Not everything that glitters in the title is gold
Contents
Not everything that glitters is gold
Text/ Matthew 7:15 - 20
1. Introduction / What the Chinese and Jews have in common
There are many similarities between the Chinese and the Jews. First, they are skeptical. That's why the proverb that people who are suspicious of people often say, "There are as many doubts as a bastard" was born. Second, they are good business people. Third, they are difficult and difficult to get along with.
Chinese and Jews are not people who judge easily just by looking at the <appearance>, but over a long period of time, they verify whether the <inside> is the same as <the outside> from various angles. Those people just look at the tree and don't say that the tree is good or bad. They wait for a long time to see the fruit and then open their hearts.
2. The evils of false prophets -Today's text warns against being deceived by false prophets in a spiritual and physical sense. Since Adam was deceived by the devil and Satan, there have been deceivers on this earth. Once deceived, the harm is indescribable. If you are deceived in a fleshly sense, you will end up with some economic loss, and the aftermath is only temporary. However, on the day of being deceived on the spiritual level, not only economic loss but also the entire person, family, and even their life will be bankrupt. Through the incidents caused by false spiritual prophets such as Dami Missionary Church, Olive Tree Faith Village, Sun Myung Moon Unification Church, Sun Temple, and the head of the Salvation Sect of the Five Oceans, we have fully seen the serious damage directly and indirectly.
3. Some frameworks to distinguish false prophets
False prophets are clothed in sheep's clothing, but inside are ravenous wolves. What can identify those false prophets today? There may be several criteria for judging, but let's look at the most basic framework.
A) Those who deny that Jesus is the Christ ( 1 John 2:22 ). Like Seom-myeong Moon and Elder Park of the Olive Tree, they are developing plausible theories, such as that Jesus did not complete His work of salvation and came because of His completion.
B) These are the people who plunder people's attention by performing amazing powers such as tongues, mouths, blessings, prophecies, etc. in the name of the Lord. People who set up private altars and prayer halls and perform high-level plunder under the guise of prayers of prophecy, exorcism, and blessings.
C) Those who propagate flashy theories and complicated doctrines that there is no salvation in the church they are going to now, and that they must join their own group to receive the rapture and see visions to receive true salvation. Such is the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Unification Church, and the Salvation Sect.
D) They are the ones who deceive my words as the words of God. Jeremiah 23:16 says, "This is what the LORD of hosts says: Do not listen to the prophets who prophesy to you, for they teach you vanity, and the vision they spoke of came from their own heart, and not from the mouth of the LORD." .
E) People who place emphasis on experiential experiences, emotional excitement, and mystical phenomena more than the words of the Bible. etc.
4. What's the only way to know if it's fake or real?
Deuteronomy 18:22 says, "If there is a prophet and there is no proof or fulfillment of what he has said in the name of the LORD, it is not the word of the LORD, but the prophet's negligence. Do not be afraid of him." In real life, when a person with a prophetic atmosphere says something in the name of Jehovah, the question arises, how can we know whether it is a lie or the truth? Jesus gave two specific ways to answer this question.
a) of the tree