I remember feeling a connection or interest in God since I was 12. My parents didn’t take me church but I had a keen interest in learning more the Bible, to begin a journey to understand what its all about. I spent many Sunday mornings in my youth watching the Day of Discovery and Oral Roberts. It took another 10-15 years before I actually felt a strong pull on my heart to know Jesus during an Easter drama at a local church at the invitation of a member of my family. My growth of as a Christian was born that day and has continued to grow.
I often come across many articles written about false prophets and be able to spot one. What I wasn’t ready for is that some of the nations most popular pastors I have listened to during my walk in faith are actually considered false prophets today. I am open minded enough to not just take anyone’s word for it, but to merely listen and then verify the truth of what I am hearing as it lines up with the Bible or doesn’t line up with the Bible.
I have to admit, especially lately, it is becoming more clear to me that when I come across a false prophet it truly breaks my heart. The main difference in a Prophet and a False Prophet is the validation of a predicted prophecy. I have heard of many false prophet claims that have yet to be validated thus making them false. You may argue that there are still prophecies in the Bible that have not been validated yet, which is true since we have not reached the appointed time. When I say appointed time, the Bible doesn’t draw us a roadmap of time, date and hour. The false prophets to which I am speaking of actually give us dates, times and sometimes hours which come and then go without validation.
Take Gerald Flurry with the Philadelphia Church of God. Mr. Flurry was a former member of the Worldwide Church of God which was founded by Herbert W. Armstrong. Over the years after Mr. Armstrong’s death the WWCG transformed into a more secular style of religion which splintered their overall congregations worldwide. Mr. Flurry became the leader as a result of this breakup. He has over the years made many prophecies, to which none have come true or been validated.
On November 9, 2020 Mr. Flurry wrote referring to Biden, “It does appear strongly that this man will be America’s next president. But I absolutely do not believe that at all. Regardless of how things look right now, I am confident that Donald Trump will remain president, why? Because a Biden presidency is contrary to Bible prophecy.”
Mr. Flurry previously predicted that Barack Obama would be the last president of the United States, and that Jesus Christ would return in 2020. The arrogance that Mr. Flurry would even openly proclaim that “He” knows when Christ will return is unfathomable, since my Bible tells me that Jesus himself specifically said that not even the angels or Jesus himself know the time (Matthew 24:36 | Mark 13:32).
The problem I have with Mr. Flurry is that my own father made this same mistake when I was seven as my father was a member of the WWCG back in the day. My dad sent Mr. Armstrong a letter advising him that after many hours of study and insight, he predicted when the world would end and Christ would return. Well, even Mr. Armstrong recognized my father was wrong and quoted this very verse to him in a reply letter to thank him for letter but also to advise him that he was wrong.
Flurry is not the only pastor leading his flock astray with such false prophecies, the Bible clearly states that there will be many and I couldn’t agree more, we are definitely seeing many more. Our current flock of Christian prophets are distinguished by their willingness to wade into political issues and their freelance nature.
Many claim to hear directly from God with their bold claims only to have those claims fall flatly unvalidated. What false prophets are accomplishing is pushing Christian nationalists for toward new extremes. I for one don’t question or judge anyone making a claim of hearing directly from God but I do validate everything by the Word.
Reference: Rob Boston | False Prophets: They Claim To Speak For God. They Say They Know The Future. And They Just Might Be Pushing Christian Nationalists To New Extremes. – Americans United (au.org)
