Know Them By Their Fruits

CALL TO PRAYER

By: Stephen Osei Kuffour

Date: 28.04.2024

Title: Know Them By Their Fruits

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

(Matthew 7:15-16 NKJV)

At my grandfather’s house in Ghana where I grew up, there is a huge Mango tree at the backyard. This Mango tree is very fruitful. During the Mango season, it produces many big and nice fruits. We used to give out some as gifts, eat some ourselves and sell most of them. We made a lot of profit out of it. However, there were some seasons that the mango tree didn’t produce enough fruits.

Most of the fruits it produced were not even good for consumption. At some point, my grandfather even decided to uproot the tree. He however found out that part of the tree is infested by pests. He therefore removed the infested branches, and the tree began to produce good fruits again.

There were false Prophets in the Old Testament, in the time of Jesus Christ and during the time of the Apostles. Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles spent some time warning people to be careful of these false Prophets and Teachers (Matt 7:15, Rom 16:17-18). One may wonder if it was necessary for them do so. The truth is that these Prophets have a lot of influence and can therefore lead many people out of the narrow way through their false teachings. This will make all the works and efforts of the good men and women of God futile.

Our Lord Jesus Christ showed us how we can identify these false Prophets and Teachers; we will know them by their fruits (Matt 7:16). Does their way of life reflect Christ? Do they live in obedience to God and His Word? Do they teach the truth in the word of God? If not, let’s not follow them. However, let’s be careful and discerning so we don’t miss the good men and women that the Lord sends into our lives to be a blessing to us.

This is because some of these true men and women of God may make mistakes and even fall sometimes but they recover and rise again (Prov 24:16). This does not make them false. Let’s therefore not judge them at their weakest point and conclude that they are false Prophets.

Beloved in the Lord, there are many false Prophets in our days and through our Lord Jesus Christ, we know that we can identify them by their fruits. However, it is important to know that good men and women of God make mistakes sometimes. Let’s therefore be discerning so we don’t miss the great men and women that the Lord sends into our lives to be a blessing to us.

Prayer Point:

Let’s thank God for His Word today. Let’s ask the Lord to help all Believers around the world to be discerning in identifying false Prophets.

God bless you all.