The Second Coming of Christ

FALSE PROPHETS

Verse 11. “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” In the common use of the word, a prophet is one that foretells; but the word sometimes means simply a teacher. Prophets of God declare the future, being instructed by good angels and the Spirit of God. False Prophets make predictions by the agency of wicked spirits and the power of Satan. And while this is true of those who are under the direct inspiration of superior beings, good or evil, consecrated teachers of divine truth may be regarded as God’s prophets; and teachers of error may be properly called false prophets. True and false prophets may be known. SCOC 15.5

The prophets of God are teachers of purity, reprovers of sin, and faithful in warning the people of coming dangers. The duties of those whom God calls to speak in his great name, are clearly expressed by the sacred writers. We here quote from three of them. SCOC 16.1

Isaiah 58:1. “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” SCOC 16.2

Joel 2:1. “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” SCOC 16.3

2 Timothy 4:1, 2. “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom preach the word; be instant is season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine.” SCOC 16.4

False prophets do not reprove the people for their sins, they do not warn them of coming danger; but they proclaim peace to the sinner. Their teachings lead form God and his word, and are such as to please the unconverted mind. The inspired writers have also spoken definitely of the testimony and work of false prophets. We here give several for example. SCOC 16.5

Ezekiel 13:9, 10. “And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies. They shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God. Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.” SCOC 16.6

Jeremiah 6:13, 14. “For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely. They have healed, also, the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” SCOC 17.1

Jeremiah 14:13, 14. “Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me. The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them.” SCOC 17.2

After stating the duty of the faithful servant of God to preach the word, to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, the apostle says: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3, 4. That time has now fully come. The people choose pleasing fables, which do not disturb them in their sins, rather than the reproving, searching declarations of the word of God. They love to be deceived by the teachings of false prophets, and “say to the seers, See not, and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” Isaiah 30:10. SCOC 17.3

“Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so; and what will ye do in the end thereof? Jeremiah 5:29-31. The ears of the people are filled with the pleasing fables of the world’s conversion, a good time coming, and that we are just entering the golden age. The threatenings of God’s word on the proud, the haughty, the vain, the rich, the sinners in Zion, and those out of Zion, are kept back by the false teachers of these times. Many of them even dare to teach that the moral code of the ten commandments is abrogated. And as the result of such a course, and of such teaching, we see, in the professed church of Jesus Christ, that SCOC 18.1