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Discerning the False Prophets and Antichrists
(Overcomer Wu)

“An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land:
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and My people love to have it so. but what will you do in the end?” -- Jeremiah 5:30-31

False prophets, false apostles, and antichrists are much talked about in the Bible concerning the last days before the Lord's second Advent. They come not as atheist or agnostics, but among Christendom as wolves in sheep clothing with behaviors that act so outwardly respectful, but inwardly they are an abomination to the Lord and full of deceits! Even from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Himself, we are sternly warned of their coming in Matthew chapter 7 and in chapter 24:5, 11, 24. In the passage of Jeremiah chapter five quoted above, the Lord was about to judge His people who have followed after these wicked false prophets. We are told: “For among My people are found wicked men; They lie in wait as one who sets snares; They set a trap; They catch men. As a cage is full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit.” (Jer 5:26-27). These false prophets/apostles are catching men not for Christ, but to be followers of themselves and to be their prey by sapping away their loyalty and wealth with their smooth tongues. Thus, verse 27 continues, “Therefore they have become great and grown rich.”

These antichrists and false apostles/prophets have and will continue to come to God's elect to try to deceive them, but praise the Lord that He gave us the signs and marks on how to discern them:

1. Purity

The first sign by which we can discern these false apostles and false prophets is shown to us plainly in Jeremiah 5:27 which we have quoted above: “Therefore they (referring to the false prophets) have become great and grown rich.” I called this “purity” in reference to our hearts. We need to serve the Lord purely out of love for the Lord and for the saints and not for filthy mammon. I have yet to meet a truly faithful servant of God who is filthy rich, because when they have gain a larger sum of money, they use it immediately for the Lord's cause or to give to the needy saints as the Lord leads. In contrast, the false apostles and prophets are rich because they are not being good stewards of the Lord's money entrusted to them by using them to gratify themselves in buying luxurious things and enjoying life by touring the world for their own enjoyment. Yes, everything that we have belongs to the Lord and not just a tenth part of it as we are told clearly in 1 Corinthians 4:7: “What do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” Some may say that what they got is from their own hard labor. Well, if the Lord doesn't bless your labor as He did to Jacob and Joseph in the Old Testament and many other characters in the Bible, do you think they will reap in much? In the case of Haggai, we saw the opposite was the case that they labor much but reap in little because the Lord did not bless them and the Lord liken them to earning wages to put them into a bag with holes (Hag 1:6). Moreover, where did we all get our talent, ingenuity or intellect to be productive? Was it not the Lord who endowed you with such talents/gifts from birth? Thus, there is no question that everything we have belongs to the Lord. This is not to say that there are no faithful rich servants of Christ; however, they use their God-given wealth for His purpose and not to buy for themselves a BMW, Mercedez Benz cars, big mansions, Rolex watches, and other luxurious items. For instance, the well-renowned Dr. Billy Graham, who may have received much donations from people all over the world, yet he doesn't just tithe, that is give only one tenth of his income, but he gives 90% of his income to the Lord, His churches, and for the Lord's causes! And with what he has remaining, he used them to live a moderate life and not an extravagant life-style like many a famous preachers do these days.

In regards to what ought to be the proper attitude of a servant of the Lord towards money is most crucial because the false apostles and prophets inevitably ends up serving Mammon (money) rather than God. I will simply quote what our bro. Watchman Nee said eloquently concerning this matter:

“A worker who is not free from the influence and the love of money is useless in the Lord's hand and in His service. In fact, these kind of brothers simply cannot be considered true workers of God at all just as Balaam cannot be called a true prophet of God! If a worker cannot declare like the apostle Paul did with regard to money: “for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Phi.4:11b-12), he is useless as God's worker or you can say that He is simply not qualified to be God's worker. If a worker cannot be freed from the influence of money, he cannot be a minister of God; his way will surely be Balaam's way. Some people are easily touched by money; their sight and motives are easily affected by money. As a result, they are useless in God's eyes... though it may not be apparent in the eyes of some people. The way and the sin of Balaam is simply a way that is dictated by money. May the Lord be gracious to us so that we will all be delivered from the love of money.

It is a pity and shame for God's servant to be motivated and controlled by money! It is a shame to seek for guidance not by prostrating at God's feet but by following the direction of wealth! If a man is not fully delivered from money, he may be deep in money's bondage when he says that he is under God's leading to serve in a certain capacity or to go to visit certain churches. This is too shameful! The way of Balaam is a way that involves the selling of one's prophetic ministry (or any other ministry for that matter) for a profit. But the gospel of Christ is freely given, it is not not sold, neither is any ministry, gift, or function we received of the Lord be made merchandise of. Yet if any person who turn his God's given function or ministry into a business or make merchandise of God's gift, he has committed the sin of Balaam and it exposes that his heart is filled with covetousness. Colossians 3:5b says, “Covetousness, which is idolatry.” It is idolatry because such person worships Mammon, and himself – self-gratification, self-glory, self-aggrandizement, and selfish gains.”

As Christ said they should come to deceive the Lord's chosen ones, they did come and are still coming in droves; as can read in 1 John chapter 2 verses 18, 22, chapter 4 verse 1 and 2 John 1 verse 7. Who said, “Little children I write unto you, it is the last time whereof you have heard say that antichrist should come, even now are there many antichrists and false prophets already gone out into the world.” Thus the Lord Jesus Christ had said beforehand that they should come, and his disciples said they were come, which is about 20 centuries since and many have already come in various forms and capacities. However the worst of them all is yet to come. Starting from two verses later after the mentioning of these antichrists in verse 18, the apostle John who prophesied and saw their coming, reminded the saints on how to safeguard themselves against these false apostles and false workers filled with the spirit of the antichrist, namely, by turning to the Anointing Spirit within us (1 Jn 2:20), and the truth of God's Word without (1 Jn 2:21,24). As we heed and following the Anointing Spirit within and examine the teachings of these false apostles against the truths of God's Word, we will surely have the proper discernment and expose these subtle ravenous wolves in sheep clothing. This brings us to the next point of how to discern these false apostles and prophets.

2. Eventuality/Finality

Second, “A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit, neither can a good tree bring forth evil fruit; but yet if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect.” (Matt 24:24). Furthermore, we are told in Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” By the eventuality, finality, or the result of their work, we shall know them. Thus, we shall know them firstly by their fruits. Are they saying one thing, but their fruits and their deeds speak quite the opposite? Do they speak of the need to carry our cross and yet in their living and in their church practices, they refuse to deny themselves but rather promote themselves? And they even kick out those who disagree with them even in the slightest degree even though the disagreement is not over a basic tenet of our faith? They teach about the doctrine of oneness among Christians or the so-called ground of oneness and yet they are the most divisive of all Christians? These are indeed the wolves in sheep's clothing; The Lord warned us not go after them, for they are inwardly ravenous wolves. And these were the antichrists, and false prophets, false apostles, and deceivers that ravaged the churches and subtly draw away sheep to build up their own flocks and turn them away from the flock of the One True Good Shepherd, the one true Christ. Song of Songs chapter 1 verse 7 tells us, that there are these “flocks of the Your companions” who “veil” the seekers and lovers of the Lord from where the Lord is feeding His flock; therefore, it says, “Tell me, O you whom I love, where you feed your flock, where you make it rest at noon.” Yes, these may be the Lord's companions and are even true believers in Christ, yet they have their own agenda of building up their own ministry and their own followings, their own flocks, thus, those who are deceived by them are veiled and led away from where the Lord is feeding His flock.

3. Constitutionality

Third, you shall know them by their teachings. 2 Peter 2:1 says, “There were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.” I called this constitutionality because the Word of God, the Bible, is our constitution. Any teachings or practices that is contrary to God's Word clearly does not have its source in Christ. The more subtle of these false apostles and prophets will of course not teach any overt heresies such as man becoming God or that we need to worship them as gods. However, they use subtle means of glib speeches that apparently has much Biblical truths but sandwiched with hidden messages of self agenda and self promotions. Such false apostles/prophets may proclaim themselves to be the Moses of today... implying if not outrightly starting that the Lord speaks to them with the most up-to-date and the greatest revelations of all. In some cases, they do claim to have the “one unique ministry” of this age just as there was only one Moses in his age. Thus, everyone needs to listen to them, for they alone have the direct line of communication with the Lord on the throne. To this kind of claims, we simply need to remind ourselves what did God's Word tells us in the verse we just quoted in the previous paragraph? 1 John 2:20 tells us that the Anointing Spirit teaches us all things (of course, we need to have trained ears to hear the Spirit's speaking). Furthermore, in a clearer and plainer fashion, we are told in no uncertain terms in Hebrews 8:11, “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.”

In the New Testament, we no longer need to go through an intermediary like in the Old Testament dispensation. When the veil was torn by the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross to the Holiest of all it was not just for a privilege few of God's people to gain access to the throne of grace (Heb 10:19-20), but to all of God's redeemed and regenerated people as is clear from the context of the whole chapter in Hebrew chapter 10 and elsewhere in the Bible! Thus, there is no such thing as an exclusive direct line of fellowship and revelation given only to one person in this age or any age for that matter... yes, even in Moses' age, we saw the Lord did use Eldad and Medad to prophesy besides Moses. These ones who claimed to be Moses of today would even claim to have received direct revelations from God on how to build the church and thus all should listen to them, even though the mere fact of their visions being contrary to the Scriptures, God's pure, divine, unadulterated Word show that their visions are clearly false because they are contrary to God's written Word, which already contain the completed entire divine revelations of God. Thus, the prophet Jeremiah said with great lament in his book of Lamentations 2:14 says, “Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; ... But have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.” Moreover, Jeremiah 14:14 says, “And the LORD said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.”

4. Integrity

Fourth, we can discern these false prophets by their deeds. These glib preachers often speak one thing and practice another thing – much like the Pharisees of the Lord Jesus days. In other words, they do not practice what they preach. They may speak very eloquently on the message of the cross yet they are far from practicing the bearing of the cross in their church life or their personal life. Instead of bearing the cross in accepting those who differ from them in some matters of teachings, interpretations, or practices of the truths, they would dismiss them from service and find ways to even kick them out. They speak of caring for the saints and yet at the end of the day, they would uphold their agenda at the expense of losing any saints who simply cannot benefit from their agenda and are thus scattered and lost; therefore, they do not practice what they preach! They are simply the modern Pharisees of this age.

One of the most important points in this regard is that they all claim to uplift Christ as the Head of the Body, the Church and His Word as our Constitution; yet in their practices not only do not hold up to the scrutinizing light of God's Word by virtue of the fact that their practices are contrary to the clear teaching of God's Word in many areas, but they also uplift themselves very subtly by putting themselves in a pedestal higher than that of the Lord Jesus Christ our King, our only Potentate, and our Head. How do we discern that? Instead of leading people to Christ and to be dependent on Christ Himself directly, they have been attempting to lead people to be dependent on their ministry and their teachings. They may even teach that you don't need any other ministers' help whether in the form of verbal teachings or books; yet they secretly encourage people to even move fly from one country to another or one end of the country to the other end to listen to their own ministry, and read their own writings, if they have any. Also, in place of building up the churches in the various localities, they instead encourage people to move to their locality to build up and strengthen their ministry work. This is contrary to the clear principle of Ephesians 4:11-13, where we are told that the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherd-teachers are for the perfecting of the saints and for the building up of the Body of Christ, the Church. In short, these gifts are given by the Lord for the Church and not the opposite, which what these false apostles and prophets, evangelists practice: the churches and the saints are used by them for the building up of their own ministries.

5. Humility

Fifth is a perhaps the most important character of all that should be seen in any true apostles, prophets, or any workers of the Lord and is very much lacking in the false apostles/prophets/workers, namely, humility. One of the outstanding characters of one who has the godly spiritual authority is humility. In the same context where Paul recounted how with authority he confronted Peter for his hypocrisy in Galatians two, he made the wonderful declaration: "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20). As we mentioned earlier, it is only as Christ is living out through us can there be any realization of true spiritual authority. Paul had the authority over Peter at that moment because he maintained his crucified position in Christ and allowed Christ to have the headship. How can Christ live in and through us? It requires our acceptance of the humbling experience of having our self-life crucified. We of course would not dispute the fact that the authority was with the Lord Jesus (John 5:27, 10:18), and yet even He humbled Himself to wash his disciples' feet (John 13); and taking the form of a servant, He humbled Himself to die the shameful death of the cross (Phi 2:6-8) for the accomplishment of God's eternal plan. How much we need to take Christ as our pattern and have the humble mind of Christ (Phi 2:5).

Well, some may say, didn't Paul boast of his apostleship? Yes, he did. However firstly, we must remember that he was compelled to boast (2 Cor 12:11) to make his point for the sake of the Corinthian saints; it was not done voluntarily but with great reluctance. Secondly, Paul's boasting consists of his weaknesses (2 Cor. 12:5) not of his strengths. Here are a few instances of Paul's boasting, "Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have spent in the deep " (2 Cor 11:25) and "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I do not burn?" (2 Cor 11:29). This is in stark contrast to the one who may boast of how many messages he has given, in how many regions he has been ministering to, in asserting the indispensability of his ministry over others, etc. This kind of boasting definitely shows a lack of humility. May we learn to take on the mind of Christ – a mind of humility. One of the manifestations of one lacking in humility is the implementation of an exclusive ministry (due to one esteeming himself and his ministry higher than all others'), as opposed to an open ministry that treasure the various gifts given to the Body for her building up. By an exclusive ministry, we mean the practice of promoting certain person(s) alone as having exclusively the speaking ministry or is qualified to speak to the entire congregation, and the denial of a real speaking gift by other members of the church as indispensable for the edification of the saints. On the other hand, by an "open" ministry, we are not suggesting that every member of the Body has the speaking gift, which indeed is not the case; nor are we suggesting that anyone who has one of the speaking gifts (Eph 4:11, 1 Cor 12:8) has the liberty to minister at will in any meeting.

The openness we speak of and the liberty is for the Holy Spirit to move and speak through various gifted members according to His will, and not for the congregation to speak as they will. The formation of a strict human organization, a one-speaker system, and the imposition of a rigid religious program as seen in most Catholic and denominational groups has severely restricted the Spirit's speaking and movement in the church of Christ. Furthermore, by relying on these human arrangements, human methodologies, and by strictly adhering to a consistent one-speaker system supported by the proponents of an exclusive ministry (which some of them said that it is a common practice among Christianity, why not follow their system of Nicolaitans' system? The answer is simply and it is from the Lord Himself: He hates the teachings and the works of the Nicolaitans [Rev 2:6]), we are alleviated and restricted from following the anointing of the Spirit in the context of a church meeting. (This of course does not mean that a visiting apostle should not be given the full-time to speak as his time being there is limited as with the case of the apostle Paul visiting certain localities, it is customary for him to be given the full air-time to deliver God's message. There is however, no such thing as a resident apostle as I have pointed out in Watchman Nee's writing from his volumes of books entitled The Church and the Work published by CFP in another discourse previously.)

It is most ironical that the very practice that we once condemn most of Christianity of practicing, we have now come to embrace and without any feeling of having deviated from the clear teachings of God's Word! This serious departure from the healthy reliance upon the anointing of the Spirit and a deviation from God's pure Word are symptomatic of a spiritual declension and will inevitably lead to the deterioration of a local church. When a group starts practicing what they formerly seen and taught as being contrary to God's Word, it shows clearly that they too have become degraded to the point where they have to compromise their practice to accept what they formerly condemn.

These antichrists, false apostles, wolves, false prophets, self-serving covetous idolaters, would bear briars, thorns, thistles, which Christ said would come as well as his disciples said had come, which went forth from them into the world. And in the book of Revelation it is says in regards to the ultimate antiChrist, all the world went after them. In the final book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, which gives us the most details about the end times shows us that the majority of the world will go a-whoring after these people filled with the spirit of antichrists and especially the antichrist himself. As John wrote to the seven churches which are in Asia Minor, most of which were going astray. The worst of them, namely, the church in Thyatira, tolerated the whore Jezebel to teach them in idolatry, fornication (spiritual fornication is a mixture of the teachings and practices based on the pure Word of God with human traditions, human concepts, and human methodologies in attempting to build the Church of God), and led God's people astray. Even to the victorious church of Philadelphia, it is said that they were faced with the oppositions or perhaps the persecutions of the Jews and were not, but the synagogues of Satan (Rev 3:9). Then in the eleventh chapter of Revelation, we saw the two Witnesses, Moses and Elijah, are slained, the two Olive Trees that bear the oil to anoint and supply the nations at the time of the Great Tribulation. And in the 12th chapter of the Revelation, the woman, the true Church, fled into the wilderness prepared for her by God, and to be fed there for a time, and times, and half a time (which are 3 ½ years). Eventually, in the 13th of the Revelation, The Dragon gave his power to the beast, the ultimate antiChrist with his partner the false prophet, and the beast with the dragons power made war with the saints, and killed those that were of the remnant of her seed, which kept the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God.

In those dreadful days, all that dwells on the earth worshipped the beast, and worshipped the dragon, and caused and compelled all men both small and great. Finally in chapters 17-18, the false Church filled with these various false prophets, false apostles and those filled with the spirit of the antichrist is typified by and consummated in the great whore shall ride upon the beast in the dragons power, and caused all nations to drink her cup of abominations. The formation of this great whore began from the false apostles, false prophets and false servants of God who pretend to serve God but are in fact serving their own ends and began with slight deviation from God's Word and the reliance upon human wisdom and power rather than the power of the Holy Spirit. In the end, we know of course from God's Word that this great whore, the beast, the dragon, and the false prophet who deceived the nations and be taken and cast into the lake of fire, which burn forever and ever. Revelation 18:5-8 pronounced God's judgment upon her: “For her sins have reached^[ to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; Therefore her plagues will come in one day — death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.”

In closing, we need to be reminded that it is incumbent upon us to be the healthy noble Bereans in Acts 17 who daily examine the teachings and practices of even the greatest most acclaimed apostles or prophets against the Scriptures to see whether their teachings and practices are consistent with God's Word. Thus, we are exhorted in 1 John 4:1: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” And a stern warning is given to all of God's faithful servants and followers: “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues'!” (Rev 18:4).