False Prophets
A false minister usually has a message of doom, destruction, and death.

I tell my congregation that if I had died every time someone prophesied my death, I would have had ten thousand funerals. When false prophets and ministers of Satan come and find I resist them strongly, they start prophesying my doom. Their message is, "I pronounce upon you doom and destruction. Thus saith the Lord, 'You shall surely die.'"

I just stand up to them and say, "No, that's not true. You are deceived." I rebuke the demon force in them, turn them away, and get them out of the congregation.

I remember a fellow who came to our church several years ago. He tried to cause disturbances in the services, but I wouldn't let him. He would try to stand up in a service, and I would sit him down. This went on and on.

Finally, he came to me and said, "I am a prophet to the nations! Thus saith the Lord, 'You shall die before this building is finished.'"

I said, "No, you are not a prophet to the nations. You are not a prophet to anything. You are a poor deceived individual for whom Christ died, but the devil has gotten hold of you. I am not going to die. I am going to live, for with long life He satisfies me and shows me His salvation."

I rebuked the devil in that man and turned him loose, and he never came back. I finished that building and another building and still another building after that, and I still haven't died.

False prophets and teachers often have messages of doom and destruction, especially for those who resist them. We must recognize that they themselves are deceived. They think they are prophets, but they don't understand the role of a New Testament prophet.

They think it is like that of a prophet in the Old Testament, sent to bring the people a message of doom and destruction. But there is a big difference between a message of prophecy in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

In the Old, the prophet was the mediator between God and the people. He spoke for God in a very literal sense. His message was often one of judgment. But in the New Testament this is not true. Because Christ died for us, we can all come boldly to the throne of grace.

We do not need a priest or prophet to stand between us and God and speak to us for God. We can go directly into His presence (see Hebrews 4:14-16).

The ministry of prophecy in the New Testament is not a violent display of the anger of God as it often was in the Old. The Bible clearly states that the gift of prophecy in the New Testament is to exhort, edify, and comfort the individual (see 1 Corinthians 14:3).

So don't be deceived into believing these deceivers who come like Old Testament prophets with a message of doom. The message of those who have the gift of prophecy in our day—the New Testament day—is a message of exhortation, edification, and comfort.

Invariably, however, if you cross these false prophets in their revelation of new light, they will pronounce doom and destruction upon you. If you refuse to take them into your home, listen to them, or support them, their final word will always be, "You will find out that I am true.

This church will be dissolved in destruction, and the pastors and elders will die. God will send them quick destruction." Turn away from people like that. Their very words mark them as ministers of Satan.

Lakewood Church
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