The Beginning of the End- Hearing the Right Voice — Shane Idleman

The End Times and the Urgency of Christ’s Return

Month of July is on the end times. I've been kind of, you know, not avoiding that topic, but just not really hitting it head-on, and we're going to talk about the different questions out there, the mark of the beast, the Antichrist, and you need to realize though that a lot of Christians are divided over these issues because there's not a lot of clarity.

We don't know, you know, when things are going to happen, how things are going to happen, did they already happen, if the mark of the beast, is it here, the Antichrist, what I've been hearing about that, what is that, are we, you know, pre-tribulation, meaning you're out of here before it gets tough, post-tribulation, meaning you're out of here after it gets tough, mid-tribulation, meaning you're going to go through some of the stuff, is there even a tribulation?

Shane, what are you? And you remember what I am? I'm Pantrib. I'm gonna see how it all pans out, and be ready, be ready, that's the urgency, is to be ready for Christ's return. There's an urgency, there's a there's an a the imminency of Christ, and he's coming back at any moment, and that's how we're supposed to live.

So the message this morning is talking about the end, the end times, the title is the end hearing the right voice, the beginning of the end hearing the right voice, amen? Anyone tired of mixed reviews out there, and mixed opinions, and not a lot of sources of truth, but we're being, you know, told this, and told that, and even pastors, many pastors are not kind of, you know, going the direction we thought they would be going.

Many Christians are seemingly, you know, thrown to the this side, and others thrown to this side, and we just, Lord, we need to hear from you. Now on this issue of truth, I'm going to tell you up front that we're starting to move some of our content to something called Parler, P-A-R-L-E-R, parler .com.

It's a free speech platform, amen? So I don't get, I don't get stuff from Facebook every week. That's not nice. You can't say that. That's not the truth. That's, you know, Facebook, and YouTube, and Google, you got to understand, they're all corporately owned by people who do not like what I'm saying, or what the majority of Americans are saying that hold up for truth, stand for truth, and even with Google in their analytics, and analytics, but their algorithms, you know, they will put top stories at the top, and you can't find the truth way down here at the bottom somewhere, and and that's what's happening.

So we're moving of our videos to GodTube .com, GodTube .com, and Parler .com. Of course, we'll stay on the platforms we're on as long as we can, but there has to be a backup plan as things begin to heat up.

We want to be prepared for that, and last week I was in Ephesians, verse there, gird up with the truth. Gird up your loins with the truth. Now, what was he talking about? The loins here, the stabilization, and many of you in the fitness industry know there's a big trend out there called core stabilization training.

You stabilize the core. You strengthen your lower back, your abdominals, this is the core. This is really what keeps everything together, and so the truth, you gird up the truth, it would hold things together in place, and that's what we have to look to in our society.

Gird up with the truth, and truth is spoken, yes, but truth is also an idea. It's a reality as well, and we have to look only to what God's Word says, and I might have to do part two next week. I was going through these different things, and it was hard for me to get right to the point because I don't want to rush through a topic like this because we are actually going to talk about traits, characteristics of false prophets, false teachers, and we need to be very alert in these dire times that we live in, so I might have to do part two next week.

We also have special worship next week, so I want to encourage you to be here for that. You got to get here early though. If not, there's overflow here, and there's overflow in the side building, and that's just the way it works, so first come, first serve.

God’s Word as the Primary Source of Truth

So let me get into the message, and I'm going to talk about how many of you have seen that video that went viral this week on the dream that that pastor from Kentucky had? Okay, that's a lot of people.

I better talk about it for just a minute because it does fit here, and a lot of people have been asking how it's relevant with this, and I'm going to get to that in a minute, but I believe that God prepares His people.

We don't have to live in confusion and wonder what's going on, and the world does, but Christians are actually supposed to discern the times, to be equipped to understand what's going on, not fully, but to live with hope, live with peace, and use wisdom, so how does God direct you?

How does God prepare His people? He prepares us primarily through His Word, so this is a call, a reminder that you hear. There goes Shane again on the Word of God. Yep, that's right, and probably till the day I die because, you know what, I'll make you a deal.

I'll stop talking about it if you start living in it. The Word of God becomes everything to you, and you get your gauge of truth through the Word of God, and there's got to be a call back to God's Word because that's how we're supposed to disseminate information.

If you're looking to CNN and Fox News, whoo, you're gonna be in trouble. What does God's Word say about how we're supposed to live? Amen. I'm gonna try. Just hold tight here. So we have to look to His Word, and we have to look to wisdom.

Wisdom, what is wise? I'm shocked by how many people not using wisdom, and here's what I think the trick is. You can have God's Word as knowledge, but unless you apply it, it's not wisdom, so so many people know God's Word, be doers of the Word, and not hearers only living in deception.

So we have to know God's Word, then we have to walk in God's Word, which we talked about last week. Listen to last week's message on a gentle answer turns away wrath, on seasoning our words with grace, on being quick to speak and slow to listen.

Anyone catch that? You're not in the Word. Quick to listen, slow to speak, and God can gauge us through these times of uncertainty and civil unrest, and I've been running into people that probably don't like me with all the civil unrest, and I've been smiling, hey man, how's it going?

And you can diffuse that right away. You can actually create an environment of friction, right? You got your NRA bumper sticker, you got your American flag 20 feet high, and you got your shotgun on the back, and you know, you can fuel those flames, or you can help to quench those flames of fire.

And just so you know, I love the flag, I own a shotgun, and I'm not gonna tell you if I belong to the NRA or not. So, but that's the second service. You guys let me get too carried away here. But I do believe, and actually we did a podcast yesterday, so that's why in my heart I believe, I believe that the Second Amendment can be biblical.

I believe that the Founding Fathers, realizing that we broke away from tyranny, and that the people representing themselves should be able to govern themselves and protect themselves. So that was the whole point of the First Amendment.

Guns don't kill people, people kill people. And you know, there's some solid biblical support. On one hand, Jesus says, don't take a sword, don't take a money bag, I'll provide for you. But then he says, when I'm leaving, by the way, grab a sword and take a money bag, and you know, it's okay to protect your family, and I think defend yourself in some cases.

And there'll be a podcast we're going to release. Me and Luke sit down and talk for about 20 -30 minutes on this topic. We also actually, I guess I'll just promote that, but we did a lot of them yesterday.

What to say to your child when they come out gay. We talked about how to quench the fires of civil unrest, and how do you know God's will. And so we're gonna be releasing all those podcasts on YouTube and on our platform, so be encouraged, look for those.

So we look to his Word, we look to wisdom, and you have to become people of prayer. Why is that? Because prayer is positioning. We want to hear from God, but we don't want to position ourselves. God, would you show me and open these doors?

Yeah, position yourself in prayer. So here's what happens in prayer. I'm getting, removing the news media, I'm removing ungodly influence, I'm removing all the, and Lord, I just need you to speak to me, I need to hear from you.

And in that time of silence and hearing from God, he begins to direct you and begins to put things, thoughts into your heart that are biblical and of God, and it's just time away and alone seeking God.

Without that, he's not going to direct you very clearly. And it was, you would be amazed at how, do you ever hear names like George Mueller, who funded orphanages in the 1800s? George Whitfield, John Wesley, David Brainerd, who used to minister to the Native American Indians.

People like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and I mean, pretty much all of the great Christian men and women, Amy Carmichael on the mission field, and that used to come before us, all spent significant times in prayer, without a shadow of a doubt.

Actually, Martin Luther, who translated the Bible into the German language, I think you might be a little busy there, right? And it didn't have YouTube or didn't have internet where you could copy and paste.

It was candle and parchment or scrolls or the book, and taking the Latin Vulgate and translating in the German, and he was so busy, he would still find three hours a day to pray. And they asked him about it, he said, I'm too busy not to pray.

See, we forget that prayer doesn't take your time, it actually restores your time, because you begin to prioritize yourself. And I just hear from so many people, I know they're, not you guys, okay, don't make me, don't get me wrong here.

Other people, you know, Shane, I understand, but man, I am so busy. Listen, if you're too busy to pray, you're too busy. But you're not too busy to have the internet on and Netflix for three hours a day.

It's actually prioritizing. Let's get convicting. You want to get convicting, let's get convicting. It's about prioritizing our time. A friend of mine just asked me this week, because I'm just releasing another book, If My People, and it's on 2 Chronicles.

And they're like, how do you have time to write a book? I just don't watch TV. That's it. Hey, three hours a day, seven days a week, that's 20 hours a week. That's a part-time job you're giving to the media.

That's 20 hours a week. So you take that time, and you put it towards the things of God. So it's not, I have more time, or you have, it's prioritizing. Because we all know that we'll find time for those things that are most important to us, correct?

It's amazing how many people are so busy, but they'll find time to go to a Laker game when they had them, or go to a sports event, or go drive down to the beach for the weekend. We find time for those things that are important.

So we have to get back to being a praying church, because God positions our hearts through prayer. We begin to hear His voice through prayer. You don't know this, but now you will, but majority of my sermon notes come from times of prayer.

I'll sit there, and I better have some post-it notes, and I'll just start, just God's down, and I'm just writing post-it notes, post-it notes all over my area, and I've got to take those, and put them together, and put them succinctly, and make it flow, and God begins to just minister to my own heart during this times of prayer.

I've never prepared a sermon watching the media, or with five kids in the car causing havoc. It's those times of quietness before God, and obviously then, obviously you'll relate to this. Number four is He will guide, He will prepare His people through preaching.

He guides people through the proclamation of His truth. That's why all of us, including myself, are hungry for teachers. I listen to Alistair Begg. I listen to Tony Evans. I listen to all the people on our radio network.

I listen to them. I need to be fed myself, and we listen. We get direction through the preaching of God's word, so it's very important at this critical time in our nation's history is to hear the right voice, to listen to the right spokesman.

Evaluating Prophetic Dreams and Messages

So what about this video, and the only reason I'm tying it in, I normally wouldn't spend time on a sermon, but so many people have watched it. A million people, I think, in one week and went viral on this pastor in Kentucky, believe God gave him a dream on what is going to happen to the United States of America, and a couple things.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time here, but I want to say I'm not linking this in the category of a false prophet whatsoever. I think he was sincere. I think he did have that dream. I do think how, I see all those things, all of those things could definitely happen without a shadow of a doubt, absolutely, of course.

If anybody doesn't think that could happen, they probably should take a look at the news headlines. However, that type of prophetic word has to come under the submission of other prophetic voices. In other words, the spirit of the prophet, the spirit of those speaking God's truth, has to come under the accountability of others.

And so myself, I looked at many other people, their comments, and I actually didn't share what he said on social media for this very reason. I sent it to maybe a half, three, four dozen people just for feedback, but there wasn't, anytime God speaks to his people, there's also going to be hope.

So it's not just doom and gloom, buy guns and ammo, store for food, goodbye America. It's usually a message of hope as well. The prophet Jeremiah would warn, but then he would offer hope. And we also see, this kind of goes against what a lot of us are sensing.

A lot of us are sensing this civil unrest, this spiritual upheaval, but I believe, and I'm praying, and I believe God has raised up this church to participate in God bringing another awakening, another spiritual revival.

Why would he give me such a hunger for America 20 years ago to start reading the founding fathers, to start reading something called the Declaration of Independence, by the way? Very good stuff. You ask people, they have no clue.

Why are we celebrating 4th of July? I'm not sure. I mean, there's just no knowledge of what God has done, and he's given me this desire for revival from early on, once I experienced this mighty, powerful, anointing, filling, unction, baptism, whatever you want to call it, you better have it, of this overwhelming power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

That's why when we sing that song, I love that song, Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me, and I would submit to you that many of you need that. Many of you need that. I do. That's biblical. The teaching that you receive the Holy Spirit at conversion, that's it, is good, which is true, but Paul says BE, being filled.

If you look at the the breakdown of the Hebrew, I'm sorry, the Greek in the New Testament, and the the active tense of that verb, it's a BE, being filled. I'm being emptied through the things of the world, I need to be filled.

Spirit of the Living God, would you fall afresh on me? Come on, you know, you know when you got some Holy Spirit gas in your engine, you know when you don't. You know when you're just flat, and you're dead.

I know there have been times where I didn't get much sleep, like last night, and because people think it's fun to light firecrackers till 4 in the morning, haven't discovered why that is so fun yet. My dog hated it, my kid, you know, so God, I need you to move through me, because I'm not feeling it, but the Spirit of the Living God is not concerned with my feelings, so Spirit, fall afresh on me.

Fill me mightily with your Spirit, so I can discern your truth, so I can preach with boldness. If I walk up there in the power of Shane Eidelman, this will accomplish nothing, and we need that, so God's given me that passion for revival, for awakening.

There's a stirring, and as I read about awakenings, it would often be dark before the light would come. You should read about colonial America before the first awakening. Drunkenness skyrocketing, prostitution, gambling, lying, mischief, murder.

It's in history, read it, and then God brought an awakening that shut down bars. Hundreds of thousands converted, churches popping up all over. It was so powerful a move of God that they would have to have what they would call Methodist circuit riders.

They would go on horseback from every town and preach the gospel. Churches would pop up, bars are closed down. It's amazing to see what God does, so I believe there has to be hope in what a person is offering.

So the bottom line is, I don't know, and you don't either, if what he said will come to pass. Now if we see, like he said, Russians and China military in our capital, then we're in trouble. America is no longer existing.

I'll tell you that right now. So I don't see that. I don't feel that. I don't sense it. Doesn't mean he's a false prophet. I believe he saw that, and he felt that, and we just got to be careful on our dreams sometimes because I don't believe it's pretty hard to have an inerrant, 100 accurate dream, right?

Because we like to add a little hamburger helper. Well this is what I think, and that's what I think. So I'm not dismissing. I'm not mocking. I think his heart is sincere. I think we should pray about what that means to us.

What does it look like? I think we should be prepared. If you're not prepared financially, I would encourage you to be prepared financially. What does that look like? Talk to God. It means don't overspend.

Get things in order. Have some cash on hand. There's nothing wrong with those things. It's good to be prepared. God would spoke through, you know the list, he spoke to Pharaoh about an upcoming famine and used Joseph.

Joseph had a dream, right, to avoid persecution. Took Mary and Jesus away out of Egypt. I called my son. He came back from Egypt into this area of Israel, and Daniel had a dream. Paul had a dream. A man said, would you come to Macedonia?

And so God can use these things. I've had some. I might share at some point if I ever do a sermon on a dream. It's very interesting. I think God will use it sometimes as confirmation. Will he not? So anyway, okay, I know you want to know about one.

I'll tell you one. But I've already told you this on a Wednesday night. It was a while back. It was the most exhausting conversation I've ever had with a Jehovah Witness who knows his stuff. Those kind of, that's tough.

Because no matter what you say, it doesn't matter, right? And so he was coming back again with a friend, and here we go. I'm preparing. And that night I had a dream of a black leopard, black jaguar. And I would shine the light in its face, and it would just come around to come and get me, kind of.

I'd shine the light in its face, and it would come around. It was just very perplexing. So vivid. I wake up, and then wouldn't you know it, God brought that right to my mind as I'm getting frustrated.

He's dressed in full black. I'm bringing the light of the gospel, and it's slipping around. And that was the, oh. Now you could just say, that was just a coincidence. Well, I'm glad it was a coincidence, because it sure helped me.

Oh, that's right, Lord. And so I was able to diffuse my frustration, and just keep back on the point of, and you know, and you know you're in trouble when you say, hey, do you guys mind if I open in prayer?

As long as you don't pray in Jesus's name. That's a cult, if I've ever seen one. That is a group that does not know God, and they need to know God through love and grace. And you got to know your Bible, because they'll bring all kinds of tricky little things in there.

The wiles of the devil. They'll bring a brainwashing in, is what it really is. The brain has been so formed in this way of thought, it's hard to break out. So I hope that helps. I don't know if we will release the first service or not, but in the first, I talked more about the dream, and what I view on this, and I don't want, I just feel maybe God doesn't want me to spend too much time on that with the second service.

We've been having a lot of issues with this type of message. Our internet actually went out during the first service, so thousands and thousands of people didn't even see the first service. And our Facebook threads like, you cut off, you didn't.

So the enemy's working overtime, for sure. Now is that just coincidence? Maybe. I don't know. All I know is that God has called me to give the message I want to give you this morning. I don't think I'll finish it all, but we're gonna talk about unmistakable traits of false prophets.

Defining False Prophets and False Teachers

Unmistakable traits of false prophets. You need to be aware, I need to be aware of false voices speaking into our life. Now, let me give a big disclaimer here. So many people put false prophet on somebody, and some leaders that are not false prophets.

They just don't agree with them. So that's not, a false prophet is a very strong word. A false prophet, a false teacher in the Bible is someone who actually doesn't know God. They are unconverted, they are apostate.

So what they do is they tell you, here is what God says when God doesn't say that. A false proclaimer. A prophet, you don't have to get worried about that term. A prophet is just someone who speaks forth God's Word.

So they're saying that God said something when really He didn't. So a lot of these points, you might, on one point you might say, oh I know that, yep, that fits that person. No, they could just be weak in the faith.

They could be wishy-washy. They could be quenching and grieving the Spirit. So they might have some of these characteristics. That doesn't make them a false prophet. A false prophet will hit all of these characteristics and it will be blatant and noticeable that they are not following the one true and living God.

Especially after you look at all these points. And we'll find these in Jeremiah 23. But I'm gonna open with Matthew 24. Matthew 24, 11 and 12. Then many false prophets, many false, this is Jesus, many false prophets will rise up and deceive many people.

And because of lawlessness, because of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. Sound like America today? Because lawlessness will increase. Lawlessness. Just turn on the news. Turn on Facebook. Lawlessness will increase.

The love of many will grow cold. Are you not sensing a lack of love? I mean, life doesn't matter anymore. Nothing matters. It's just this lawlessness that is trampling upon the rights and freedoms of many people.

And there needs to be voices condemning it. Now, I should backtrack a little bit. Matthew 24, depending on what is your eschatology. I'm trying to say the big word there, but it didn't fit. I'll practice for next week.

But eschatology is the study of end times. Meaning, you look at the end times. What is going to happen? And Matthew 24, that whole chapter, is a famous chapter that people use to talk about the tribulation period.

And I don't discount that. But what's interesting is, Matthew 24, if it is for us today, it doesn't mean that it wasn't for the disciples in Jesus's day. Because any time Jesus would talk to his contemporaries, do this.

Be prepared. Be ready. Flee Jerusalem. Hope it doesn't happen on the Sabbath, that your flight is in the Sabbath. He's talking to his contemporaries as well. And so that's why this is interesting. Theologians like D .A. Carson would say that if we apply this verse to us today, then that means it's the only time in all of the recorded Gospels where Jesus did an audience shift.

So instead of talking to his disciples, he's instead talking to us. See why it gets confusing and why there's different views? All millennial, pre-millennial, post-millennial, pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib, all of those terms come from this type of belief that, did this already happen?

Is it happening to us? What's going on? So I'm gonna try to unpack that this month. It's difficult because there are different opinions, so I'm gonna give you the different opinions on that. But I believe this, this is my kind of theory on theology of the end times, I believe God's Word is living and active.

Meaning, and the Bible says that, it's applicable 2 ,000 years ago, it's applicable now. And I believe that God speaks to each generation through his Word, and some things can have dual meanings. So when Jesus spoke to his contemporaries and telling his disciples, which was true, that the false prophets will come, false teachers will rise up, and that did happen in Jesus's time, after Jesus left.

And that prepared them, but that is also happening today. So we see this dual fulfillment of what is being happened, or what is happening. But when we get into Matthew 24 more on, show us the end of the times, and Jesus said, well, not one stone will be left upon another stone.

They will trample Jerusalem. And you can see that that actually was fulfilled in AD 70 by Titus, the Roman emperor, or the Roman soldier general that conquered Jerusalem. That actually did happen, a lot of those things.

But a lot of those things are still coming in fulfillment. So I'm gonna try to unpack that. I'm gonna really make you think about something interesting. You can research this. If you take the words, I believe it's Caesar Nero, and you take the Hebrew numeric value of Caesar Nero, it actually is 666.

So they believe that John was writing to warn the early church about this person in the conquering of Jerusalem in AD 70. Now, do I subscribe fully to that? I would say that's very interesting. And the tribulation, it looks like, is coming.

It looks like there could be a one-world system around there. Looks like the nation of Israel was reborn in the 1940s. So there's connecting a lot of dots here. But that's why the church is divided on this issue, because Scripture is not crystal clear.

It might get tough. You might not be raptured out of here when it gets tough. There is a catching away. That word rapture comes from, I believe it's the Latin Vulgate, where it talks about a catching away.

And there will be that catching away and coming to Christ or meeting Christ in the air. But I have a problem sometimes with that, because they don't, those who teach that do not believe that's Christ's second coming.

They believe that will happen, but then there's a second coming later. And I don't see, okay, that's interesting. And in the millennial reign, if there is a millennial, why is there sacrifices again and animals being slaughtered to Jesus?

So see, that's why people, my point, my whole point was, I guess I could have said this 10 minutes ago, hold your end times theology loosely in the palm of your hand. For people to say, this is how it's going to happen, have been proven wrong time and time again over the last or hundreds of years.

So we have to look at Scripture and we have to ponder, but at the end of the day, we have to say, does it draw me closer to Jesus? Am I prepared for His return? And will I be able to go through tribulation and persecution?

Jesus said, be ready. Persecution is coming. Tribulation is coming. If the world hated me, know that it's going to hate you. So we should not be surprised by any of this. We should be ready for it. So here we go, Jeremiah 23.

Jeremiah’s Warning Against False Shepherds

We're looking at traits of false prophets, and I can already tell you a half hour into this, we're gonna have to repeat some of this next week. So I feel like Jeremiah, let me tell you about poor Jeremiah, known as a prophet.

We think we got it hard. This guy preached his heart out and did not see anyone really turn back to God that we know of. Can you imagine that? Preaching your heart out, calling people out on sin, and at the end of the day, they wanted to kill him.

Get rid of the voice of Jeremiah. It parallels today. Get rid of the voice. You must understand that a lot of what I'm saying is actually would be labeled hate speech. A lot of what I say from the pulpit, love speech, is actually labeled as hate speech.

Why? Get rid of the voice that's calling us to conviction. There's no difference. So here's Jeremiah. He says, my heart within me is broken. My heart within me is broken. Why, Jeremiah? Because of the prophets, because of the false prophets, and all my bones shake.

I'm like a drunken man, and like a man who wine has overcome. Why? Why is he like this? Because of the Lord, and because of his holy word. Let me sum it up to you. Jeremiah is broken. He says, these false prophets are leading the people astray, and I'm like a drunken man.

I'm stumbling through life. I'm so, my eyes are like tears, because I recognize the holiness of God. I look to his word. It says here, because of the Lord, and because of his holiness, because of his holy standard, the closer you draw to God's holiness, the more sick you become of sin, and you see, oh God, the weeping, the shedding of innocent blood, the mocking of your truth, the removal of your word, the slandering of Jesus Christ, and oh, I see your holiness, and God, it breaks my heart.

Can not anyone relate to that today, or is that just me? I can relate to this like never before. My heart, the heart within me is broken. Jeremiah said, I'm crying tears of water, and turning into rivers, and he actually wanted to quit the ministry.

Oh, if you cannot relate to that, I don't know what to tell you. If it wasn't for the fact that God has called me, you don't know how many times that thought entered my mind, but you can't do it, because his word is in my heart like a burning fire.

Shut up in my bones. I'm weary of holding it back, so we want to quit in our humanity, but we want to go forward in the boldness of the Spirit. So Jeremiah is saying, I saw God, I saw his holiness, and I'm staggering for the sins of the people, for the land is full of adultery, is it not?

You can't even watch what you're watching right now on Netflix. They would have blushed 30 years ago. They would have said, how is this allowed in our home 30 years ago? So what used to alarm America, now, I'm sorry, what used to amaze America, now comforts her.

What used to alarm us is no longer alarming. We've been desensitized. You don't think so? The perversion that's coming in no longer. They would have never allowed that 40 years ago. Leave it to Beaver.

I love Lucy. Where are those shows? Where are those shows where the husband was the hero, not the idiot? The father led his family. I'm gonna take a rabbit trail. I need to get back on the road. But don't you see Christianity is being influenced by the wrong voices?

Sexual things we would never allow in our homes or our kids to watch. I don't know, it's no big deal. And so Jeremiah says, for because of a curse the land mourns. Anytimes God's people drift from him, the land mourns.

There's a curse on the land because of this debauchery and going against God. And the pleasant places of the wilderness have dried up. Does that sound familiar? The pleasant places, the rivers of water running through the deserts there and the growing trees and all this.

God dried up all those things and they become barren and dead and the course of their life is evil. And their might is not right. In other words, their strength, their vigor of these false prophets, it's not right.

It's not pointed in the right direction. And Jeremiah says, for both prophet, God's spokesman, and God's priests, those who would intercede before the people, are all profane. Yes, in my house, God says, I have found their wickedness.

False Prophets Scatter God’s Flock

And he calls out those people. So let's talk about characteristics of some false prophets. Verse 1 in chapter 23, God says, woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture. Woe to them, says the Lord.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people, you have scattered my flock and driven them away and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doing.

What do you do when God is against you? He says, you have not attended to my people, you false prophets. And by the way, false prophets will never read Jeremiah 23. They'd be like, what is this? I'm getting rid of this book.

Because it convicts their apostate heart. So again, I want to remind you, just because somebody struggles in the points we're going to cover, it doesn't mean that they're necessarily an apostate false prophet.

It doesn't mean that. It just means they could need a mighty filling of the soul, the spirit, so they become bold again. So number one, we can glean from this, they scatter God's flock rather than unite them.

I'm talking about real believers. A false prophet will scatter real believers. Actually, they'll go look for other churches. They're confused. They don't know what's going on. They scatter. They're not protectors of God's people.