Matthew 24 has spawned more speculation than Linda McCartney’s 1990 ‘Hey Jude’ isolated vocal track did regarding whether or not she could actually sing.
I have my views regarding what Jesus is talking about in this epic apocalyptic chapter and you have yours and to each his own.
This chapter definitely provides great late-night fodder for chummy conversations and debates about the ‘end of all things’. Especially between Reformed Presbyterians and Southern Baptists. Good Lawd!
Personally, I believe Jesus was talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD and not the COVID-19 virus of 2020 but that’s a topic for another book, eh?
This slim tome’s focus is on the overt masculine traits of Jesus and the one I’d like to highlight in this chapter, that isn’t fuzzy at all, is Him warning His boys about false prophets. Yep, Jesus gave zero foxtrots about the dealers of deception and their feelings and thus, He whipped them at every turn and at every post.
For example, Jesus’ first sermon for His amigos and the masses (Matthew 7:15) warned of false prophets.
In His last sermon, Jesus barbecued the false prophets (Matthew 23:13-36) eternally condemning them to an everlasting hell.
In between His first and last sermons, He drop-kicked them every chance He got both in private and in public.
Now, in His final personal powwow with His disciples He warned them three times in two verses to not be taken in by religious furphy spewers (Matthew 24:11, 24).
It’s clear to this old redneck that Jesus cares about truth and He has no problem exposing hacks who torture the scripture and deceive undiscerning dippy people.
Speaking of truth, the Church in America ain’t got time for truth. They want to have their ears tickled and their gelatinous belly stroked with soothing messages from mellow and charming voices that tell them ‘they’re just fine’ when in reality they’re probably going to split hell wide open upon expiration.
Sound doctrine isn’t hip any longer to the-make-it-up-as- you-go-Christian.
You could probably fit all the folks in the U.S.A., who actually care about apologetics, systematic theology and the Solas of The Reformation into a small church’s broom closet. I have actually heard ‘Christians’ emphatically state that, ‘they don’t care what the Bible says’.
It’s really sad that most ministers, let alone the general masses, don’t know what The Westminster Shorter Catechism is but they’re punch-drunk on Hillsong and Bethel tunes, their church’s man-made traditions and/or the ubiquitous Be A Better You bevy of banal books.
So, for those who still care, and do not want to be deceived and damned, here’s how one spots a false prophet.
I’ve gleaned and paraphrased these six traits from the Puritan great, Thomas Brooks.
Number One. False prophets are people pleasers. They’ll tell whomever whatever for power, profit, praise, and approval. They preach to tickle your ear and not bring you to repentance and a true knowledge of a Holy God. The disturbing thing is there’s a whole lot of folks in Christendom that want to be lied to. Check out these horrifying scriptures.
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?
Jeremiah 5:31 (NASB)
9 For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the Lord; 10 Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. 11 “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 30:9-11 (NASB)
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
2Timothy 4:1-4 (NASB)
11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
2Thessalonians.2:11-12 (NASB) These buttkissers are good.
Real good.
They’ll fluff your pillows … pour you a coffee … and plunge you right into the abyss with their lies.
Yep, they’ll charm you with their dally and their wit but they are bereft of the fear of God and holy dread and will undo your soul if you buy their crack. The smooth-talking religious yapper is a soul poisoner. Run from them. Get around pastors who’ll preach the truth even if it grates your flesh.
Number Two. False prophets despise true ministers of the Gospel.
This fear and loathing has been going on since the dawn of time. False prophets, who’re full of lies, hype and spin, hate and I mean hate, those who hold tight to sola scriptura.
Check it out: these false prophets will fling dirt, gossip, write anonymous and disparaging blogs; go hashtag crazy on Facebook trying to ruin and sully the name of those who faithfully carry out the Master’s task of preaching the Apostles’ doctrine.
Paul was constantly attacked by false brethren. They mocked his message, spread lies about him, beat him to a pulp several times, and even ridiculed his appearance (2Corinthians 10:10).
Why? Well, he was kicking their lying backside with this thing called, ‘the truth’, so they had to take him down some- way.
Here’s a FYI: If you’re around a ‘Christian’ and all they do is talk mad smack about a serious saint who greatly esteems the word of God then you’re probably in proximity to a false prophet or one in the making.
Number Three. They declare that which comes from their own whirring tin-brain and not the balance of the scripture.
Oh, to be certain, it’s couched in very religious verbiage and traditions but it’s not biblical.
14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.
Jeremiah 14:14 (NASB)
Thus, says the Lord of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the Lord. “They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace”’; And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’ … 21 “I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. “But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, And would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.
Jeremiah 23:16-17;21,22 (NASB)
20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
Isaiah 8:20 (NASB)
So, before you deep dive into some religious system, or start following some particular leader, run what they’re selling thoroughly through the gauntlet of the scripture and then run it through again. Be like the Bereans mentioned here in the book of Acts who examined the scriptures daily to see whether what Paul and Silas taught was legit …
10 The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they re- ceived the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.
Acts 17:10-12 (NASB)
Number Four. False prophets obsess over minutiae and blow off the truly great and weighty things of God and that which is a direct benefit to the souls of men.
3 As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, 4 nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. 5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, 7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.
1Timothy 1:3-7 (NASB)
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
Matthew 23:23-24 (NASB)
3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction be- tween men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
1Timothy 6.3-5 (NASB)
Number Five. False prophets seek to win men over to their opinions and not to the person and work of Christ. Jesus put it this way …
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, be- cause you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Matthew 23:15 (NASB)
The false teachers in Jesus’ day didn’t give one flying flibbertigibbet whether a person truly knew God or not. What they were interested in is making fresh stooges for their religious machine.
Number Six. False prophets look at congregants as cold hard cash and not souls that they’re responsible for.
1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed, they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle.
2Peter 2:1-3 (NASB)
Making a living, preaching the word of God, isn’t wrong. Check this out …
9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He? 10 Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. 11 If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar? 14 So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.
1Corinthians 9:9-14 (NASB)
What is wrong is greedy religious hucksters who con poor dullards into giving them their hard-earned cash so that they can buy either a Lambo or a pagoda.
Finally, the main reason Jesus raged against false prophets and exposed them in pretty much every chapter in the book of Matthew is this: They send people to hell whom Jesus came to redeem and thus He embraced the masculine task of confronting such liars.
Check out ClashRadio for more wit and wisdom from ClashDaily’s Big Dawg. While you’re at it, here’s his latest book:
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