Monthly Archives: September 2016

The Three Part False Prophet Test

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fingerHave you ever considered the “why” behind the rise of false prophets?

What may be a shock to us is the fact that according to scripture, false prophets arise for the testing of God’s people. These tests are not for God’s sake in order that He may learn things about us, as if God is somehow unaware of the choices we will make. He knows all things exhaustively, past, present or future. The Psalmist declared, “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.” (Psalm 139:4). He already knows what we as humans will do.

God never learns anything because He knows all things and what is more, He has always known them. We refer to this exhaustive knowledge of God as His omniscience, stemming from the words “omni” meaning “all”, and “science”, referring to “knowledge’.

EVEN THE DEVIL IS GOD’S DEVIL
Martin Luther, in speaking of God’s Sovereignty over all things once famously said, “Even the devil is God’s devil.” What he meant by that is that even though the devil’s intention is to hurt, injure, deceive – to kill, steal and destroy – God also has a purpose when allowing him room to do so.

Behind every false prophet is a false spirit, and behind that, is the devil himself, who with evil intentions is seeking to lure his prey into deception. God’s people are warned about this in very clear terms and in His grace, He has given us three definite tests we are to use in order that we can determine the legitimacy (or otherwise) of any so called prophet:

TEST NUMBER 1: DOES THE ‘PROPHET’ TELL US TO FOLLOW A FALSE GOD?

Deut. 18: 15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’

TEST NUMBER 2: DOES WHAT THE ‘PROPHET’ SAID COME TO PASS?

Deut. 18: 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

TEST NUMBER 3: EVEN IF THE THING SAID DOES COME TO PASS, WHICH ‘GOD’ IS THE ‘PROPHET’ WISHING US TO FOLLOW?

Deut 13: 1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

This passage is especially revealing. We are told that even when seemingly real (legitimate) signs and wonders (things that hold up to scrutiny and empirical observations) – yes, even when signs and wonders occur under the “ministry” of a false prophet, if he is proclaiming a false God, the signs and wonders performed are God’s means of testing His people. Do not be fooled. If the prophet is proclaiming a false ‘god’ reject the messenger without hesitation, along with his message. Do not, I repeat, do not listen to him!

DO WE GET THIS?

We are far too often impressed by the supernatural. Though God can and does intervene in the course of nature, sometimes even dramatically, we must be cognizant of the fact that the supernatural is not always a sign of truth. Jesus did real miracles as did His Apostles. And yet, while a sign and a wonder can be a legitimate authenticating proof of a message being from God, Scripture also states that it can indeed be a testing ground for His people. We are told in this passage that when a false prophet performs a sign or a wonder, God is testing His people to see what is in their hearts. False prophets, though in the employ of the devil himself, are therefore Divinely sent tests to see if we truly love God with all our hearts.

DON’T FOLLOW EVERY SIGN

NEWYORK9If you start your journey in Florida (on the east coast of the United States) and wish to get to California (on the west coast), my advice is that you do not follow signs to New York (in the north east of the country). Should you do so, it could well be the case that every mile you travel will take you further and further away from your intended destination.

In the same way, if you see a sign, ask yourself this question: where is this sign pointing me to? And know this: A true (God appointed) sign will point you away from the person performing the sign, and to the one true God revealed in Scripture as the Trinity – one in essence and three in Person, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is the Sovereign, holy, majestic One who rules heaven and earth, declaring the end from the beginning and accomplishing everything He sets out to do (Isaiah 46:8-11). Any other “god” is a complete fraud; a “god” who cannot save, for in reality, he does not actually exist.

Charles Spurgeon Speaking Tips

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sp057Article: 10 Public Speaking Tips from Charles Spurgeon by Christian George (original source Edison-Bell Record Company recorded a two-minute audio clip of his son, Thomas, reading an excerpt of his father’s sermon. But Thomas’s voice was was “not quite that of Charles Spurgeon, not quite so strong and not quite so musical” (Fullerton, 167). Besides, Thomas took after his mother in countenance; his brother, Charles Jr., favored their father.

Charles Spurgeon spoke more quickly, too – 140 words per minute. His voice was described as “a silver bell” (The Eclectic Review, January-June, 1867) and “sweet and musical; with a rich under-current that always reminds us of the roll of the organ” (Falkirk Herald, February 6, 1868).

James Sheridan Knowles, an Irish actor who would have been Spurgeon’s elocution teacher at Stepney College, told his students:

[Spurgeon] is only a boy, but he is the most wonderful preacher in the world. He is absolutely perfect in his oratory; and, beside that, a master in the art of acting. He has nothing to learn from me, or anyone else. He is simply perfect. He knows everything. He can do anything. . . . Why, boys, he can do anything he pleases with his audience! He can make them laugh, and cry, and laugh again, in five minutes (Autobiography 1:354).

The actor was not exaggerating. In 1855, 21-year-old Spurgeon wrote in a letter to his brother, “I believe I could secure a crowded audience at dead of night in a deep snow” (Autobiography 2:99). The very next year, a biography was published in New York comparing the young preacher to George Whitefield. He was also compared to Sims Reeves – one of the most popular opera singers of the century.

So what was Spurgeon’s secret? How did the “Prince of Preachers” master the art of public speaking? Here are ten tips from Spurgeon’s lecture “On the Voice” (Lectures to My Students 11:117-135).

1. Posture Up!

“Do not speak with your hands in your waistcoat pockets so as to contract your lungs, but throw the shoulders back, as public singers do.”

“Do not lean over a desk while speaking, and never hold the head down on the breast while preaching. Upward rather than downward let the body bend.”

“Off with all tight cravats and button-up waistcoats; leave room for the full play of the bellows and the pipes.”

2. Speak with Your Mouth, Not Your Throat or Nose.

“Open wide the doors from which such godly truth is to march forth.”

“One of the surest ways to kill yourself is to speak from the throat instead of the mouth.”

“Evangelists have written of our Lord, ‘He opened his mouth and taught them.’”

“Avoid the use of the nose as an organ of speech, for the best authorities are agreed that it is intended to smell with.”

3. “R” ticulate.

“Abhor the practice of some men, who will not bring out the letter “r” such a habit is ‘vewy wuinous and wediculous, vewy wetched and wepwehensible.’”

“Take great care of the consonants, enunciate every one of them clearly; they are the features and expression of the words. . . . The vowels have a voice of their own, and therefore they can speak for themselves.”

“Excessively rapid speaking, tearing and raving into utter rant, is quite as inexcusable; it is not, and never can be powerful, except with idiots, for it turns what should be an army of words into a mob, and most effectually drowns the sense in floods of sound.” Continue reading →

Protection from Deception

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Text: Matthew 24:1-15

Deceived people, deceive people: Jesus made it clear that a key feature of the end times would be pervasive deception on a scale that if possible, would deceive even the elect. Thankfully, God has shown us how we can protect ourselves from this deception while remaining constantly vigilant as we pursue His truth.