Fake News False Prophets of Yesterday and Today

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Ezekiel 13 highlights the fact that there were many false prophets who affected Israel then negatively. The first two verses of Ezekiel 13 bring this out in vivid detail.

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’” (ESV)

Notice, God tells the prophet Ezekiel that he is to prophesy against the false prophets of Israel because they prophesied falsely, like Fake News today, even starting off their falsehoods with the pronouncement, “Here the word of the Lord!” Essentially, they were liars and God was calling them out, warning them what would happen if they continued.

Do we have false prophets today? If you’ve done any research regarding this subject, you know that there are a plethora of “apostles” and “prophets” who are busy telling people what God is saying to them. They believe they are compelled to share what they claim is God’s “spoken” Word to their hearts, with the rest of us. That’s pretty big of them, isn’t it? Stop to consider that like Fake News MSM (mainstream media), these groups excel at lying. It is what they do and because some people do not have or use critical thinking, they are overtaken by these lies.

The problem is often in what the false prophets say, which is normally against God’s revealed will for this age, the last days. Again, I recall when I was involved in the Charismatic Movement in the 1970’s, I constantly heard this phrase by one invited guest speaker after another: “God is getting ready to do something new!” This was then parroted by the average person in attendance, often with a spirit of anticipation.

Statements like these were meant to build excitement in the Body. It vividly portrayed God as moving among us now and He was ostensibly creating a new movement or wave of spiritual power that He wanted to invest in and work through His people. Looking back, I have to ask myself why God would need to promote those movements through other people? Why not simply do it?

Yes, I’m aware that Jesus told His apostles and followers to go to Jerusalem for the Passover and wait until they received what the Holy Spirit would provide (Acts 1-2). Of course, this was prior to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in believers’ hearts. Since that day, the Holy Spirit is automatically given to each new believer at the moment salvation is received, though Charismatics and others disagree with that, claiming that a “second blessing” is needed for every Christian. While I used to blindly believe this, I’ve learned that Scripture teaches otherwise.

I’m also aware of the times that God used an authentic prophet in the Old Testament to provide foreknowledge of how He would act and these normally connected to Israel in some way. Moreover, I’m aware of the various situations in the book of Acts where God appeared to do something “new” that He had not appeared to do before (extend His grace and salvation to Gentiles, for instance). However, these things were all foretold in the Old Testament, whether people completely understood them then or not, going back to Genesis 12:1-3 with Abraham.

God made Himself as clear as He could and as things unfolded, people blessed with spiritual discernment would see those events and understand that they were fulfillments of what God had already promised. In fact, if we come right down to it, the entirety of God’s written Word lays out the path that God said would occur bringing us right up to the end of human history in the physical return of Jesus to this planet.

The false prophets of Israel that Ezekiel and other true prophets had to contend with were, by their very nature, people pleasers. Rather than speaking the actual truth, they told people what they wanted to hear and it was always a “good” thing and it reflected well on the false prophets themselves. They never spoke about coming judgment. They only spoke of coming victories and derided the true prophets who warned the Israelites about God sending judgment to that nation.

One false prophet after another regaled the Israelites promising God was going to bring victory over Israel’s oppressors. This never worked out and in Ezekiel 13, these false prophets stood out as the liars they were, resulting in God’s wrath upon them and the children of Israel for believing them in the first place.

Thus says the Lord God, ‘Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!’ (v. 3)

Though these false prophets claimed God was speaking to them, God says that they were instead following their own “spirit” and saw no truth at all. In other words, they were following what their feelings dictated. This is becoming the norm in society today and unfortunately, it is gaining strength even within Christian circles. The push is to rely on how you feel about something to determine its efficacy.

If someone came to you with some great news that almost sounded too good to be true, you might be tempted to accept it, depending upon your emotional state. If you were feeling overwhelmed emotionally or down trodden, you would welcome this “good” news, not considering it might be false.

We’ve all heard the adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, yet how many times have we ignored that adage in favor of what our feelings are telling us? Probably too often. I’ve done it. You’ve done it. Many other have done it as well. This is the exact reason con artists succeed, because too many people defer to their feelings about something rather than their intellectual critical thinking skills. It can easily be the difference between remaining safe against being taken advantage of and being conned.

The Old Testament prophets (as well as the false prophets/apostles of today), gain the upper hand and receive honor and accolades from people who aren’t thinking. The true prophets of Israel’s day? Not so much.

My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord God. (v. 9)

God says He is against these false prophets and did ultimately deal with them. Why? Because true prophets like Ezekiel were warning the people of Israel that God was going to send an invader to them to conquer Jerusalem because of the Israelites’ constant “whoring” after idols. Ezekiel was given very clear specifics about what was going to take place in Israel, especially Jerusalem, and against the people of Israel.

Why was God promising to do this? For the simple reason that the Israelites had become worse idolaters (spiritual adulterers), than the nations surrounding Israel! It was incomprehensible that Israel, who had been created by God Himself, had literally thrown off their knowledge of God and had opted instead to go “whoring” with idols! Their coming judgment was deserved.

However, the false prophets, who saw an opportunity to enrich themselves, be seen as heroes, and in general, gain the adulation of people to them, preached the opposite. No judgment was coming! No need to fear! God loved Israel and He would never send judgment.

This is what prophets like Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, and many others were up against. Because of the false prophets and the fact that the Israelites often believed them, the truly anointed prophets were harassed, and even executed because of what they said, in spite of the fact that they were the ones who were faithful in relaying to the Israelites what was actually on God’s mind at the time. Their lives were taken from them because they shared truth, not error. Those who shared error were treated as heroes by the Israelites. The exact same thing is happening today within Christendom.

Today’s so-called prophets live in no fear of being executed or even thrown out of the Church itself. They are often lionized, revered, and sometimes, even worshiped and adored because of the things they tell gullible people who are so hungry to feel good about themselves. Instead of going to God’s Word to gain understanding of how God views humanity and what He has done to bring fallen people to Himself, we are often met with accolades and high praise that supposedly comes from God to us through these fake news prophets.

Christians need to have discernment and that comes only through a closer walk with our Lord, but it is not a guarantee in and of itself. Look at the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. In many ways, they were an outstanding group of believers in some things, yet there was a problem. They had abandoned their first love. Things had become pedestrian, done through rote. God wanted the hearts again but their hearts had grown distant from God. This would also impact their spiritual discernment.

A close walk with God happens when we apply ourselves not only to reading His Word but to submitting to Him so that His will can be accomplished in and through us. The more we do that, the greater the chance we will move away from Self and God will have our hearts.

Today’s fake news prophet does everything to get people to embrace them and of course, Self. For the false prophets of today, being a Christian has nothing to do with picking up our crosses daily (denying Self), to follow Jesus and everything to do with embracing ourselves in order that we might be “happy.”

As Dr. Thomas Constable says in the image above, “Today there are also many ‘false prophets’ ministering in religious places, leading people into judgment rather than turning them to Christ and the security of a life of peace with God and eternity with him (cf. 2 Cor 11:13-15).”

Christians must reject guiding their Christian walk based on feelings. We must reject Self in all its aspects. We must submit to God, flee idolatry and commit ourselves to following Him wherever He leads us. He has given us the guide of His Word and the inner Guide of the Holy Spirit. The more we apply ourselves to His Word, with the intention of obeying Him at every turn, the greater our commitment to Him will become and we will find ourselves wielding discernment without much effort. The two are inextricably bound together.

Will you set aside being guided by your feelings in favor of the truth revealed in His Word regardless of how you might feel about that truth? It is the only way to please God. It is the only way to live for Him.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective