DCLM Daily Manna 2024: DCLM Daily Manna 30 December 2024: Watch Out For False Prophets
Text: DEUTERONOMY 13:1-11 (KJV)
“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘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; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, 7 of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, 8 you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; 9 but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.
KEY VERSE: Deuteronomy 13:3
“Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul”
In August 2013, a public zoo in the third largest province in China was temporarily shut down due to an unusual problem. Visitors discovered that the zoo’s lion was a dog posing as a lion. According to a report in Euronews, the fraud came to light when a mother and her young son visited the zoo, and the animal, labelled an “African lion,” started barking. Zoo keepers admitted that the so-called lion was a Tibetan mastiff, a large dog with a furry brown coat. They also acknowledged that other zoo animals had been mislabelled. This is how it is with false prophets. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
The Lord warned the Israelites of the danger of listening to people who rise from among them, claiming God had sent them. Such false prophets and dreamers of dreams are to be “put to death”, with support from all Israelites in the camp, including the family members of the culpable persons.
Identifying false prophets can be challenging as they come as wolves in sheep’s clothing. Generally, the Bible’s six marks of identification of false prophets can help: they lead astray (Deuteronomy 13:1-4); their prophecies do not come to pass (Deuteronomy 18:20-22); they contradict God’s word (Isaiah 8:20), bear bad fruit (Mark 7:18-20) and they deny that Jesus came in the flesh (John 4:3).
So-called prophets are everywhere today, “prophesying into people’s lives”. They employ various gimmicks to defraud the gullible. They collect fees for prayers, separate families and snatch spouses of their followers. The word of God is there to guide and lead us. We should watch and pray and avoid being deceived.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
False prophets often make the loudest noise and the biggest splash.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
EZEKIEL 45-46
Daily Manna 30 December 2024
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