TREASURY OF SERMONS
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Beware of False Prophets, Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Preached at Life BPC 10.30 am Service, Feb 25, 2001)
Text: Matt 7:15-23
Jesus’ warning on false prophets in Matthew, repeated in all the
Gospels, is doubly enhanced in the Epistles. Do you know the whole
Epistle of Jude is given to exposure of false prophets and teachers?
There are not only false prophets and teachers but also false
Christs, false Apostles, false Spirits, false witnesses and false
brethren. The command to beware of these false persons in the Church
is easily five times more than the command to preach the positive
Gospel. So we must the more take heed to the words of warning.
Why? Because the false persons who are dressed in sheep’s clothing
while being wolves cleverly deceive us. Unless the Good Shepherd
tells us, as He exposes them here in Matthew’s Gospel, we are easily
led astray. Unless the pastor tells the congregation they do not
know.
For these false prophets and false teachers come in the Name of
Christ. They preach in Christ’s Name. They can even perform miracles
and cast out devils, but our Lord tells them off, even now, "I never
knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
As there were false prophets in Christ’s day, so there are false
prophets today. As the day of Christ’s return draws nearer so these
false prophets will increase the more. The betrayal of Protestant
Christianity by Evangelical leaders in unity with Rome, signing the
ECT Document is under false pretences. One of them who supports this
betrayal is Billy Graham, for 50 years Protestant No. 1 Spokesman.
ECT means Evangelical and Catholics together, in doctrine and faith!
When I was in America, the first great American preacher I came to
know was Billy Graham. Soon after my arrival in 1948 he became
famous overnight when in his campaign in Los Angeles 1949 he won a
number of Hollywood film stars to Christ. He was a fundamentalist
evangelist. He preached only Jesus saves and it is by His precious
blood that sins are washed away. As he became more famous he began
to compromise with the enemies of Christ to gain popularity and
power.
No more denouncing Roman Catholicism nor Communism, he played ball
with them. This led him to fraternise also with modernists and
liberals. In order to do this he watered down the strict demands of
the Gospel. He became broader and broader and what a different
Gospel he preaches today.
Instead of only Jesus saves and only by His death on the cross to
pay the penalty of our sins, he now says the opposite. In a TV
interview with Robert Schuller, a downright liberal pastor of The
Crystal Cathedral, California on Saturday, May 31, 1997 he said, "He
is calling people out of the world for His name, whether they come
from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world
or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ
because they’ve been called of God. They may not even know the name
of Jesus, but they know in their hearts that they need something
that they don’t have, and they turn to the only light that they
have, and I think that they are saved, and that they’re going to be
with us in heaven.
Robert Schuller asked, "What I hear you saying is that it’s possible
for Jesus Christ to come into human hearts and soul and life, even
if they’ve been born in darkness and have never had exposure to the
Bible. Is that a correct interpretation of what you’re saying?"
Billy Graham answered, "Yes, it is, because I believe that. I’ve met
people in various parts of the world in tribal situations, that they
have never seen a Bible, or heard about a Bible, and never heard of
Jesus, but they’ve believed in their hearts that there was a God,
and they’ve tried to live a life that was quite apart from the
surrounding community in which they lived."
Do you read what Billy Graham says in the Bible? What does the Bible
say, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
But Billy says a man "may not even know the name of Jesus . . ."
What Billy is preaching is Satan’s old lie of universal salvation.
Eventually the whole world will be saved, including fallen angels.
But Christ our Lord tells us to preach the Gospel to every creature.
"He that believeth (in the Gospel preached) and is baptised shall be
saved" (Mk 16:15,16).
Even if a man yearns for God, it is far from adequate for him to be
saved. He must be led by one who knows Jesus as his own Saviour. The
case of Cornelius proves our point. Cornelius was a devout Gentile
seeking God, but he was told to send for Peter and it was Peter who
having brought him to Christ baptised him to seal his salvation.
By this procedure are 400,000 missionaries sent into the world
today. By this procedure is Life Church committed to evangelise all
ASEAN countries for a start. By this procedure are we branching out
beyond ASEAN our Samaria into the uttermost part of the earth.
Wittingly or unwittingly, Billy Graham is a preacher who betrays our
Lord Jesus Christ. Is he a true prophet or a false prophet?
We have seen how Billy Graham was a good old Gospel preacher when he
first started out in California winning some Hollywood film stars to
Christ. We have noticed how he veered from the truth for fame and
power. At any rate they who preach the Gospel but not in the
tradition of the Apostles are condemned. Paul tells the Philippians
and us today, "Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them
which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom
I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose
God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind
earthly things)" (Phil 3:17-19).
Not only for fame and power does a true preacher turn from the truth
but also for gain, "whose God is their belly" and Calvin adds,
"Whose religion is their kitchen." Paul reiterates this point in his
Epistle to the Romans. "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which
cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have
learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord
Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair
speeches deceive the hearts of the simple" (Rom 16:17,18).
Alas! The lure of money may mislead a preacher. When a pastor begins
to serve on his own terms, for pay and more pay, he will also begin
to speak the words of men and not the Word of God. Whether Billy
falls into this trap, we do not judge him. In this respect we had
better judge ourselves. As the B-P Movement grows, more and more are
being ordained. We have 65 of them. There are bound to be dropouts.
I hear one of them is become a guitar teacher. Another with a high
degree is serving from pillar to post. A professional, according to
Paul, is also a false prophet. These we must also take note! These,
though not wolves, are hirelings. To these hirelings our Lord will
also say, "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matt 7:15).
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