Beware of False Prophets! Picture Reference: http://www.marylutyndall.com/2016/04/beware-of-false-prophets-dressed-up.html "Beloved, do not believe every spirit [speaking through a self-proclaimed prophet]; instead test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets and teachers have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know and recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ has [actually] come in the flesh [as a man] is from God [God is its source]; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus [acknowledging that He has come in the flesh, but would deny any of the Son s true nature] is not of God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and is now already in the world. 4 Little children (believers, dear ones), you are of God and you belong to Him and have [already] overcome them [the agents of the antichrist]; because He who is in you is greater than he (Satan) who is in the world [of sinful mankind]. 5 They [who teach twisted doctrine] are of the world and belong to it; therefore they speak from the [viewpoint of the] world [with its immoral freedom and baseless theories demanding compliance with their opinions and ridiculing the values of the upright], and the [gullible one of the] world listens closely and pays attention to them" (biblegateway.com - 1 John 4:1-5 - AMP). Wolves in Sheep's Clothing Beware of false prophets! This warning comes from Matthew 7:15: Beware of the false prophets, [teachers] who come to you dressed as sheep [appearing gentle and innocent], but inwardly are ravenous wolves" (biblegateway.com - AMP). The devil will send these false prophets (teachers) to you, when you are most vulnerable; when you are at your weakest. For the last eight months, I have been going through a terrible storm and because of this storm, the devil thought I was easy prey; he was very wrong! During that time, the devil sent me many wolves in sheep's clothing, who were false prophets. The good thing is, no matter what we go through in life, God is still with us, Jesus is praying for us, and the Holy Spirit is there to comfort us!
1 John 4:4 lets us know that we are of God and we belong to Him, we have already overcome the false prophets, who are the agents of the antichrist; because God, who is in us, is greater than the devil in the world. In John Chapter 16, Jesus told the disciples a lot of things that would happen; in verse 33 Jesus said, "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world. [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding]" (biblegateway.com - AMP). Through the things I have been going through, I learned that REAL peace ONLY comes from being in Christ and allowing Him to be in you; having a personal relationship with Him, TOTALLY giving your life to Jesus, so He can live through you. We need to walk in God's PERFECT PEACE at ALL times, whether they are good or bad; we need God during our good days and bad days! We should not only seek after God when we are going through our storms, but when we are in our calm season; relationship is EVERYTHING with God! Although I felt weak, hopeless at times, alone at times, and did not understand what was going on, deep, deep down inside of me, the Holy Spirit was comforting me; I felt like giving up many times - not going back into the world but wanting God to take me in my sleep - I am being honest and real! Be Honest With Yourself & God I want you all to know, you don't have to try and be a super Christian, like nothing bothers you; life happens to all of us - we are striving for perfect but have not made it yet!! But the good thing is, we do not have to pretend with God, He already knows our heart and know exactly what we are feeling inside; be honest with Him - when we are at our weakest point that is when God can come to our rescue - but we MUST BE HONEST WITH HIM! Who cares what people say about you, they cannot help you and nine out of ten times, they jacked up themselves but too proud to admit it! Go to God, cry out to Him for help; He understands!! God loves you and will NEVER cast you aside or make you feel bad, like people, about a weakness you might have!
Stop right here, and go to God and ask Him to help you; give Him ALL hidden places of your heart - that you have hid your deep, dark secrets - He sees them anyway, you cannot hide from God! God wants to heal, deliver, and set you free NOW, from that thing that has been holding you back! But until you are honest with yourself, admit you cannot help yourself and that you have a problem, then be honest with God, you will not get better. Give "IT" ALL to God, once and for all! David might have been jacked up, but went to God with everything; he kept no secrets from God and I believe that was one of the reasons God called him, a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22). What I learnt - How to REALLY Trust God During these last eight months, I could not feel the presence of God like I had before but He was with me. Just because we do not feel God's presence, all the time, does not mean He is not there; faith is not feeling but believing when we don't see. I have learned a lot during that time but the main thing I learnt was, how to REALLY trust God! We can say we trust God all we want with our mouth, but our faith in God will be tested and that will prove, whether we really trust God or not. Again, Jesus already told us in John 16:33 that in this world, we would have tribulations, distress, and sufferings (AMP version). BUT, IF we keep our minds stayed on God, He will keep us in His perfect peace; when we look to God for ALL our needs, this shows us that our hope and confidence is REALLY in Him (Isaiah 26:3). In James 1:2-4, he lets us know, " 2 Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing" (biblegateway.com - AMP). Peter in 1 Peter Chapter 1, was encouraging the people; he told them to rejoice greatly about the things he had told them in verses 1-5 - even though they were being distressed by trials, for a little while (vs 6).
Peter tells them why they should rejoice in verse 7: "so that the genuineness of your faith, which is much more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested and purified by fire, may be found to result in [your] praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (biblegateway.com - AMP). God is going to get the glory for bringing us out or through our storms; man will NOT take credit for what God has done and is going to do! Father, I stop right here and now, to give You ALL the praise, honor, and glory, for bringing me through not only the recent storm, but for the ones in the future, You WILL bring me through or out of! Father also, thank You for bringing the ones reading this message, out or through their storms!! God You are great and greatly to be praise!! God You are an Awesome God!! I love You Father, I love You Jesus, I love You Holy Spirit!! What I Learnt - God Will NEVER Leave Us Or Forsake Us Another important thing I learnt doing these last eight months was, people come and go out of our lives, but God will NEVER leave us or forsake us! In our deepest and darkest moments, God is right there, ready to help us, ready for us to acknowledge Him; for us to cry out for His help! God is a Gentleman; He does not force Himself on us - WE must let Him know, we want His help! God will NEVER go against our free will! I have heard people say things like, "Why did God let this happen?" Or, "Why didn't God stop that?" God will not go against that person's will; no matter what the case. I have also heard people say things like, "When God get ready for me to stop, He will stop me!" NO!! God will allow you to keep doing what you doing, until YOU get tired, and ask Him to help you! I know! Years and years ago, I had a drinking problem; I was going to church and had accept Jesus BUT I was an alcoholic! Long story short, I would pray for God to deliver me but I did not mean it; I prayed with my mouth but in my heart wanted to keep drinking. One day, I got tired of being a hypocrite, and I just said a pray out of frustration; it was something like, "God, if You are up there, deliver me from drinking!" Days went by and then a week later, it hit me, I had not drank; normally I would drink day and night! God instantly delivered me from drinking, when my heart lined up with my mouth; I have not had a drink of alcohol since April 2004 - I cannot even stand the smell of it. Also, I can smell it a mile away, no matter how people try to cover up, the fact they been drinking.
Most of you probably has heard the Scripture, "It is the LORD who goes before you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you. Do not fear or be dismayed (biblegateway.com - Deuteronomy 31:8 - AMP), many times BUT have you experience this Scripture yourself? Have you ever been in a situation and God did not fail you or abandon you? This is what happened to me, during these last eight months; God did not fail me or abandon me - His Word came alive in me - comforting me. We might have heard a Scripture, even be able to quote it, but our life will not change until we experience God's Word for ourselves - until the Word comes alive in us! When we go through the storms of life, the Word of God comes to life, ONLY when we BELIEVE, what God has said and is saying to us. Once we believe the Word of God, we experience the Word of God; believe God and keep your eyes on Him! No matter what we go through, we must NEVER forget, we are NEVER alone; God is ALWAYS with us, even though you can't feel Him - as I could not. As soon as we stop believing God's Word, we become prey for the devil, because we became fearful and dismayed, when we feel alone, in the storm. And as we saw earlier, God said in Deuteronomy 31:8, not to fear or be dismayed because He would go before us, He will be with us, and He will not fail or abandon us. The devil knows this, so he sends a false prophet to supposedly, give us a word from God; this is exactly what happened to me, in the last eight months. The First False Prophet Encounter It started some months ago, when a guy sent me an invitation on LinkedIn, to join my network. After I accepted his invitation, he sent me a prayer. Remember I said, I have been going through a storm? Therefore, I was glad to receive the prayer; this was because I had nobody to pray with me and no Pastor to help me. The people I thought were my friends and the church I had attended for years, abandoned me. But all is good now, I know now that God wanted me to totally depend on Him and not on anyone else to bring me out; God does not want us to have no other God before Him (Deuteronomy 5:7; Exodus 20:3-5). As I have said before, I did not feel God's presence, so I was very dismayed; however, God was with me. Faith is not about feelings, it is about believing, BEFORE you receive (Hebrews 11:1). Don't allow fear of what you are going through, to cancel out your faith; God is with you, whether you can feel His presence or not. God has brought you from a long ways and will not leave you or forever; trust Him.
After the guy sent me the prayer on LinkedIn, I found out he was claiming to be a Prophet and had a prayer line. I contacted him to find out more information about the prayer line and he sent me his phone number, to call him for prayer; I was desperate because I had no strength to pray on my own, so I called him. The guy prayed for me, it sounded good, he even confirmed somethings God had told me but he mixed truth with lies; as the devil always do, since he is a master deceiver - that guy was a false prophet. He was baiting me; he cared nothing about my soul being delivered, he was a hireling (John 10:12-13). The guy was able to tell me part truths, because of the familiar spirits that works with false prophets. A familiar spirit watches us, gathering information about us, for other medium (psychics) and works with other spirits. The devil also is a master copycat; he always copying off of God. God gives His angels charge over us, to watch and protect us (Psalm 91:11) and the devil has his angels, spying on us - he also uses the information to accuse us (Revelation 12:9-11). To learn more about familiar spirits, click here, and go to Pastor Kenneth Scott's website; we need to gird up the loins of our mind - know the tricks of the devil so we will not be ignorant of them (1 Peter 1:13; 2 Corinthians 2:11). A couple of days after the guy prayed for me, he contacted me asking for money, to buy food! REALLY??? A big time prophet, asking a senior citizens, single woman, for money for food? That is when I realized, I was dealing with a con man; a deceiver, a false prophet - the Holy Spirit quicken it in my spirit. I would have heard the Holy Spirit sooner, if I had not been desperate for a "Word from God!" Let's seek God for ourselves, and let Him give us His Words directly!! When we think we are at the end of our rope, we are not, all we have to do is grab hold of God and trust Him! Thank God the Holy Spirit woke me up before I got in too deep with that guy. I deleted all his contact information and cut off communication with him. Second False Prophet Encounter About a month or so after the first false prophet encounter, this girl I know invited me to join her on a prayer line; another big time prophet but I had never heard of him. I was leery but I decided to give it another try. I called into the prayer line, listened to the guy pray and prophesy for and to the people - there seem to have been a lot of people on that prayer line.
As the guy was praying and prophesying to the people, he was giving out his PayPal account information, so they could "sow" a seed to his ministry! Those poor people were more than happy to sow a seed; they felt like they had heard from God - it seemed as if they were more in despair than I was. As he prophesied to them, I could feel the excitement in their voices; it was just sad - they were lambs being slaughtered and did not know it. I finally hung up the phone; I could not take it anymore - I knew they were being conned, since I had been conned some months before. The guy told one lady, she was deep in debt or something but that God wanted her to give him $5000.00, so she could get out of debt! Are you kidding me?? How was she going to give him $5000.00, when she had nothing? But she was so excited and screaming and crying! It is a shame before God, how these false prophet, prey on God's people; they have no conscious or regret! He took their money, in the same breathe he was supposedly, giving them a word from God! Shameful! That guy was not only a false prophet, but a hireling (John 10:12-13)! Third False Prophet Encounter About two weeks ago, a guy begin following me on twitter. He sent me a link to his blog site; his daily inspirations. About a week later, he sends me an email, asking if I wanted to sign up for his monthly personal, prophetic emails. He said God told him to send out personal prophecies to people; BUT, there would be a $50.00 charge per month, for the prophecy! Again, REALLY?? I don't know what god he was talking about; it sure was not the True and Living God! God does not condone a false prophet's behavior nor a hireling's behavior. Matthew 10:1 says, Jesus called His disciples together and gave them authority, to cast out evil spirits and heal every kind of disease and illness (NLT). This verse lets us know, that Jesus gives man the authority, to cast out devils and heal sickness and diseases; man cannot do ANYTHING, without the Power of the Holy Spirit. In verse 8 of Matthew Chapter 10, Jesus tells the disciples to heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Then He said, give as freely as you have received; not charge the people afterwards! Nowhere, did Jesus tell the disciples to charge the people, for what they were doing for them; the power was not theirs but belong to the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, in verse 9 of that same Chapter, Jesus tells the disciples not to take any money in their money belts.
Jesus wanted the disciples to trust and depend on Him, to give them all they needed. As I said, Jesus did not tell them to charge the people, but He did not object to them receiving hospitality from the people; this is two separate things. Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 10:10, to accept hospitality because those who work, deserves to be fed; hospitality is not the same as charging someone for prayer or prophecy. When someone prays and prophecy, in the Name of Jesus, they are not to look for a reward; if a person has something to give them, he/she, will give it - they don't have to say, the Lord told them to ask for this amount - they the people, they should sow a seed, to be heal, or for their prophecy to come true - that is baloney!! Again, Matthew 10:8, Jesus clearly told the disciples, give as freely, as they had received. Salvation is a free gift to us, by the grace of God, through our faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8) - BUT salvation cost Jesus His life! God loved us so much, that He gave us His Son Jesus, to die for our sins, sicknesses, diseases, and restore us back to Himself - to give us eternal life (John 3:16). We have NOTHING! We are who we are because of God's love for us and Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. How dare someone pimp God's Word for a dollar? These false prophets and hirelings, use God's name for their financial gain. That third false prophet in encountered, as I said, wanted to charge me $50.00 per month, to receive a personal prophecy from God! I know NOT!! I Told him "NO!" I also told him, that is not how God operate - NOT the True and Living God, anyway! I never heard from him again and I deleted his emails and unfollowed him on Twitter. Last False Prophet Encounter The last false prophet I would like to tell you all about, sent me an email with the prophecy already in it; at the end of the prophecy, he had a link for an offering - he was asking me for $32.00 for the prophecy he sent me. I have no idea how he got my email; I deleted his email and blocked him. I am telling you all about my recent encounters with these false prophets, to help you; be careful of these people, supposedly prophesying, "Thus saith the Lord!" Jesus said in Matthew 24:24, "For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect" (biblegateway.com - NLT).
Discernment Discernment is what's going to keep us from being deceive; discernment is a gift from the Holy Spirit. I want to stop here a minute, to explain a little more about discernment. The dictionary defines discernment as the ability to see clearly, to perceive, to distinguish, or recognize. In Hebrews 5:14, the Greek word diakrino translated as discern. It means, to separate thoroughly good and evil. In contrast, Romans 14:21 uses the word astheneo translated as weak. It means weak; strengthless; without power to distinguish sufficiently between right and wrong, evil, or lawful and unlawful. It speaks to the ability to distinguish between the truth and a lie. Hebrews 5:14 says, But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. A mature Christian prays for and practices discernment in the conduct of their life. In doing so, they have learned to tell the difference between good and evil, and then choose do what is good. We must have discernment to realize, that it's the devil committing spiritual warfare against us through a person; through the false prophet and hireling. To learn more about discernment, click here, and you will be taken to a teaching by me, from Dr. Art Mathias' book, "Biblical Foundations of Freedom," on discernment. To keep discernment flowing freely in our lives, we must KNOW God for ourselves; have a REAL relationship with Him - don't just know of Him. We cannot depend on Pastors, Prophets, or anyone else, to give us words from God; WE MUST know God and His Word, for ourselves - trust Him completely! God wants us to seek Him, not people; we are to have NO other gods before Him (Deuteronomy 5:7; Exodus 20:3). Always trust God and know, He will NEVER leave you, nor forsake you; no matter what! If I did not have discernment (allowed the Holy Spirit to speak to me), I would have fallen into the traps of those false prophets! No matter how inadequate or dismayed we feel, the Holy Spirit is alive in us, and cannot be fooled! It was the Holy Spirit in me, who brought my spirit man back alive, and I thank God for never leaving me, nor forsaking me!
If you ever find yourself in a place as I was (dismayed, dishearten, disappointed, etc.), or if you are in that place now, cry out to God - He hears you. And if you cannot cry out to God yourself, just say "Jesus" - ask God which ministry to contact for prayer too. If you do not have a church home, ask God which ministry you should watch on television, also - He will let you know. Watching ministries online and on television, really helped me. I watch two ministries online, on television, and through their app: Word of God Ministries, Pastor James A. McMenis and River of Life Christian Center, Pastor Marvin Jackson. I pray this message has helped you and will continue to help you be more aware of false prophets, who are already in the world (1 John 4:1-5); keeping you from being deceived by them, and falling into their traps. God bless you and keep you, Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks, PsyD