A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Matthew 13:33
“Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”
This passage we have just read speaks of the church, which Jesus refers to as the kingdom of heaven, and how it will come to have false teachers, false doctrines, and false leaders. It speaks of how these false ideas will work throughout the church drawing many people astray with man-made ideas and concepts. These false ideas, concepts, teachers, and doctrines are a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Tonight we will examine some of these false teachings and doctrines that are trying like a plague to eat away at the good news of Christ’s saving grace. Now I say that they are trying because Jesus has already won and His church will be victorious, but there will be some who refuse to accept the good news of Christ’s saving grace, who instead will turn to their own creative minds, inventing for themselves a new doctrine and a new god that will satisfy their itching ears. And this we know because scripture tells us in 2 Timothy 4:3-4:
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
My mother, well meaning as she was, took me as a child to a school of metaphysical research, they would not call themselves a church, but they studied the bible. Now they would not call themselves a church because they did not hold to the teachings that Christ was the head of the church. Their belief was that Christ never rose from the dead, and that His bodily appearance to the disciples and many other people was a vision. But they had no logical explanation as to what happened to His body. Their explanation was that within the three days Jesus laid in the tomb was that His body was consumed, but I was never told what consumed it. They also taught that baptisms were wrong and went against Jesus’ teachings of being baptized in His name. I did not realize until later in life that they were denying the deity of Christ Jesus. They were teaching that Christ never defeated death and that He never rose again in power as the scriptures prophesied. And to top it all off, this organization pays tribute and idolizes a man, the man that started the organization, who as he claimed he received a vision of the creation of the universe, from Genesis to Revelations. And how God told him to go and preach that salvation is in knowing the true name of God, not in being obedient to Him, but that you know His true name. This organization to date has drawn thousands upon thousands of people, who receive a title of Doctor of metaphysical for accepting this false teaching. Why would people want to be a part of this teaching, when some even know that there are holes in their teaching…in short, because it does not teach them that they are capable of sinning, that they are safe as long as they know the true name of God. This is clearly a teaching that is based on special knowledge and a belief in a self-proclaimed prophet of God, a clever tactic of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Jesus gives us a warning about these individuals in Matthew 7:15:
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
Islam is another form of false teaching that denies that Jesus was the Lamb of God, that He was a lesser prophet than Muhammad, and that it was Judas that went to the cross instead of Jesus and that Jesus never rose again with all power. 2 Peter 2:1 speaks of this denying of Christ Jesus, letting us know that they will come to a swift end:
“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”
Islam is the religion of Muslims that since terror of 9/11 have been claiming that their religion is about peace and tolerance, but their own bible called the Quran speaks a different story, as it reads in their book of Surah 47:7 – “When you meet the unbelievers, then it is smiting of the necks [strike off their heads].” Muslims have historically spread Islam through conquest, whenever and wherever they could. It is either confess that “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet” or lose one’s head. As Islamic authority Ahmad Hasan az-Zayat states in Al-Azhar, Cairo, Egypt, “Holy war [jihad] is…a divine obligation. The Muslim [knows] his religion is a Qur’an and a sword….” The 19 terrorists that attacked in 9/11 were devout Muslims acting in “the name of Allah”. Would you b amazed to know that since that attack, more than 100,000 Americans have converted to the Islamic faith? People have once again fallen for a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a wolf that leads the people to believe that they are a victim of the Jewish nation, and that American, being a friend of the Jewish nation; we must suffer because we do not believe in the Muslim’s god. Here again we have a false religion that denies the deity of Jesus and places Him below their own prophet who is a confessed sinner who had some 19 wives.
“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” Matthew 24:7-11
These days we are bombarded televangelists that preach prosperity messages, teaching you that above all things God wants you to be rich. In Word of Faith religion, the believer is told to use God, whereas the truth of biblical Christianity is just the opposite, God uses the believer. Word Faith or prosperity theology sees the Holy Spirit as a power to put to use for whatever the believer wills. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a Person who enables the believer to do God’s will. The movement closely resembles some of the destructive greed sects that infiltrated the early church. Paul and the other apostles were not accommodating to or conciliatory with the false teachers who propagated such heresy. They identified them as dangerous false teachers and urged Christians to avoid them.
“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” Romans 16:17-18
“Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.” 1 Timothy 6:5
Prosperity teaching prohibits God from working on His own, meaning that God is not Lord of all because He cannot work until we release Him to do so. Faith, according to the Word of Faith doctrine, is not submissive trust in God; faith is a formula by which we manipulate the spiritual laws prosperity teachers believe govern the universe. As in the name "Word of Faith" implies, this movement teaches that faith is a matter of what we say more than whom we trust or what truths we embrace and affirm in our hearts. This religious movement gets its foundations in the following scripture:
“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” John 14:13
As with many scriptures in use by the false teachers, it is misinterpreted to say that all you have to do is ask and it will be given to you. But that is not what this scripture speaks of asking for things that God knows you have need of, and those prayers within His will, will be given. Christ Jesus is not a candy store where you have unlimited credit to get anything you little heart desires, because God knows your heart and He knows that some things you just don’t need.
“And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Luke 12:15
“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:10
“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5
A wolf in sheep’s clothing’s only goal is to try and separate you from your love of God.
And notice one common thing in all false teachings: that all deny that Jesus is Lord and place someone else above Him. And with this they all tell you that you by your own power can make it into heaven. They all teach that Jesus does not have the power to save you and that man can do it all by themselves.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
