What do you think is going to happen to the church in the end times?

Here’s what God said through his prophet Jeremiah: “An appalling and horrible thing [bringing desolation and destruction] has come to pass in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests exercise rule at their own hands and by means of the prophets. And My people love to have it so! But what will you do when the end comes?” (Jeremiah 5.30-31, AMPC)

Jeremiah was not talking about his time, but prophesying the end times.

The last days 

The prophet went on: “For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness (to greed for unjust gain); and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.” (Jeremiah 6:13, AMPC)

Everyone deals falsely? Isn’t this hyperbolic? Isn’t this extreme? But that’s what Jeremiah says. “They have healed also the wound of the daughter of My people lightly and neglectfully, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14, AMPC) Matthew 7:15, 24:11 and 24:24 are three verses that talk about false prophets. Matthew 24:24 (NKJV) says, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”

So at the end times (many of us think that means today!), Christian leaders are going to say, “peace, peace, when there is no peace”.

It’s like saying, “Wonderful things will happen, no more sickness on earth (before Christ returns)”, but yet you still get sick and your friends and loved ones still die of cancer. Of course we all want to have no sickness, no adversities and especially no death. We know that will all happen in Heaven and when Christ returns.

It would be so wonderful if it can be so even before Christ’s return … but that is not what Christ and His Word tells us. Before He comes back again, there will be healing, but there will also be sickness and death. There will be joy and peace, but there will also be pain and suffering. There will be miracles, but there will also be adversities. And that is exactly why we need to have strong faith.

Jesus in this discourse warned us about the last days. The Gospel will be preached to every nation but there will be deep-seated deceptions from within the church that will deceive, if possible, even the elect. That’s how good the deception will be.

Some deceptions are malicious and for financial gains. Some will be well intended, but wholly and biblically misguided. Whether they are goats or misguided shepherds, God will reveal at the end. But we really cannot say we have not been forewarned.

A “both-and” dynamic

One cannot be a general without an army and in the same way, a false prophet can only be if there are people who are willing to be deceived.

Leaders who abuse their spiritual authority can do so only because there are believers and shepherds who do not verify their teaching with God’s Word and good biblical scholarship.

That’s why it is so important that churches’ elders boards have people that not only have a strong and clear grip of the Word, but a deep sense of responsibility not just to lead, but at the right time to courageously protect their sheep.

If only one leader is entrusted to teach and lead, and the rest of the leadership simply sit back and “trust the anointed one”, we will invariably over affirm and under-account. If Elders don’t know the Word well, the church is in deep trouble.

Christian leaders at all levels need the Holy Spirit and the Word. Both are inseparable, but there is always the temptation to replace one with the other.

It is too easy to have a semblance of moving in the Spirit and gloss over the need to know the Word of God well. Shepherds need to both lead and safeguard the sheep with the Spirit and the Word.

The more we move in the Spirit, the more we need to know the Word of God.

Not found wanting

Prophecy is a gift that is as desirable as it is powerful. The devil has also – no surprise – ensured that it is one of the most misused and abused gifts.

Prophecy is for encouraging, warning and comforting the sheep. It is not for making the prophet look more spiritual than he really is.

The danger is how it is practised and whether what is prophesied, if they are pronouncements, are verified against the Word.

There were many prophets in the Old Testament. Some have their prophecies verified after hundred and thousands of years – but verified nonetheless.

Many more were blatantly false, like those who lived in Jeremiah’s times. We now know they are false, because of they have been verified to be false, whether by time or based on the Bible today.

So if you desire to be a prophet for God, desire also to be verified.

If you believe the Lord gives you a prophetic word for your own life, you should still humbly seek the opinion of other Christians. That is what fellowship is for. We all have the Word of the God. We have some truth but not all the truth; only the Bible has all the truth. You need to consult other believers, two or three, to seek their wisdom.

Secure within the Word

We should encourage the practice of gifts, including prophecy, but within the context of the Word. Have the gift of prophecy and let it encourage, warn, comfort, just like the book of 1 Corinthians describes, but all in the context of the Word.

The more prophetic you want to be, the more you want to use the gift of prophecy, the more you must discipline yourself to know God’s Word, deeply.

The prophet cannot add anymore to the Bible than what is already in it. That is what the Lord tells us. It is human arrogance to imagine that God has spoken to you and no one can question or verify if that is so.

There are occasions in the Old Testament when God revealed His purpose to one person. Moses was one. Jeremiah was another. But both have been verified in the history of God’s Kingdom and the Word today.

Can someone stand up and say to everybody: “Excuse me, I am a prophet. You all must listen to me”? Even if you are, over a period of time you need to be verified by the Word of God and be accepted by the Body of Christ. Christ cannot reject Himself.

There is nothing more dangerous than a prophet who prophesies but disregards the Word. And if we are not careful as listeners, we will not know the difference. As the Lord Himself has warned us for these Last Days, just about any of us can and will be deceived.

First printed in IMPACT Magazine and republished with permission. For more stories like this, subscribe to this bi-monthly publication here.