How to Spot a False Teacher (Watch for These Warning Signs)

A false prophet will never call you to repent from a lack of holiness. These guys, their motivation is to get well, to get blessed, to get resources because I want more. I want more. I want more. But how do we navigate that? Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. How, like how do I keep myself from not being deceived? These are the things to watch for. And what's really interesting is all of these are going to fall into one of three categories. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the John Bevere podcast. I am joined by my son, Arden. It's so good to be on with you. And man, oh man, I'm not excited about what we're talking about. We're talking about something serious. Yeah. We're talking about deception. We're talking about how to avoid deception. What's the problem with deception? It's deceiving. And we're talking about how to avoid not being deceived. And I want to just bring everybody up to speed. Hey, look, we understand that there are counterfeit dollars out there and there are real dollars out there. And if we teach you how to recognize a counterfeit, the Holy spirit, the word of God in you will help you to recognize. We're not trying to get people looking for false teachers, but that's the subject of what we're talking about, because what is Jesus' first words out of his mouth before when they said, what's going to be the sign of your second coming, Arden? What was the first word? Be careful that you are not deceived. Careful. That just really interests me. Be really careful. You know, you're watching a guy and he's walking along a cliff. Hey man, be very careful. You don't lose your balance. It means you don't take it lightly. You put a lot of attention into it. So we're not trying to sit there and say, Oh, that person's a false teacher,

that person. So we don't want to be watchdogs, but we do want to be people who know how to recognize. And so I want to jump right into second Peter cause we never got past the first verse last time. All right. So Peter makes the statement, but there were false prophets in Israel just as there will be false teachers among you. I want to bring it back very quickly to what the apostle Paul said. This is something he said to the leaders that he would not see again. He said, watch and remember for three years, I did not cease to warn everyone day and night with tears. Why did, what did he warn them every single day and every single night with tears about? He said, I know false teachers like vicious wolves will come in among you. After I leave, they will not spare the flock. Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth to create a following. And so that's what we're dealing with right now. Now, when I, when I, when I thought about this, Arden, I thought about, here's Peter saying there's false prophets among Israel. There's going to be false teachers among you. He's linking the two together. Okay? So there's going to be a lot of similarity. So what I did is I spent a weekend and I went through the old Testament and I thought, what are some of the key indicators of a false prophet? And I realized every single key indicator had a new Testament reference to a false teacher. And so these are the things to watch for. And what's really interesting is all of these are going to fall into one of three categories. Rebellion, they're going to be rebellious. In other words, okay, they're not going to be teachable. And the third one is covetous. So, so rebellion, a lack of humility and covetous, it's going to be those three. Okay. Rebellion could be disobedient. They're just willfully disobedient. This is amazing. Okay. So now comparison, number one,

a false prophet and a false teacher can and often do start out on the right path, but end up in error. Interesting. That's, that's the one that, that's why I put it as number one, because it's riveting. So are you saying like their heart is started on the right path or is it like their teaching is started on the right path? I don't know if I want to go that far, but let me, let me give you scripture and let you and I talk about it because you asked a good question. Okay. So second Peter two 15, they, these false teachers have wandered off the right road. Okay. Now let's just stop. If I'm on the right road, does that mean my heart's right? Not necessarily, but I'm on the right road because I'm obedient. However, I believe, I believe scripture always speaks to our heart motives. Hmm. So Peter actually said they've wandered off the right road, which again, I can't emphasize. That means they were on the right road. And they followed the footsteps of Balaam, son of Beor who loved to earn money by doing wrong. Okay. So now he's talking about Balaam. I want everybody to stop and remember this. Balaam was a, to prophesy. And it's prophecies. And God spoke to him. Like an understanding like that the contrast of you have God's people, two million people, and yet God's only speaking to what? One guy. Yeah. Three million people actually. And there's one guy God's speaking to and it's Balaam. Yeah, but I'm saying like the contrast of what's going on right there. And then you have Balaam over here on the side. And I don't want to be in error. I got to make sure I'm not in error. Balaam did this while Moses was leading Israel. And God did speak to the people through Moses. But that's what I'm saying is like the contrast is understanding that God's speaking to Balaam. But yet then you have the contrast of over here of two million

people who are wanting to hear God's voice and God speaking only to Moses. And so like understanding the gravity of Balaam being able to hear from God and be able to speak with God. Like that's significant in that time period. Why is that? Because the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. What does that scripture mean? They're irrevocable. Yeah. In other words, when God places a gift on somebody, whether that person's right or whether that person's not right, in their heart, that gift still works. So here's Balaam whose prophecy is in the Bible. We read it in Numbers 22, 23, 24, right? It's there. Yeah. But yet here he is prophesying out of a wrong motive. So the gift is actually working, okay? But yet because he can't curse them, because he can only speak what God has given him to speak, he actually tells the king how to get them under a curse. He said, seduce them. Send your women in, bring the idolatry in, and they'll begin to sin against God and they'll come under God's judgment. I mean, how wicked, right? I can't curse you with my prophecy gift, but I can tell this guy how to get him under a curse. Yeah. And Balaam just wanted his money. He wanted the money because the king was so mad, so mad at him. Because the king, he had him build the altar. He'd open up his mouth and bless Israel. Balaam said, let's go higher. Go higher, build another altar. You'll look at this angle, this angle, this angle. Four angles, I think it was. Four, okay? Any way that he could. And the king said, fine, I was going to give you a whole lot of money, but you're not getting any out of me. And Balaam goes, whoa, whoa, whoa. I want this money. This is the whole reason I'm preaching. I want to be blessed. I mean, it's right for me to be blessed. I'm a preacher. I'm a man of God. So he said, Balaam, I can't curse him, but I can tell you how to get him under a curse. When he told him that, I'm sure Balaam, King Balaak, excuse me, King Balaak, I can tell you how to get him under a curse. Yeah. And I'm sure King Balaak said, all right, here's your money. That's good enough. Yeah. Yeah. And that's crazy to think about. And even that God actually said go to Balaam once when he pushed back. Because God was like, no, do not go. And Balaam was like, well, but, but, but God, maybe this, like, what if I do this? And, and God says, go. And I think that's such a

powerful thing because God is testing your heart in that moment. God's like, are you truly going to be after the things that I want? Are you going to be after the things that you want? Do you want the gold? Do you want the benefit of your name? And it's like, God, well, well, can I do it? And God says, go. And then what? He goes and he sends an angel that's about to behead him. And it goes to the point that the donkey has to run off the road just to be able to avoid the angel. And so I love that story because it is so incredible to see what God, how God will use someone. I think we, we, we need to, we need to dig into this a little further. I wasn't planning on it, but we're going to. So the elders of Midian and Moab basically come to Balaam. Yeah. And they said, Balak wants you to, King Balak wants you to come and curse Israel. And he said, hey guys, let me pray about this. Which should be like a quick no. Like, no, that's God's people. I'm not gonna go ask God to go curse his own people. Right. Right. But yeah, he says, let me think about it. God, God, God comes to him that night and says, uh, you, you mean you really can't figure this out? Yeah. So I'm gonna make it really clear. All right. Because he says, who are these men with you? They're asking you to curse my people. Yeah. He says, I'm gonna make it clear. You shall not go with them and you shall not curse the people because they're blessed. Balak comes down the next morning. Balaam comes down the next morning, says the elders, guys, I cannot do it. He doesn't say I will not. I cannot. In other words, I'm being restrained. Okay. So now they go back to the King Balak and King Balak says, I'm gonna send more money and more, more honorable elders. They come back and listen to Balaam. Balaam says, if Balak was to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord, my God, to do less or more, but let me pray about it. Stay here tonight. Let me pray about it. And God says to him that night, go ahead and go. Go ahead and go. So Balaam gets up the next morning, does what God tells him the night before, goes, and now God is angry because he's going. Oh my gosh. God is not schizophrenic. What's happening here is God says, this is what you. really want to do, do it. But you're not going to outwit me, Balaam.

Yeah. And so he goes and he tries to curse him, but when he opens his mouth, God puts a blessing in his mouth, and he says, this is how you're going to get them cursed. Because Jesus actually said that Balaam, in the book of Revelations, Balaam taught King Balak how to put a stumbling block in front of Israel. This is what false prophets do. They see the money, they see the greed, they see the pride, they see the disobedience to be advantageous to them, and I'm going to do it because I want it. Yeah. And I love this because I was just looking about this. It said when the elders from Moab, from Midian, were coming to Balaam, it said they had the fees for divination with them. Wow. I've never seen that. The fees for divination in the hands. And you know what divination means, the imitation of the divine. Exactly. Okay. So I believe Balaam's gift was of God. I mean, it doesn't say a deceiving spirit came to him and said, if the men come to call you, rise and go with them. God came to him that night. If this podcast helps you grow as a disciple of Jesus, please consider supporting it through a donation to Messenger International. Your support would also help us translate discipleship resources in over 130 languages, enabling us to reach believers worldwide with biblically grounded teaching in their own language. Donate today to help us make messengers around the world. So when the men come to call you tomorrow, go with them. But yet God sends that angel like you said, but it's amazing. The whole point being is Balaam obviously at one point started off right because it says that these false teachers wander off the right road following what Balaam did. So number one, a false prophet and a false teacher can and often do start

on the right path, but end up in error. Number two, a false prophet would speak in the name of the Lord. Okay? That's crazy. Jeremiah 14, 14 says, then the Lord said, these prophets are telling lies in my name. Wow. I didn't send them. I didn't tell them to speak. I didn't give them any messages. That's Jeremiah 14, 14. Now, here's a comparison. False teacher speaks in the name of the Lord. Second Corinthians 11, Paul said, for such are false apostles. Okay, I'll get to that later. Such are false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of Christ, and no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. It doesn't say he can, it says he does. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness. So, if they're ministers of righteousness, they're speaking in the name of the Lord. Can I ask you this? Because I remember you used to have a story of, there's a well-known minister, and he was battling some sickness. And he said he had an angel come and visit him. I mean, do you want to share that story? Because I think this is interesting because some people are saying, well, okay, Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. How do I keep myself from not being deceived? Terrible, terrible heart disease problem, and he was young. And he heard a beautiful voice say, just close your eyes and let go. I want you to come with me.

And he thought that was God. And the Holy Spirit quickened to his heart, Psalm 91, I think it was Psalm 91, but it was this healing scripture in the Bible. And with all of his strength, which he had very little strength, he was bedridden, he started speaking the word of God. And that man rose up off that bed of sickness, that heart that was diseased, and he ended up with seven decades of ministry in which he impacted people's lives and stayed faithful to the end. But he said, Satan came as an angel of light. He spoke to him. The voice sounded so much like God's. And you always say, like, it doesn't say he might, it says he does. And I love what you said, the Holy Spirit quickened his heart. Because I think some people are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, what do I do? Like, how do I know if it's the angel of death and what do I do? And I love that you said that the Holy Spirit quickened his heart. We understand that the Holy Spirit will quicken our heart in those moments, and that's why we have to be so in tuned with God's word and his spirit. That's why Paul said, rightly divine the word of God because you can wrongly divide it. And if you look at Satan, he quotes scripture to Jesus, throw yourself down from this temple because he will give his angels charge of you lest your foot dash against the stone. He quotes the scripture right to him. And Jesus said, yeah, but you shall not tempt the Lord your God. Jesus rightly divided and quoted back the law to, or I should say, the statement from the books of the law back to the. enemy. He used the Word of God. This is why I am so proud of everybody that listens to podcasts that teach us the Word of God. This is the way God set it up. He said, go make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe

everything I've called you to do. If you look at Paul the Apostle, he says in 2nd Corinthians 11 4, he said, you Corinthians happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach. So they're preaching in Jesus' name. They're preaching, quote, Jesus' Word, but it's a different Jesus. They have changed him and made him into a Jesus that says, oh, go ahead. It's all right. You know, you love your girlfriend. It's okay. You can have sex because you really are intending to marry her, and really, in God's eyes, you're already married, and they're having premarital sex, and they're disobeying God's Word, right? And Jesus made the statement in Matthew 24 5, take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name, saying, I'm the Christ, and will deceive many. So I believe that Scripture can be looked at two ways. I believe that, yes, they can come in Jesus' name, saying that they were the Christ, but I think it's more relevant that many will come in the name of Jesus, saying that Jesus is the Christ, and they'll deceive many. In other words, just as the prophets of old spoke in the name of the Lord, but spoke deceptive messages, these false prophets will do the same, all right? Number three, a false prophet was celebrated by people who claimed to belong to the Lord, but were not sincere. The people loved what these false prophets taught, because they could stay in their sin while professing their allegiance to God. Jeremiah 5 31, the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power, and my people love to have it so. In other words, they like what the false prophets are prophesying. Jeremiah 23 verse 14, also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem. They commit adultery, they walk in lies, they also strengthen the hands of the evildoers, the disobedient, so that no one turns back from their wickedness. A false prophet will never call you to repent from a lack of holiness. That false prophet is going to be okay with that. He's going to leave that alone. He's going to preach to you what you want to hear. Comparison, a false teacher will be celebrated by people who claim affiliation with Jesus, but are not sincere. Here's 2nd Timothy 4, I solemnly urge you, this is the last chapter Paul

wrote on the earth, I solemnly urge you in the presence of God in Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and dead when he comes to set up his kingdom, preach the Word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not, patiently correct, rebuke, encourage your people with good teaching. For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear, they will reject the truth. So in essence, what are we dealing with here? False teachers will appeal to the desires and the lusts of your flesh. Interesting. I mean, I know in the American world there are some teachings that people will quickly claim to false teaching, and so how do we balance out like understanding principles like prosperity gospel, where it's like God wants to see his people blessed, but then it can be taken to a certain degree that it's, oh man, how do we navigate this and what is that we're abusing that degree, just in the same way of like, okay, now I'm seeing the love of money in the same way that Balaam loved money, creeping in and it's leading people astray. So how do we balance those and in hearing these things that are like, this is actually a great teaching, this is a great principle for you to understand. Proverbs was talking about a righteous man will leave an inheritance for his children's children. It does not come through no prosperity in terms of wealth building up, and I do think that's more than just wealth. I'm not gonna, I want to say that because I do think there's more, there's wisdom, there's knowledge that will be left, but how do we navigate that? So this could be an entire podcast and actually should be, but it's very, to make it very simple, the prosperity American gospel that is in error is when I am teaching you the principles of the Word of God so you can heap things up onto yourself. The true prosperity gospel, which the gospel does, it does indeed say that God's will is for us to prosper. I mean, it's in the scriptures over and over. Well, and can I can I make sure I clear up the word prosper? Because here's what the word prosper in the Bible means. It means, God, I can do this much, and then with you, I can do this. Correct. And what I'm showing is just a lot more. That's where I'm

going. Yeah. So the true prosperity the true prosperity gospel is when I am seeking to impact more people's lives and God believing that God will give me the resources in order to be able to do that. So it's all comes down to motivation. If the motivation is to heap things unto myself, it's a wrong motivation. If the motivation is there's people to be reached and we need to reach them, then that's a good motive because we can't reach people without resources. Now I'm gonna bring it down to John the Baptist. He had locusts, wild honey, he had a camel coat and a leather belt. Was he prosperous? You better believe he was prosperous. Why? Because he was impacting people's lives forever. Exactly. That's the great prosperity right there is being able to impact. So I believe true prosperity is the power of God to be able to impact and change people's lives. These guys, their motivation is to get wealth, to get blessed, to get resources because I want more, I want more, I want more. If you look at Elijah, there were times that people did things for him. Excuse me, Elisha. I mean the woman made him a room. That room, she built that just for him. He had a room that he never had to build. He had a place to stay. But then you look at when Nahum came and Nahum got healed and Nahum says, I want to pay you for doing this and Elijah said, uh-uh, I don't want a penny. But Gehazi went running after it. Because he was after money. There was times when Abraham would allow the blessing of God to come to him, but then there were times he said, uh-uh, you're not giving me any of this spoil lest you should say you made Abraham rich. So it all comes down to the motivation of the heart. False teachers are people that are going to not only do things motivated for greed, covetousness, they are going to encourage others to do so. So the product of what they are teaching is creating people who are self-seeking instead of seeking to build the kingdom, build other people's lives. Yeah, that's so good. That's something that's so well put. Again, it's an entire podcast. And again, somebody could take a bit or a piece from what you and I just said and distort it. I hope people hear our overall heart in what we're

saying. But this is interesting. Number four, a false prophet, because this leads us right into four. A false prophet taught for gain, a price. His motivation was to gain from his gift. Malachi chapter 3 verse 5, this is what the Lord says, you false prophets are leading my people astray. You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you. Malachi 3 11, you rulers make decision based on bribes. You priests teach God's laws only for a price. And we got to talk about this. You prophets won't prophesy unless you're paid. I'm reading right from Scripture still, okay? Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord. Oh my gosh! Okay, comparison. A false teacher will teach for gain. 2 Corinthians 2 17, you see, we are not like the many hucksters, Paul called them hucksters, who preach for personal profit. We preach the Word of God with sincerity and with Christ's authority, knowing that God is watching us. Jude 11, what sorrow awaits them? Like Balaam, they deceive people for money. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves, living only to satisfy their desires. Okay, wow, we just opened up a can of worms right here. It's about the motivation. And, you know, Lisa, your mom and I have had to be very, very careful. I remember one time I went to a meeting, this is right when we first started traveling, and the pastor was so excited in the offerings. I did half a week and another minister did another half a week, so I spent literally five days there. And I remember he was so excited because I did the last half of the week. And he said, man, our offerings came in this week, we received $240,000 in offerings. I thought that's amazing. And I remember when I left, I drove out of town and I opened up the check, it was for $600. And I thought, oh my gosh, how am I supposed to run a ministry with $600? And this is back in the day when our total income for the ministry was dependent upon the offerings that we got on the road. But I'll never forget, I went to an older minister and I said to him, I said, I don't want to be a hireling. I don't want to be a minister that ministers for pay. What do I do? And he said, John, the Bible says those that are taught the gospel should give back to those who teach, in Galatians 6. He said, just ask the pastor to take an offering

for Messenger International. And yes, for like almost, for more than three decades. it was like all the offerings went back to Messenger. I was like, let them go there, okay? Let Messenger pay me a salary. And so, I remember we decided to do that, but then all of a sudden people started saying, we wanna give you an honorarium. And I had to be very careful how we navigated that. Because the first question you hear is what's your requirement? In other words, how much money do you want? And so we continually say, John will come for whatever you say that you want to do to honor what he's done. And we just leave it at that. And we don't, you know, cause I just don't wanna do it because I remember Paul said, it is my right to receive from you, but I've chosen not to do that because I don't want to not get a reward from heaven. So he said, I have chosen not to preach for a fee, but I'm going to preach to you and I'm gonna let God take care of me. Now there were churches that took care of Paul and Paul said, I've learned to abase and I've learned to abound. But his motivation for teaching and preaching was he wanted to see souls saved.

He wanted to see the kingdom of God built. He wanted to see people discipled and that needs to be our motive. And this money can creep in. It's deceptive. Jesus said deceitfulness of riches, it's deceptive. And so as ministers, we've got to be very careful that we don't start making decisions based off of finances. When we start making business off of finances, now the needle starts turning and I'm gonna tell you something. It's easy to let that needle turn. We've seen it happen over and over again. So we just want to keep first things first. We're here to minister. Yes, God said those that preach, those who ministered in the temple should be right. They feed off the offerings. Those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. Yes, God is the one who said that. That better not be our motive. Yeah, I love that. And a false teacher, that's gonna be their total motive. I've had publishers say to me, I've had authors come and say, hey, I wanna buy a condo in this particular area of the United States and I need to write a book. And they said, we don't get that. The publisher opened up to me and said,

I have to work with through this. So we gotta be really careful when it comes to money. Yeah, and I love that because you've always exemplified that. I was actually having a conversation with someone recently talking about writing a book and they were like, do you have it on your heart? And I said, no, I've learned very clearly from my parents that I will not ever write something unless I know God's speaking on it. And because I've seen you go years when we're like, hey, it'd be really great as a ministry if you released a new book because it would help push things along. And you're like, no, God hasn't spoken to me on a specific thing. And you were always honoring of that. And I think that's really powerful because understanding even for something as a book, you are writing this down and it is written down. It's not so much of a video that, okay, maybe we can find every example of a video online and podcast and we can somehow delete it and take it all back. No, you write that book. They're sending out thousands and thousands, millions of copies that are gonna go out. That's been etched into it. And so you have to have that holy reverence of, okay, God, do I know this is a message from you?

You know, 1994 was when the beta Satan came out, right? And then 1995, it was breaking intimidation. 1996, on and on and on. Every year, God had me write a book. The year 2000 came and I wrote the book Undercover. And I went four years and God wasn't speaking. And I remember my RCFO, cause my royalties go to the ministry. I remember he came in and he said, John, all you have to do is sign this contract and we're gonna get a massive six figure check. And we need it as a ministry. And I looked at him, I said, can't do it. I said, God hadn't spoken to me, so I'm not signing anything. And it was four years, during that four years. And finally, four years later, God spoke to me to write Drawing Near. And that came out in 2004. So it was a four year time period where I was like, okay, I'm not writing, I'm not writing. And I just feel like- And can I say the correlation? So one book that you release, Undercover, dealing with authority, submitting to authority. And I see that example of you submitting to God in that authority of, I'm not going to write unless you speak. Even though there's a lot of profitable things that could happen if I go ahead

and disobey your authority, or not disobey, but just go without you, I could do this. And then you write Drawing Near, which is all about drawing closer to God. And I love that correlation because you're saying there's a gap period. And God taught you in that period of, okay, God, I don't know what you're speaking on right now for me to write on. And it taught you, I feel like, and I was, of course, forgot to witness it, but saw you draw closer to God in a greater expression. that led into those. And I feel like it's just amazing to see the correlation of the two messages and what God produced in that time period, that sometimes we're like, okay, I've got to rush out of this next project into my next project. But you don't realize that God is actually developing in you for that next project. And it might be some time needs to pass for that to happen. You just, wow, in a day of social media, where we're constantly wanting to get stuff out just to get followers, you just said something so powerful. It is so important that all of us learn that we wait on God. And that's a very old school thought on a very instantaneous time period where you can have everything instantaneously. We've got to get back to the old thing of waiting on God.

And that is being led by the spirit. I mean, I look at Jesus, Lazarus is a close friend. Guys are searching for two days trying to find him because he's so close to death. They find him and Jesus stays for two more days. Can you imagine what those guys thought? Oh, you really don't care about Lazarus. All you care about is your ministry. And then he said two days later, so it's been four days now, let's go. He's been dead now for four days. And like, don't even bother. And Jesus said, I only do what I see my father doing. And if God's not telling me to write a book, I don't wanna write a book. I mean, look, when we went on this podcast, I had our team talking about it, but I had to hear from God. I had to say, God, first of all, do you want this podcast? Secondly, what do you want me to do on this podcast? And there were all kinds of ideas that were coming out. And I remember I was at the beach and I thought, I just wanna teach through the Bible and I wanna make it relevant to our time because people are so ignorant of the word of God. And this is why so many millions of people are walking away, right? And I thought, I'm gonna do it. I'm just gonna do it. And you know what, Arden? If we're reaching a hundred people on this podcast

and we're obeying God, I'm happy. If we reach a million people on this podcast and I'm in disobedience to what God wants me doing right now, I don't, hey, I don't wanna do it, you know? Numbers aren't necessarily a sign of success. Success is when you feel a smile right in here. I've left cities where I felt a frown in here and I never wanna do it again. I've left cities when I know there's a smile in here. And what happened was I obeyed God. And so, I mean, I could go on and on and on about that, but all right, let's, here's number five. A false prophet was arrogant, conceited, and prideful. Zephaniah 3.4, its prophets are arrogant liars seeking their own gain. Remember, there's three things, rebellion or disobedience, covetousness or lack of humility, right? Pride. Comparison, a false teacher will be arrogant, conceited, and prideful. 2 Peter 2.10, so we're coming from Peter again. These people, false teachers, are proud and arrogant. That's 2 Peter 2.10. 2 Peter 2.18, they brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. Jude 16, they brag loudly about themselves. Okay, so should we run through this since we've gone? Okay, well, no, no, no, no, we gotta keep moving. All right, number seven.

False prophet was self-appointed. Oh boy, this is where it's gonna get dicey. Jeremiah 23.21, God said, I haven't sent these prophets, yet they ran. Oh boy, I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. Ezekiel 13.2, son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart. Ezekiel, say to them, hear the word of the Lord. So a false teacher is self-appointed. 2 Corinthians 10.12, of course, we wouldn't dare put ourselves in the same class or compare ourselves with those who rate themselves so highly. They compare themselves to one another and they make up their own standards to measure themselves by, and then they judge themselves by their own standards. What self-delusion. I wanna read this also, 2 Corinthians 3.1. Are we beginning to sound like those who speak highly of themselves? Do you really need letters of recommendation to validate our ministry like others do? Do we really need your letter of endorsement? Of course not. For you, for your very lives are our letters of recommendation. And then finally, John 1.6, there was a man sent from God whose name was John.

That was how God got my attention. on this. I was trying to put myself into ministry. I knew I was called, but God hadn't set me apart yet. The leadership in my church, I was serving, and I was trying to form my own ministry. Now, I didn't have social media back in those days because this is 1985, thank God, or 87, thank God we didn't have social media because I would have been promoting myself on social media, getting clicks, doing all the wrong things, and I would have been self-appointed. And I'll never forget, I was on a mission, I went overseas to the Philippines to preach with another man, still trying to build my own ministry, and I was flying back from the Philippines, and I read this verse, I'm just in the Bible, in the Bible on this long, long flight, there was a man sent from God, and the sent from God jumped up off the page, and the Holy Spirit said, do you want to be sent by John Baviera, do you want to be sent by God? I went, whoa. I said, I want to be sent by you. He said, good, because if you send yourself, you go in your own authority. If I send you, you go in my authority. Changed my life forever. So how do we navigate that, though? Like, how do we navigate having a platform and not being sent by yourself? Because it's tough. God will use a recognized leader, an established leader in the church to set you apart. If you look at even Paul, they were fasting and praying, and the Holy Spirit spoke, set aside Paul and Barnabas for the work I've called them to do. If you look at Jesus, he appointed 70 others that should go before him two by two. There's an appointment, right? If you look at God says to Moses, lay your hands on Joshua. If you look at Elijah, Elijah, throw your mantle on Elisha. I mean, I could go on and on and on and on, right? These are scriptural examples, but man, today you can just get yourself a social media account, and you can have a mic even from Amazon, and you can send yourself, and it's scary. I'd rather not. I mean, you know how many times I have said, God, can I just be a number two? Can I just be a part of a team and let somebody else lead? So many times God has said, no. No. No. You're like, I find really people that are sent, if you really dig down, they realize the weight of the responsibility, and they don't want it. Just let me witness to people on

the street. Just let me tell people. Let me do a small Bible study and just share the Bible, you know? That's all good, but when you come along and you say, hey, God's called me, and I have a message that God's put in my heart. Well, you better know He has set you apart for the office of a pastor, for the office of a prophet, a teacher, an apostle, an evangelist. Okay, number eight. This podcast is going long, but it needs to, and I only got two more. So number eight and number nine. False prophet believed they were right, but in reality they were wrong. So in other words, they were deceived. Jeremiah 23, 26. How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. Ezekiel 13, verse 3. Thus says the Lord God, woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. Here's the comparison. A false teacher believes they're right, but in reality they're deceived. 2nd Timothy 3, verse 13. But evil people and imposters, and imposter is somebody who acts like they're somebody, but they're really not, will flourish. So they will flourish. You will get clicks. You will get followers on YouTube. You will get subscribers. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived. This is why you don't, you know. It says, I remember this jumped up off the page on me one day, Arden. It was talking about Jesus's high priestly role in Hebrews chapter 4, and it says he did not receive or take this honor unto himself. The Father had to appoint him. And he said, no one, talking about a priestly role, high priestly role, takes this honor to himself. Well, if you talk about this fivefold ministry, he himself gave some to be apostles, prophets. Listen, this is not something you appoint yourself to. And so they deceive others, and they themselves are deceived. And here's the final one. A false prophet would look for other false prophets as the standard, and rely on getting what he prophesied from others like him. Jeremiah 23 30. Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words, every one from his neighbor. Here's the comparison. Second Corinthians 10, verse 12. Oh, don't worry. We wouldn't dare say that we are as men who tell you how important they are, but they are only comparing themselves

with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant." So there you have it. Those are nine things that we see God saying directly about false teachers, or false prophets in the Old Testament, and how there are direct correlations with false teachers in the New Testament. Now, again, we want to emphasize, you can be somebody who has a really good heart, and it doesn't mean you're a false teacher, but you're falling into this. And if you stay in this, and you hear the Word of God, and you're not teachable, you can float over, and you can do what Balaam did. He left the right way, and he went into a way of error. And the other side of the coin is, we also want to teach. We want to say all these things, so that we are teaching people to be aware of those false teachers. Yes, yes. So I know this has been very heavy, and yet I want to see you protected. I know God wants to see you protected. And so this is why we're talking about these difficult things. These are things that people don't go, oh boy, I can't wait to listen to it. I realize that. But I remember when I was a kid, my dad would teach me things. He taught me how to play golf. He taught me how to play tennis. I played varsity tennis at Purdue. I'm so grateful my dad taught me how to play tennis. But my dad warned me. I remember one time, you know, running out in the street to get the ball. I'm a young man, and my dad yelled so loud at me, it caused me to just shake, and even probably cry. I don't remember it fully, but I probably cried. But his warning saved my life. Hey, him teaching me how to play tennis, I got to play D1 tennis, I got to play the Junior Davis Cup, the USTA circuit. But it was his warnings that saved my life. His teachings didn't save my life, his warnings saved my life. Him we preached, Colossians 127. Him we preach, warning every man, warnings first, and teaching every man that we may present, every man perfect in Christ. We do it with all wisdom, and that's why we're taking the time to teach this. We want to make sure that you're trained, that you're not led away by the deception that has led so many people away. We don't want to see you be a statistic of the over 30 million Americans that have walked away from the faith. We love you. So I want to pray that God will help you rightly divide what Arden and I have

talked about today. I don't want to see this creating you a watchdog, a person who's looking for a false teacher behind every bush, a person who's concerned they're becoming a false teacher. Hey, if there's anything that applies to you, just make the adjustment. Say, God, forgive me. Remember, one of the greatest things is just to remain teachable. If the Word of God can still bring correction to your life, if somebody else can still use the Word of God to bring correction to your life, you're okay. You got ears to hear. It's when you harden your heart and stiffen your neck and go, I'm not changing, that's when you're in a dangerous place. So Father, I pray for my brothers and my sisters. I thank you so much, and I'm asking that your presence would come upon them. And I just want you to pray this with us right now. If this applies, pray it. Just say, Lord, forgive me. I've slipped in a couple of these areas. I've been unteachable. I've done things for gain. I've done things for clicks. I've done things to get subscribers, and that was my motivation. Please forgive me. I repent from my heart, and I'm asking that I would be a faithful witness of Jesus Christ, a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. All right, until next time, this has been the John Bevere podcast. I'm still not used to saying that. You're laughing at me because you know. Anyway, we've enjoyed being able to speak the Word of God to you. We'll see you next time. And we will continue this, okay? Don't turn this off yet. We will continue this. We've gotten thoroughly through verse 1. We will go to verse 2 on the next podcast. See you then. I hope you guys have enjoyed today's episode. We are so excited to announce Lisa's new book, The Fight for Female. Check it out. Have you ever dreamed of dragons? I have. These dragons had tricked women into believing their ancient enemy had become a friend. But from the genesis of time, there has only been enmity. Revelation 12 speaks of the dragon who wars against the woman and her offspring. Threatened by our divine purpose and design, the serpent degrades marriage and motherhood while sexualizing and minimizing the wonder of our female form. He told us men were the problem when all along he's been in the shadows. He wants to divide and distort because he is scared of what we carry

The poet Matthew Arnold said if ever there comes a time when the women of the world come together Purely and simply for the benefit of mankind They will be a force such as the world has never known. I believe now is that time? I believe we are those women together. We can reclaim our divine identity It's time to join the fight the fight for female