Many False Prophets

1 John 4:1
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

Just happened to be reading through 1, 2, and 3 John, as well as Jude today, and have been meditating on this particular verse (among others). It is so easy to read over this, but think about it:
MANY false prophets are gone out into the world? Look around, bro: its not just the typical cults anymore (JW's, Mormons, etc.), its not just the major false religions of the world (Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Roman & Greek Orthodox Catholicism, etc.), but now includes the anti-Christ "Health, Wealth, and Prosperity" teachers, the seeker-sensitive Church-growth teachers (based on mind-power & new age beliefs, with roots in Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller), the so-called "Emerging" Church teachers (really should be called "Merging Church" - merging right back into Catholic mysticism heresy & new-age Spirituality that denies  the Lord Jesus Christ, and the sufficiency of the Holy Bible).

MANY FALSE PROPHETS!
So, how will you know a false prophet? Jesus said by their fruit (Matthew 7:16). And in the preceding verse, Jesus warns us "BEWARE of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves." They are not sent by God, but are tools of the adversary, who's desire is to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Yes, that is Satan's "wonderful plan for your life."

We need to all be Bereans, and examine the words of anyone claiming to speak for God against the Holy Scriptures. Filter everything you take in through God's word! Your music, your movies, your magazines, your books (at the "Christian" bookstore), your talk shows on television and radio....The Jews of Berea where called "more noble" than those of Thessalonica, because "they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11). We are RESPONSIBLE to be Bereans: not only for ourselves, but for the souls of men and women around us. To not be hearers of the word only, but doers of the word (James 1:22).

Just one more motivation for those of us who know the Lord Jesus as Savior to go out into our communities and proclaim the one and only true gospel of the one and only true God, and point others to the one and only true Savior of sinners, Jesus Christ. Just one more reason to "Fight the good fight of faith,...." (1 Tim 6:12), and "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15). The time is now to "...earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 3).

If Jesus Christ has saved you, He saved you to be His witness (Acts 1). Can I exhort both me and you to this end? The false prophets are out there and active, and millions are being led to an eternal Hell by them. Time to man up, step up, study up, pray up, and then step out, reach out, and shout out for your Lord, with the hope of the gospel. Do it today, for none of us is promised tomorrow.