Matthew 7:15

The Sermon On The Mount: Recognizing False Prophets

¹⁴ For narrow is the door and hard the road to life, and only a small number make discovery of it. ¹⁵ Be on the watch for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are cruel wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruits you will get knowledge of them. Do men get grapes from thorns or figs from thistles?

Beware of False Prophets

False Prophets

Outward Appearance

Take Heed

1 John 4:1

My loved ones, do not put your faith in every spirit, but put them to the test, to see if they are from God: because a great number of false prophets have gone out into the world.

Colossians 2:8

Take care that no one takes you away by force, through man's wisdom and deceit, going after the beliefs of men and the theories of the world, and not after Christ:

Deuteronomy 13:1-3

If ever you have among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and he gives you a sign or a wonder,

Matthew 24:11

And a number of false prophets will come, causing error.

2 Peter 2:1-3

But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it.

Luke 6:26

Unhappy are you when all men give you their approval: for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

Revelation 19:20

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who did the signs before him, by which they were turned from the true way who had the mark of the beast, and who gave worship to his image: these two were put living into the sea of ever-burning fire.

Isaiah 9:15-16

The man who is honoured and responsible is the head, and the prophet who gives false teaching is the tail.

Jeremiah 14:14-16

Then the Lord said to me, The prophets say false words in my name, and I gave them no orders, and I said nothing to them: what they say to you is a false vision and wonder-working words without substance, the deceit of their hearts.

Jeremiah 23:13-16

And I have seen ways without sense in the prophets of Samaria; they became prophets of the Baal, causing my people Israel to go wrong.

Jeremiah 28:15-17

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, Give ear, now, Hananiah; the Lord has not sent you; but you are making this people put their faith in what is false.

Jeremiah 29:21

This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said about Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and about Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who are saying to you what is false in my name: See, I will give them up into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your eyes.

Jeremiah 29:32

For this cause the Lord has said, Truly I will send punishment on Shemaiah and on his seed; not a man of his family will have a place among this people, and he will not see the good which I am going to do to my people, says the Lord: because he has said words against the Lord.

Ezekiel 13:16

Even the prophets of Israel who say words to Jerusalem, who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord.

Ezekiel 13:22

Because with your false words you have given pain to the heart of the upright man when I had not made him sad; in order to make strong the hands of the evil-doer so that he may not be turned from his evil way and get life:

Ezekiel 22:25

Her rulers in her are like a loud-voiced lion violently taking his food; they have made a meal of souls; they have taken wealth and valued property; they have made great the number of widows in her.

Ezekiel 22:27

Her rulers in her are like wolves violently taking their food; putting men to death and causing the destruction of souls, so that they may get their profit.

Micah 3:5-7

This is what the Lord has said about the prophets by whom my people have been turned from the right way; who, biting with their teeth, say, Peace; and if anyone puts nothing in their mouths they make ready for war against him.

Micah 3:11

Its heads take rewards for judging, and the priests take payment for teaching, and the prophets get silver for reading the future: but still, supporting themselves on the Lord, they say, Is not the Lord among us? no evil will overtake us.

Zephaniah 3:3-4

Her rulers are like loud-voiced lions in her; her judges are wolves of the evening, crushing up the bones before the morning.

Zechariah 13:4

And it will come about in that day that the prophets will be shamed, every man on account of his vision, when he is talking as a prophet; and they will not put on a robe of hair for purposes of deceit:

Matthew 10:17

But be on the watch against men: for they will give you up to the Sanhedrins, and in their Synagogues they will give you blows;

Matthew 16:6

And Jesus said to them, Take care to have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Matthew 16:11

How is it that you do not see that I was not talking to you about bread, but about keeping away from the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?

Matthew 24:4-5

And Jesus said to them in answer, Take care that you are not tricked.

Matthew 24:24-25

For there will come up false Christs, and false prophets, who will do great signs and wonders; so that if possible even the saints might be tricked.

Mark 12:38-40

And in his teaching he said, Be on your watch against the scribes, whose pleasure it is to go about in long robes and be respected in the market-places,

Mark 13:22-23

Because there will be false Christs and false prophets, and they will give signs and wonders in the hope of turning even the saints from the true way.

Luke 12:15

And he said to them, Take care to keep yourselves free from the desire for property; for a man's life is not made up of the number of things which he has.

John 10:12

He who is a servant, and not the keeper or the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and goes in flight, away from the sheep; and the wolf comes down on them and sends them in all directions:

Acts 13:40

So take care that these words of the prophets do not come true for you;

Acts 20:29-31

I am conscious that after I am gone, evil wolves will come in among you, doing damage to the flock;

Romans 16:17-18

Now, it is my desire, brothers, that you will take note of those who are causing division and trouble among you, quite against the teaching which was given to you: and keep away from them.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15

For such men are false Apostles, workers of deceit, making themselves seem like Apostles of Christ.

Galatians 2:4

And that because of the false brothers let in secretly, who came searching out our free condition which we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might make servants of us;

Ephesians 4:14

So that we may be no longer children, sent this way and that, turned about by every wind of teaching, by the twisting and tricks of men, by the deceits of error;

Ephesians 5:6

Do not be turned from the right way by foolish words; for because of these things the punishment of God comes on those who do not put themselves under him.

Philippians 3:2

Be on the watch against dogs, against the workers of evil, against those of the circumcision:

1 Timothy 4:1-3

But the Spirit says clearly that in later times some will be turned away from the faith, giving their minds to spirits of deceit, and the teachings of evil spirits,

2 Timothy 3:5-9

Having a form of religion, but turning their backs on the power of it: go not with these.

2 Timothy 3:13

Evil and false men will become worse and worse, using deceit and themselves overcome by deceit.

2 Timothy 4:3

For the time will come when they will not take the true teaching; but, moved by their desires, they will get for themselves a great number of teachers for the pleasure of hearing them;

2 Peter 2:18-19

For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error;

2 Peter 3:17

For this reason, my loved ones, having knowledge of these things before they take place, take care that you are not turned away by the error of the uncontrolled, so falling from your true faith.

Jude 1:4

For certain men have come among you secretly, marked out before in the holy Writings for this evil fate, men without the fear of God, turning his grace into an unclean thing, and false to our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Revelation 13:11-17

And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and his voice was like that of a dragon.

Revelation 16:13

And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, like frogs.

Revelation 17:6

And I saw the woman overcome as with the wine of the blood of the saints, and the blood of those put to death because of Jesus. And when I saw her, I was overcome with a great wonder.

Isaiah 56:10-11

His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dogs without tongues, unable to make a sound; stretched out dreaming, loving sleep.

Acts 13:6

And when they had gone through all the island to Paphos, they came across a certain wonder-worker and false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus;