Prop me up in the chariot," and he stayed up in
05:25 the chariot until he bled to death and he died that day.
05:28 The very thing Micaiah said happened.
05:30 You cannot overcome or overrule a true prophet of God.
05:35 And so we're going to be talking about the subject
05:37 of proving the prophets.
05:39 When Jesus in Matthew 24 talks about his Second Coming and the
05:44 disciples say, "What is a sign of your Coming,
05:46 the end of the world?"
05:47 what is the first thing Jesus said?
05:49 "Beware, many false prophets will arise."
05:53 There will be false prophets and false Christs and so we need to
05:56 know how do you distinguish the true from the false?
05:58 Question number one: To whom does the Lord reveal
06:01 His final plans?
06:03 Amos chapter 3, verse 7: "Surely the Lord God does nothing,
06:08 unless He reveals His secret to His servants the PROPHETS."
06:13 The Lord tells us that if He's going to do anything
06:15 significant, He usually calls a prophet.
06:18 When God was getting ready to destroy the world with a flood,
06:20 did He have a prophet?
06:22 What was his name?
06:24 Noah.
06:25 And when the Lord was ready to carry the children of Israel out
06:28 of Egypt, did He raise up a prophet for these
06:30 monumental occasions?
06:31 What was his name?
06:33 Moses.
06:34 And when they were about to be conquered by the Babylonians,
06:37 did God raise up prophets to warn them and guide them?
06:41 Jeremiah, Isaiah, and subsequently Ezekiel, Daniel.
06:45 These profound times in history God raises up prophets.
06:51 Before the Messiah came, did God bring a prophet that would be a
06:55 voice in the wilderness?
06:57 What was his name?
06:58 John the Baptist, to prepare the way for this great event of the
07:02 Messiah coming.
07:04 So here we are on the threshold of eternity, the Lord is about
07:07 to come, do you think that this would be a great time to have
07:11 the gift of prophecy to find out what the Lord says?
07:14 Absolutely, it says there: "The Lord God does nothing," meaning
07:18 nothing significant, "unless He reveals His secret to His
07:21 servants the PROPHETS."
07:23 God does not want to catch His people off-guard.
07:25 He wants us to know and to brace for impact.
07:29 He wants us to be prepared spiritually,
07:31 so He sends prophets.
07:32 Also to give us guidance along the way.
07:35 Number two: Will there be both true and false prophets in the
07:40 last days?
07:41 What does the Bible say?
07:43 Well, Jesus warned us.
07:44 Matthew 24:11, also Mark 13, Luke 21.
07:49 He says: "Then many FALSE prophets will arise
07:52 and deceive many."
07:53 Now, you'll notice the words "many" and "few" used by Jesus.
07:57 When it comes to eternal life and the straight road, is it
08:01 many or few?
08:03 It says few.
08:04 When it comes to the broad way to destruction, many or few?
08:08 Many.
08:09 So when He says "many false prophets," the true prophets
08:12 are going to be what?
08:14 Few.
08:16 But are there true prophets?
08:17 I think, and this is a picture of, what was it?
08:20 Marshall Applewhite, that poor people deceived by him and that
08:24 Heaven's Gate cult, and they committed suicide.
08:27 And there's been many others and you'll find people--and it's not
08:31 just the people who say, "I'm Jesus."
08:34 There's a lot of false prophets when you channel surf.
08:39 Yeah, there's a lot of people out there supposedly speaking in
08:41 the name of the Lord and they're begging for money and they say,
08:45 "I've got a word from the Lord, and God told me this
08:47 and God told me that."
08:48 And one way you can know the difference between a true and a
08:52 false prophet is a true prophet is not going to ask for your
08:55 credit card number.
08:58 I just can't picture Elijah going to Ahab and saying, "I've
09:01 got a message for you.
09:03 But you're going to have to first give me your credit card,"
09:04 or "It's going to cost you this much."
09:06 You cannot stop a true prophet from delivering his prophecy.
09:10 So that right there is a test that should help us.
09:14 Yes, there'll be false prophets, we all know that.
09:17 In fact, if I told you I know someone that's a prophet, people
09:20 automatically kind of cringe a little bit and they say, "Man,
09:23 there's so many false prophets."
09:24 As soon as someone says they're a prophet, we are on our guard
09:27 because I think we've all seen that there's a lot of
09:29 counterfeits in the world.
09:31 But do not let our concern about false prophets prejudice against
09:35 the real thing.
09:37 You hear that?
09:39 Because Jesus warned us about false prophets.
09:41 If He said there would be no prophets, He would have said,
09:43 "There'll be no prophets in the last days."
09:45 But He didn't say that.
09:46 He said, "We want to be aware and watch out
09:47 for false prophets."
09:49 Look at what it says in Acts chapter 2:17.
09:51 Peter preaching said: "It will come to pass in the last days,
09:55 says God.
09:56 I will pour out MY Spirit on all flesh, and your SONS and your
10:00 DAUGHTERS will prophesy."
10:03 The Scripture just popped in my mind I want to share with you.
10:05 From the book of Ephesians chapter 4, and you can start
10:10 with verse 11: "And he gave some to the apostles; some, prophets;
10:17 and evangelists"; I'm technically an evangelist,
10:19 "some, pastors and teachers."
10:22 Why?
10:23 Why does God have these offices?
10:25 Do we need teachers?
10:27 Do we need pastors?
10:29 Do we need evangelists?
10:30 Do we need apostles?
10:32 Apostles were, like, the leaders and administrators
10:34 of the church.
10:35 Do we need prophets?
10:37 You would think so, but listen how long we need them.
10:40 It says "For the equipping--" Why do we need them?
10:42 "For the equipping of the saints, for the work of
10:45 ministry, for the edifying," or building up,
10:48 "of the body of Christ."
10:49 How long?
10:50 "Till we all come into the unity of the faith, of the knowledge
10:54 of the Son of God, and to a perfect man, to the measure of
10:58 the stature of the fulness of Christ."
11:00 I don't think we've arrived yet, which means we still need the
11:03 gifts of prophecy.
11:05 Does that make sense?
11:06 What types of false prophets are specifically condemned
11:09 in the Bible?
11:10 "One who practices witchcraft."
11:13 I remember watching "The Wizard of Oz" and thinking, "Oh yeah, I
11:16 don't want to be a bad witch.
11:17 I want to be a good witch," you know?
11:19 And so all these little girls, they want to be good witches
11:22 like that beautiful little witch in the story and the Bible
11:24 says witchcraft is bad.
11:26 Now I'm not suggesting we re-establish the Salem witch
11:28 trials, but I meet people all the time, they say,
11:32 "Well, I'm a good witch."
11:34 -- "I'm a wiccan, but don't be scared of me.
11:36 I only cast good spells."
11:39 Karen and I got an Uber to the airport, and hopped in the Uber
11:46 and we're driving along, and so the driver, he asked, he said,
11:51 "So what do you do?"
11:52 You know, you're making conversation,
11:53 going to the airport.
11:55 I said, "I'm a pastor."
11:56 And he got real quiet and he goes, "That's interesting.
11:57 I'm a wiccan, I'm a witch, I'm a wizard."
12:01 And I'm in the front seat with him because we had our bags in
12:03 the back, Karen's back there, and I look in the rear view
12:05 mirror and I see Karen's expression go...
12:09 She starts praying.
12:10 At first, I thought, "Oh, this is going to be strange."
12:14 And then I thought, "Well, you know, the Lord cares
12:15 about his soul."
12:17 And so I started telling him about my testimony.
12:19 I said, "Oh, yeah, I was into that kind of stuff," I said,
12:21 "but there's no power there."
12:22 I said, "Now I got the real power."
12:25 And he started thinking, "You got more power than me?"
12:28 "Oh yeah," I said.
12:29 "That -- you don't have any power there.
12:30 The real power's with God."
12:32 And I started giving my testimony.
12:34 By the time we got to the airport, you know, we're all
12:36 praying for him.
12:38 I gave him my book and had prayer with the guy.
12:40 So--but it was a little weird when he first told me he was
12:42 a--he said he became a wizard so he could cast spells on his
12:45 mother-in-law because she was casting spells on him.
12:51 A soothsayer.
12:53 People that is interpreting, you know, these sites
12:55 like Nostradamus.
12:57 He spoke in these just very abstract ideas and made very
13:01 vague kind of incoherent mutterings and people are always
13:04 trying to figure out what his prophecies mean, and it just
13:07 seems like a lot of gibberish whenever I've looked at it.
13:11 "One who interprets omens."
13:13 "Oh, I looked at the chicken bones today and you know what
13:15 they say?"
13:17 Or "I cut open the liver and it--because it looked like this,
13:19 that means this is going to happen," and--or "The bird flew
13:21 by and that's a sign because it was a crow and not an eagle,"
13:24 and, you know, that's kind of witchcraft.
13:27 God says, "Stay away from that."
13:28 God doesn't do it that way.
13:30 "A sorcerer."
13:32 Someone who is casting spells and concocting potions.
13:38 By the way, sorcery, it talks about one of the problems
13:41 with Babylon.
13:43 It says, "By her sorceries were all the nations deceived."
13:46 That word "sorcery" is pharmakeia, which is where you
13:50 get pharmacy or drugs, and when I was a young man, I don't like
13:56 telling people this because they think I'm still hallucinating,
13:58 but I was trying to find God through hallucinogenics.
14:02 A lot of kids back in the '60s, they were taking LSD and we were
14:05 eating mushrooms and things, were trying to have these
14:08 experiences, but it was drug-induced.
14:10 It's counterfeit.
14:12 God doesn't need to have you take drugs to receive
14:14 the Holy Spirit.
14:15 Jesus turned away from the drugs they offered Him on the cross
14:17 because He did not want to be inebriated or influenced.
14:22 Answer "F": a medium, someone who says, "I am the go-between
14:26 between me and the ghost world or the spirit world, and you can
14:30 communicate with them through me."
14:32 "G": a spiritist, people are going to cast spells and voodoo,
14:37 and these things are all from the dark arts that Christians
14:42 should have nothing to do with.
14:45 Doug: Don't go anywhere, friends.
14:46 In just a moment, we will return to today's presentation.
14:49 Imagine tonight on the evening news some charismatic character
14:54 appears, claiming to be a prophet of God.
14:57 He heals the sick, brings fire down from heaven, and even
15:00 quotes from the Bible.
15:02 Should you believe that they are a real prophet of God?
15:06 The Bible warns that many false prophets will come in the last
15:09 days, but how can we distinguish a true prophet
15:12 from a counterfeit one?
15:14 And it is vital that we get this right, friends, because "many
15:17 will be led astray in the last days by false prophets."
15:21 To better understand this subject, Amazing Facts has
15:23 prepared a beautifully illustrated resource and it's
15:26 titled, "Does God Inspire Astrologists and Psychics?"
15:30 It's filled with easy-to-understand Scripture and
15:33 insights, and you'll get trustworthy information about
15:36 how to know someone is a true prophet and how you can avoid
15:40 falling under the spell of false prophets, even when
15:43 they do miracles.
15:44 To get your free copy, call the phone number on your screen and
15:47 ask for offer number 144, or visit the web address.
15:51 After you read this incredible resource,
15:53 make sure and share it with a friend.
15:55 Doug: Well, let's get back now to today's presentation and
15:58 learn some more amazing facts from the Word of God.
16:03 Doug: So, Christians shouldn't have anything to do
16:05 with these forbidden aspects, and that would accrued--like,
16:09 astrology, someone who looks at--considers the times, and,
16:15 you know, there's a lot of people.
16:16 They--there's nothing wrong with astronomy.
16:18 That is the legitimate and the fascinating study
16:20 of the heavens.
16:21 Nothing wrong with astronomy.
16:23 I'm fascinated with space and the science of space.
16:27 Astrology is this mumbo-jumbo that the organization of the
16:32 stars is somehow affecting you and I grew up in that.
16:35 My mother used to write astrological songs and I'd say,
16:38 "Do you believe this?" "No."
16:40 And her friends would do readings and they'd just
16:42 make stuff up.
16:43 And you meet somebody and they'd say, "So what's your sign."
16:46 "Oh, I'm an Aquarius."
16:48 "I'm a Pisces."
16:49 "Oh, we should get along great because--" And just--do you
16:51 really think that when a baby's born, a certain month or year,
16:54 they're locked in for life because of where your stars
16:58 were organized?
16:59 I dunno.
17:00 Friends, that's not of God.
17:02 And I think you almost put yourself on the devil's ground
17:05 when you start looking into that.
17:07 Will God's end-time church have the gift of prophecy?
17:11 Yes, you read in Revelation 12:17, says: "The dragon was
17:15 wrath or enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the
17:19 remnant of her seed," this is down to the end of time.
17:21 It's the remnant.
17:22 What are those characteristics?
17:24 "Which keep the commandments of God and have the TESTIMONY of
17:28 JESUS Christ."
17:30 Well, we know what the commandments of God are.
17:31 What is the testimony of Jesus Christ?
17:33 You go to Revelation 19:10, John falls down to worship this angel
17:38 that's giving him a message, and the angel says, "See that you do
17:40 not do that."
17:41 He said, "For I am of your brethren who have the testimony
17:45 of Jesus.
17:46 Worship God!
17:48 For the testimony of Jesus Christ is the SPIRIT of
17:51 PROPHECY."
17:53 So here the dragon is angry with the church in the last days.
17:57 Goes to make war, and whatever
17:59 the two outstanding characteristics?
18:01 Keep the commandments of God as the testimony of Jesus Christ.
18:06 What is the testimony?
18:07 Spirit of prophecy.
18:08 Is God going to still have the spirit of prophecy
18:10 at the end of time?
18:11 And of course, that means the law and the prophets, but God is
18:14 going to still be speaking to and through His people
18:16 in the last days.
18:19 "Surely the Lord God does nothing."
18:21 I'm repeating this verse just for reinforcement.
18:24 Amos 3:7: "The Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His
18:27 secret to His servants the prophets."
18:30 That verse was not canceled out with the cross.
18:32 That is still true today, that God speaks through His prophets.
18:36 And I should add that while someone might not have all the
18:39 qualifications of a prophet, God has spoken through a lot of
18:42 inspired people through history.
18:44 I mean, I've read things that Spurgeon said
18:46 that I believe were inspired.
18:48 I've read things that Luther said, John Calvin, John Wesley,
18:52 some of these great reformers.
18:54 They were in inspirational statements.
18:56 God still speaks through people.
18:58 I would hope that God still speaks through pastors
19:00 from time to time.
19:02 Well, I got a couple of "Amens," one from my wife.
19:07 "Behold, in the last days--" Malachi chapter 4, one of the
19:09 last prophecies in the Bible.
19:11 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of
19:15 the great and dreadful day of the Lord."
19:18 Now this is a prophecy that has a dual application, because the
19:21 disciples came to Jesus and they said, "When is Elijah coming?"
19:26 And Jesus said, "Elijah has come, and Elijah will come."
19:31 He said, "Elijah has come in the ministry of John the Baptist."
19:34 But that wasn't it.
19:35 Not only did John come to prepare the world for Jesus'
19:37 First Coming, I believe God is going to send another Elijah or
19:41 Elijahs, an Elijah message, in the last days before
19:44 the Second Coming.
19:45 I mean, don't we need it in the world today?
19:48 We need that power of prophecy in the last days before the
19:52 climax of the world's history.
19:54 Question number five: In what way does God speak
19:58 to a true prophet?
20:00 What does the Bible say?
20:02 Numbers chapter 12, verse 6 and 8: "If there's a prophet among
20:06 you, the Lord will make--I, the Lord, will make Myself known to
20:10 him in a VISION; I'll speak to him in a DREAM.
20:14 I will speak to him face to face."
20:17 Now Peter had a vision while he was on the roof, and God spoke
20:20 to Joseph in a dream, and God spoke to Moses and Abraham
20:25 face to face or --
20:26 God the Son, spoke to him that way because no man has seen God
20:29 the Father, the Bible says.
20:31 Not only that, says, "Now the ANGEL talked with me."
20:34 So you've got visions and dreams, face to face,
20:36 and angels.
20:37 What are some of the ways God speaks to prophets?
20:39 These are supernatural ways when God speaks to His prophets.
20:43 And at Zechariah chapter 4, verse 1.
20:45 There's numberless places in the Bible where God spoke to His
20:48 prophets, Daniel, John, Ezekiel, through angels that appeared to
20:53 them, and gave them special guidance.
20:56 Are miracles definite evidence of a true prophet?
21:00 Can false prophets feign miracles?
21:03 You read in the New Testament about Simon who seduced people
21:07 with his signs and wonders and miracles.
21:09 And the magicians of Pharaoh.
21:12 They would do signs and wonders.
21:14 Moses threw down his serpent.
21:16 They'd throw down their serpents.
21:18 Moses made frogs.
21:19 They said, "We can make frogs."
21:20 Moses turned the water to blood, they said, "We can do that."
21:24 Finally, when it came to lice, they told the Pharaoh,
21:27 "We can't do lice.
21:28 This is the hand of God."
21:32 But it says: "They're the spirits of DEMONS, performing
21:34 SIGNS, that go out to the kings of the earth
21:36 and the whole world."
21:38 There and this is Revelation chapter 14.
21:39 Before the end of time, is the devil going
21:41 to manufacture miracles?
21:43 So signs and wonders and miracles are not proof that a
21:46 person is a prophet of God.
21:48 What's the most important test of a prophet?
21:52 What does the Bible say?
21:54 "To the LAW and to the TESTIMONY!
21:56 If they do not speak according to this word, it is because
21:59 there is no light in them."
22:01 And you might be thinking, "Well, Pastor Doug, but if
22:03 somebody has a vision that they write a book and they say
22:06 they're a prophet, wouldn't that be on the same parallel, the
22:09 same plane, as the Bible?"
22:11 No, have you read in the Bible about some of these other
22:13 prophets that had books that are not part of the Bible?
22:18 Joshua 10:13: "Is this not written in the book of Jasher?"
22:21 Do any of you have the book of Jasher?
22:24 Says he's a prophet.
22:25 1 Chronicles 29:29: "The book of Nathan the prophet and the book
22:29 of Gad the seer," a seer and a prophet are the same thing.
22:32 Anyone here have the book of Gad or the book of Nathan?
22:36 No.
22:38 2 Chronicles 12:15: "Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and
22:41 last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet
22:44 and Iddo the seer?"
22:45 So here, you've got, like, five different people that are
22:47 mentioned that wrote books but God did not have them
22:50 included in Scripture.
22:51 Sometimes, prophets give specific messages
22:54 for a specific time.
22:55 Noah's message about getting on the boat was a very important
22:58 message, but our message today is not "Get on the boat,"
23:01 except as an allegory for coming to Christ.
23:04 What's the second test of a prophet?
23:07 "By this you will know every--know the Spirit of God:
23:11 Every spirit that confesses that JESUS CHRIST has come
23:15 in the flesh is of God."
23:17 So when somebody says that "I am a prophet and I'm a
23:20 reincarnation of Jesus," they're not a prophet of God.
23:24 I remember when I was going through my Eastern religions
23:28 that people were saying, "Well, yeah, Jesus was one of the
23:31 manifestations of God, but he's on the same level as Buddha and
23:35 maybe Muhammad was another manifestation," and everybody
23:38 says that they've got, you know, that they're just
23:40 on an equal plane.
23:42 Jesus was God incarnate.
23:44 And there's no other God above him.
23:47 He's, you know, you've got God the Father, the Son, and the
23:49 Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ was the Son of God.
23:54 What's a third test of a prophet?
23:56 Says, "You'll know them by their fruits."
24:00 This character here, Jim Jones--I actually baptized a
24:03 girl that had escaped from Jonestown--and, of course, his
24:08 organization was here in northern California, led those,
24:12 what, 600 people or more, committed suicide down there
24:16 in South America.
24:17 Started out preaching from the Bible, gradually gave up the
24:20 Bible and said his teaching was more important than the Bible,
24:23 and it led the wrong direction.
24:25 What's the fourth test of a prophet?
24:27 "When the word of a prophet COMES to PASS, the prophet will
24:30 be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent."
24:33 So what's a clear way of knowing if a prophet's true?
24:36 Do their prophecies come true?
24:38 Are they accurate?
24:40 What three things does Paul recommend regarding prophecy?
24:43 Does he command regarding prophecy?
24:46 One, "Do NOT despise prophecies.
24:49 TEST all things; HOLD fast to what is good."
24:54 So if someone says, "Oh, there's a prophecy here," check it out.
24:58 I've had a lot of people say that, you know, so-and-so's a
25:00 prophet, and I'll say, "All right, well, let me read it."
25:03 I'm open-minded if it's a message from God, but then it's
25:05 got to pass the test of following Scripture and the
25:08 other criteria, and the personal life.
25:11 You know, one of the things we didn't talk about
25:13 was the personal life.
25:14 So many people say they're prophets, but their personal
25:16 lives are a little bit strange.
25:19 And so, do not despise these prophecies.
25:21 Check it out.
25:23 Whose counsel do we reject when we reject the words
25:26 of a true prophet?
25:28 What does it say in Luke 7, verse 28 and 29?
25:31 "There was not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; And when
25:34 all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors
25:37 justified God.
25:39 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the WILL of GOD
25:43 for themselves."
25:45 Jesus, you know what His accusation was?
25:49 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem," the people of God He's talking to.
25:52 "The one who kills the prophets and stone those
25:55 who are sent to her!"
25:56 How often it is true in history that it seems like God's people
26:01 reject the true prophets and we follow the false ones.
26:04 You've got to make sure that it's following and staying with
26:07 the biblical criteria for what is true.
26:10 Let me just give you a couple of reasons here in closing.
26:13 Why do we need the gift of prophecy in the last days?
26:15 What do prophets do?
26:17 Here's a few reasons, seven reasons.
26:18 One: prophet must uplift Christ.
26:21 They don't point to themselves.
26:23 Any prophet that's exalting himself, not a prophet of God.
26:27 They need to understand the big battle between good and evil.
26:30 We need prophets because they give spiritual,
26:33 devotional blessings.
26:35 They can also teach us about the practical things of life such as
26:38 health and those advantages.
26:40 They uplift the Scriptures and point people to the Scriptures.
26:43 They impact the church institutions and then they'll
26:46 give us guidance and predictions that will help us
26:49 to understand what's coming.
26:51 And then my question for you would be: since God still speaks
26:55 through prophets and since a true prophet's words are the
26:59 personal "testimony of Jesus" to you, are you willing to test
27:03 modern prophets by the Bible and follow the counsel of those
27:07 who agree with Scripture?
27:08 I believe the gift of prophecy is still alive and we may see
27:11 prophets in the future.
27:12 How are we going to know the true from the false?
27:15 We've got to use the Bible, friends, amen?
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Revised 2022-06-02