That is not what Jesus meant. This is clear from the context... but you reject the relevance of context. Nowhere in Scripture does it say or even hint that "the letter" means "the literal and physical interpretation of the word of God".
How do we distinguish false Christ & false Prophets according to Our Lord?
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By tying "true prophet" to a particular English translation of Scripture, you have made yourself a false teacher.
Unfortunately, human reasoning is always used when we read the words of scripture and is quite capable of misinterpreting what we read. The natural world is cited as a second source of knowledge about God and His nature, but when what we believe about the natural world and about scripture conflict, far too often we decide that our interpretation of scripture "must" be correct and thus we ignore the evidence form the natural world. A far safer approach is to accept that if knowledge from scripture and knowledge from the natural world conflict, then we are misunderstanding at least one of our two sources and need to rethink both.
Unfortunately, if one tells an honest scientist that humanity seems to know about 5% of what can be learned from the natural world the scientist will likely respond that the speaker is very optimistic about our knowledge.
From my studies, I think the most overlooked passage for understanding both is Psalm 23. It seems to describe aspects of reality that we usually do not encounter and thus ignore from both the scientific side as well as the biblical one. There will likely be a few in this forum who can catch what I am referring to, but likely 90-95% will not have a clue.
Unfortunately, if one tells an honest scientist that humanity seems to know about 5% of what can be learned from the natural world the scientist will likely respond that the speaker is very optimistic about our knowledge.
From my studies, I think the most overlooked passage for understanding both is Psalm 23. It seems to describe aspects of reality that we usually do not encounter and thus ignore from both the scientific side as well as the biblical one. There will likely be a few in this forum who can catch what I am referring to, but likely 90-95% will not have a clue.
Psalm 23 is overlooked because people read it devotionally instead of observationally.
The text is not sentimental; it is descriptive—David is reporting conditions of reality that most modern readers have never experienced, and therefore cannot interpret.
The psalm assumes a world in which the Shepherd is not merely comforting but actively structuring the environment around the believer, bending circumstances, enemies, danger, and even the believer’s internal state.
That is the part almost everyone misses.
The psalm describes layers of reality—physical, psychological, spiritual, and eschatological—operating simultaneously.
When David says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures,” he is not describing relaxation; he is describing compulsion toward rest, a divine override of human instinct.
When he says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies,” he is describing a reality in which danger and provision coexist, something science cannot model and most Christians cannot imagine.
The psalm assumes that the Shepherd’s presence alters the environment more fundamentally than any natural process.
That is why only a small minority catch what you’re pointing at:
Psalm 23 is not about comfort; it is about the structure of reality under divine governance, a reality modern people rarely perceive because they assume the world is closed, mechanistic, and self‑contained.
You describe it differently than I would, but I agree. It is almost like someone attempting to describe the color blue to someone who has been blind from birth. Language is used that the listener can understand while attempting to describe something beyond their expereiences.
DavidLamb:
It is easy to point fingers at ancient "false prophets" when it comes to defending a medieval theology. You have 600 yrs of people who have encapsulated, packaged and sold your lineage what you believe. You have handed down proof texts validating every jot and tiddle of your adopted theology framework. IMHO, The ancient and modern false prophets are easily identified by the fulcrum of all truth, Jesus the Christ, not in what they claim to believe but in converted, servant and loving lives.
Jesus mission, among others, was to spread the love of God and the love of neighbor. He ate with the sinners of his time, thus the educated Hebrew Bible scholars of His time called Him a false prophet because he preached love and healing for the sick, unloved and exploited of His day. He called sinners out of the tree tops to eat with them. He found cheating tax collectors who God also loved. He found humble fisherman that no person would ever listen to about spiritual reality. Jesus lived with people whose conscience was seared with a hot iron for denying Christ three times when Jesus needed him most, yet the love of God for them remained.
Today, we equate "theological failures" and life failures as those condemned by God. Jesus saw the opposite. He saw in every failed human life an eternal value. Jesus call was a call to the humble, the poor, those in need of physical and spiritual healing. Those whose "religion" stood between them and God.
I am sorry my friend but the whole argument collapses because it replaces the Bible’s definition of a false prophet with a vibes‑based “Jesus liked broken people” ethic that has nothing to do with how Scripture actually identifies false teachers.
Yes, Jesus ate with sinners — but that’s not why the religious leaders called Him a false prophet; they called Him false because they rejected His authority and His claims (John 5:18, John 10:33).
The Bible never defines false prophets by “lack of love,” “religious elitism,” or “failure to serve the poor”; it defines them by speaking what God did not speak (Deut 18:20–22), producing corrupt fruit (Matt 7:15–23), deceiving with signs (Matt 24:24), and teaching demonic doctrine (1 Tim 4:1–3).
The second argument tries to make “converted, servant, loving lives” the test of truth, but Jesus Himself says many false prophets will look loving, powerful, and impressive — and still be rejected (“I never knew you,” Matt 7:23). Loving sinners is good; it’s Christlike — but it is not the biblical test for prophetic authenticity.
The biblical test is whether someone speaks God’s truth, teaches sound doctrine, and bears fruit consistent with obedience to Christ. So the debate resolves simply: one side is appealing to Jesus’ compassion as the definition of truth; the other is appealing to Scripture’s actual criteria. And Scripture wins that argument every time.
OMC:
Well written, but i think you misunderstand my point. There have always been false prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. They cannot hurt us now. They have no power except to assist in waging theological warfare against competing Christian theologies. Even then, their power is constrained by apologists from all sides of the Christian community arguing their points of theologica perfection = all other Christians in the broader Christian community are based on "false Prophets."
But IMHO these are not the fatal blows to authentic Christianity because authentic Christianity is the lived experience of Christ followers in their day to day lives. One can be a devoted Christian without understanding the Trinity of the early 4th century. The intuitive instinct of Christ imitators and sectarian warriors is that if God can be reduced to a magic formula in "our box" then all other boxes are false prophets.
A false prophet is anyone who claims nodding their head or raising their hand to a 60 second pulpit prayer guarantees eternal salvation. A false prophet teaches you can intellectually conceptualize everything you need to be saved so your life remains your own to do with as you please while God is forced to write your name in His book of life. A false prophet is one telling you that you have a right to hate certain people, certain kinds, certain addictions. A false prophet is one delivers only their favorite 16th century writer as the exclusive basis of Christianity.
The single biggest false prophecy is that Christianity is about a unique and mostly ancient orthodoxy. Christianity is changed lives. One in which we surrender our lives to Jesus. All paths leading to the Lordship of Jesus are heresy to thousands who want to restrict access and define His rules and His kind of people and His theology but just not His total claim on our life.
Today's false prophets say God wants you rich and the path to those riches is to make the Church/Pastor wealthy. Those who teach those we deem unworthy are seen by Jesus as unworthy. Those who would crush under their heels legitimate questions about their "right" orthodoxy. Those that teach by example, by tradition and by brittle orthodoxies that the poor, the sick, the addicted, the abandoned, the prisoner, the wrong race or ethnicity, the foreigner, the sexually confused, and the unhygienic are all the government's problem, because we are here to "save souls." Which is modernese for "I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole."
We how are devoted to biblical scholarship owe the world a clear picture of what salvation is and is not and what you claim to believe is only real if it changes your life toward the lived example of Jesus.
IMHO, faithful people can honestly believe various theological perspectives but all must come to Jesus on Jesus terms, His total Sovereignty and our submission to His will and His mission. While Isaiah might not have had Christianity in his mind, his observation even more powerful and pertinent today.
The dictionary defines repent as “feeling sorry or having regret.” But the words Jesus spoke meant a great deal more. The Biblical word repent means “to change or to turn.” It is a word of power and action—signifying a person’s complete turnabout. Jesus calls us to repent, turn away from sin, and walk in the opposite direction from sin and all that it implies.
When the Prodigal Son realized that he had sinned against his father, he got up and left the pig pen of sin and returned to his father. He didn’t just feel sorry for his sin. He wasn’t passive about it. He turned his feet in the other direction and headed home. He sought out his father and humbled himself before him, and then he was forgiven.
Many professing Christians don’t follow what the Bible teaches as repentance, thinking that it is little more than shaking their heads over their sins and saying, “I’m so sorry I did that,” and then continuing to live just as they had lived before. It’s possible to be convicted of sin and even shed tears over sins, and yet not repent.
Not one verse in the Bible indicates a person can be a Christian and live any kind of life he or she wants. When Christ enters into the human heart, He expects to be Lord and Master or nothing at all. He commands complete surrender. He requires that we be subject to Him, and He empowers His people to seek His desires and obey His commands. Isaiah, while not necessary talking about the Christianity of some 700 yrs later, saw that simple obedience to God is vastly more simple than we conceive it to be. "The way of salvation and righteousness—is so plain, well-marked, and straightforward that even a simple traveler (a "wayfaring man") or someone completely lacking in worldly wisdom ("though fools") will not get lost in it."
You didn’t misunderstand my point — you shifted the definition.
Scripture defines false prophets by objective revelation tests (Deut 18),
objective fruit tests (Matt 7),
objective doctrine tests (1 Tim 4), and
objective deception tests (Matt 24).
Your definition replaces those with subjective moral impressions:
“changed lives,”
“Christ‑imitators,”
“surrender,” “compassion,”
“rejecting elitism,”
“not reducing God to a box,”
“not hating certain people,”
“not following 16th‑century writers,”
“not preaching prosperity,”
“not ignoring the poor,”
“not restricting access,”
“not crushing questions,”
“not being brittle,”
“not being sectarian.”
Those may be true ethical critiques, but they are not the biblical definition of a false prophet.
False Christs and false prophets shall arise according to Matthew 24.
(KJV Matthew 24:23-24). “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 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.”
The Bible instructs us not to be afraid of the false prophet who lies.
(KJV Deuteronomy 18:22) “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."
We are warned to beware of false prophets. We will be able to recognize the false Christs and false prophets by their fruit.
(KJV Matthew 7:15) “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
(KJV Matthew 7:17-18) “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
(KJV Matthew 7:19-20) “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
The scripture says that who ever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God.
(KJV 2 John 1:9) “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.”
God tells us that the Scripture is given by inspiration of God for correction.
(KJV 2 Timothy 3:16-17) “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
(KJV Galatians 1:8-9) “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
I think there's been a lot of good answers to this question however the reality is that the devil who has control of somebody can usually come across as your best friend being able to converse about Bible subjects offer advice Etc
Often they will have a slightly different view or angle on important verses for example Matthew 5:17 that the heavens and earth will not pass away until all is fulfilled regarding the prophecies about Jesus
It uses the term the "law and the profits" and cult groups like SDA and Hebrew roots will tell you this verse means that the Mosaic law is still in effect because heaven and Earth haven't passed away.
But the truth of that verse is simply saying the Old Testament, the Tanak.. will not fade away untill all the prophecy are fulfilled. Even if it were to be the way they say it was it doesn't say anything about it being binding and in particular on gentiles since they were never under the Mosaic law and the fact is the the tanak will not fade away it's part of the Christian Bible and it literally will never disappear from us.
The key to this verse is understanding that everybody in that time would have understood the reference in that statement to mean the the tanak. In that same verse it shortens this same reference to "law" because again contextually the listeners would know exactly what he was saying.
Diagram the sentence there are two "until" clauses which makes the statement ambiguous without understanding the context and thus they derive their foundational first to support their heretical theology.
I think there's been a lot of good answers to this question however the reality is that the devil who has control of somebody can usually come across as your best friend being able to converse about Bible subjects offer advice Etc
Often they will have a slightly different view or angle on important verses for example Matthew 5:17 that the heavens and earth will not change until all is fulfilled regarding the prophecies about Jesus
It uses the term the "law and the profits" and cult groups like SDA and Hebrew roots will tell you this verse means that the Mosaic law is still in effect because heaven and Earth haven't passed away.
But the truth of that verse is simply saying the Old Testament, the Tanak.. will not change untill all the prophecy are fulfilled. Even if it were to be the way they say it was it doesn't say anything about it being binding and in particular on gentiles since they were never under the Mosaic law and the fact is the the law itself did change when jesus fulfilled the prophacys on the cross and ended the mosaic law
The key to this verse is understanding that everybody in that time would have understood the reference in that statement to mean the the tanak. In that same verse it shortens this same reference to "law" because again contextually the listeners would know exactly what he was saying.
Diagram the sentence there are two "until" clauses which makes the statement ambiguous without understanding the context and thus they derive their foundational first to support their heretical theology.
Often they will have a slightly different view or angle on important verses for example Matthew 5:17 that the heavens and earth will not change until all is fulfilled regarding the prophecies about Jesus
It uses the term the "law and the profits" and cult groups like SDA and Hebrew roots will tell you this verse means that the Mosaic law is still in effect because heaven and Earth haven't passed away.
But the truth of that verse is simply saying the Old Testament, the Tanak.. will not change untill all the prophecy are fulfilled. Even if it were to be the way they say it was it doesn't say anything about it being binding and in particular on gentiles since they were never under the Mosaic law and the fact is the the law itself did change when jesus fulfilled the prophacys on the cross and ended the mosaic law
The key to this verse is understanding that everybody in that time would have understood the reference in that statement to mean the the tanak. In that same verse it shortens this same reference to "law" because again contextually the listeners would know exactly what he was saying.
Diagram the sentence there are two "until" clauses which makes the statement ambiguous without understanding the context and thus they derive their foundational first to support their heretical theology.
Are we that worried about it? You can tell if someone is on the up and up. Are they preaching salvation? How many people are being saved at their church? Are they offering baptism to those who got saved? And we’re back to the basics of Christianity 101 again. Will we ever move on? How many people on here speak in tongues? How many have the gift of prophecy (to edify the church)? How many people have received these gifts and are now teachers?
You ask some credible questions, but you focus on the lesser gifts. What about how many people have the gift of healing or discernment (the ability to detect a demon even when it is trying to conceal itself or an angel if one appears)? Demons infiltrate churches and can then lead the entire congregation astray and actively shift praise from God to itself. I would rather have a pastor who can know a demon is present and trying to trick the church than one who claims tongues or prophesy, both of which a demon can fake if it is not caught.Are we that worried about it? You can tell if someone is on the up and up. Are they preaching salvation? How many people are being saved at their church? Are they offering baptism to those who got saved? And we’re back to the basics of Christianity 101 again. Will we ever move on? How many people on here speak in tongues? How many have the gift of prophecy (to edify the church)? How many people have received these gifts and are now teachers?
How do we pick out false prophets or false Christians? It's very easy if your qualified to do so.
The first thing I do when talking to anyone concerning God or His word , I ask them their understanding of faith and faithing, pistis and pisteuo.
If they don't recognize NT faith and faithing, pistis and pisteuo correctly, there's no way they can have the Spirit of Christ in them.
Most of the time, the people I ask have no idea they they are on the wide path and aren't fulfilling faith and faithing correctly. And that dangerous part you referenced, is they have no desire to change that path, making them the perfect faither for the other side.
I’m just going on what Paul said in 1Cor, in desiring the best gifts, which he acknowledged that the gift of prophecy is better. Interestingly, I’ve seen that tongues is a vehicle for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. For the Christian, this is where everything happens.
Not true. You may have a better insight then others but no one can claim immunity o deception. The evil has had at 1000s of years perfecting his trade. Also the fact that God will allow Satan to test the believers (c.f. Job) is clear indication of this.
These are usually the very things that Satan mimics or uses to deceive with. While I believe they are possible though I have yet to see anyone claiming these abilities to be true. Copeland, TBN, etc... At a more local level I've been in charismatic and Pentecostal churches.Are they preaching salvation? How many people are being saved at their church? Are they offering baptism to those who got saved? And we’re back to the basics of Christianity 101 again. Will we ever move on? How many people on here speak in tongues? How many have the gift of prophecy (to edify the church)? How many people have received these gifts and are now teachers?
Personally I believe I have the gift of spiritual discernment. However this has only happened a handful of times in a significant way and could simply be my brain correlated enough data in the environment to conclude the insights.
For Example:
I had an occasion to spend some time incarcerated. I was saved long before this but was way off the beaten path. Once I had been locked up a few months and every day we had inmate led bible study for one hour and church for one hour. This was not a jailhouse religion, al;though there is a lot of that. Many of these people were hurting, as was I, and a few were totally committed to changing their ways and being a better Christian and working hard while locked up to grow close to Jesus.
During this time my cell mate came to me with questions like "Was it a cross or a tree?, Was Jesus just a prophet? What does Jesus tell us when he returns... etc... As he brough these questions it occurred to me that whoever he was getting the questions from was asking question that undermind the biblical narrative. So I told my cellie to bring the guy who he was talking to to me and lets resolve all this.
At this point I could claim some form of discernment, but who knows. But when the other guy arrived he was a HUGE African American, all tattooed, bald and looked like a black version of Mr Clean. As we discussed these questions I began to see a vague aura (for lack of a better term) it was like a super imposed coloration over the outline of his body and on his bald head were ethereal like horn on his head very small and a tiny V shaped goatee. Immediately when i saw this he looked up at me and in defense of his position in the debate said "Im a Muslim"... Im not suggesting the Devil looks like this but I am suggestion mhy spirit showed me this motif so I could understand it. This to me was clear spiritual discernemnt.
Interesting. Wow. Yep, you definitely saw something. Muslims have a strong deception on them. Maybe God led the guy across your path to pray for.