Becoming a Fruit Inspector

Once upon a time there was a businessman who went into work in the city. Every day, just outside the train station, he would pass by a blind man who sat there wearing dark glasses, begging with a tin cup. Usually, the businessman would put a quarter in the blind man’s cup as he walked by.

But one day, he didn’t have a quarter. All he had was a ten dollar bill. But he felt very generous that day, so he decided to put the ten dollar bill into the blind man’s tin cup. And that’s what he did. He walked along for several yards feeling very good about himself, when something made him turn back to look at the blind beggar again.

Well, to his surprise, he saw the blind man with his dark glasses pushed up on his forehead, eagerly examining the ten dollar bill. The businessman was quite put out, to say the least. He immediately strode back and said “Hey, I thought you were a blind man.”

“Oh no, I’m not really a blind man at all.” said the man. “Actually, I’m substituting for the regular blind man who usually sits here.”

“Well where in the world is he?” asked the disgruntled businessman.

“Today’s his day off” the beggar said, “He’s gone to the movies.”

Things are not always what they seem to be! And that is especially true when it comes to spiritual things.

We live in a world where a lot of things claim to be the genuine article. Coke says “Can’t beat the real thing. Coke is it.” But Pepsi says “You got the right one baby.” And they’re having this big war over nothing more than sugar water. People have grown so accustomed to hearing so many things claiming to be the absolute best that very few people believe that there are any absolutes anymore. Their attitude is “Hey, you can drink Coke if you want to. For you, it may be the real thing. But I’m going to drink Pepsi - that’s the right one for me.”

And this is true when it comes to spiritual things as well. When it comes to religion, the attitude of most Americans today is that any belief system can be true for you, if you want it to be. If you want to be a Hare Krishna, and dance around in airport terminals in a saffron robe, then that’s what’s true for you. If you want to be a Black Muslim and follow the teachings of Louis Farakhan, then that’s what’s true for you. Everybody has his own private truth.

Truth becomes totally subjective - it’s what I decide that’s true that makes it true for me. There’s no outside standard, no objective source of truth. Everything and anything is true if you want it to be. And because everything is true, then really, nothing is true. Because the word “true” doesn’t really mean anything anymore. That’s where we’re at in America today.

But when we come to the Bible, we’re coming to a book that claims to be absolutely and exclusively true. When we listen to the teaching of Jesus, we’re listening to a man who claims to be absolutely right. And if we’re going to follow the teaching of the Bible, if we’re going to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ, then we’re going to find ourselves increasingly out of step with the prevailing attitude of our culture, which says that truth is relative and there are no absolutes.

Now today we come to a section in the Sermon on the Mount where this becomes quite obvious. Jesus has been teaching about his way - the way of the kingdom. He says “This is the way. This is the truth. This is the only way to live.” So what about people who teach something different? Well, let’s look at what Jesus said about them…

Matthew 7:15-20 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Jesus says, “Watch out for false prophets!” He says that there are people out there who claim to be representatives of spiritual truth, but they are really bogus. That is a fact of life. It has been true ever since the dawn of time, when the serpent deceived Adam and Eve, and it will be true til the end of time when the Antichrist will deceive the whole world. In the spiritual realm, Jesus says, things are not always what they seem to be.

Now the first thing that Jesus tells us about false prophets is that they look like sheep. They look soft and white and fluffy. They look spiritual. They look innocent. They look like they belong to God’s flock. Inwardly, they are really ferocious wolves, but they’ve got this beautiful costume on that makes them look genuine. They’ve covered themselves with spiritual camouflage. They’ve pulled the wool over themselves in order to pull the wool over you.

They’re like the B-2 Stealth bomber - a huge aircraft that only has the radar signature of a bird. In spiritual terms, Satan was the pioneer of stealth techniques.

2 Corinthians 11:14-15 …Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.

Let’s look at an example of how this works. There once was a pastor of a large, thriving church in San Francisco. He came from an evangelical background and even took courses at Moody Bible Institute. He became known in the community for his compassion for the poor. He developed some creative social programs, and he taught his congregation how to reach out in the name of Jesus to others. Whenever new people visited the church, the pastor made sure that those newcomers received a friendly letter of welcome from at least ten people in the church that week. The church grew. They had a mission. The people loved each other and they loved their pastor. They followed his leadership. They believed in him. They were loyal to him.

So loyal that they didn’t discover that he was really a devil in disguise. They followed Pastor Jim Jones to Guyana, where under his leadership, they set up a community of faith in the jungle. They called it Jonestown. When they were visited by outsiders - outsiders that included a U.S. Congressman - outsiders who were concerned about the measure of control and authority that these good church people had surrendered to their pastor, they panicked. They murdered the Congressman and his party, convinced that he was a spy sent by Satan to destroy their work.

And then, under the instructions of their pastor, the Rev. Jim Jones, their spiritual leader, they all drank a poisonous punch made of Kool Aid laced with cyanide. First they fed it to their babies and children, then they drank it themselves. And they laid down and died like dogs. 708 of them.

False prophets don’t come with a big sign around their neck that says “I am a false prophet. Follow me and you die.” No, they come as smiling angels of light, with three piece suits, and blow-dried hair, carrying their Bibles right out where you can see them. They sit in TV studios and talk convincingly of the great things that they’re going to do for Jesus. They stand behind pulpits and preach soul-stirring messages. They write best-selling books. They sing inspirational songs, backed by professional orchestras.

So how do you tell that they’re phoneys? How do you tell that their message will lead you down the broad road to destruction? How do you tell?

Jesus gives us the answer in v.16: “By their fruit you will recognize them.”

A false prophet may be able to disguise himself on the outside, but he cannot disguise his heart. And sooner or later, his heart - his inner spiritual quality - will be revealed for what it really is. It is always true that a person’s inner spiritual character is revealed in his outward actions.

Matthew 12:35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

This principle is just as true as the fact that a thornbush produces thorns and a thistle weed produces thistles. You can’t get grapes from a thornbush, or figs from a thistle. I’m told that in the middle east there is a plant called the buckthorn, which produces a fruit that looks something like a grape. From a distance, you might even mistake it for a grape. But when you get up close, you see the difference. Sooner or later, the plant is revealed by the fruit it produces. The fruit reveals the root. As the root, so the fruit. That is how it is with false teachers. Although they may look spiritually appetizing at first, you soon find out what they really are by their fruit. Let me give you an example…

Back in 1971, a book called Like a Mighty Wind appeared in Christian bookstores. It claimed to be the eyewitness account of a spiritual revival in Indonesia, complete with stories of incredible miracles and healings. The book caused a sensation in the Christian community, and it became a bestseller. Today, over 2.5 million copies of that book are in print, and it has been translated into 19 different languages. The author became a celebrity. He was in great demand to speak at conferences and churches all over the world.

In last week’s issue of Christianity Today, the news section had an article about that author. He is being sued for fraud by a missionary. Apparently the author had agreed to invest a substantial amount of money that this missionary had inherited. He was supposed to create a trust fund on her behalf. But he had not done so. When the missionary asked him about her trust fund, he lied to her and told her that it was doing well. Finally, he admitted to her that he had invested her money in a resort project which had gone bankrupt. But then he tried to get her to sign papers stating that she had really given him the money as a gift. According to the news article, this author has similarly defrauded at least three other parties.

Now I ask you. Knowing what has come to light about this man’s integrity, would you be inclined to believe what he wrote in his book? By their fruit you shall know them.

False prophets bear fruit. What kind of fruit? Bad fruit. How can we learn to recognize the bad fruit for what it is? The Bible is like a training manual for fruit inspectors. The NT is full of warnings about false prophets, or false teachers, and the kinds of things that they do. Let’s look at some of this bad fruit that they produce. I’m going to give you a list of the Five Fruits of False Prophets so that you can learn to recognize them. They all start with the letter D.

1. False prophets DENY the truth of the Word of God.

2 Peter 2:1-3 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up.

Now, some false teachers will say that the Bible is true, but then they will twist it to say what they want it to say. They will use the Bible to support a doctrine that they have made up.

Others will simply deny that the Bible is true altogether. They will say that it is simply a collection of myths or legends, no different from the other great religious writings of man.

Still others will say that the Bible is partly true and partly false, that there is a lot of human error mixed in with the Word of God.

But the end result of all these viewpoints is to erode your confidence in the Word of God and instead place your trust in some teaching that man has devised. False teachers deny the authority of God’s Word and substitute their own authority in its place.

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words

The Mormon Church claims to be Christian, but they substitute the Book of Mormon for the Word of God. They follow the empty words of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and build their doctrines on those.

If you want to know whether a teacher is denying the Word of God, find out specifically what he says about the person of Jesus Christ. The doctrine of Christ is the acid test of truth.

1 John 2:22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist…

1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

The Mormon church denies that Jesus is God come in human flesh. The Jehovah’s Witnesses deny that Jesus came to earth as the only begotten Son of God. The Moonies say that their leader Sun-Myung Moon is Jesus incarnate today. The New Agers say that Jesus was an avatar - a great wise man, but not God.

Find out what a false teacher says specifically about the person and work of Jesus Christ, and you’ll know whether he’s denying the Word of God.

2. False prophets DIVIDE the church.

Acts 20:29ff I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!

1 Timothy 6:3 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction.

You want to divide a church? Just put some a false teacher or two in there. The thing about false teachers is that they are conceited. They cannot co-exist with people of other viewpoints. They disrupt the fellowship and divide the body. They love to argue and quarrel. They major on minor points of doctrine until they make those into a test of fellowship. And they usually divide the church and draw their disciples away after them.

3. False prophets have a DESIRE for money and power.

In 1 Timothy 6, Paul warns Timothy about men who teach false doctrine, men who…

1 Timothy 6:5 …have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

2 Peter 2:3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up.

Micah 3:5 This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead my people astray, if one feeds them, they proclaim ‘peace’; if he does not, they prepare to wage war against him.

In the first century church, the early Christians came up with a list of rules and guidelines for determining who was a false prophet. They wrote these in a document called the Didache, which means “The Teaching of the Twelve”. Listen to some of the things they wrote…

“Let every prophet who comes to you be received as if he were the Lord; and he shall stay but one day, and, if need be, the next day also; but if he stays three days he is a false prophet. When he goes forth, let him take nothing but bread for the journey; if he asks for money, he is a false prophet.”

False prophets are out for profits, if you’ll excuse the play on words. I could give you story after story of so-called spiritual leaders who were systematically ripping off their followers - fleecing the sheep, if you will. Driving around in Rolls-Royces and living on lush estates donated by their disciples. L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, and Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God (publisher of the Plain Truth magazine which is plain lies), where the members donate one third of their income, come to mind.

If you sense that a teacher or a so-called Christian leader is attempting to make money on the ministry, then you’d better stay away from him.

4. False prophets indulge in moral DEPRAVITY

From Elmer Gantry to Jim Bakker, false prophets indulge in immoral behavior. They use their position of respect and trust and authority to take advantage of people and give vent to their fleshly appetites.

Jude 1:4 For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

2 Peter 2:17-19 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

When I was growing up in Montreal, I had a friend who attended our church there. He was a really nice Christian guy, whom the Lord used to bring others to Christ. But one day he was drawn into a cult that was popular back in the early Seventies known as the Children of God. This cult was founded by a former CMA evangelist named David Berg - he later changed his name to Moses.

Moses Berg taught his followers to be sexually immoral in the name of Jesus - he urged the girls to sleep with guys as a way of witnessing. He himself had numerous women. This cult has virtually disappeared from North America, but I understand that it is still active in other parts of the world.

Closer to home, the Mormon church, which cloaks itself in a wholesome, family-oriented image, believes in polygamy. While polygamy was originally a church doctrine practiced by Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the practice of polygamy was conveniently dropped by the Mormon church back in 1890 so that the State of Utah could gain admittance into the Union, which it achieved six years later.

But the Mormon church has never repudiated the doctrine of polygamy - it merely stated that it would be best for Mormons not to practice polygamy at the present time. However many Mormons still do practice polygamy in rural areas of Utah. In fact, polygamy still plays an important part in the church’s belief system about heaven, which, according to the Mormons, is a place where every man will have many wives.

Even closer to home, we recently read in our newspapers the account of a pastor right here on Long Island who was just convicted on several counts of coercing sex from several members of his parish.

False prophets are often morally depraved, and often encourage such behavior in their followers.

5. They DESTROY people’s faith.

In 2Timothy 2, Paul warns Timothy about a couple of false teachers…

…who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.

The end result of false teaching is that it draws you away from faith in God. It does so by turning the Christian faith into a religion of works. Or it gets you so preoccupied with peripheral matters, that you take your eyes off God. Or it causes you to become so disillusioned as to throw in the towel altogether. I have known many people who have left the church to follow some attractive doctrine or some charismatic teacher. You invariably find, a few years down the line, that they have stopped going to church altogether. They are disillusioned. They’re bitter. They feel a sense of having been betrayed. But it is because they followed a false prophet and their faith was destroyed.

Five bad fruits of false prophets:

1. They DENY the truth of the Word of God.

2. They DIVIDE the church

3. They DESIRE wealth and power

4. They indulge in moral DEPRAVITY

5. They DESTROY people’s faith

Watch out for them! They’re out there. They are on your TV and radio, in your magazines and books, they’re sometimes even on your doorstep. You’ve got to remember that things aren’t always what they seem to be, especially in the spiritual realm. But Jesus said by their fruit you will recognize them. Look for the fruit and you’ll uncover the root.