God warns us many times in Scripture to be aware of false teaching. Christians need to be able to recognize false teachers, False prophets, false priests, false pastors and apostles who are motivated by greed or selfish gain because they contradict sound doctrine, turn the grace of our God into licentiousness, promote and justify immoral living, seeks to divide and conquer God’s people, even though they look and act like Christian You will know them by their fruits.
Malachi 2:3: Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
Ezekiel 22:26: Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
Zephaniah 3:4: Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men; Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.
Matthew 27:20: But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death.
Acts 20:28: We dare not play games with the lives of those who were purchased at the high cost of Jesus' blood. As Paul said to the Ephesian elders, "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood"
Jeremiah 23:14: The prophets of Samaria had been guilty of prophesying in the name of Baal, misleading the nation. But what the prophets of Jerusalem did was even worse, "... in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah"
Lamentations 2:14: And it was the sin of the false prophets that led to the destruction of Jerusalem: "Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading"
Acts 20:29-30: Paul was so burdened about false teachers that he warned the Ephesian believers about this for three years, night and day with tears, saying, "I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
1 Timothy 4:12, 16: That’s why he exhorted Timothy, as a young leader, to "set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity," reminding him to "keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
2 Peter 2:14: In the words of Peter, "They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!"
2 Corinthians 5:10:Repent, my fellow-leaders, before it is too late, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil"
Malachi 1:6-12: “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? So says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. You say, ‘How have we despised thy name?’ 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. And you say, ‘How have we polluted it?’ By thinking that the Lord’s table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that no evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that no evil? Present that to your governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts. 9 And now entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. 10 Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire upon my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. 12 But you profane it when you say that the Lord’s table is polluted, and the food for it may be despised.
Malachi 1:13, 2:1-5: ‘What a weariness this is,’ you say, and you sniff at me, says the Lord of hosts…. 21 “And now, O priests, this command is for you. 2 If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; indeed I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung upon your faces, the dung of your offerings, and I will put you out of my presence. 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may hold, says the Lord of hosts. 5 My covenant with him was a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him, that he might fear; and he feared me, he stood in awe of my name
Hebrews 7:23–25 There is no official priesthood in the New Testament church. The reason for this is very clear: Jesus Christ himself has become a permanent priest for us and the Old Testament priesthood is now obsolete.
Hebrews 7:16 Christ is now the one and only priest between us and God. The reason for this is that his sacrifice was final and his life is indestructible.
Hebrews 9:11–12 When Christ appeared as a high priest . . . he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
Malachi 2:7, "For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts."
1 Timothy 4:1-3:The Spirit clearly says that in the last times some will turn away from what we believe. They will obey spirits that tell lies. And they will follow the teachings of demons. 2 Those teachings come through people who tell lies and trick others. These evil people cannot see what is right and what is wrong. It is like their conscience has been destroyed with a hot iron. 3 They say that it is wrong to marry. And they say that there are some foods that people must not eat. But God made these foods, and those who believe and who understand the truth can eat them with thanks.
Jeremiah 50:6: My people have become lost sheep; Their shepherds have led them astray. They have made them turn aside on the mountains; They have gone along from mountain to hill And have forgotten their resting place.
Jeremiah 23:1: Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord.
Isaiah 56:11 And the dogs are greedy; they are not satisfied. And they are shepherds who have no understanding; They have all turned to their own way, Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.
Jeremiah 12:10“Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard, They have trampled down My field; They have made My pleasant field A desolate wilderness.
1 Timothy 3:1-7:The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?
Jeremiah 10:21: For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the Lord; therefore, they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.
1 Peter 5:3 Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
Titus 1:7 For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain
Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Jeremiah 23:16-17 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you...They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise Me,‘The Lord has said, 'You shall have peace’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, 'No evil shall come upon you.
Jeremiah 23:21: 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 hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings.
Jeremiah 6:14-15: They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall;At the time I punish them, they shall be cast down,” says the Lord.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22: the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously.
Luke 6:26:"Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets."
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12: The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
Psalm 95:9: For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.
Jeremiah 23:30-32: Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says. ‘Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,' says the Lord,“and... cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them.
Nehemiah 6:12-13: Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
Jeremiah 29:8-9:For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord.
Psalm 81:11-14: But My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me.So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels. OH, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries."
Isaiah 58:1-3: Cry out aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways,As a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?
Jeremiah 23:39-40: ‘therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’
Jeremiah 5:30-31: An astonishing and 'horrible thing has been committed in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?
Ezekiel 11:16-21: Thus says the Lord God: 'Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.
"I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” ’ And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there.
"Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.
Mark 13:22-23: For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.
Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
1 John 4:1: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 Thessalonians 5:3-8: For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then 'sudden destruction comes upon them, 'as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 'But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 'You are all 'sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 'Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober... putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.
Deuteronomy 30:17-18:17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing.
Deuteronomy 28:15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you
Malachi 2:2: If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.
Matthew 7:15-20: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits, you will know them.
