False Prophet Marks Are Proud, Arrogant explains how you can identify a false prophet by his bragging, boasting, self-glorying in the person of himself, when there really are not noteworthy events there.
While many people lament having been spiritually abused by a minister that essentially is a false prophet, few of these people really analyze what happened. Being ignorant of Scripture and refusing to let the Holy Spirit teach them through brutal abuse in their personal experiences, they are destined to repeat the very same events in their own lives. This spiritually discourages them and makes any future involvement in a religious community less and less enthusiastic. This is exactly the plan of Satan.
But God never gives us up nor refuses to support, help, and guide us. We are the ones who give up on God. We despise God’s goodness, direction, and protective guides, and when we despise the love of God, then God eventually ends His patience with us. That is how the God of extreme love sends some people to hell. Because they despised the goodness of God. Love has to be returned by the receiver to the giver in the form of exaltation, elevation, and highly esteeming and pleasing who first loved you. This explains why the God of love sends so many to hell. They ignore, refute, or replace God in their lives with their own selfish and foolish will.
So how do we discern a false prophet from a true prophet? The Bible has the answer if we are attentive to God’s teaching. We begin with the most important point. We are saved from our sins by the Savior, Jesus Christ. Others come claiming that they are bodily that Christ the Savior, or that they come in the name of Christ, representing Christ. The Catholic Church dogmatically teaches that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ, or the replacement representative of Christ on earth. Yet dogmatically saying that, the Pope doesn’t seem very Christlike.
The false Prophet has a Different Character from Christ
A key element in not spiritually falling into the spiritual traps of Satan is to focus on Jesus Christ. When you follow Jesus, you have to demand that the church and leaders that you participate with are living examples of Jesus Christ in their moral character. When you cannot see Christlikeness in them, it is better to pray, meditate on things, and probably find a better place to worship God. Sometimes we are mistaken about how we understand what is going on, but over some short period of time, there are more “reinforcements” or signs and warnings of something being wrong that shouldn’t be ignored.
Note that every true Christian has to go through the saving process, which begins with a person’s own personal admission of their sins and guilt before God. If that is truly heart felt and sincere, then they can never be proud in the humanly common sense. Their only correct pride is in their Savior, and not in themselves. They see themselves as worthless except for their relation with their Savior, their worship of God, and service to God.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
The concept of receiving Jesus Christ has to include what He did on the cross to save you, but also it has to include Jesus’ moral example, His spiritual character. We “receive” that moral pattern as our guide. This is on a personal and every Christian level. But so many seem to miss the point that if they are to imitate God, Christ, Ephesians 5:1, then their spiritual leaders should also be shining examples of Christ. After spiritual abuse has hurt them, they can easily recognize this lack of Christlikeness in those that spiritually abused them. They complain greatly about what they have experienced, but as obvious and clear as it is after the fact, they completely missed those warning signs before their epiphany after spiritual abuse.
See [[Ch24 The power of an Example]]
What is very important to understand is that the False Prophet has an opposite character than what Christ has. This in essence makes him an “anti-” Christ, a person who wants the authority and power of Christ over people, but only by driving them away from Christ and his moral character. Subtly the false prophet does exactly that. They convince the Christian and all who follow the false prophet, who are under his “ministry,” into the moral character that is proud, boastful, arrogant, etc. This takes the form of comparisons of earthly Madison Avenue advertising types, and not by the Bible. Obedience to God is the only thing praiseworthy for us. And after obeying faithfully, we are only humble and meek servants. Money, fame, power, control, and human greatness are the fodder of the false prophet in his traps. The Roman Catholic Church boasts of some of the most impressive and awe inspiring buildings for their churches in the world. Yet a building which God has labeled Icabod, or cursed of God, is not good no matter how awesome it is.
2 Corinthians 10:1 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: 2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 2 Corinthians 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10:6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
Paul reveals the spiritual weapons of our spiritual warfare. Meekness and gentleness of Christ is how the servant of God “wars.” Pride, arrogance, haughtiness, boasting, etc. are marks of how Satan does spiritual warfare. This observation will go a long ways towards keeping the believer away from the harmful influences of the false prophet. But the truth here is that either you will reject pride and boasting in your church and pastor, from your spiritual leaders that you listen to, or you will become proud and arrogant like they are. Those are the only options. You learn as much from the methodology of what people do as you learn from the content of what they teach.
The only thing you learn from a hypocrite is hypocrisy. In other words, a hypocrite is a person who says the right words (according to the Bible), but they do not actually live by those same words as a moral guide of their lives. This contradiction reveals that they are not obeying God. People, saved or unsaved, that sit under a false prophet, a hypocrite, an actor who says he is one thing when he is not that thing he proclaims to be, is a wolf that says he is a sheep, and if you accept sitting under that kind of minister and ministry, you are a hypocrite and you will find on internal moral examination of yourself that hypocrisy is part of your moral makeup too. This is extremely hard to remove, or to not allow it to take over more and more of your life.
The point of prevention is to cut it off as soon as you notice it, and to reject it always and even if you have to go to extremes to do so. Both in you and in your church/pastor, where you learn spiritual principles (sermons, videos of sermons or teaching, etc.), you must not allow hypocrisy. The “winking at” verses that are difficult but very clear and disobeyed is where this hypocrisy is detected.
1 Timothy 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
How many times do we see women pastors and spiritual teachers that want men to be in under their teaching and ministry? They are a spiritual authority over men. They defend themselves as great spiritual teachers yet they have to twist and turn this simple verse that everybody understands to stand on its head so as to not prohibit the very thing that they are pushing, a woman’s teaching of Scripture for men.
Matthew 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. Matthew 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Matthew 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. Matthew 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. Matthew 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
How many Catholics call their religious leader “father”? The word “Pope” comes from the word father. A true man of God does not want to dominate the faith of others, but he is a spiritual helper, an elder brother to the believer he ministers. The false prophet always wants control and esteem from those under his control. He does not dominate the faith of his brethren. [[F. P. Marks – Lording over another’s salvation]] The entire concept of the priesthood of every believer is not useful to the false prophet, and that key New Testament doctrine flies in the face of absolute submission to a religious leader, which is exactly Christ’s point in Matthew 23:8-11.
When we allow, permit, participate, and engage in unbiblical principles, in people and their ministries that work directly against what God and Jesus Christ command, we do ourselves spiritual harm. When you take the attitude that you can “wink at” (ignore them, or take them as unimportant) these inconsistencies between Christ and your spiritual minister, you will not even realize the great spiritual damage that he is causing you until it is too late. That is what so many people who finally are so abused and damaged by spiritual abuse in the extreme come to reject all authority, ministers, and churches. They go from bad to worse which greatly pleases Satan. It is because they do not ward off problems when they are easier to deal with, when they first start and you can notice them.
The False Prophet is Proud, has a lot of Pride
Mean ministers are usually arrogant, proud, and want to exalt themselves over others (Mark 12:38-40), always boasting. They define themselves spiritually by comparison with others. Normally the comparison is very carnal. Because one leader has few people, and the false prophet has many followers, popularity, money, fame, glory makes them right somehow. Their extreme tendency in controlling and manipulating others is a classic sign of them.
When a person becomes haughty, that person rarely listens to wise counsel. In their mind, their own opinion is extremely wise, even if following that counsel has bad consequences in the past that could be avoided. God is wiser than any human. But the heart of the false prophet follows exactly the position of Satan when in Isaiah 14 Satan presumes to be equal to God or greater than God.
False prophets are usually contentious, they like to argue and cause divisions (the real root meaning of the word “heresy”). In the end analysis, they usually think more of themselves and their own understanding and opinions than one should. Their opinion is always the important one that counts. They insist on this position for everybody in their community. They are totally blind to the fact that their view, positions, and practices could be flawed. They consider themselves as being perfect, and they are greatly offended if anybody in their world thinks otherwise.
Romans 12:3 *For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly==, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
They overly estimate their own worth, understandings, opinions, and doctrine carrying things to make a second “law” of God that nobody can violate without reaping God’s wrath. These concepts they project onto their followers to cement their control over them.
He is Boastful
Psalms 49:6-7 6 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; 7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
Psalms 94:4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and **==all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?==
It is extremely dangerous to boast of one’s own self when a person is totally at the disposition of God. To not kneel before God causes a tremendous risk to that person. The false prophet is blind to this reality, and thinks he is the sole creator and authority in his world.
The false prophet is known for his appetite for greatness, large groups, lots of money spent, lots of people, and fame and human glory for him and his ministry.
It is extremely dangerous to boast of one’s own self when a person is totally at the disposition of God. To not kneel before God causes a tremendous risk to that person. The false prophet is blind to this reality, and thinks he is the sole creator and authority in his world.
Trapping people in Philosophy and Vain Deceit
Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Note that every true Christian has to go through the saving process, which begins with a person’s own personal admission of their sins and guilt before God, i.e. morally they have failed before God. If that is truly heart felt and sincere, then they can never be proud in the humanly common sense again. Christians, followers of Christ, are always like Christ, meek and humble, gentle, and not rough, cruel, or brutal in their dealings in the world. Their only correct pride is in their Savior, and not in themselves. They see themselves as worthless except for their relation with their Savior, their worship of God, and service to God. Mean ministers are usually arrogant, proud, and want to exalt themselves over others (Mark 12:38-40), always boasting. Their extreme tendency in controlling and manipulating others is a classic sign of them.
When a person becomes haughty, that person rarely listens to wise counsel. In their mind, their own opinion is extremely wise even if following that counsel has bad consequences that could be avoided. God is wiser than any human. But the heart of the false prophet follows exactly the position of Satan when in Isaiah 14 Satan presumes to be equal to God or greater than God.
False prophets are usually contentious, they like to argue and cause divisions (the real root meaning of the word “heresy”). In the end analysis, they usually think more of themselves than one should. They opinion is the important one that counts.
Romans 12:3 KJV *For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, ==not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly==, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith*.
They overly estimate their own worth, understandings, opinions, and doctrine carrying things to make a second “law” of God (formulated by them and not correctly exposited from God’s Word) that nobody can violate without reaping God’s wrath. They consider themselves as the executioners of that divine wrath. They project these concepts onto their followers to cement their control over them.
A False Prophet feigns Brokenness, or Completely Abandons it
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. 1 John 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Jesus Christ coming in the flesh represents brokenness, humility. This is the exact opposite of haughtiness, pride, arrogance. The two are poles apart. From just this single point, many false prophets can be discerned without much investigation or personal risk. Jesus being fully God, humbled himself instead of coming as a potentate king, rather He came as a man, a human. He came to be mistreated and ultimately killed on the cross, because this brokenness is the only way anybody is going to be saved and enter the presence of God, enter into the pleasure and approval of God.
But we (Christians) need to understand that Jesus is the door, and those who wish to enter heaven have to enter through that same door, the door of repentance and brokenness, of meekness and humility. This is an eternal thing, and nobody neither on earth nor in heaven should ever get haughty, arrogant, proud, or take pride in self. It is a marvelous wonder to see Jesus in this fashion. Without it happening, we would have no clue about this aspect of God. False Prophet Marks Are Proud, Arrogant
Christ Emptying Himself
Philippians 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
We should make an observation here about “receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior.” How exactly is this, or what does it mean to receive Jesus, how do you do this? At once, this is receiving his death and resurrection as applying to your personal sins to remove the wrath of God over those sins, but receiving Jesus needs to be expanded more than that. When you are saved, you cannot be saved without confessing your own sins (moral failings) and repenting (includes abandoning them) of your sins, your way, your moral way of living your life. Jesus had no moral failings, yet He showed us the way by His personal example of humility.
This humility for us is like a precursor to being saved, to receiving Jesus Christ as Savior. But we cannot exist with our soul as being in a spiritual vacuum. The replacement to our sinful way is Jesus, our moral pattern. When we receive Jesus as our Savior, we need to understand that we are implicitly imposing the moral character of God into our moral character to replace our defective character. That is the very heart of salvation. That is the very essence of the fight for sanctification, to live in Christlikeness. The Holy Spirit’s task in our life is to make us holy as God is holy.
When you see an arrogant, boastful, proud minister, a person who presumes to tell you how to live your life without he being a good example of what he demands of you, this is an anomaly that you should seriously meditate on. If he is not like Christ himself, meek and gentle, then how can he help me be more like Christ? Satan uses magic