March 26, 2025 • 30 mins
What do you think of when you hear the words “false teacher”? Jim Jones? Joseph Smith? Muhammad? Jesus said false prophets are not as obvious as people might assume. They appear to be just the opposite of what they are. But if they are that deceptive, how can we know what they really are? In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus explains this. There is a way to see through all the charisma, eloquence and enthusiasm of men who are not what they claim to be. It takes more than just listening to how they talk. It means we must focus on what they say. It means we cannot be naïve and accept their claims to be loving servants of God. We must go by what they do, not what they say. The Lord used a simple illustration from nature to teach this powerful lesson.
Read about this subject
- Scriptures: Matthew 7:15-20; II Peter 2:1-22; Jeremiah 14; Jeremiah 23; I Kings 18
- “The Faith Under Fire”
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hi, I'm Kerry Duke, host of My Godand My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee
Bible College, where we see the Bibleas not just another book, but the Book.
Join us in a study of the inspiredword to strengthen your faith and to
share what you've learned with others.
In the Sermon on the Mount,Jesus gives promises.
He gives hope, but He also gives warnings.
(00:22):
And as you come toward the close of theSermon on the Mount, you find that He
gives even more warnings about certainthings, one of which is false prophets.
Let's read Matthew chapter7, beginning in verse 15.
“Beware of false prophets, who cometo you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
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You will know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Even so, every good tree bears goodfruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruitis cut down and thrown into the fire.
(01:05):
Therefore, by their fruitsyou will know them.”
The topic here then is false prophets.
A true prophet of God in Bibletimes was a man who spoke from God.
He delivered the messageof God to the people.
A false prophet is one whoclaims to speak from God.
He claims to be a messenger fromGod, but he's a false prophet.
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And what we're going to do rightnow is what we almost always
do in this kind of lesson.
And that is we're going to use theBible as its own best commentary.
So let's begin in second Peter chaptertwo, verse one with this statement.
In second Peter chapter two, verse one,the Bible says, “But there were also
false prophets among the people, even asthere will be false teachers among you.”
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Now, think about what he just said.
He said there have been falseteachers in the past and there
will be false teachers among you.
He's talking to Christian people here.
This is Peter's last epistle.
These are some of Peter's lastwords while he was on the earth.
And so Peter says this is awarning that you need to listen to.
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It's interesting, if you go back tochapter one in the book of second
Peter, that he says in second Peter,chapter one, verse 16, “For we did
not follow cunningly devised fableswhen we made known to you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For He received from God the Fatherhonor and glory when such a voice
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came to Him from the excellent glory,‘This is my beloved son in whom I'm
well pleased.’ And we heard thisvoice which came from heaven when we
were with him on the holy mountain.”
Now that story that he's talkingabout is in Matthew chapter 17.
That's where Jesus went up to whatwe call the Mount of Transfiguration.
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And he took Peter, James, and John.
And so Peter tells us herethat he heard that voice—we
heard that voice from heaven.
They saw Jesus transfigured, theyhad heard and seen many things from
Jesus Christ, and this is only one.
But Peter refers to that event.
So he says we didn't make this up.
These are not, as he says in verse16, cunningly devised fables.
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Now, there are a lot ofthose in the world today.
They're religious doctrines.
They are religious groups led by falseprophets who have invented by their own
creativity cunningly devised fables.
They're intelligent in one way.
They're creative in a sense.
And they create thesecunningly devised fables.
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And the sad thing is a lot ofpeople follow those fables.
But the Bible says this is nothing new.
That's in chapter 2 verse 1.
He says but there were alsofalse prophets among the people.
It happened back in the Old Testament.
And he says there will befalse teachers among you.
Now we're going to 2 Peterchapter 2 in just a few minutes.
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But let's go back first of all to theOld Testament, and let's look at some of
those passages, just a few of those versesin the Old Testament that talk about
false prophets in Deuteronomy chapter 18.
Deuteronomy chapter 18.
The Bible talks about God raisingup a special prophet in the future.
That's verses 15 through 18.
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And that prophet, according toActs chapter three, verse 22
through 24, is Jesus Christ.
Moses is prophesying of Jesus Christhere in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse
15 through 18, where he says, “The Lordyour God will raise up for you a prophet
like me from among your midst, fromamong your brethren, him shall you hear.”
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Now again, that is confirmedin Acts chapter three.
Now this is not a prophecy of Muhammad.
Muslims make the claim that Muhammadis the one that is the prophet being
spoken of here in Deuteronomy chapter 18.
Muhammad was a false prophet.
He did not fulfill this passage orany other verse in the Old Testament.
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So that's an example of a false prophetthat is still listened to today, though
he's been dead for hundreds of years.
Now, what Moses says after this isthat in verse 19 “and it shall be that
whoever will not hear his words or mywords, which he speaks in my name, I
will require it of him. But the prophetwho presumes to speak a word in my
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name, which I've not commanded him tospeak, or who speaks in the name of
other gods, that prophet shall die.”
So this is a very strongwarning against false prophets.
Let's go next to the book of firstKings, and we're going to go to
chapter 18 in the book of first Kings.
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And here we find that a trueprophet of God named Elijah is
confronting false prophets of Baal.
And there were 450 ofthose false prophets.
One true prophet of God saidthat he was going to confront
them and he did on Mount Carmel.
It's interesting here that thesefalse prophets were in the majority.
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The true prophet of God was greatlyoutnumbered, and this is what we find
consistently in the Old Testament.
This is what we find today.
Don't expect the true preachersof God and the true preachers of
God's word to be in the majority.
That has never happened.
And so what we find is thatthis is a very old problem.
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In first Kings chapter 18, the Bible talksabout the 450 false prophets of Baal.
Not only were these falseprophets in the majority, but
they had the backing of the king.
They had the government behind them.
They had the popular sway.
And you may remember this verse infirst Kings chapter 18, the Bible says
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in verse 20, “So Ahab sent for all thechildren of Israel and gathered the
prophets together on Mount Carmel. AndElijah came to all the people and said,
how long will you falter between twoopinions or halt between two opinions?”
How long are you going to jump from onething to another and really just straddle
the fence and not make up your mind?
He's talking to the people here.
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He's not talking to thefalse prophets at this point.
The Bible says he came to all the peopleand said, “How long will you falter
between two opinions. If the Lord isGod follow him, but if Baal, follow him,
but the people answered him not a word.”
So what they should have done wasto say, “Elijah, you're the true
man of God. You're the personthat we ought to be listening
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to.” But instead they were silent.
But after they saw the miracle of Godthat confirmed that Elijah was the
prophet of God, then they said, “TheLord, He is God, the Lord, He is God.”
Isn't that interesting?
That's what they shouldhave said to begin with.
But it took that kind of miracle,and it took the fact that these false
prophets were exposed and eventuallyput to death to convince these Jews
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that they should have been listening toGod and to God's messengers all along.
In 1 Kings chapter 22, we have a similarstory because in 1 Kings chapter 22 now
we have 400 false prophets of the grovesand one true man of God named Micaiah.
So he's in the minorityjust like Elijah was.
Now let's turn over to the book of Isaiah.
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And then we'll look atthe book of Jeremiah.
These are the prophets.
This is the section in the Old Testamentthat we often refer to as the prophets.
These were prophets of God sentto God's people and sometimes
to other nations as well.
But I want you to notice some ofthe things that are said about these
false prophets in Isaiah and Jeremiah.
In the first place, in the bookof Isaiah, you’ll read that these
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false prophets were smooth talkers.
They were eloquent.
They knew what to say.
They knew how to say it.
So, in Isaiah chapter 30, the Bible saysin verse 8, “Now go, write it before them
on a tablet, and note it on a scroll,that it may be for the time to come for
ever and ever, that this is a rebelliouspeople, lying children, children who
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will not hear the law of the Lord.”
Now I want to remind you thatthese are God's chosen people.
He said I want this written down.
I want this recorded.
They're rebellious, they're lying, andthey will not hear the law of the Lord.
They won't listen to the word of God,but I tell you who they would listen to.
They would listen to false teachers.
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Because in verse 10 He says that theysay to the seers, that is to these
false prophets, “Do not see,” and tothe prophets “do not prophesy unto us
right things, speak to us smooth things,prophesy deceits.” And that's who
many of these Jews were listening to.
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They were listening tothese false teachers.
Why?
Because these false teachers toldthem what they wanted to hear.
These false teachers spoke smooth things.
They didn't tell the truth,because the truth sometimes hurts.
The truth steps on our toes.
The truth pierces our hearts.
The truth causes us to feel bad onthe inside when we're guilty of sin.
(10:16):
And that's exactly what weneed if we're guilty of sin.
But these false prophetsmade everybody feel good.
Notice again what verse 10 says.
The people themselves, the Jewsthemselves, were telling these false
prophets don't see, that is, don't seethe right thing, don't prophesy about
right things, and they were saying to theprophets, do not speak to us the right
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things, don't tell us the truth, “speakto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.”
And there were many of those falseprophets who were just willing
and anxious to do that very thingbecause false prophets back in those
days, just like false preacherstoday, made a lot of money.
Now, that might remind youof something said in the New
Testament in Romans chapter 16.
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In Romans chapter 16, verse 17, the Biblesays, “Now I urge you, brethren, note
those who cause divisions and offensescontrary to the doctrine which you have
learned, and avoid them. For those whoare such do not serve our Lord Jesus
Christ, but their own belly, and by smoothwords and flattering speech deceive the
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hearts of the simple.” So nothing hadreally changed from the day of Isaiah the
prophet to the day of the apostle Paul.
You have these false teachers whowere speaking smooth things, and
a lot of people loved it that way.
Let's go next to the book of Jeremiah,the book of Jeremiah chapter five.
Now in this book youhave a similar situation.
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And that is that Jeremiah the prophetis sent to the people to warn them.
The people were in sin.
Those people were the Jewishpeople, the people of Judah, and
Jeremiah has some bad news for them.
The bad news is if you don't repent, ifthis nation does not turn from its evil
ways, then this nation will be overthrown.
(12:05):
The Babylonians are coming.
These Chaldeans will destroy you.
And they're going to be used byGod Almighty because God's own
people were not listening to Him.
God's own people haddeparted from his ways.
So Jeremiah is telling the people thetruth, but they don't want to hear that.
So what did they do?
They turned to false prophets becausethose false prophets made them feel good.
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Listen to Jeremiah chapter five, beginningin verse 30: “An astonishing and horrible
thing has been committed in the land.The prophets prophesy falsely and the
priests rule by their own power; andmy people love to have it so: but what
will you do in the end?” This passagesays that the prophets got away with it.
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The priests got away with it.
They were dealing falselyThey were not true men of God.
But how did the people look at that?
They didn't protest.
They didn't disagree.
The Bible says they loved it that way.
In Jeremiah chapter 6 youfind something similar.
Jeremiah 6 verse 13 says, “Becausefrom the least of them even to the
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greatest of them every one is given tocovetousness, and from the prophet, even
to the priest, everyone deals falsely.
They have also healed the hurt ofmy people slightly, saying, ‘Peace,
peace,’ where there is no peace.”
Do you see the messagethey were preaching?
You see, Jeremiah said war is coming.
And that was not a popular topic, becausethese people didn't want to hear that.
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They didn't want the truth that madethem nervous, that made them afraid,
that shook up their comfortable life.
And so they turned to these false teacherswho said there's going to be peace.
You don't have to worry about that.
Don't listen to Jeremiah.
Notice Jeremiah chapter 14.
Here's where God respondsto these false prophets.
In Jeremiah chapter 14, verse 11, theBible says, “Then the Lord said to me,
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Do not pray for these people for theirgood. When they fast, I will not hear,
and when they offer burnt offering andgrain offering, I will not accept them,
but I will consume them by the sword,by the famine, and by pestilence.”
Then in verse 13, Jeremiah said, “Then Isaid, Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets
say to them, You shall not see thesword, nor shall you have famine, but
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I will give you assured peace in thisplace.” Do you see the contrast there?
Jeremiah himself said Lord, Iknow that's true, and that's
what I'm telling these people.
But you've got all these false prophetsout there assuring these people
that that's not going to happen.
Then the Bible says that God said toJeremiah in verse 14, “The Lord said to
me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name.
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I have not sent them, commanded them, norspoken to them; they prophesied to you
a false vision, divination, a worthlessthing, and the deceit of their heart.
Therefore, thus says the Lord concerningthe prophets who prophesy in my name,
whom I did not send, and who say, Swordand famine shall not be in this land.
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By sword and famine, those prophetsshall be consumed, and the people
to whom they prophesy shall be castout in the streets of Jerusalem
because of the famine and the sword.
They will have no one to bury them,them, nor their wives, their sons,
nor their daughters, for I willpour out their wickedness on them.”
Here's what God saidin Jeremiah chapter 23.
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God said, “I have heard what theprophets have said, who prophesy lies
in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed.
I have dreamed.’” Now, how manytimes does that happen today?
How often do you hear some preacheror someone saying, “I had this dream
and I know that God told me suchand such in that dream.” And if you
listen very carefully, you'll findout that they'll contradict the Bible.
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They believe in things and they dothings that are contrary to God's word.
And yet they say that God's talkingto them, that God is delivering
these special messages to them.
But this has been going on for thousandsof years because we're reading about
it here in Jeremiah chapter 23.
So let's read again.
Jeremiah 23, beginning in verse 25, Godsaid, “I have heard what the prophets
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have said, who prophesy lies in my namesaying, ‘I have dreamed, I've dreamed.’
How long will this be in the heartof the prophets who prophesy lies?
Indeed, they are prophets of the deceitof their own heart, who try to make my
people forget my name by their dreams,which everyone tells his neighbor, as
their fathers forgot my name for Baal.
(16:31):
The prophet who has a dream, let himtell a dream, and he who has my word,
let him speak my word faithfully.
What is the chaff to thewheat, says the Lord?
Is not my word like a fire,says the Lord, and like a hammer
that breaks the rock in pieces?
Therefore, behold, I am against theprophets, says the Lord, who steal
my words every one from his neighbor.
Behold, I am against the prophets, saysthe Lord, who use their tongues and say,
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‘He says.’ Behold, I am against thosewho prophesy false dreams, says the Lord,
and tell them and cause my people to errby their lies and by their recklessness.
Yet I did not send them or commandthem, therefore they shall not profit
this people at all, says the Lord.”
Now this is what we find time andagain in the Old Testament, and there
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are many, many examples of this.
Now, let's talk a little bitabout what Jesus says in Matthew
chapter seven, verse 15 through 20.
He says, first of all, “Beware offalse prophets who come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly theyare ravenous wolves.” When he says
to beware, that means to be careful.
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It means to be alert.
It means to be on guard.
I'm not sure that people takethat seriously at all anymore.
If you ask people if there are falseprophets, one of the first things that
will come to the mind of a lot of peopleis some kind of wild, far out cult
leader that they've heard about, butthey don't realize that oftentimes these
false teachers are smooth-talking, verycharismatic and very likable preachers
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who are telling them lies in the pulpits.
Jesus said beware of thesepeople because they don't come
out as the devil themselves.
They don't appear to be false teachers.
They're not going to announce to anaudience of people, “I'm a false teacher
and I'm here to lead you away from thetruth.” They claim to be men of God.
They make you feel like, if you listento them, that you're coming closer
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to God just by doing what they say.
And Jesus says these false teacherscome to you in sheep's clothing.
Now, if there's an animal on earth thatappears to be harmless and innocent,
that won't hurt you, it would be a sheep.
And that's exactly what thesefalse teachers pretend to be.
They appear to be very gentle,very easygoing, very kind, always
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positive, always complimentary,compassionate, interested in your
welfare, and seeking your own good.
They love you, they're very lovablepeople, and so they appear to be very
sincere, that there's no danger at allin these people, but that is a pretense.
That is a front.
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Jesus says beware of that.
Now the Lord is not issuingsome kind of idle threat here.
He's not talking about something thathappens only to a small pocket of
people in some remote part of the earth.
This is very, very common.
So Jesus said they appear to be verykind and gracious and loving people.
But inwardly, He says,they are ravenous wolves.
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Now, if there's one animal onearth that would have that kind
of reputation, it would be a wolf.
These are dangerous people.
These are bad people.
You remember that Jesus sent thedisciples out and He said, “I'm sending
you out as sheep in the midst ofwolves.” That's Matthew 10 verse 16.
Paul said in Acts chapter 20 verse29 that grievous wolves would
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enter into the church at Ephesus.
Now, how did they do that?
Well, they put on the sheep's clothing.
They are ravenous.
They're out to take advantage of you.
They're out to use you.
They're out to manipulate you, they'reout to defraud you, but all the while
they're telling you that they love youand they promise you all kinds of earthly
and heavenly rewards, but they actuallywant to control you for their purposes.
(20:16):
In 2 Peter 2, verse 19, the Bible saysthat they are enslaved themselves,
but they want to control you.
They want money.
Now, this is as old as the Old Testament.
Micah chapter 3 verse 11 talks aboutfalse teachers teaching for money.
The Pharisees in the New Testamentloved money [Luke 16 verse 14]
and 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 3talks about them being covetous.
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They also want attention.
These false teachers look for popularity.
The Bible says in Luke 16, verse 15,that Jesus told them, “You are they
which justify yourselves among men.
But God knows your heart, for that whichis highly esteemed in the sight of men
is an abomination in the sight of God.
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So Jesus said, Beware.
Have your eyes open.
There are many differentways to spot a false teacher.
Jesus talks about one of them here.
For instance, when the Bible says toprove or to test all things and hold fast
that which is good, that means to put tothe test anything that you hear or read
from anybody that claims to be a man ofGod, a teacher of God, or a preacher.
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Listen to what that person says,perhaps, but compare it to the Bible.
And if that person says somethingcontrary to the Bible, then reject it.
In Acts 17 verse 11, the Biblesays that the people of Berea
searched the Scriptures dailywhether those things were so.
Those things were taught by Paul andSilas, men of God, true men of God.
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And still those people of Berealooked at the Bible to see if what
they were saying was the truth.
Now how many people do that today?
How many people fail to do that today?
There are people that go to all kindsof churches today and never even
take their Bible and hardly ever evenopen their Bible when they get home.
So how do they know if aman's telling them the truth?
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They just take his word for it.
He says he's a man of God.
He says he's speaking from God, thatGod laid something on his heart.
And they don't have anyconfirmation of that whatsoever.
And they're not even looking at thetimes when that man has contradicted
the Bible in what he says.
Now let's look at theidea of fruit here though.
This is another way that you cantell that a man is a false teacher.
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Jesus said, “You will know them bytheir fruits.” And he contrasts this
by saying, you don't go to a thornbush expecting to get grapes out of it.
You don't go to some kind ofthistle and expect to get figs.
Even so, He says, everygood tree bears good fruit.
A bad tree bears bad fruit.
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That's just the way that it works.
Therefore, he says in verse 20, “Bytheir fruits you will know them.”
And I do want to connect that backto Matthew chapter seven, verse one,
“Judge, not that you be not judged.”You have to do some judging here.
You have to inspect the fruits.
You have to look at the resultsof what that man is teaching.
So let's talk about thefruits for just a minute.
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What does this mean when Jesus saysyou will know them by their fruits?
What are these fruits?
Here are a few examples from the Bibleof the fruits or the results of these
false teachers and their teaching.
And that's what He means whenHe talks about the fruits.
He's talking about what they produce.
He's talking about what their lives andtheir doctrine leads to in the first
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place.Their fruits are seen in theirlives, in their actions, by what they do.
If they have a false doctrine,they're lying about that.
And that will show in what they do.
It will show in their behavior.
So let's go to 2 Peter chapter2 and look at this again.
I want you to notice some of the marks ofthese false teachers in 2 Peter chapter 2.
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“But there were false prophets alsoamong the people, even as there shall
be false teachers among you, whosecretly will bring in destructive
heresies.” Notice here that theysneak these false doctrines in.
They pull the wool overeverybody's eyes and they bring
these doctrines in the back door.
That's how they work.
They're very deceptive.
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They're very divisive about this.
He says they secretly bring indestructive heresies, even denying
the Lord who bought them, and bringon themselves swift destruction.
Notice what the Bible says in verse 2.
“And many will follow their destructiveways.” Look at how that's said.
It doesn't say that some willfollow their destructive ways.
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These are false teachers.
Now again, it doesn't say that a fewwill follow their destructive ways.
It says that many will followtheir destructive ways.
That's exactly how Jesus followedup his discussion of false
teachers in Matthew chapter seven.
He said, “Many will say to me in thatday, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
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in thy name? And in thy name have castout devils and in thy name done many
wonderful works.” You find the same kindof pattern here in 2 Peter chapter 2.
Many will follow their destructiveways “because of whom the way of
truth will be blasphemed.” The wayof truth is the true Christians.
The way of truth is the gospeltruth, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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What will happen at the sametime that these people are
following the false teachers?
They're going to blaspheme.
They're going to talk bad.
They're going to speak evil ofthe truth and true people of
God and true preachers of God.
So they will follow and they will adorethese false teachers, and they will resent
and persecute true preachers of God.
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Notice in verse three “bycovetousness they will exploit
you with deceptive words.”
Look at every word that we just read.
He says here in second Peter, chaptertwo, verse three, that they are covetous.
We just read about that inseveral other verses of Scripture.
And here we see that same pattern again.
He says by covetousness they will do what?
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They will exploit you.
They will take advantage of you.
They will use you.
They will manipulate you.
They will control youwith deceptive words.
Remember what we saw in Isaiah chapter 30.
Those false prophets wereusing what smooth words.
Remember what Paul said inRomans chapter 16, verse 18.
They used good words and fair speeches.
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The King James says smooth wordsand all these flattering speeches.
They're doing the same thing here insecond Peter chapter two, verse three.
And Peter also assures us just as heassured the people back in his day that
God will punish these false teachers.
The last part of verse three saysfor a long time, their judgment
has not been idle and theirdestruction does not slumber.
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And then in verses four throughsix, he gives three examples of how
that God did not overlook the sin ofthe ones he's talking about there.
And if He didn't overlook theirsin, He's not going to overlook
what these false teachers have done.
That's why he brings up these examples.
He doesn't just pull them out of the air.
These are examples of God's justice.
He talks about the angelsthat sinnedin verse four.
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He talks about the people whowouldn't listen to Noah in verse five.
He talks about the cities ofSodom and Gomorrah in verse six.
What's he doing?
He is saying if God did not sparethem because of their sins, he's not
going to spare these false teachers.
Now, as you continue to readin 2 Peter chapter two, you see
even more about the life of thesepeople called false teachers.
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That's what this whole chapter is about.
Verse 10 (27:31):
“And especially those who walk according to the flesh in
the lust of uncleanness and despiseauthority.” Did you notice those words?
What is the character?
What kind of life, what kind of heart dothese people called false teachers have?
Well, he says they walkaccording to the flesh.
They're not spiritually minded.
They talk like they are,but they're really not.
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They live according to the lust ofuncleanness and they despise authority.
They don't want to be told what to do.
Now they'll get up before hundredsor maybe even thousands of
people and tell them what to do.
But if you ever confront them, you'll seea different side of these false teachers.
They despise authority.
They don't respect authority.
They despise authority.
They are presumptuous.
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The word presumptuous there comesfrom a word which means to be brazen.
It means to be bold faced.
And this indicates the kind ofcharacter that these false teachers
have in a special way because they'reable to stand up before people
and to look people in their faceand in their eyes and lie to them.
And they seem to have thegreatest of confidence.
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They seem to be able to convincepeople by their overpowering
personality, by their charisma.
And it just seems likethey're so confident that they
couldn't possibly be wrong.
How could someone have that kindof boldness and self-image and
self-confidence and be lying about it?
And so a lot of peopleare deceived by that.
That's what the wordpresumptuous here means.
It means they're brazen.
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Now that is only a start.
That's just the beginning ofthis description of the character
of these false teachers.
This is one of the things meant when Jesussays by their fruits, you will know them.
You know them by their character.
You know them by theiractions and their behavior.
But there's one morething I want to mention.
It's in Matthew 23 verse 15.
And here we find that one of the fruitsof false teachers is their converts.
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The people that they teach.
What are they like?
What do they do?
Matthew 23, 15 says this, “Woe to you,scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you travel land and sea to winone proselyte”—that's a convert
to their cause and their teaching.
So you go all over land and seato make one proselyte, and “when
he is won, you make him twice asmuch a son of hell as yourselves.”
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That's strong language, but that isone of the fruits of false teaching.
Jesus said, “Beware of false prophetswhich come to you in sheep's clothing,
because inwardly they are ravenous wolves”and “you will know them by their fruits.”
Thank you for listeningto My God and My Neighbor.
Stay connected with our podcast onour website and on Apple, Spotify,
(30:06):
YouTube, or wherever finepodcasts are distributed.
Tennessee Bible College, providingChristian education since 1975
in Cookeville, Tennessee, offersundergraduate and graduate programs.
Study at your level, aim higher,and get in touch with us today.
Hi, I'm Kerry Duke, host of My Godand My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee
Bible College, where we see the Bibleas not just another book, but the Book.
Join us in a study of the inspiredword to strengthen your faith and to
share what you've learned with others.
In the Sermon on the Mount,Jesus gives promises.
He gives hope, but He also gives warnings.
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And as you come toward the close of theSermon on the Mount, you find that He
gives even more warnings about certainthings, one of which is false prophets.
Let's read Matthew chapter7, beginning in verse 15.
“Beware of false prophets, who cometo you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
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You will know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Even so, every good tree bears goodfruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruitis cut down and thrown into the fire.
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Therefore, by their fruitsyou will know them.”
The topic here then is false prophets.
A true prophet of God in Bibletimes was a man who spoke from God.
He delivered the messageof God to the people.
A false prophet is one whoclaims to speak from God.
He claims to be a messenger fromGod, but he's a false prophet.
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And what we're going to do rightnow is what we almost always
do in this kind of lesson.
And that is we're going to use theBible as its own best commentary.
So let's begin in second Peter chaptertwo, verse one with this statement.
In second Peter chapter two, verse one,the Bible says, “But there were also
false prophets among the people, even asthere will be false teachers among you.”
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Now, think about what he just said.
He said there have been falseteachers in the past and there
will be false teachers among you.
He's talking to Christian people here.
This is Peter's last epistle.
These are some of Peter's lastwords while he was on the earth.
And so Peter says this is awarning that you need to listen to.
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It's interesting, if you go back tochapter one in the book of second
Peter, that he says in second Peter,chapter one, verse 16, “For we did
not follow cunningly devised fableswhen we made known to you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For He received from God the Fatherhonor and glory when such a voice
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came to Him from the excellent glory,‘This is my beloved son in whom I'm
well pleased.’ And we heard thisvoice which came from heaven when we
were with him on the holy mountain.”
Now that story that he's talkingabout is in Matthew chapter 17.
That's where Jesus went up to whatwe call the Mount of Transfiguration.
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And he took Peter, James, and John.
And so Peter tells us herethat he heard that voice—we
heard that voice from heaven.
They saw Jesus transfigured, theyhad heard and seen many things from
Jesus Christ, and this is only one.
But Peter refers to that event.
So he says we didn't make this up.
These are not, as he says in verse16, cunningly devised fables.
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Now, there are a lot ofthose in the world today.
They're religious doctrines.
They are religious groups led by falseprophets who have invented by their own
creativity cunningly devised fables.
They're intelligent in one way.
They're creative in a sense.
And they create thesecunningly devised fables.
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And the sad thing is a lot ofpeople follow those fables.
But the Bible says this is nothing new.
That's in chapter 2 verse 1.
He says but there were alsofalse prophets among the people.
It happened back in the Old Testament.
And he says there will befalse teachers among you.
Now we're going to 2 Peterchapter 2 in just a few minutes.
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But let's go back first of all to theOld Testament, and let's look at some of
those passages, just a few of those versesin the Old Testament that talk about
false prophets in Deuteronomy chapter 18.
Deuteronomy chapter 18.
The Bible talks about God raisingup a special prophet in the future.
That's verses 15 through 18.
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And that prophet, according toActs chapter three, verse 22
through 24, is Jesus Christ.
Moses is prophesying of Jesus Christhere in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse
15 through 18, where he says, “The Lordyour God will raise up for you a prophet
like me from among your midst, fromamong your brethren, him shall you hear.”
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Now again, that is confirmedin Acts chapter three.
Now this is not a prophecy of Muhammad.
Muslims make the claim that Muhammadis the one that is the prophet being
spoken of here in Deuteronomy chapter 18.
Muhammad was a false prophet.
He did not fulfill this passage orany other verse in the Old Testament.
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So that's an example of a false prophetthat is still listened to today, though
he's been dead for hundreds of years.
Now, what Moses says after this isthat in verse 19 “and it shall be that
whoever will not hear his words or mywords, which he speaks in my name, I
will require it of him. But the prophetwho presumes to speak a word in my
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name, which I've not commanded him tospeak, or who speaks in the name of
other gods, that prophet shall die.”
So this is a very strongwarning against false prophets.
Let's go next to the book of firstKings, and we're going to go to
chapter 18 in the book of first Kings.
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And here we find that a trueprophet of God named Elijah is
confronting false prophets of Baal.
And there were 450 ofthose false prophets.
One true prophet of God saidthat he was going to confront
them and he did on Mount Carmel.
It's interesting here that thesefalse prophets were in the majority.
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The true prophet of God was greatlyoutnumbered, and this is what we find
consistently in the Old Testament.
This is what we find today.
Don't expect the true preachersof God and the true preachers of
God's word to be in the majority.
That has never happened.
And so what we find is thatthis is a very old problem.
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In first Kings chapter 18, the Bible talksabout the 450 false prophets of Baal.
Not only were these falseprophets in the majority, but
they had the backing of the king.
They had the government behind them.
They had the popular sway.
And you may remember this verse infirst Kings chapter 18, the Bible says
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in verse 20, “So Ahab sent for all thechildren of Israel and gathered the
prophets together on Mount Carmel. AndElijah came to all the people and said,
how long will you falter between twoopinions or halt between two opinions?”
How long are you going to jump from onething to another and really just straddle
the fence and not make up your mind?
He's talking to the people here.
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He's not talking to thefalse prophets at this point.
The Bible says he came to all the peopleand said, “How long will you falter
between two opinions. If the Lord isGod follow him, but if Baal, follow him,
but the people answered him not a word.”
So what they should have done wasto say, “Elijah, you're the true
man of God. You're the personthat we ought to be listening
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to.” But instead they were silent.
But after they saw the miracle of Godthat confirmed that Elijah was the
prophet of God, then they said, “TheLord, He is God, the Lord, He is God.”
Isn't that interesting?
That's what they shouldhave said to begin with.
But it took that kind of miracle,and it took the fact that these false
prophets were exposed and eventuallyput to death to convince these Jews
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that they should have been listening toGod and to God's messengers all along.
In 1 Kings chapter 22, we have a similarstory because in 1 Kings chapter 22 now
we have 400 false prophets of the grovesand one true man of God named Micaiah.
So he's in the minorityjust like Elijah was.
Now let's turn over to the book of Isaiah.
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And then we'll look atthe book of Jeremiah.
These are the prophets.
This is the section in the Old Testamentthat we often refer to as the prophets.
These were prophets of God sentto God's people and sometimes
to other nations as well.
But I want you to notice some ofthe things that are said about these
false prophets in Isaiah and Jeremiah.
In the first place, in the bookof Isaiah, you’ll read that these
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false prophets were smooth talkers.
They were eloquent.
They knew what to say.
They knew how to say it.
So, in Isaiah chapter 30, the Bible saysin verse 8, “Now go, write it before them
on a tablet, and note it on a scroll,that it may be for the time to come for
ever and ever, that this is a rebelliouspeople, lying children, children who
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will not hear the law of the Lord.”
Now I want to remind you thatthese are God's chosen people.
He said I want this written down.
I want this recorded.
They're rebellious, they're lying, andthey will not hear the law of the Lord.
They won't listen to the word of God,but I tell you who they would listen to.
They would listen to false teachers.
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Because in verse 10 He says that theysay to the seers, that is to these
false prophets, “Do not see,” and tothe prophets “do not prophesy unto us
right things, speak to us smooth things,prophesy deceits.” And that's who
many of these Jews were listening to.
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They were listening tothese false teachers.
Why?
Because these false teachers toldthem what they wanted to hear.
These false teachers spoke smooth things.
They didn't tell the truth,because the truth sometimes hurts.
The truth steps on our toes.
The truth pierces our hearts.
The truth causes us to feel bad onthe inside when we're guilty of sin.
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And that's exactly what weneed if we're guilty of sin.
But these false prophetsmade everybody feel good.
Notice again what verse 10 says.
The people themselves, the Jewsthemselves, were telling these false
prophets don't see, that is, don't seethe right thing, don't prophesy about
right things, and they were saying to theprophets, do not speak to us the right
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things, don't tell us the truth, “speakto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.”
And there were many of those falseprophets who were just willing
and anxious to do that very thingbecause false prophets back in those
days, just like false preacherstoday, made a lot of money.
Now, that might remind youof something said in the New
Testament in Romans chapter 16.
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In Romans chapter 16, verse 17, the Biblesays, “Now I urge you, brethren, note
those who cause divisions and offensescontrary to the doctrine which you have
learned, and avoid them. For those whoare such do not serve our Lord Jesus
Christ, but their own belly, and by smoothwords and flattering speech deceive the
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hearts of the simple.” So nothing hadreally changed from the day of Isaiah the
prophet to the day of the apostle Paul.
You have these false teachers whowere speaking smooth things, and
a lot of people loved it that way.
Let's go next to the book of Jeremiah,the book of Jeremiah chapter five.
Now in this book youhave a similar situation.
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And that is that Jeremiah the prophetis sent to the people to warn them.
The people were in sin.
Those people were the Jewishpeople, the people of Judah, and
Jeremiah has some bad news for them.
The bad news is if you don't repent, ifthis nation does not turn from its evil
ways, then this nation will be overthrown.
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The Babylonians are coming.
These Chaldeans will destroy you.
And they're going to be used byGod Almighty because God's own
people were not listening to Him.
God's own people haddeparted from his ways.
So Jeremiah is telling the people thetruth, but they don't want to hear that.
So what did they do?
They turned to false prophets becausethose false prophets made them feel good.
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Listen to Jeremiah chapter five, beginningin verse 30: “An astonishing and horrible
thing has been committed in the land.The prophets prophesy falsely and the
priests rule by their own power; andmy people love to have it so: but what
will you do in the end?” This passagesays that the prophets got away with it.
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The priests got away with it.
They were dealing falselyThey were not true men of God.
But how did the people look at that?
They didn't protest.
They didn't disagree.
The Bible says they loved it that way.
In Jeremiah chapter 6 youfind something similar.
Jeremiah 6 verse 13 says, “Becausefrom the least of them even to the
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greatest of them every one is given tocovetousness, and from the prophet, even
to the priest, everyone deals falsely.
They have also healed the hurt ofmy people slightly, saying, ‘Peace,
peace,’ where there is no peace.”
Do you see the messagethey were preaching?
You see, Jeremiah said war is coming.
And that was not a popular topic, becausethese people didn't want to hear that.
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They didn't want the truth that madethem nervous, that made them afraid,
that shook up their comfortable life.
And so they turned to these false teacherswho said there's going to be peace.
You don't have to worry about that.
Don't listen to Jeremiah.
Notice Jeremiah chapter 14.
Here's where God respondsto these false prophets.
In Jeremiah chapter 14, verse 11, theBible says, “Then the Lord said to me,
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Do not pray for these people for theirgood. When they fast, I will not hear,
and when they offer burnt offering andgrain offering, I will not accept them,
but I will consume them by the sword,by the famine, and by pestilence.”
Then in verse 13, Jeremiah said, “Then Isaid, Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets
say to them, You shall not see thesword, nor shall you have famine, but
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I will give you assured peace in thisplace.” Do you see the contrast there?
Jeremiah himself said Lord, Iknow that's true, and that's
what I'm telling these people.
But you've got all these false prophetsout there assuring these people
that that's not going to happen.
Then the Bible says that God said toJeremiah in verse 14, “The Lord said to
me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name.
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I have not sent them, commanded them, norspoken to them; they prophesied to you
a false vision, divination, a worthlessthing, and the deceit of their heart.
Therefore, thus says the Lord concerningthe prophets who prophesy in my name,
whom I did not send, and who say, Swordand famine shall not be in this land.
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By sword and famine, those prophetsshall be consumed, and the people
to whom they prophesy shall be castout in the streets of Jerusalem
because of the famine and the sword.
They will have no one to bury them,them, nor their wives, their sons,
nor their daughters, for I willpour out their wickedness on them.”
Here's what God saidin Jeremiah chapter 23.
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God said, “I have heard what theprophets have said, who prophesy lies
in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed.
I have dreamed.’” Now, how manytimes does that happen today?
How often do you hear some preacheror someone saying, “I had this dream
and I know that God told me suchand such in that dream.” And if you
listen very carefully, you'll findout that they'll contradict the Bible.
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They believe in things and they dothings that are contrary to God's word.
And yet they say that God's talkingto them, that God is delivering
these special messages to them.
But this has been going on for thousandsof years because we're reading about
it here in Jeremiah chapter 23.
So let's read again.
Jeremiah 23, beginning in verse 25, Godsaid, “I have heard what the prophets
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have said, who prophesy lies in my namesaying, ‘I have dreamed, I've dreamed.’
How long will this be in the heartof the prophets who prophesy lies?
Indeed, they are prophets of the deceitof their own heart, who try to make my
people forget my name by their dreams,which everyone tells his neighbor, as
their fathers forgot my name for Baal.
(16:31):
The prophet who has a dream, let himtell a dream, and he who has my word,
let him speak my word faithfully.
What is the chaff to thewheat, says the Lord?
Is not my word like a fire,says the Lord, and like a hammer
that breaks the rock in pieces?
Therefore, behold, I am against theprophets, says the Lord, who steal
my words every one from his neighbor.
Behold, I am against the prophets, saysthe Lord, who use their tongues and say,
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‘He says.’ Behold, I am against thosewho prophesy false dreams, says the Lord,
and tell them and cause my people to errby their lies and by their recklessness.
Yet I did not send them or commandthem, therefore they shall not profit
this people at all, says the Lord.”
Now this is what we find time andagain in the Old Testament, and there
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are many, many examples of this.
Now, let's talk a little bitabout what Jesus says in Matthew
chapter seven, verse 15 through 20.
He says, first of all, “Beware offalse prophets who come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly theyare ravenous wolves.” When he says
to beware, that means to be careful.
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It means to be alert.
It means to be on guard.
I'm not sure that people takethat seriously at all anymore.
If you ask people if there are falseprophets, one of the first things that
will come to the mind of a lot of peopleis some kind of wild, far out cult
leader that they've heard about, butthey don't realize that oftentimes these
false teachers are smooth-talking, verycharismatic and very likable preachers
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who are telling them lies in the pulpits.
Jesus said beware of thesepeople because they don't come
out as the devil themselves.
They don't appear to be false teachers.
They're not going to announce to anaudience of people, “I'm a false teacher
and I'm here to lead you away from thetruth.” They claim to be men of God.
They make you feel like, if you listento them, that you're coming closer
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to God just by doing what they say.
And Jesus says these false teacherscome to you in sheep's clothing.
Now, if there's an animal on earth thatappears to be harmless and innocent,
that won't hurt you, it would be a sheep.
And that's exactly what thesefalse teachers pretend to be.
They appear to be very gentle,very easygoing, very kind, always
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positive, always complimentary,compassionate, interested in your
welfare, and seeking your own good.
They love you, they're very lovablepeople, and so they appear to be very
sincere, that there's no danger at allin these people, but that is a pretense.
That is a front.
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Jesus says beware of that.
Now the Lord is not issuingsome kind of idle threat here.
He's not talking about something thathappens only to a small pocket of
people in some remote part of the earth.
This is very, very common.
So Jesus said they appear to be verykind and gracious and loving people.
But inwardly, He says,they are ravenous wolves.
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Now, if there's one animal onearth that would have that kind
of reputation, it would be a wolf.
These are dangerous people.
These are bad people.
You remember that Jesus sent thedisciples out and He said, “I'm sending
you out as sheep in the midst ofwolves.” That's Matthew 10 verse 16.
Paul said in Acts chapter 20 verse29 that grievous wolves would
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enter into the church at Ephesus.
Now, how did they do that?
Well, they put on the sheep's clothing.
They are ravenous.
They're out to take advantage of you.
They're out to use you.
They're out to manipulate you, they'reout to defraud you, but all the while
they're telling you that they love youand they promise you all kinds of earthly
and heavenly rewards, but they actuallywant to control you for their purposes.
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In 2 Peter 2, verse 19, the Bible saysthat they are enslaved themselves,
but they want to control you.
They want money.
Now, this is as old as the Old Testament.
Micah chapter 3 verse 11 talks aboutfalse teachers teaching for money.
The Pharisees in the New Testamentloved money [Luke 16 verse 14]
and 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 3talks about them being covetous.
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They also want attention.
These false teachers look for popularity.
The Bible says in Luke 16, verse 15,that Jesus told them, “You are they
which justify yourselves among men.
But God knows your heart, for that whichis highly esteemed in the sight of men
is an abomination in the sight of God.
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So Jesus said, Beware.
Have your eyes open.
There are many differentways to spot a false teacher.
Jesus talks about one of them here.
For instance, when the Bible says toprove or to test all things and hold fast
that which is good, that means to put tothe test anything that you hear or read
from anybody that claims to be a man ofGod, a teacher of God, or a preacher.
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Listen to what that person says,perhaps, but compare it to the Bible.
And if that person says somethingcontrary to the Bible, then reject it.
In Acts 17 verse 11, the Biblesays that the people of Berea
searched the Scriptures dailywhether those things were so.
Those things were taught by Paul andSilas, men of God, true men of God.
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And still those people of Berealooked at the Bible to see if what
they were saying was the truth.
Now how many people do that today?
How many people fail to do that today?
There are people that go to all kindsof churches today and never even
take their Bible and hardly ever evenopen their Bible when they get home.
So how do they know if aman's telling them the truth?
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They just take his word for it.
He says he's a man of God.
He says he's speaking from God, thatGod laid something on his heart.
And they don't have anyconfirmation of that whatsoever.
And they're not even looking at thetimes when that man has contradicted
the Bible in what he says.
Now let's look at theidea of fruit here though.
This is another way that you cantell that a man is a false teacher.
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Jesus said, “You will know them bytheir fruits.” And he contrasts this
by saying, you don't go to a thornbush expecting to get grapes out of it.
You don't go to some kind ofthistle and expect to get figs.
Even so, He says, everygood tree bears good fruit.
A bad tree bears bad fruit.
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That's just the way that it works.
Therefore, he says in verse 20, “Bytheir fruits you will know them.”
And I do want to connect that backto Matthew chapter seven, verse one,
“Judge, not that you be not judged.”You have to do some judging here.
You have to inspect the fruits.
You have to look at the resultsof what that man is teaching.
So let's talk about thefruits for just a minute.
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What does this mean when Jesus saysyou will know them by their fruits?
What are these fruits?
Here are a few examples from the Bibleof the fruits or the results of these
false teachers and their teaching.
And that's what He means whenHe talks about the fruits.
He's talking about what they produce.
He's talking about what their lives andtheir doctrine leads to in the first
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place.Their fruits are seen in theirlives, in their actions, by what they do.
If they have a false doctrine,they're lying about that.
And that will show in what they do.
It will show in their behavior.
So let's go to 2 Peter chapter2 and look at this again.
I want you to notice some of the marks ofthese false teachers in 2 Peter chapter 2.
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“But there were false prophets alsoamong the people, even as there shall
be false teachers among you, whosecretly will bring in destructive
heresies.” Notice here that theysneak these false doctrines in.
They pull the wool overeverybody's eyes and they bring
these doctrines in the back door.
That's how they work.
They're very deceptive.
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They're very divisive about this.
He says they secretly bring indestructive heresies, even denying
the Lord who bought them, and bringon themselves swift destruction.
Notice what the Bible says in verse 2.
“And many will follow their destructiveways.” Look at how that's said.
It doesn't say that some willfollow their destructive ways.
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These are false teachers.
Now again, it doesn't say that a fewwill follow their destructive ways.
It says that many will followtheir destructive ways.
That's exactly how Jesus followedup his discussion of false
teachers in Matthew chapter seven.
He said, “Many will say to me in thatday, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
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in thy name? And in thy name have castout devils and in thy name done many
wonderful works.” You find the same kindof pattern here in 2 Peter chapter 2.
Many will follow their destructiveways “because of whom the way of
truth will be blasphemed.” The wayof truth is the true Christians.
The way of truth is the gospeltruth, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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What will happen at the sametime that these people are
following the false teachers?
They're going to blaspheme.
They're going to talk bad.
They're going to speak evil ofthe truth and true people of
God and true preachers of God.
So they will follow and they will adorethese false teachers, and they will resent
and persecute true preachers of God.
(25:40):
Notice in verse three “bycovetousness they will exploit
you with deceptive words.”
Look at every word that we just read.
He says here in second Peter, chaptertwo, verse three, that they are covetous.
We just read about that inseveral other verses of Scripture.
And here we see that same pattern again.
He says by covetousness they will do what?
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They will exploit you.
They will take advantage of you.
They will use you.
They will manipulate you.
They will control youwith deceptive words.
Remember what we saw in Isaiah chapter 30.
Those false prophets wereusing what smooth words.
Remember what Paul said inRomans chapter 16, verse 18.
They used good words and fair speeches.
(26:22):
The King James says smooth wordsand all these flattering speeches.
They're doing the same thing here insecond Peter chapter two, verse three.
And Peter also assures us just as heassured the people back in his day that
God will punish these false teachers.
The last part of verse three saysfor a long time, their judgment
has not been idle and theirdestruction does not slumber.
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And then in verses four throughsix, he gives three examples of how
that God did not overlook the sin ofthe ones he's talking about there.
And if He didn't overlook theirsin, He's not going to overlook
what these false teachers have done.
That's why he brings up these examples.
He doesn't just pull them out of the air.
These are examples of God's justice.
He talks about the angelsthat sinnedin verse four.
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He talks about the people whowouldn't listen to Noah in verse five.
He talks about the cities ofSodom and Gomorrah in verse six.
What's he doing?
He is saying if God did not sparethem because of their sins, he's not
going to spare these false teachers.
Now, as you continue to readin 2 Peter chapter two, you see
even more about the life of thesepeople called false teachers.
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That's what this whole chapter is about.
Verse 10 (27:31):
“And especially those who walk according to the flesh in
the lust of uncleanness and despiseauthority.” Did you notice those words?
What is the character?
What kind of life, what kind of heart dothese people called false teachers have?
Well, he says they walkaccording to the flesh.
They're not spiritually minded.
They talk like they are,but they're really not.
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They live according to the lust ofuncleanness and they despise authority.
They don't want to be told what to do.
Now they'll get up before hundredsor maybe even thousands of
people and tell them what to do.
But if you ever confront them, you'll seea different side of these false teachers.
They despise authority.
They don't respect authority.
They despise authority.
They are presumptuous.
(28:14):
The word presumptuous there comesfrom a word which means to be brazen.
It means to be bold faced.
And this indicates the kind ofcharacter that these false teachers
have in a special way because they'reable to stand up before people
and to look people in their faceand in their eyes and lie to them.
And they seem to have thegreatest of confidence.
(28:36):
They seem to be able to convincepeople by their overpowering
personality, by their charisma.
And it just seems likethey're so confident that they
couldn't possibly be wrong.
How could someone have that kindof boldness and self-image and
self-confidence and be lying about it?
And so a lot of peopleare deceived by that.
That's what the wordpresumptuous here means.
It means they're brazen.
(28:57):
Now that is only a start.
That's just the beginning ofthis description of the character
of these false teachers.
This is one of the things meant when Jesussays by their fruits, you will know them.
You know them by their character.
You know them by theiractions and their behavior.
But there's one morething I want to mention.
It's in Matthew 23 verse 15.
And here we find that one of the fruitsof false teachers is their converts.
(29:20):
The people that they teach.
What are they like?
What do they do?
Matthew 23, 15 says this, “Woe to you,scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you travel land and sea to winone proselyte”—that's a convert
to their cause and their teaching.
So you go all over land and seato make one proselyte, and “when
he is won, you make him twice asmuch a son of hell as yourselves.”
(29:44):
That's strong language, but that isone of the fruits of false teaching.
Jesus said, “Beware of false prophetswhich come to you in sheep's clothing,
because inwardly they are ravenous wolves”and “you will know them by their fruits.”
Thank you for listeningto My God and My Neighbor.
Stay connected with our podcast onour website and on Apple, Spotify,
(30:06):
YouTube, or wherever finepodcasts are distributed.
Tennessee Bible College, providingChristian education since 1975
in Cookeville, Tennessee, offersundergraduate and graduate programs.
Study at your level, aim higher,and get in touch with us today.
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