A few of my viewers have gotten a little confused over what I said last night (Can You See the Wolves?) in the video, about the knowing the false prophets by their fruit – and thats ok – because it gives us an opportunity to dig a little deeper…

First of all – some have asked if I am serious when I say that we judge false prophets by their fruit but not Christians? A few are even offended that I would even suggest such a thing – Well – I am as serious as what the scripture says… Jesus could’ve said – you will know true believers by their fruit – He could’ve said you’ll know false believers by his fruit – but He specifically said FALSE PROPHETS… I even used the Greek meaning of the word because the English meaning of the word prophet can be misleading… as noted by one brother – the websters dictionary says a prophet is an effective or leading spokesman for a cause, doctrine, or group… but the Greek word specifically means ‘one who, acting the part of a divinely inspired prophet, utters falsehoods under the name of divine prophecies’ – I think the word divine is the key there – we aren’t looking at someone merely expressing an opinion which may or may not be false – but we are looking at one who is proclaiming divine providence with their words – in otherwords – one who is claiming God is speaking through them – thus – yes – I believe Matthew 7:15-23 refers ONLY to false prophets…

So what is the standard bearer to know a brother or sister in Christ? Well – according to Jesus – as written in…

Matthew 12:50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Its that easy – so what is the will of our Father?

Love God and love each other – including our enemies… and aceept Jesus Christ, His Son.as our Lord and Savior the love we are commanded to give is the kind of love we receive from Jesus Christ – think back to how He dealt the Roman Centurion – or the woman at the well – the adulteress – or the criminal on the cross – there you will see His love in action… was He harsh with the Pharisees? For sure! But they were not believers as they rejected the Son – so in truth – He was dealing with men who had not the Father nor the Son – thus – children of the devil! thats what it comes down to… and its sooo easy – its difficult to accept – but thats all there is to it!

If we consult the writings of Apostle Paul – specifically Galatians 5:16-6:10 – we can see the fruits of the Spirit – as well as the acts of a sinful nature – but a Christian is not defined by these standards – though a Christian is evaluated by these standards… oooooh let me say that again – a Christian is not defined by these standards – though a Christian is evaluated by these standards…

For instance – the fruits of the Spirit are – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – but if a Christian has not yet matured in the Lord – he may not have all of these fruits in full effect… for who hasn’t stuggled with at least one of these fruits in their walk? Are you always loving, joyful, patience, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self controled? Even the most mature Christians I know struggle at times with different areas – does that make them false Christians? No sir! Does a Christian slide in and out of being a Christian as they struggle at different times in their lives? Absolutely not. But a false prophet – his fruit will be in throns and thistles… and its going to be bad fruit – contrary to the fruits of the spirit and more in tune to the acts of a sinful nature…

Is it our duty to expose fake and false Christians?

Its an interesting question, isn’t it? Some Christians view themselves as some sort of watchmen – or guardians of the faith – out there to take down those that they have deemed false or fake… but what does the Bible teach us about this?

The immediate answer is found in -

Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares (Or darnel, a weed resembling wheat) among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him,

‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’

And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’

The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’

But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”

In this parable – the wheat represents the true Christians, and the tares, which are basically weeds that resemble the wheat – represent the false Christians. If we make it our business to tear up the tares ourselves – we risk harming real Christians… how? for one – we don’t know the hearts of men – and our judgment of the fruits is often skewed by our own biases – thus – we can find ourselves attacking true brothers and sisters in Christ without even realizing it in our zeal… secondly – if we tear down someone who is a false Christian – we may also tear down a weaker brother in the faith who was under the false Christian – not yet mature enough to recognize the false Christian… Jesus, instead, tells us to wait till the end – end let the reapers, who represent the angels, seperate the wheat from the tare – or – the true Christians from the False…

These Christians who view themselves as watchmen often ignore the direct teaching of Christ on the matter – and they are quick to quote Ephesians 5:11 – which reads – Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; But the problem with using this passage is that its out of context… and they lean onto their own understanding concerning how to expose the darkness – despite Paul giving clear directives as to how to do this… let me show you what I mean… directly from Ephesians 5 itself…

Ephesians 5:1-13

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

Now lets look at what Paul was actually saying here – first of all – its clear what we aren’t supposed to be doing – and that is we aren’t to be partakers with those of darkeness; which excludes us from immorality, impurity, greed, filthiness, silly talk, coarse joking – its even disgraceful to even speak of the things which are secretly done by those of the darkness.

Right off the bat – we can clearly see there are many Christians who do not understand what Paul was saying here, because they mock, slander, and ridicule others – proclaiming themselves great by declaring what they believe to be transgressions of others… in otherwords – they become partakers of darkness themselves in their efforts to expose darkness.

Paul does tell us how to expose the immoral deeds of darkness, however – and that is to Walk as Children of Light – it is not to become accusers like children of the accuser Satan – but to expose darkness by our own behaviors – to be an example by which the darkness is exposed… if you have a problem with a doctrine – you aren’t supposed to attack the one teaching it – you are supposed to attack the teaching by revealing the truth… it isn’t rocket science folks…

Now put both these teachings together – Jesus says not to tear out false Christians because you can hurt the real Christians – Paul says expose deeds of darkness by walking as Children of Light… this is exactly the opposite of most the so called watchmen found on Youtube…