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winding down our year of study in the sermon on the mount. here’s a look at sunday’s study…
near the end of his sermon, jesus gives a warning to be on guard against false prophets. they are like wolves in sheep’s clothing… ready to devour. so pay attention.
i’ve had over forty years in church leadership. not a lot i haven’t seen or heard about. but one of the things i have seen and heard about far too often is the hurt inflicted on people by bad church and bad church leaders. brutal.
a prophet is a person who speaks on behalf of god…or at least thinks he does. god raised up prophets in old testament days to warn his people of the dangers of the way they often lived. prophets would call the children of israel back to where god wanted them to be. false prophets looked and sounded like the real deal…and even had miracles and signs to back up their false authority, but they were not from god.
and things haven’t changed much over thousands of years.
throughout history, there have been heinous false prophets who have led people to their death, with the promise of deeper spirituality, answers to prayers, miraculous interventions, or the ushering in of the end of the world. and those prophets (and their religious groups) all share some common characteristics that raise “red flags” for me whenever i see them pop up in modern culture:
the first and most noticeable to me is an authoritarian leader. people refer to it as “________’s church”. a place where the leader (often a pastor) wields power and is treated like the boss. he’s a leader who is protected from the common people and unapproachable for the rank and file. the religious group or leader has all the answers. his teaching is simply “more right” than most everybody else. disagreement with the leader causes concern. questions are perceived as a threat to leadership or even cause for discipline. i always get concerned about groups or leaders that have a fixation on particular doctrines or practices. usually those practices lean more to the more mystical, like healings, prophecies and special messages from god, miracles, signs, or spiritual battles. god is doing a new thing in a particular group. this one may sound really spiritual, but it’s one that always raises my concern… especially when it’s inferred, or outrightly expressed, that if you don’t follow a particular leader, you’re missing out on something really important. now don’t overreact. these are just characteristics. if they are present, does that make the leader a false prophet? not necessarily. but it does mean they are walking a similar path…and we should be very careful. these groups and leaders are almost always huge into studying and preparing for the end of world. and because of that, there is usually over-the-top attention given to creating a sense of urgency and developing a timetable for the end. and then all decisions and behavior of the group are fueled by the fear and insecurity bred by those kinds of scare tactics. for me, one of the most obvious signs of something being deeply wrong in a church or religious group/leader is the mishandling of money. bizarre purchases. closed books. secretive spending practices. only a few people who know “real story” behind the group’s financial plan and practice. on the heals of mishandling money, is often the excessive or opulent lifestyle of the leader. false prophets (or those pastors and church leaders that are walking way too close to that slippery slope) seem to be way more open to living the high life and adopting extravagant lifestyles. these days, one of the scariest and most damaging practices of toxic or “false prophet” kinds of religious groups, is the willingness of these groups and leaders to drive a wedge between younger, more impressionable followers…and their unsuspecting families. sometimes these young devotees are even stripped of their independence and personal decision-making responsibilities. scaaaary. i’m always concerned when i see or hear of groups that place an over-emphasis on music. anybody with even a casual understanding of the manipulative power of music understands how easy it is to massage emotions and create a contrived setting for unhealthy and overloaded senses. 35 years ago, i was a stupid, young youth minister that unwittingly manipulated kids with music on the last night of camp. have we not learned anything?
are all groups and leaders who practice these behaviors necessarily false prophets? no. but in my book, any group or leader that exhibits any of these characteristics should be looked at with great suspiscion…and probably avoided all together. just my take.
i would rather be found taking jesus’ warning to watch out for false prophets with greater urgency…than my desire to follow what i feel lead or drawn to participate in.
better safe than sorry.
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