Martyrs and False Prophets.

 The followers of Christ were being spoken to and told the future holds no good towards them by those who are against Christ. 

This is true right now, even today. At this very moment I could open a news site online and show you where numerous Christians have been murdered for their faith. The faith of another which condones the killing of those who choose not to believe as they do, is alive and well, working overtime.  Many have been, many are, and many will be killed because they are Christ followers.

We don't like to believe a person would end the life of another person simply because they don't have the same beliefs, but it happens all the time. Jesus told of it happening and He was right. We might not have murders on the scale of thousands or millions at a time, at least not right now, but they are still ongoing.

False prophet and the end times… we know false prophets have existed forever and will exist until our Lord returns.

The thing about false prophets is their deception makes them appear as if they are true prophets, true teachers, true believers, but they are DECEIVERS and most often deceived themselves. We get caught up with false prophets because we desire to hear smooth things, things that don't prick our conscience. People don't want to get their conscience riled up. They like their ungodliness hidden, even from themselves. Unfortunately the blind want to remain blind. I hope and pray we ask for God to keep our eyes opened to all His truth, whether we want to hear the things or not. Let us see the truth! Let us not be deceived! May we not be taken in by any false prophet! All by the grace and mercy, the love of our Lord Jesus Christ! Now and forever! AMEN.

(Excerpt) 

VERSES 9, 10: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray

one another, and shall hate one another."

Here is a brief description of the afflictions and martyrdoms of the church of Christ. Thousands of the faithful followers of Jesus were most cruelly put to death by Pagan Rome; yet the prophecy doubtless applies more particularly to the long period of papal persecutions, in which many millions of Christians were put to death in the most cruel manner that wicked men and demons could invent. In these verses we are brought down over the long period of the martyrdom of the church of Jesus Christ, to near the present generation.

FALSE PROPHETS 

VERSE 11: "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many."

In the common use of the word, a prophet is one that foretells; but the word sometimes means simply a teacher. True and false prophets may be known. The prophets of God are teachers of

purity, reprovers, of sin, and faithful in warning the people of coming dangers. The duties of those whom God calls to speak in his great name are clearly expressed by the sacred writers.

We here quote from three of them:–

"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." Isa. 58:1.

"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand." Joel 2:1.  

 

"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." 2 Tim. 4:1, 2.

False prophets do not reprove the people for their sins, and do not warn them of coming danger; but they proclaim peace to the sinner. Their teachings lead from God and his word, and are such as please the unconverted mind. The inspired writers have also spoken definitely of the testimony and work of false prophets. We here give several for example:–

"And mine hand shall, be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God. Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar." Eze.

13:9, 10.

"For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace: when there is no peace." Jer. 6:13,14. 

"Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them." Jer. 14:13,14

After stating the duty of the faithful servant of God to preach the word, to reprove, to rebuke, and to exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, the apostle says:–

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves  teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn, away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2 Tim. 4:3, 4.

That time has now fully come. The people choose pleasing fables, which do not disturb them in their sins, rather than the reproving, searching declarations of the word of God. They love to be deceived by the teachings of false prophets, and "say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." Isa. 30:10. 

The ears of the people are filled with the pleasing fables of the world's conversion, a good time coming, and that we are just entering the golden age. The threatening's of God's word on the proud, the haughty, the vain, the rich, the sinners in Zion, and those out of Zion, are kept back by the false teachers these times. Many of them even dare to teach that the moral code of the ten commandments is abrogated. And as the result of such a course and such teaching, we see in the professed church of Jesus Christ that INIQUITY ABOUNDS. 

(End excerpt)