Beware the Wolf Part Two- Evil Fruits

In this article we will delve into the evil fruits that identify a false prophet.

Let me begin with Matthew 7:15-17

Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

Before we look at evil fruits, let’s consider what a good tree is.

Jeremiah 17:7&8

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and who’s hope the Lord is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

This tree was faced with the scorching heat of the sun, yet it’s leaf remained green.

Why? because it was planted by the waters and its roots spread out by the river.

It never ceased to yield fruit because it never ceased to abide IN and drink from the river.

What does the river represent or what is water symbolic of in the bible?

If we look at the gospel of John we see chapter after chapter makes reference to water.

The first reference is water baptism. John the baptist was baptising people unto repentance.

Now water baptism is a physical illustration to help us understand salvation, how it works and what one must do to be saved.

Rom 6:3-6 says we must be… baptised into Jesus Christ through repentance. Repentance is being crucified with Christ. Once crucified with him, we can be resurrected with him, that is, born of the Spirit.

If we go back to the gospel of John we find another reference to water in chapter four where Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman and offered her living water. He said that whosoever drinks of living water will never thirst (John 4:14).

This ties in with Rev. 22:1

And he showed me a pure river of of water of life, clear as crystal…on either side of the river was there the tree of life which…yeilded her fruit every month.

vs 17…let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.

The tree in Jeremiah 17:8 who’s roots continually abide IN the river, represents a person who has been baptised in Christs death through repentance and is therefore drinking of his Spirit.

1 Cor. 12:13

For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body….and have been all made to drink into one Spirit 

Now, the Spirit is love.

Ephesians 3:17

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love

A person who is rooted and grounded in love will manifest what? LOVE.

Even when faced with the scorching heat of the sun.

Galatians 5:22-24

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The fruit that one produces when under pressure, reveals wether one is a good tree or a corrupt tree.

A false prophet can put on a loving facade for a time. He can imitate the fruit of the Spirit for a time but when the heat is on, when the pressure is on, he WILL manifest the works of the flesh.

These are listed in Galatians 5:19-21

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkeness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

A false prophet may not manifest the obvious sins of adultery, fornication, murder or drunkeness, rather the subtle sins of strife, envy, hatred and wrath.

This is more likely what one will see in the behaviour and attitudes of a wolf. 

We find the perfect example of this in 3 John.

3 John is a very short letter written by the elder unto Gaius.

The elder commends Gaius for his hospitality towards brethren who were traveling about ministering truth.

In vs 8 he says

we ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth.

Then he continues in vs 9

I wrote unto the church but Diotrephus who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

Preeminene means a desire to be first.

This is STRIFE an evil fruit.

Strife eritheia er-ith-i-ah means a desire to put oneself forward or self-promotion.

Self-promotion is one of the hallmarks of a wolf.

He may say something as blatant as “i am the lamb of God” or something a little more subtle like

“where would you be without me?” “if it wasn’t for me you’d still believe false doctrine” “You need to respect the office of pastor” in order to keep his followers in passive submission to him.

Why? Because a wolf HAS to have the preeminence.

Any thing that looks or sounds remotely like self-promotion should be a red flag to us.

Lets continue to verse 10

Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren and forbidden them that would and casteth them out of the church.

When a person is busy promoting self they WILL be envious of anyone more successful or capable than themselves. 

ENVY is evil fruit.

There are many verses which show how strife and envy go together. Here are just a few…

1 Cor. 3:3

For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying and strife…

James 4:14

But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth.

James 3:16

For where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work.

The envious wolf has to cut down or drive out anyone he finds threatening. This means he WILL make us stories, spread rumours and straight out abuse people from the pulpit.

This is where WRATH comes in, more evil fruit.

Wrath thymos thoo-mos is anger that boils up. 

Wolves often use the pulpit as a means of safely expressing their rage. 

Who was it that Diotrephus spoke malicious words against?

Vs 12 Demetrius hath good report of all men and of the truth itself…

How could Diotrephus speak malicious words against a man who had a good report of all men and of the truth itself?

Because wolves are full of HATRED, another evil fruit.

Hatred mis-eh-o miseo means to detest, especially persecute.

Wolves actually persecute Christians.

What piece of advise did “the elder” give to Gaius in regards to Diotrephus?

Vs 11

Beloved follow not that which is evil but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

Doesn’t this sound similar to Matthew 7:17

A good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

Strife, envy, malice, hatred and wrath are all the characteristics of a wolf and prove that he is not a Christian for the bible says one must “lay aside” these things before one can be born-again.

1 Peter 2:1&2

Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby:

When the wolf pokes his head out from his sheep’s clothing and we see the works of the flesh in his attitudes and behaviours should we look the other way? Ignore the evidence? Forgive and forget? Just keep praying for him to change? Put up with evil fruit because after all, he’s a good preacher…he has amazing bible knowledge…he does missionary work…he feeds the poor? 

Jesus said beware of false prophets meaning seperate yourself from them, flee them.

I was personally under a pastor like Diotrephus for many years and it was a situation very similar to that described in 3 John that caused me to finally come out from under his influence.

I didn’t make that decision lightly, it was a huge thing for me to leave that group but evil fruit was so clearly evident that I had to make a choice. I couldn’t go along with something I deeply disagreed with. To do so would make me a dishonest person and just a guilty as the wolf.

In conclusion…

A good tree is rooted and grounded in love and therefore manifests love, even in the heat of the sun.

Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance are the fruit of the Spirit.

A false prophet, has not died to self or received the Spirit.

Therefore he can put on a loving facade for a time but when the heat is on he WILL manifest the works of the flesh such as hatred, wrath, malice, envy and strife. 

The fruit one produces when under pressure reveals ones true character. Wether one is a good tree or a corrupt tree.

Ye shall know them by their fruits. 

God bless.

Beware the Wolf Part One- Sheep's Clothing

In this article I will explore Matthew 7:15-17

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns. Or figs of thistles?

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

So in verse 15 we’re warned against false prophets and told that they can be 

extremely deceptive why? because they’re in sheep’s clothing.

In verse 16 Jesus says that in order to identify a false prophet one must look beyond his sheep’s clothing and examine his fruits.

Ye shall know them by their fruits

The word fruits in this verse is karpos in the Greek and means work act or deed.

Just as a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit, a false prophet brings forth evil deeds.

Evil deeds is what identifies a false prophet as being a false prophet.

In Matthew 7:5 we are told …first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye. 

If we are producing evil fruit and think, well doesn’t everyone? How will we see clearly to identify a false prophet since he is known by his fruits?

Unless we remove the beam from our own eye, we will be fooled by his sheep’s clothing.

What comprises sheeps clothing?

Matthew 7:22 gives us some clues…

Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity.

These people sound very religious, they prophesied in Gods name meaning they were preachers and did many wonderful works. However, Jesus said to them depart from me ye that work iniquity, or ye that bring forth evil fruit, “i never knew you”. 

Let’s consider for a moment the word knew.

In Genesis Adam knew his wife Eve, meaning they became ONE flesh.

Gen. 2:23&24…this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh…therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.

In Ephesians, this same concept is used to explain the relationship between Christ and the church.

Ephes. 5:30&32

For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones.

therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.

This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

When Jesus said to those in Matthew 7 i never knew you he meant we were never ONE.

How do we become spiritually ONE with Christ? 

Romans 6:3,4&6

Know ye not that so many of us as were baptised INTO Jesus Christ were baptised into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin.

When we forsake sin and fully submit our will to Gods will, we are crucified WITH christ.

Once crucified with him we can be resurrected WITH him to walk in newness of life, which is being born-again.

That is becoming ONE with Christ.

The false prophet has never done this. His old man is still very much alive and that is the crux of his problem. That is what makes him a corrupt tree bringing forth evil fruit.

Lets continue to look at what comprises sheep’s clothing and how incredibly deceptive this clothing can be

1 Corinthians 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophesy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge…and have not charity I am nothing.

This proves that a person can be a gifted preacher, have amazing bible knowledge and understanding yet not have Gods love in their heart. 

God is love. When a person is filled with the Spirit they are filled with LOVE.

Rom. 5:5 says…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost…

Therefore, if a person does not have God’s love in their heart, they are not in relationship with him.

False prophets don’t have God within, rather they wear religion on the outside as a cloak to conceal that which is within.

So what lies beneath the sheeps clothing? Let’s take a peek.

Oh no, it’s a ravening wolf.

The word ravening in the Cambridge dictionary means 

Violently hunting for prey

Collins dictionary says

Voracious or predatory behaviour

Greedily searching for prey

There are certain people who are attracted to church leadership roles for impure reasons. 

They are not motivated by a pure desire to feed God’s sheep, rather a desire to feed themselves upon the sheep.

This means they use God’s people to fulfil their own dreams and ambitions, to satisfy their hunger to be heard, respected and obeyed and even for financial gain.

Ezekiel 34:2

… woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.

Notice how these bad shepherds not only kill and eat the flock but clothe themselves with their wool.

The sheep’s clothing worn by a false prophet is actually those whom he has sacrificed.

In fact if he can find someone who is particularly blameless, he will attach that person to himself because they make him look good, they cover up his true character.

Such a person becomes his prey and he won’t let them go without a fight.

Consider this description of Christ in Rev 1:14

…his head and hairs were white like wool…

Also Isaiah 1:18

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

White wool represents purity and righteousness.

If a false prophet is trying to clothe himself in your righteousness, you need to escape him now, for the sake of your own soul! For in allowing him to use you, you enable him to continue as a false prophet and therefore become just as guilty as he is.

Beware of false prophets meaning seperate yourself from them, flee them for the sake of your own soul!

In conclusion,

False prophets can be extremely deceptive.

They are gifted preachers, have incredible bible knowledge and do wonderful works. 

All these things constitute sheeps clothing. 

Beneath this clothing is a wolf motivated by selfish desires.

The wolf uses God’s people both to fulfill his selfish desires and to cloak his true character.

He hides behind their righteousness so he may continue as a wolf.

In my Beware the Wolf Part Two, I delve into the evil fruits that identify a false prophet. 

God bless.