POSTED 15 JULY, 2009

Following Others—or—No Fear?

by Mark Huey
mark@outreachisrael.net

reproduced from the McHuey Blog

Imagine being a religious person who (1) believes fervently in the existence of God, (2) has a nominal working comprehension of the Holy Scriptures, and (3) sincerely wants to be informed about current events and how they relate to Biblical prophecies. Do you know anyone like this? In varying degrees, this includes many of today’s evangelical Christians, and even those who make up a considerable bulk of the Messianic movement.

While not all of today’s Christians and Messianics may agree on every facet of doctrine, almost all are inclined to listen to people who claim to speak for God. The insatiable thirst for truth about God creates an urge where it is thought that someone with more (perceived) knowledge of God, perhaps better acquainted with the Scriptures, can give them insight into what God requires. These seekers can often innocently believe what various leaders tell them, without thinking critically. Too many, when hearing a particular teaching or sermon—especially on the end-times—do not turn to the Scriptures themselves and confirm that what they have been told is accurate (Acts 17:11).

When you couple inquisitive religious inclinations, with a basic human desire that prefers to take a path of least resistance—while instinctively avoiding harmful and/or life threatening circumstances in order to survive—a surreptitious ensnarement is established. For millennia, nefarious people who have been given open, armed access to these searching souls, have been exploiting this confluence of spiritual and natural human proclivities.

Thankfully, the Creator God understood these tendencies of His creatures to follow after those who abuse the naïve and undiscerning, with clever verbal manipulations, and at times even physical signs and wonders. The Lord told the Ancient Israelites in the desert sojourn, and by extension us today, that He would actually allow various people to test His followers, in order to determine who they would follow and serve. The immutable, jealous, omniscient God—then and now—really desires to know if those who call upon Him truly love Him with their whole being (Deuteronomy 13:1-5).

False prophets or dreamers—possible even able to produce physical signs or wonders—or just speak in a way as to have people follow them, will often seduce children of God into walking by fear rather than walking by faith. The Biblical admonition to purge their evil from among the faith community is very candid. While today we might not put these false prophets and dreamers to death—as we believe Yeshua has atoned for their sin—we should neither be consulting nor listening to them. We should especially not be sending them our money to acquire their latest teachings!

What often boggles the mind is how, when one considers the direct instruction given from the Lord, there is inherent affinity for gullible people to again return to false prophets’ teachings! God, however, says “The prophet has spoken presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22). This requires us to move on and find legitimate leaders who have a proven track record of reliability with the Scriptures. But as we can often find, either people just have short memories—or, false prophets are able to manipulate them quite well. They are frequently able to allure foolish people back to their deluding trough, like a dog returning to its vomit (Proverbs 26:11; 2 Peter 2:22).

For years, our ministry has been warning the Messianic community we serve, about fear-generating techniques of false prophets who are proliferating in greater numbers. Let’s face it: fear-mongering sells because the willing audiences enable these people, and totally ignore the precise warnings of the Scriptures.

Since the mid-1990s, our family has witnessed a huge array of end-time date theories, different yet similar calendar calculations, diverse prognostications on the identity of the antimessiah/antichrist, and some unique interpretations of prophetic Scriptures. When various predictions do not come to pass, we then often witness recalculations of recalcuations. We have encountered a whole cadre of individuals who are quite bold enough to declare themselves as prophets of God, some of whom have said that they have been chosen to lead people back to the Promised Land in a greater Exodus.

It is always prudent to be aware of the environment and times in which we live. Each of us needs to prepare our families and congregations for unexpected events like tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, or even terrorist attacks. But we are to never be motivated by fear. Fear paralyzes the soul, and leads to people making unwise, “adrenaline aided” decisions—that are primarily motivated by physical survival, and do not take into account rational spirituality. When it comes to the Second Coming, Yeshua informed His Disciples that the exact time of His return was known only by the Father (Matthew 24:36).

Knowing human nature, if someone is constantly anticipating the beginning of the Great Tribulation—in a mere handful of years or even just a matter of months—unwarranted fear will literally consume him. Decisions will be made with the expectation that horrific events are soon going to “come down,” and preparations for protection and survival will become the primary focus of attention.

In the past two decades we have personally witnessed some negative things spike in the Messianic community over the end-times—with a devastating impact left upon individuals, families, fellowships, and congregations. People start selling their assets and relocating to areas where a false prophet is located, so they can be near the person who is purportedly “hearing from God.” Marriages fall apart as one of the spouses does not believe in blindly taking in the diatribe of the false teacher. Children get uprooted and lose a great deal of their education, because the logic is that with the Great Tribulation rapidly approaching, learning survival skills is what is really necessary. A bunker mentality starts to grip a group, as paranoia about outsiders knowing about stored provisions becomes a concern. Eventually, the family or groups spend their time primarily discussing strategies for survival and enduring to the end. The work of God’s Kingdom, spreading the gospel and encouraging discipleship, becomes secondary or tertiary. Outreach, evangelism, sober Bible study, and ministering to the community—are terminated.

With the advent of greater Internet usage, and easy access to a wide variety of teachings in the past decade, the problems associated with following false prophets has exacerbated. Only enhancing the problem is a growing multitude of repeating clones of some of the older false prophets. Combine all of this with the following:

·  spiritual delusions of theories about the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012

·  Nostradamus’ predictions

·  comets heading toward Earth

·  the return of the final Muslim mahdi

·  political upheaval in the United States as government bureaucracy grows

·  continued tensions in the Middle East, especially between Israel and Iran

· Christian prophecy teachers still selling their wares and speaking about an imminent rapture at each Feast of Trumpets

Seeing this concoction of phenomenon that are conductive to perpetuate hysteria, what is a mature Believer to do?

First, take a deep breath and relax. Things are not as bad as you may have been led to believe. Yeshua told His Disciples, “do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).

Secondly, do not listen to or fear those who use paranoia of the end-times to promote themselves. Many have used the legitimate prophetic message of Scripture to bring great ruin and devastation to the lives of families and individuals, while making a tidy profit in the process. Think critically about who you listen to about the End of the Age.

All of us know that since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, with more Jewish people coming to faith in the Messiah since the First Century, and the significant expansion of the Messianic movement—we have been getting much closer to the return of Yeshua. As a ministry, we encourage people to be on the lookout, and not be caught unaware. But in so doing, let us be like the wise virgins with their oil, or the faithful stewards with their talents, and continue to be about the Father’s work for His Kingdom (Matthew 25). If we hope to make it to the end, we must learn to be productive in God’s service, and not be guided by fear and paranoia.

My friends, I encourage you to love and follow the Lord, fearing and obeying Him, listening to His voice, serving Him with your whole heart, and clinging to Him with your entire being.

I also encourage you to not follow after people who act as though they serve Him, but have spoken presumptuously and have discredited themselves. Their manipulative words are to no longer be feared.

Until the restoration of all things…

Mark Huey (B.A., Vanderbilt University in History and Graduate Studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University) is the Director of Outreach Israel Ministries (www.outreachisrael.net). He is the author of several books, including: TorahScope, Volumes I & II, and Counting the Omer: A Daily Devotional Toward Shavuot. He is also co-author of Hebraic Roots: An Introductory Study.