HEEDING BIBLE PROPHECY
UNDERSTANDING SATAN'S PLAN
To Counterfeit the Second Coming of Christ & the Restoration of All Things
RELIGION
N.B. Each topic is titled with a familiar Bible term. The parenthesis ( ) which follows identifies either the actual or a counterfeit fulfillment of the prophecy through the agency of the secret societies. Please see Introduction for protocols of this prophecy study.
23. NEW DOCTRINE
A. Doctrines of Devils (Heresy/Secret Doctrine)
B. Falling Away (Apostasy of the Church)
C. False Teachers & Prophets (New Religious Movements)
23-A. DOCTRINES OF DEVILS (Heresy/Secret Doctrine)
PREMISE
|
God's Plan |
Pre-Flood Era | Old Testament |
Church Age (Last Days) |
Tribulation |
Great Tribulation |
Millennium |
New Heavens & New Earth |
|
|
Satan's Counterfeit |
Pre-Flood Era | Old Testament |
Church Age |
Tribulation |
Great Tribulation |
Golden Age |
New Heavens & New Earth | |
PROGRAM OF GOD
Church Age: God exposes heresy and heretics to His true Church.
PROGRAM OF SATANIC DUPLICATION
Pre-Flood Era: The secret doctrine was given to the Atlantean kings by Satan, its purpose being to glorify the pre-flood civilization.
Old Testament Period: Secret doctrine was taught by Ham and was recorded by symbols/hieroglyphics. King Solomon embraced the false doctrines of other gods.
Church Age: Heretics introduced secret doctrines into the early Church; in the last days, apostate Church leaders embrace secret doctrine, especially heresies concerning Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Tribulation: Spirit-centered secret doctrine will replace Christ-centered doctrine; demons posing as reincarnated Gnostics will demand their heresies be revived and accepted as true Christianity.
Great Tribulation: The Antichrist will teach secret doctrine and prohibit the teaching of sound doctrine; Lucifer will be presented as the Holy Spirit.
PROPHETIC DISPENSATIONS
PROGRAM OF GOD
For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. - Luke 8:17
Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. - 2 Timothy 3:9
PROGRAM OF SATAN
Secret Doctrine is false doctrine which is kept hidden because of its heretical nature. In the occult New Age of the Spirit, the fundamental doctrines of Scripture will be rejected and the Secret Doctrine of the Ancient Wisdom Traditions will be taught openly. The uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God will be discredited and the 'godhood of man' will be universally embraced. The Church of St. John will supplant the Church of St. Peter (Roman Catholicism). The Charismatic movement, which relies heavily on new revelation given by the 'Spirit', is a revival of the medieval gnostic Cathari and will be a point of entry into the occult Age of the Spirit.
See: Apostasy 23.B
"Another source for the master race theory in the early days of the Nazi Party was the occultist Alfred Rosenberg... Rosenberg was convinced that the Aryan race had originated in the lost continent of Atlantis which was the source of all ancient occult beliefs." - 25:129-30
"Hermes, according to legend, was the sole receptacle of the secret doctrine of the antediluvian world, which he revived after the flood and passed down to the kings. As you'll recall, this secret knowledge was thought to have been taught to man by a race of God's fallen angels. This knowledge was kept secret because it was probably recognized that for all but an elect few, such thought would no doubt bring about their ruin..." - 306
"Kings and aristocrats would understand how to wield and apply the secret doctrine [of Hermeticism] because it was believed that they were in fact flesh and blood descendants of the Forgotten Race which had come down to take the wives of men." - 306
"Satan or Hermes are all one... He is called the Dragon of Wisdom...the serpent...identical with the God Hermes...inventor of the first initiation of men into magic...the author of serpent worship." - 209:400-1
"Mother of Darkness:...'Few seek the ancient seed of wisdom that springs from the brow of Lucifer.'" 49:161
"The Tables of Testimony...not to be confused with the Ten Commandments...are rather more associated with the original Table of Destiny of the Anunnaki... This ancient archive is directly associated with the Emerald Table of Thoth/Hermes, and, as detailed in alchemical records of Egypt, the author of the preserved writings was the Biblical Ham, a great Archon of the Grail bloodline. He was the essential founder of the esoteric and arcane 'underground stream' which flowed through the ages and his Greek name, Hermes, was directly related to the science of pyramid construction, deriving from the word herma, which relates to a 'pile of stones'." - 348:219
"...the various principal Wisdom Traditions..., although clothed in differing guises, all teach and practice the same fundamental knowledge of truth." - 889:12
"The Secret Doctrine also glorifies the pre-flood world, a world that, according to both the Bible and the Secret Doctrine, was alive with demonic contact and psycho-spiritual power." - 79:101
"The keys to the biblical miracles of old, and to the phenomena of modern days; the problems of psychology, physiology, and the many 'missing links' which have so perplexed scientists of late, are all in the hands of secret fraternities. This mystery must be unveiled some day…The answers are there. They may be found on the time worn granite pages of cave-temples, on sphinxes, propylons, and obelisks. They have stood there for untold ages, and neither the rude assault of time, nor the still ruder assault of Christian hands, have succeeded in obliterating their records…. And so stand these monuments like mute forgotten sentinels on the threshold of that unseen world, whose gates are thrown open but to a few elect…they will disclose their riddles to none but the legates of those by whom they were entrusted with the MYSTERY. The cold, stony lips of the once vocal Memnon, and of these hardy sphinxes, keep their secrets well. Who will unseal them? Who of our modern, materialistic dwarfs and unbelieving Sadducees will dare to lift the Veil of Isis?" - 394:376
"The relevance of Hermes was that his special knowledge was held to represent the 'Lost Wisdom of Lamech' (Lamech was seventh in succession from Adam's son Cain--Genesis 4:18-22). Just as Noah saved various life forms from the great Flood, so Lamech's three sons, Jabal, Jubal and Tubal-cain, preserved the ancient wisdoms of creative science, carved upon two stone monuments--the 'Antediluvian Pillars'. One son was a mathematician, the second a mason, and the third a metalworker. Hermes discovered one of the pillars, transcribing its sacred geometry onto an emerald tablet that was inherited by Pythagoras, who also discovered the second pillar." - 29:245
For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. - I Kings 11:4
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. - I Tim. 4:1
Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. - Mt. 13:33
"Even in the second century, Irenaeus of Lyons could claim that 'Every day every one of them invents something new.'" - 503:69
"No false teaching desires to offer itself to our view openly, lest such exposure should lead to conviction; but, craftily putting on a plausible dress, makes itself by its outward form appear to the simpler sort to be truer than Truth itself." (Irenaeus) - 341:Intro
"The Valentinians...maintain that the dispensational Jesus was the same who passed through Mary, upon whom that saviour from the more exalted [region] descended, who is also termed Pan, because He possessed the names...of all those who had produced Him." - 341:4408
But there were also prophets also among the people, even as there shall be also teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction, And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. - II. Pet.2:1-2
"...All the Gnostic sects...claimed to possess a secret doctrine, coming to them directly from Jesus Christ, and different from that of the Gospels and Epistles and superior to those communications which, in their eyes, were exoteric." (Albert Pike) - 155:542
"...hidden in the 'Dossiers secrets' are certain quite unambiguous statements to the effect that the Priory [of Sion] has been responsible throughout history, for masterminding the secret [Johannite] tradition. These statements, which allude directly or indirectly to the Priory, include: '[They are] the supporters of all heresies ..., behind all heresies, passing through the Cathars, and the Templars to Freemasonry..., secret agitators against the Church...'" - 242:360
"These people called themselves the Pure. They said that they were awaiting the return of the Paraclete, the reign of the Holy Spirit. They were known as Cathari or Albigensians." - 258:1
"The eleventh to thirteenth centuries also saw the rise of a number of Gnostic-style sects such as the Cathars, the Albigenses and the Templars, all of which were claimed by later occult organisations as being ancestral to their own. Although these groups were eventually purged by the Church of Rome, the secret doctrine which they represented was by no means dissolved; and in the early seventeenth century, a development was to take place which would set Europe on fire and provide a vital bridge between ancient Gnosticism and the New Gnosis in the historical outworking of satanic strategy." - 503:78
"The spirits Dr. [Arthur] Guirdham contacts claim to be people who lived as Cathars in the thirteenth century, who now demand he revive their beliefs as true Christianity." - 207:87
"...to establish the Johannite or Gnostic and Kabalistic dogma, were the object and means proposed to the initiated brethren... The Templars...had two doctrines, one concealed and reserved for the Masters, which was Johannism; the other public, which was the Roman Catholic. Thus they deceived the adversaries whom they sought to supplant." - 155:817-18
"One modern royal author HRH Prince Michael of Albany...claims that the Templars discovered documentation which contained the fruits of thousands of years of knowledge. He also states that among the discoveries were documents which disproved the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus... French Masonic ritual indicates that Scotland was destined to be the repository of the Templar treasure." - 266:96,196
"Both Nazism and the New Age Movement are political/spiritual entities based on the same esoteric foundations: the 'Secret Doctrine' which has been at the base of all pagan religions and...esoteric 'Christianity'." - 79:101
"Terry Nash, editor of the APRT Newsletter I wrote for, suggested running three articles starting with this one after I mentioned Dr. Guirdham's books to her recently and the prediction made in the early 1200s that the Cathars would reincarnate in 700 years." - 874
This prophecy was supposedly fulfilled in the 19th century with the founding of a neo-Cathar church in the Languedoc (South France).
"In 1888, one Jules Doinel, an official in the library of Orleans, discovered a manuscript written in 1022 by a Cathar martyr who had been burned in the town that year. Doinel himself was a doubtful character who published anti-Masonic literature in the period of Taxil's prospering. He now felt himself consecrated by the 'Aeon Jesus' to reestablish the Gnostic religion in France. By 1895, however, the founder of this church returned to Rome, leaving an Episcopal synod composed by Papus, his disciple, Paul Sedir, and Chamuel of the Librairie du Merveilleux. These made way within the hierarchy of Fabre des Essarts, who took the name of the Patriarch Synesius. (Synesius was an early Church Father whose magical writings had given the Middle Ages some authority for pre-Christian practices.) Although Fabre des Essarts was on close terms with occultists and the ecclesiastical underground - it seems that the Gnostic Church received consecration at the hands of an Eastern bishop in the house of Lady Caithness - his church included come quite distinguished members (among whom was the former director of one of the National Theatres). The Church was noticed by the papacy, and Leo XIII issued an apostolic letter against 'the ancient Albigensian heresy'." 429:284
"Papus (33) [was] the French esotericist associated with Jules Doinel (founder of the neo-Cathar church in the Languedoc)...
"ff. 33. Papus was born in Spain on July 13, 1865. In 1887 he joined the Theosophist Association but in 1888 left to found his own group-on Martinist principles. In the same year he was one of the founding members of the Ordre Kabbalistic de la Rose-Croix, along with Peladan and Stanislas de Guaita. In 1889 together with these two and Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, he founded the review L'Initiation. In 1891 a 'supreme council' of the Martinist order was formed in Paris with Papus as grand master. About this time Papus helped Doinel found the Gnostic Catholic Church. In 1895 Doinel withdrew, leaving the church in the care of Papus and two others, under the jurisdiction of a patriarch. Doinel then went to Carcassone." - 31:190,462
The prophesied 'reincarnated Cathars' are now networking to revive their heretical beliefs and occult practices.
"As I researched the Cathars on the Internet recently, I made a discovery that first surprised me and then made me smile. It seems the ancient prediction is being fulfilled. I was astonished to find that the Cathars I had believed were wiped out by the Catholic Church 700 years ago are alive and well and have their own web site!...
"Cathars are reincarnating as was foretold by a troubadour poet (in the 13th century) at the time of the (Cathar) Persecution. The seven centuries silence he foresaw has elapsed and the voice of primitive Christianity is speaking again. Many of those who reincarnate remember their previous lives. All those so endowed have other psychic gifts. A person cannot have far memory without having also in varying degrees of development such gifts as clairvoyance, clairaudience, telepathy and healing. This is what I myself have regularly encountered in and out of my clinical practice...
"Remarkably, the major focus in all these past life encounters was proof of reincarnation itself, but the beauty of it was that reincarnation was one of the Cathars' central tenets. Ever since I first read these books, I've been awed by the incredible 'rightness,' of having people in the 1900s rediscover a complex web of thirteenth century relationships and history designed to prove reincarnation (one of the main beliefs of Catharism, their 13th century faith) to the satisfaction of their 20th century English (distinctly un-Cathar) minds.
"But not only did the entities bring proof of reincarnation, they brought proof of healing. The fact that the Cathars knew so much about its principles was demonstrated by Miss Mills when Braida, her former 13th century Cathar teacher, brought Miss Mills to a conscious awareness of 13th-century Cathar healing methods so she could practice them again in the 20th century." - 874
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. - II Tim.4.3-4
"The main idea was, it is claimed, to form a 'secret government', with Godefroi de Bouillon - one of the leaders of the First Crusade - as the prime mover. In the Holy Land, Godefroi encountered an organization called the Church of John and, as a result, 'formed a great design'. He 'gave his sword to the service of the Church of John, that esoteric and initiatory Church which represented the Tradition, that which based its primacy on the Spirit.' It was from this grand design that both the Priory of Sion - the organization that always names its Grand Masters 'John' - and the Knights Templar were formed.
"And as Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair says through Deloux and Bretigny: 'Thus, at the start of the twelfth century, were brought together the means, spiritual and temporal, which came to permit the realization of the sublime dream of Godefroi de Bouillon; the Order of the Temple would be the sword bearers of the Church of John and the standard bearers of the premier dynasty, the arm that obeyed the spirit of Sion.' The outcome of this fervent 'Johnism' was to be a 'spiritual renaissance' that would 'turn Christianity upside down'." - 242:55"...the Woman clothed with the sun of Apocalypse 12 who flees from the dragon into the wilderness...was for Joachim a symbol of the ecclesia spiritualis in the third status." - 256:131
"[The Russian prophet, D.S.] Merezhkovsky interpreted the Holy Spirit as the Mother Spirit and proclaimed the coming era of the Third Covenant, the Eternal Gospel, in which the divine society would be realized: 'The Father has not saved the world, the Son has not saved it, the Mother shall save it, the Mother is the Holy Spirit.'... [T]he image in the Apocalypse of the Woman clothed in the Sun...he sees as the symbol of 'the revelation of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Flesh, the Church of the Kingdom, the God-Man in God-Humanity.' Only the revelation of the Spirit in the Third Testament could resolve the dualism of earth and heaven, flesh and spirit." - 256:306-7
"At this point we must look briefly at some of the known facts about Pierre-Michael Vintras [1807-75] and his sect. Born in Bayeux, he was of working-class background...and from 1839-1840, according to his own account, received a series of visions which are recounted in Le Livre d'or: revelations de L'archange saint Michel. In these visions Vintras was commanded to found a sect 'l'OEuvre de la Misericorde', which would constitute the advanced art of the elect and would 'set up the new Kingdom of God'. He taught that he himself was 'the reincarnation of Elijah, sent to prepare the world for the Third Reign, the Era of the Paraclete, the coming of the Christ of Glory.'" - 256:193
"...The Charismatic movement has already shown itself to be a 'potentially' powerful force in the...reformulation of Christian doctrine." - 40:179
"The spirits Dr. [Arthur] Guirdham contacts claim to be people who lived as Cathars in the thirteenth century, who now demand he revive their beliefs as true Christianity." - 207:87
GREAT TRIBULATION / GOLDEN AGE
"In 1800 [F. de Hardenberg] Novalis published a pamphlet, Europa or Christianity. This strange young poet, writing under the influence of Boehme and German pietists such as Count Zinzendorf, prophesied the future new church confidently.... But the mystical soul of Europe had remained hidden among the Illuminés and dissidents. To this Novalis appeals in his vision of a new evangel, a new Messiah, a new church. For this regeneration of humanity he looks to the hidden workings of hidden associations all over Europe -- Freemasons, pietistics, Illuminists... All dogmas and forms will be abolished, for the Holy Spirit will guide into all truth...." - 256:54-56
PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE"[Albert] Pike wrote to Mazzini about the consequences of the 3rd World War in 1871: '[It will] provoke a formidable social cataclysm...and the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world's minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity ...will be without a compass, anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the true light through the manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally into public view, a manifestation which will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time."' - 86:128
"[Joseph Fort] Newton declares that as Masonry expands, all religious dogmas will 'cease to be.' All individual creeds and doctrines will be done away with, and what remains will be what is termed 'the one eternal religion -- the Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the moral law, the golden rule, and the hope of the life everlasting.'" - 254:33 [Newton, The Builders, pp. 233, 275, 246-7, 241]
"The doctrines of Masonry will ultimately rule the intellectual world." - 255:90
"Nonconformism was almost a principle of the gnostic mind and was closely connected with the doctrine of the sovereign 'spirit' as a source of direct knowledge and illumination." - 606:42
PERSONAL APPLICATIONJohn 7:39a
KJV: ...for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
NIV: ...Up to that time the Spirit has not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
NASV: ... for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Acts 6:3
KJV: Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
NIV: Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.
NASV: But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.
Acts 8:18
KJV: And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money...
NIV: When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offer them money...
NASV: Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money...
I Cor. 2:13
KJV: Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
NIV: This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
NASV: ...which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him... - II Cor. 11:3-4
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. - John 16:13-14
"In our ongoing study of mysticism/occultism/spiritualism, we often find that the authors deny what they are actually teaching." - 24:14
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. - II Cor. 11:13-15
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and AVOID THEM. - Romans 16:17
If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such WITHDRAW THYSELF. - I Tim. 6:3-5
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, RECEIVE HIM NOT INTO YOUR HOUSE, NEITHER BID HIM GOD SPEED... II John 1:9-10
Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. - II Thes. 2:15
23-B. FALLING AWAY (Apostasy of the Church)
PREMISE
|
God's Plan |
Pre-Flood Era | Old Testament |
Church Age |
(Last Days) |
Tribulation |
Great Tribulation |
Millennium |
New Heavens & New Earth |
|
Satan's Counterfeit |
Pre-Flood Era | Old Testament |
Church Age |
Tribulation |
Great Tribulation |
Golden Age |
New Heavens & New Earth | |
PROGRAM OF GOD
Church Age: God protects His elect from apostasy; Scripture warns of a general last days apostasy preceding the coming of the Antichrist.
Tribulation/Great Tribulation: God will preserve His elect from the strong delusion.
PROGRAM OF SATANIC DUPLICATION
Old Testament Period: Israel's apostasy served as an example to the Church Age.
Church Age: False Christians will apostatize into heresy through embracing gnostic scriptures (modern versions); false teachers either deny end-time apostasy and promote end-time revival or limit the apostasy to falling away to Rome.
Tribulation: The apostate Church will prepare the way for the Antichrist.
PROPHETIC DISPENSATIONS
PROGRAM OF GOD
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. - Mt. 16:18
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. - John 10:27-28
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. - Mt. 24:24
PROGRAM OF SATAN
Apostasy is the falling away of the churches from faith in the Bible to faith in the ancient wisdom texts and secret doctrines.
(See: Ancient Wisdom Texts 22.B; Heresy/Secret Doctrine 23.A)
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received. - I.Tim.4.1-3
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. - II Tim.4.3-4
God severely judged the apostasy of Israel.
But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was NO REMEDY. II Chron. 36:16
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. - I Cor. 10:1-11
The Greek word “apostasia” is used in II Thessalonians 2:3 to describe the falling away from the faith that immediately precedes the day of Christ. Strong's Concordance defines apostasia as "defection from the truth".
...as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first... - II.Thes.2:2-3
Strong's #646. apostasia {ap-os-tas-ee'-ah}, feminine of the same as 647; defection from truth (prop. the state) [“apostasy”];--falling away, forsake
Strong's #647. apostasion {ap-os-tas'-ee-on}, neuter of a (presumed) adj. from a derivative of 868; prop. something separative, ie., (spec) divorce:--(writing on divorcement)
False teachers/prophets deny there will be an end-time apostasy or limit the falling away; their various false teachings include:
The falling away of II Thess. 2:3 is the rapture of the Church.
“The Work of the Restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2… The Thessalonian Christians were concerned for fear that the rapture had already taken place and they were in the day of the Lord… Paul writes to show them that such a thing was impossible. First he shows them in verse 3 that the day of the Lord could not take place until there was a departure. Whether this departure be a departure from the faith or a departure of the saints from the earth, as already mentioned in verse 1, is beside the point here.” - 493:204
The apostasy occurs after, not before, the man of sin, the Pope, is revealed.
“The manifestation of the lawless one, the man of sin, with the resulting apostasy (vv. 3-4, 8-10).” - 623:1295
The apostasy is limited to Evangelicals falling away to Roman Catholicism.
There will be a ‘revival’ or ‘reformation’ in the Church preceding the return of Christ.
“Given the firm grip that dispensationalism and its expectation of growing apostasy had on fundamentalists, these hopes [of revival] had to be reconciled with the predictions of an imminent apocalypse. Was revival still possible in these ‘last days’? Nearly everyone who called for a great awakening addressed this question. An Irish evangelist, J. Edwin Orr, expressed his exasperation with Americans who claimed that ‘a Revival is impossible before the Lord comes.’ Orr argued that while the Bible did indeed predict apostasy, ‘every period of apostasy has been paralleled by a period of intense witness. Apostasy and spiritual renewal would coincide, like the wheat and the tares of Jesus’ parable. Orr insisted that ‘the truest preparation for the coming of Christ is a quickening in the Body of Christ.’ Furthermore, he argued, the Bible predicted a ‘latter rain’ before God's final harvest (James 5:7); there would be a great revival just preceding the Second Coming.
“Orr’s expectation ran contrary to the standard dispensational interpretation, which held that the 'latter rain' prophecies were promises of blessing to the Jews that would be fulfilled after the rapture of church. Nevertheless, not one eminent fundamentalist denied the possibility of another great revival.” – 627:112
“God has graciously granted two major Reformations in days past: we stand desperately in need of a third. There is great cause for rejoicing in Zion, however, for an increasing number of God's people are beginning to be awakened, and to return to the blessed biblical attainments of the Covenanted Reformation. We are hopeful that the prayers of the faithful Covenanters of old are being answered: that the rediscovery of their precious principles and practices are nothing less than a prologue to the third reformation and the worldwide overthrow of Antichrist.” – 626
Apostasy results from loss of faith in sound doctrine and embrace of gnostic scriptures and doctrines, whose core heresy is pantheism.
"Regarding the 'ecological predicament that is facing the world and the church, [World Council of Churches President Konrad] Raiser said that Christian theology has to change...(S)uch theology must shift to a life-centeredness which embraces all creation."' - 210:32
The apostasy has been facilitated by a new theology centered on the Holy Spirit instead of Jesus Christ; this new theology has added momentum to the ecumenical and interfaith movement.
"We need a theology and a confession that will...prepare the way for the great work of the future - the reunion of Christendom in the creed of Christ." - 208:429
"We need a reconstruction of our theology on the basis, not of God's sovereignty, but of God's holy love to all mankind, which he has made in his own image, and redeemed with the blood of his own son. Every age must produce its own theology." - 208:476-7
"It was [W.F.J.] Schelling who gave focus to the ideas for [Philip] Schaff within the construct of 19th century German romanticism and idealism... For Schaff this was the grand scheme. It afforded a hope and a vision of the Johannite age as an age of 'evangelical catholicism' when the best of Catholicism and Protestantism would be synthesized in a new and glorious age." - 246:9
The apostasy of Christians and Jews has been facilitated by the Bible revisers.
"Amongst the
American revisers were...Philip Schaff... The final
revision of the New
Testament was committed to Drs. Conant, Hackett, Schaff and Kendrick, and was
published in 1865...
"The [American] Bible Union's New
Testament was published nearly six years before the Canterbury revision was
begun, and nearly seventeen years before it was given to the world... [T]he
greatest care was given to supply the English translators with that version.
During the ten and a half years consumed in their work, they met in the
Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster each month for ten months of the year...and the
[American] Bible Union's New Testament lay at their table all that time, being
most carefully consulted before changes from the common version were agreed
upon. One of the best scholars in the corps of English revisers said to the
writer: 'We never make an important change without consulting the Union's
version. Its changes are more numerous than ours, but four out of five changes
are in exact harmony with it, and I am mortified to say that the pride of
English scholarship will not allow us to give due credit to that superior
version for its aid.' This was before the Canterbury version was completed, but
when it was finished it was found that the changes in sense from the common
version were more numerous than those of the Union's version, and that the
renderings in that version were verbatim in hundreds of cases with those of the
Union's version." - 247:909, 911
"The changes thus far are in the right direction and should contain the germs of a new theology. Every age must produce its own theology. Such a theology will prepare the way for the reunion of Christendom." - 208.142
This apostasy from the traditional Scriptures is promoted in Evangelical Bible schools and seminaries.
"The evangelicals...are beginning to provide the philosophical components that are vital in developing a reformulated theological doctrine for a NEW ORDER and a new covenant. Their success in building an educational infrastructure and an organizational base for social action will be crucial in determining whether they will be able to sustain a mass movement for fundamental change." - 40:169
"Ronald F. Cook, a professor of religion at the University of Southern California, said that since the 1970s, 'There has been a shift away from New Testament scholars being solely interested in the New Testament.' He added that in terms of historical research, 'The distinction between canonical and noncanonical has disappeared, at least among scholars.'" - 196
"It to restate a truism that what is avant-garde for one generation is taught to the next in the schools. By the third generation, it has become an accepted part of the unperceived assumptions on which every day life is based." - 33:471-2
The apostasy has now spread through entire denominations through the agency of false prophets and teachers.
"Dr. Funk, founder of the Jesus Seminar...said that when speaking to church groups, he finds people open not only to non-biblical texts but also to discussion of theological questions far beyond Christianity's conventional bounds." - 196
The apostate Church will be large and materially prosperous, but spiritually bankrupt.
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: - Rev. 3:14-17
The apostate Church will prepare the way for the Antichrist.
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. - II Thes. 2:9-12
GREAT TRIBULATION / GOLDEN AGE
PERVERSION OF SCRIPTURE
Many bibles have mistranslated the Greek word 'apostasia', thereby removing reference to a last days 'falling away' from the faith. Also, the failure of the KJV to translate the definite article for "the" in the Greek Textus Receptus minimizes the magnitude of the last days falling away, which will surpass any other apostasy in Church history. The NKJV was careful to translate the definite article for "the" preceding "apostasia" in the Greek Text.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 | mh <3361> {NOT} tiV <5100> {ANYONE} umaV <5209> {YOU} exapathsh <1818> (5661) {SHOULD DECEIVE} kata <2596> {IN} mhdena <3367> {ANY} tropon <5158> {WAY,} oti <3754> {BECAUSE [IT WILL NOT BE]} ean <1437> mh <3361> {UNLESS} elqh <2064> (5632) {SHALL HAVE COME} h <3588> {THE} apostasia <646> {APOSTASY} prwton <4412> {FIRST,} kai <2532> {AND} apokalufqh <601> (5686) {SHALL HAVE BEEN REVEALED} o <3588> {THE} anqrwpoV <444> thV <3588> {MAN} amartiaV <266> {OF SIN,} o <3588> {THE} uioV <5207> thV <3588> {SON} apwleiaV <684> {OF PERDITION,}
2 Thessalonians 2:3
NKJV - Let no one deceive you by any means; for [that Day will not come] unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition
KJV - Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed.
NIV, RSV, NLT, CEV, Good News - ...until the rebellion occurs...
Cranmer, Coverdale - ...the departynge first...
Tyndale, Geneva, Breeches, Beza - ...a departing first...
Wycliffe, Vulgate - ...dissencioun, dissencio
PERSONAL APPLICATION
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. - John 7:24
Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away... But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. - Matt. 13:3-6,20-21
For it is IMPOSSIBLE for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, TO RENEW THEM AGAIN TO REPENTANCE; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. - Heb. 6:4-8
23-C. FALSE TEACHERS & PROPHETS (New Religious Movements)
PREMISE
|
God's Plan |
Pre-Flood Era | Old Testament |
Church Age |
(Last Days) |
Tribulation |
Great Tribulation |
Millennium |
New Heavens/New Earth |
|
Satan's Counterfeit |
Pre-Flood Era | Old Testament |
Church Age |
Tribulation |
Great Tribulation |
Golden Age |
New Heavens & New Earth | |
PROGRAM OF GOD
Pre-Flood Era: God raised up Enoch as His prophet.
Old Testament/Church Age: God used His prophets to write Scripture.
Tribulation/First 3.5 Years: God's two witnesses will prophesy for 1,260 days before being killed.
Great Tribulation: God's prophets will instruct many concerning the Tribulation events; many of these prophets will be killed.
The Millennium: God will destroy the false prophets and raise up Millennial prophets.
PROGRAM OF SATANIC DUPLICATION
Pre-Flood Era: The occult views Adam as the first prophet.
Old Testament Period: The nation of Israel silenced and destroyed the true prophets of God and were led into apostasy by false prophets.
Church Age: Satan introduced false prophets and new religious movements into the Church.
Tribulation: Rome will persecute God's prophets; false prophets and new religious movements will deliver many into the one world religion.
Great Tribulation: The False Prophet will do miracles and cause many to worship the Antichrist and receive his mark.
PROPHETIC DISPENSATIONS
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. - Jude 14-15
...according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: - Rom. 16:26
Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. - I Pet. 1:10-12
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth... And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. - Rev. 11:3,7
And they that understand among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil many days. - Dan.11:33
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness - Ro.1:18
God will destroy the false prophets and raise up Millennial prophets.
In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. - Zech. 13:1,2
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: - Joel 2:28
PROGRAM OF SATAN
The occult views Adam as the first prophet.
"There is a record in the Talmud of a heretical sect of Jews called Melchizedekians who frequented Hebron to worship the body (consult the spirit?) of Adam which was buried in the cave of Machpelah... For Adam...seems to have been the original oracular hero of Machpelah." - 406:161
"...Rosslyn Chapel, built on a site of sacred significance since the Stone Age, once used by the Druids as the oracle of Saturn, was the supreme centre of initiation in pre-Renaissance Western Europe." - 266:193
The nation of Israel killed or otherwise tried to silence the true prophets of God, and were led into apostasy by false prophets.
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD. - Jer. 23:30-32
Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: - Is. 30:10
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. - Matt. 23:29-31
The occult views the Sibylline Oracle in Greece as a prophet of the New World Order (aka Age of the Spirit).
"...Quotation from the 4th Decalogue...by Virgil from the mystic Sibylline records... 'A mighty order of the ages is born anew. Both the prophetic Virgin and Saturnian kingdoms now return.'" - 410:71
The belief system of false prophets is occult mysticism.
"The church needs to recognize that cults are only part of a much larger and more seductive deception known as the New Age movement ... based upon religious experiences and beliefs that have their roots in Eastern mysticism." - 14:7
" ... most Christians are so uninformed about occultism that they wouldn't recognize it except in its most blatant forms." - 14:12
The Prieuré de Sion reveals and promotes its agenda through false prophets and the monastic movement.
"Many of Nostradamus' prophecies...may not have been prophecies at all. They may have been cryptic messages, cyphers, schedules, timetables, instructions, blueprints for action.... According to Gerard de Sade, as well as to popular legend, Nostradamus, before embarking on his career as a prophet, spent considerable time in Lorraine. This would appear to have been some sort of novitiate, or period of probation, after which he was supposedly initiated into some portentous secret... He is said to have an ancient and arcane book, on which based all his own subsequent work. And this book was reportedly divulged to him at...the mysterious Abbey of Orval...where our research suggested the Prieuré de Sion may have had its inception." - 31:170
"The main idea was, it is claimed, to form a 'secret government', with Godefroi de Bouillon - one of the leaders of the First Crusade - as the prime mover. In the Holy Land, Godefroi encountered an organization called the Church of John and, as a result, 'formed a great design'. He 'gave his sword to the service of the Church of John, that esoteric and initiatory Church which represented the Tradition, that which BASED ITS PRIMACY ON THE SPIRIT.' It was from this grand design that both the Priory of Sion - the organization that always names its Grand Masters 'John' - and the Knights Templar were formed.
"And as Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair says through Deloux and Bretigny: 'Thus, at the start of the twelfth century, were brought together the means, spiritual and temporal, which came to permit the realization of the sublime dream of Godefroi de Bouillon; the Order of the Temple would be the sword bearers of the Church of John and the standard bearers of the premier dynasty, the arm that obeyed the spirit of Sion.' The outcome of this fervent 'Johnism' was to be a 'spiritual renaissance' that would 'turn Christianity upside down'." - 242:55
Satan’s plants false prophets and teachers so that people will look to heretical/occultic movements instead of God's Word for the truth.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. - II Tim.4.3-4
"On Sunday morning, April 13, 1986, I heard the following prophecy: At the beginning of the twentieth century, when God looked down from heaven at the church, what He saw looked like a giant 747 airliner, but with no engines. He then set out to attach four giant engines of faith and power to the body of the plane, so that the church would have the power to come to Him where He is, up in the realms of glory. Each of these four engines represents one of the four major moves of God’s Spirit ordained for this century: 1) The Pentecostal Movement, 2) The Faith-Healing Movement, 3) The Charismatic Movement, and 4) The Hebrew Movement. All four are sovereignly ordained of God and coordinate and interrelate in His mind. Each successive move builds upon the last, but each has its own distinctives. None are perfect, but they all have something from God to contribute to His plan. The prophecy said that God was now beginning to attach the fourth and final 'engine' -- the Hebrew Movement." - 227
"...The Charismatic movement has already shown itself to be a 'potentially' powerful force in the...reformulation of Christian doctrine." - 40:179
See: The Hebrew Roots Movement*
Chronology of Major Movements: Ecumenism, Pentecostalism & Zionism*
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. - Rev. 18:24
And many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many. - Matt. 24:11
False prophecy teachers will make false applications of Bible prophecy (i.e., the Pope is the Antichrist) to mislead the apostate Church.
"About the time of the end, a body of men shall rise up and turn their attention to Bible prophecy and insist on their literal interpretation in the midst of much clamor and opposition." -- Sir Isaac Newton
See: The {False} Prophecy Club*
A movement for a "new Reformation" of the Church will front for the Antichrist in order to unify, identify and destroy his opposition.
“At a recent meeting of evangelical Lutheran and Roman Catholic traditionalists, Bishop Graber (the RC Bishop of Regensberg) drew our attention to the famous ecumenical vision of the Russian Orthodox philosopher Wladimir Solowjew, who in 1899 - shortly before his sudden death - wrote his remarkable ‘Short Narrative of the Antichrist’. Ever since then I have heard confessing Christians from different churches refer to the same vision when confronted with the vexing problem of uniting the three main confessions within Christianity: The Roman Catholic, the Orthodox and the Protestant churches. Solowjew in his narrative tells us in a blending of prophetic and poetic style about the coming appearance of that ominous biblical figure – ironically enough at a final ecumenical council in Jerusalem – who by his fascinating offer to restore the three historic confessions to their former glory will cause both the final polarization within Christianity and its re-unification at the same time, a re-unification in a contradictory way: There will be majority groups from each of the three confessions who enthusiastically hail this religious world ruler as the true Saviour of Christianity, and who by accepting his offer find their corporate unity in their loyalty to Him as their sole protector. At the same time there will be three minority groups within those confessional blocks - each one represented by a symbolical reincarnation of the three Apostles Peter, John and Paul - who by spiritual discernment realize the fraud of his offer and recognize Him as the predicted Antichrist. In the moment, when the wrath of him turns against them, they also realize their basic oneness amongst themselves that consists in the unfainting loyalty to the biblical Christ, who is the eternal Son of God incarnate in the Son of Mary. Thus the utter persecution of Christianity will be the fiery test by which the genuineness of faith in its threefold confessional expression will be revealed and realized in the unification of the true flock of Christ.” (Peter Beyerhaus) - 822
The True Ecumenism
“It would seem that alongside the apostate ecumenical structures of the false church, and the futile dreams of the New Evangelicalism, there is a realignment of genuine Christians taking place today which transcends manmade denominations and secondary belief systems. It is, if you will, the true ecumenism. This realignment of the Church embraces those who may not previously have fellowshipped together precisely because of the sectarianism of denominational structures and the division occasioned by superficial beliefs, but who are now prepared to do so on the basis of the great foundations of Holy Scripture and a common desire unequivocally to denounce heresy. And surely that is what the Church is really all about — a people of the Book, a little flock sheltering under the Cross, sitting at the feet of Jesus, who may differ superficially but who know what must stand lest the entire structure falls.
Prepared for the Coming Tribulation
“It has been the same throughout the whole of Church history: While true doctrine is continually hammered out on the dark anvil of heresy, so true fellowship is discovered through the inevitable exposing of false brethren (1Cor.11:19; 1Jn.2:19). For the Lord, through a dramatic sifting process, is presently gathering His children — not into cosy ecumenical committees, organisations and camaraderie-based steering groups, but into powerful and meaningful spiritual alliances. Only through such organisms can true unity come. How else will we withstand the time of severe tribulation which is surely close at hand, and through which we are Divinely called to be unflinching witnesses.” (Alan Morrison) - 821
See: The New Age Ties of the Apologetics Ministries*
The Conspiracy Was Strong: The Discernment Ministries*
Another Jesus Revolution? Antipas' CIA Connections*
GREAT TRIBULATION / GOLDEN AGE
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. - Rev. 13:11-17
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. - Rev. 19:20
See: Candidate for False Prophet 24.F
PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE
Prophets of the Lord are ‘holy’ men.
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. - 2 Peter 1:2
Modern versions omit 'holy'.
Revelation 22:6
KJV - And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
NIV - omits "holy"
NASV - omits "holy"
PERSONAL APPLICATION
False prophets cause apostasy.
And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him. And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? - Acts 13:6-10
False prophets do speak some truth.
· False prophets/teachers labor for personal gain rather than the welfare of God’s people.
The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. - Micah 3:11
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. - 2 Peter 2:1-3
But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. – John 10:12,13
· Prophets who speak falsely must be rejected.
But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. - Deut. 18:20-22
Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. - Jer. 14:14-15
