Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:15-16
Some of them are obvious. Others, not so much. Could you spot what the Bible calls a “false prophet?”
A pastor began selling some very expensive “healing water,” claiming it could cure the sick. Another pastor proclaimed himself the “appointed Son of God.” A woman who said she’d had a “spiritual revelation” is selling an online course that reveals a new way to “unlock your divine potential, which leads to a “higher knowledge of Christ.”
What’s wrong here? Jesus and all of the apostles gave us a serious warning: beware of false prophets, making it clear that this danger would only increase. A prophet in the Bible is a person who speaks for God. False prophets aren’t just people who make mistakes or get a detail wrong; they are individuals who claim to be part of Jesus’s Church but are not truly following Him. They come in sheep’s clothing. But inwardly, they are ravenous wolves with motives and ambitions that are unsubmitted to Jesus’s authority.
Jesus told us, “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16). False prophets produce thorns, not fruit. Thorns hurt and wound people. Scripture warns us that these false prophets secretly introduce destructive, untrue teaching, leading people away from Jesus and toward themselves (2 Peter 2:1-3).
So, how do we discern who to trust? The greatest evidence of God’s truth isn’t a flashy miracle, but the Holy Spirit’s work of conviction, turning hearts to repent and producing inward transformation over time. Look for a life ripe with peace, patience, love, joy, and self-control.
