False Prophets

FALSE PROPHETS IN CHRISTIANITY TODAY, HATH GOD SAID…

This short treatise asks the question posed above and then answers it with Scripture in line with a minimum of commentary. The SPIRIT of Lawlessness [Torahlessness] must be driven from the Churches if they are to continue at all with any force or effectiveness in society!

Modern, Western, Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christianity has filled the ranks of believers with many persons who profess to be “Prophets of God/Israel” or “Shepherds of God/Israel”, and who claim a personal communication pipeline to the heart of the Almighty Elohim and His Son, Yeshua/Jesus, the Messiah of Israel. They claim that this connection to the Almighty gives them the authority to speak to the “body of Christ” on God’s behalf as His mouthpiece between Him and you as a believer in Yeshua/Jesus. The inference is that God has selected them to give you God’s instructions for your conduct of your future life. This speaking to you by these people is called by them, “personal prophecy”. Is this scriptural? NO! Many make a good living, both in the Churches and on TV, by dispensing “personal prophecy’s” to the house of God’s church membership throughout the world. False prophets promulgate non-scriptural practices, spectacular, manufactured demonstrations, false healings and phony, manufactured miracles, which reside outside of scripture and they do it with impunity; and deceive the multitude of biblical illiterates out there in modern Christianity.

I have received many “personal prophecies” over the last 50 years or so; most of which came over the last 30 years from the Evangelical and the Pentecostal community, and have then bounced them off scripture, my life experience and the test of time, in order to test both their validity and possible fulfillment in my life as a good Berean should. Without exception, they were false, unfulfilled prophecies. Most of these prophets came up to me with these words, “God has given me a BURDEN [including the words, “on my heart,” sometimes] for you!” Remember this introductory phrase. They then usually lay hands on you if you will let them, and then proceed with their “word from the LORD” for you, which is always a restorative blessing type word. The track record of such self-proclaimed prophets is dismal at best. Even those who claim to be of Jeremiahs ilk, who spoke of calamity to come in good faith and with a proper discerning of the “signs” of the times, failed to convince the body of the Church by their words of prophecy. In other words, time passed, nothing happened, and all hearers forgot it with the exception of the prophet, who then set the unfulfilled prophecy aside or excused both himself and his god, and conveniently forgot the prophecy. I recall that the big name Televangelists and date setters never apologized or repented of their error to those who bought their books and CDs, but went on with “new” heavenly dreams and visions given to them from an inept god who made prophetic boo-boo’s occasionally. We are not naming names in this article as we have already done that in a previous article posted recently on the website. The article, “A Kundalini spirit invades the Churches” names many of these false Prophets, teachers, Pastors and Televangelists. Even so, you can tune in to any Christian TV station such as “God TV”, “CBN” or “TBN”, or surf the web, and find as many of these snake oil salesmen as you can stomach.

What are the hallmarks, and the common denominator of the present day false prophets?
What Charismatic’s enthusiasts say is, “when the Spirit comes upon you it will overcome you with power, slaying you”. Today this has become the common denominator of the Spirits presence with power and is sought after as proof of receiving the “anointing”, whatever that is chosen to mean. Such people as Benny Hinn, Kim Clement, Rod Parsley, Richard Roberts, Todd Bentley and a host of other “word of faith” practitioners on TV and the Internet, have developed it to be a trademark of their meetings. This is not to discount that the Holy Spirit can do unusual things, however before we put a stamp of approval on a practice considered by many to be normal, instead of the unusual, we need to see if it is promoted as such in the Scriptures. It is not.

What do we find? We do not see any of this practiced or even hinted in the Scriptures. When the Holy Spirit came upon Yeshua at His baptism, He came up out of the water; He didn’t collapse and sink down! The Lord Yeshua had power to heal even the worst cases of disease, blindness and crippled limbs, and yet no one who Yeshua ever touched fell over “slain.” Nor do we find Peter or John touching people and causing them to fall over on their back. They did not ask other disciples to stand behind those they were going to lay hands on, to catch them as they toppled backward by the “power”. The New Testament has no people lining up waiting for the “anointing” to be passed on from another, not even the Apostles. Can you picture any of the Apostles running up to people and slapping them on the forehead, or lining people up to be slain? No soft music or hypnotic and repetitive choruses were sung to set an atmosphere for the anointing to fall. No one yelled repetitive phrases like, “Fire!” or “touch” or “More, Lord!” So where does this all come from? Read our article, “Is being slain in the spirit Scriptural” on the website for the Bible truth on this matter.

There are so many battles to fight and so many enemies to face that, understandably, followers of Yeshua are eager to join with those who hold firm the gospel beliefs in the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection of Yeshua; and who also hold to clear Biblical positions on the great issues of religious and social concern in our fractured world and within a compromising Churchianity.

The Pentecostal/charismatic movement with its healings, experiences, signs and wonders; with its impressive ecumenical unity among different denominations and apparent Universalist warmth and joy among so many of those involved, seems to be empowered to “fight the good fight”. But the parables of Matthew 13; those of the sower, the wheat and the tares, remind us that the true, undeceived, Messianic believers just aren’t like this. All is not as it seems in Evangelical circles. The majority who “make commitments and man-made covenants” with joy in their hearts; grow no roots, succumb to the comforts and allures of the world and then many fall away; usually only when the going becomes difficult and disappointment prevails. They may continue to feature strongly in the “church”; praise, pray and prophesy, but they seek to serve both the world and Yahweh, a mixture that has always remained poisonous They are filled with the venom of a pagan mixture of Hindu Kundalini spirits and paganized PC gospels as I wrote upon in the article on that subject.

King Ahab lost his life because the only prophets he would listen to were false soothsaying prophets in 1st Kings 22, who have deceiving spirits in their mouths, placed there by Yahweh, the Creator of Darkness and light. If you keep apostatizing from Yahweh, this is what you get! Ahab would not listen to a true prophet; Mikhay’hu, the only one sent to him by YHWH that spoke truth!

Many people today have had their lives shattered and ruined by false prophets in the Church system and through Christian TV. These charlatans are those dressed in fancy clothes, which are sitting on bully pulpits and on TV thrones of lies and falsity. Yes, Virginia, there is supposedly no Santa Claus in Christendom, but there is a plethora of false prophets and pagan shepherds who lead us into arguing theologically over “The COLOR OF THE WOLF’S HAIR”. Brethren, this should not be so!

YIRMEYAHU [JEREMIAH 23]

“Woe be unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” Says Yahweh. Therefore this says Yahweh Elohim of Yisrael against the [false] shepherds that feed My people; “You have scattered My flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: see, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings”, says Yahweh. “And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them that shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be broken, neither shall they be lacking”, says Yahweh. “See, the day’s come”, says Yahweh, “that I will raise to Dawid a Tzadik Branch, and a Melech shall rule and prosper, and shall execute mishpat and justice in the earth. In His days Yahudah shall be saved, and Yisrael shall dwell safely: and this is His Name by which He shall be called, Yahweh- Tzidqaynu. Therefore, see, the days come”, says Yahweh, “that they shall no more say, Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Yisrael out of the land of Mitzrayim” [Egypt]; But, Yahweh lives, who brought up and who led the zera of Beit Yisrael out of the North Country, and from all countries where I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.” [Exodus II] My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man overcome by wine, because of Yahweh, and because of His kadosh [Holy] words. “For the land is full of adulterers; for because of a curse the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their [spiritual] power is misused. For both prophet and pastor are profane; yes, in My House have I found their wickedness”, says Yahweh.

“Therefore their Halacha [ways] shall be to them as a slippery derech [way] in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall in it: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation by punishment”, says Yahweh. “And I have seen folly in the prophets of Shomron; they prophesied in Ba’al [called “the LORD”], and caused My people Yisrael to go astray. I have seen also in the prophets of Yerushalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of the evildoers, that none does shuv from his wickedness: they are all of them before Me as Sedom, and the inhabitants of it as Amorah.” Therefore this says Yahweh tzevaoth concerning the prophets; “See, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the mayim of poison: for from the prophets of Yerushalem has defilement gone forth into all the land.”

This says Yahweh tzevaoth, “Listen not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you: they make you go astray: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Yahweh. They say still to them that despise Me”, Yahweh has said, “You shall have shalom; and they say to everyone that has his Halacha after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. For who has stood in the counsel of Yahweh, and has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word, and heard it? See, a whirlwind of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath, even a whirlwind storm: it shall fall severely upon the head of the wicked. The anger of Yahweh shall not shuv [abate], until He has done, and until He has established the thoughts of His heart: in the latter-days [Acharit-Hayamim] you shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to listen to My words, then they would have turned them from their evil halacha, and from the evil of their doings.” “Am I an Elohim at hand”, says Yahweh, “and not an Elohim far off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places where I shall not see him?” Says Yahweh. “Do I not fill the heavens and earth?” Says Yahweh. “I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in My Name, saying, “I have dreamed, I have dreamed”. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yes, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart [Ezekiel 16:19]; Who attempt to cause My people to forget My Name by their dreams that they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten My Name for Ba’al.”

His name is YHWH {Yahweh} and is not the KJV driven generic title for Ba’al [the LORD]!

“The prophet that has a dream, let him tell the dream; and he that has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” Says Yahweh.

“Is not My word like a fire?” Says Yahweh; “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore, see, I am against the prophets”, says Yahweh, “that steal My words every one from his neighbor. See, I am against the prophets”, says Yahweh, “that use their tongues, and say, “He says”. See, I am against them that prophesy false dreams”, says Yahweh, “and those who tell them, and cause My people to go astray by their lies, and by their reckless boasting; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all”, says Yahweh. “And when this people, or the prophet, or a pastor, shall ask you, saying, “What is the burden of Yahweh”? You shall then say to them, “What burden?” I will even forsake you”, says Yahweh. “And as for the prophet, and the pastor, and the people, that shall say, “The burden of Yahweh”, I will even punish that man and his house.” “This shall you say each person to his neighbor, and each person to his brother,” What has Yahweh answered?” And,” What has Yahweh spoken?” “And the ‘burden of Yahweh” shall you mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his own burden; for you have perverted the words of the living Elohim, Yahweh tzevaoth our Elohim.” This shall you say to the prophet,” What has Yahweh answered you?’ And, “What has Yahweh spoken to you?” But since you say, “The burden of Yahweh”; therefore this says Yahweh; Because you say this word, “The burden of Yahweh”, and I have sent to you, saying, You shall not say, “The burden of Yahweh”; “Therefore, see, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of My presence: And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and an everlasting shame, that shall not be forgotten.”

So what is the “BURDEN of Yahweh”? It is forbidden by YHWH God for Prophets, Priests and Pastors to even speak of this BURDEN in prophecy, on pain of being forsaken and cast out of the Kingdom of the Almighty with an everlasting reproach and shame that will not be forgotten! This is one of the most serious curses that I have read in Scripture and has few equal condemnations stated by Yahweh. Yet, Yeshua stated that “his Yoke” is easy and “His BURDEN” is light. Can he say this? YES! But we cannot. Let us, then, take a serious look at the application of this word in Scripture in light of the two or more required witnesses and how YHWH and Yeshua uses “Burden” in its ancient Hebrew context.

“Burden”: Strongs Concordance #H4853, #H5447 as defined in BDB Hebrew/English Lexicon. A load, a tribute, a figure of people as a burden, charge, forced labor, a weight, oppression, oracle, an extraction of debt and a pronouncement song and prophecy.

The word in scripture is used only in the negative context and one must put some serious twist on this word to use it as a “Blessing” or in a restorative sense in modern “personal” prophecy pronouncements given by Televangelists or persons in any Church meeting.

Thus sayeth Scripture:
Yesha’yahu 13:1; The Burden of Babylon.
Yesha’yahu 15:1; The Burden of Moab.
Yesha’yahu 17:1; The Burden of Damascus.
Yesha’yahu 19:1; The Burden of Egypt.
Yesha’yahu 21:1; The Burden of the desert of the sea.

Yesha’yahu 21:11;The Burden of Dumah. He calleth me out….

Yesha’yahu 21:13; The Burden upon Arabia.

Yesha’yahu 22:1; The Burden of the valley of vision.

Yesha’yahu 23:1; The Burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish…

Yesha’yahu 36:6;The Burden of the beasts of the south.

Yirmeyahu 17:21; bear no Burden on the Sabbath Day.

Ezekiel 12:10: This Burden concerneth the prince in Yerushalem.

Nahum 1:1; The Burden of Nineveh.
Habakkuk 1:1; The Burden which Habakkuk, the prophet did see.

Zechariah 9:1; The Burden of the Word of Yahweh.
Zechariah 12:1; The Burden of the Word of YHWH for Israel.

Malachi 1:1; The Burden of the Word of YHWH to Israel.

Revelation 2:24; I will put upon you no other Burden…

The Bible tells us many times, to BEAR ONE ANOTHERS BURDEN and thus to pray for one another in love. We will do that because we are Yeshua’s children and trained by the Holy Spirit, so that these things are as natural as breathing to us. We love it so! But the “Burden of the LORD, Yahweh”, is another matter entirely. We are not to take upon ourselves the “Burden of Yahweh [the LORD]” or even mention it in answer to a question or as an assertion of being in a cozy communication with the Almighty Creator according to these Scriptures. It is His business of Judgments on mankind and His Majesty that He is talking about and I think that he is telling us to butt out of these areas that are His exclusively. The light yoke on Yeshua’s shoulders is the Living Word of His person and the light Burden that it carries is His Father’s Torah instructions for LIFE! THAT BURDEN, Yeshua orders us to carry! Matthew 5:17-19 says that we are not even to THINK that He has done away with His Fathers Torah, and Christianity today rejects both the Almighty’s Torah books and Yeshua’s statement? Shame on them “until heaven and earth pass away”!

The very center and fullness of understanding YHWH God’s Word can only be accomplished by the study and teaching of Yahweh’s complete, loving instructions (His Torah) by those persons who have been exercised by that same Word and then sent forth as teachers with the Holy Spirit walking alongside of them.

Any Bible teacher in the 21st Century; be he/she Rabbi, Minister, Priest or “layperson” is faced with a daunting task; that of addressing nearly 2,000 years of cumulative lies and half-truths shoveled into both Judaism and Christianity by people who are identified in 2 Peter 3: 16 as “uninstructed and unstable” and who distort the Scriptures (Torah) to their own destruction, as well as their listening student’s destruction.
The present day evangelistic prophets seen on TV and on the Internet, the prophets in many primarily charismatic and Pentecostal Churches and the prophets in traveling ministries bear no resemblance to the Biblical prophets of YHWH God, but instead, mimic the Bibles false prophets of Ba’al and King Ahab, who are subject to lying spirits. Yahweh allows these lying spirits free reign through lying prophets and soothsayers, in order to test the spirit of men to decide for himself or herself whom they will serve, YHWH God or mammon.

Walking on the road to Emmaus,

Rabbi James Talbott, Yeshua HaTikvah Yisrael Ministries.