Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.
Matthew 7:15NLT
I return again this week with another story from my grandparents and the library!
The first time I remember my grandparents taking me to the library was to see a magic show! I believe I was 5 or 6, as they took me and urged me to sit with all the other kids. I watched in rapt amazement as the magician performed feat after amazing feat—amazing to a 5 year old at least! I don’t remember most of the tricks that he did, but there is one that I remember even after all these years.
For his closing act, the magician performed an act with which you may be familiar. He placed a piece of white rope into a wooden box, closed the box, and placed a large square of material over the box. He then said “abracadabra,” before pulling off the material to reveal a lovely white dove! I was amazed! I love animals and I fell in love with this white dove—we were allowed to carefully reach out and touch it and it was so soft.
I thought about that white dove miraculously appearing the whole way home and by the time we reached my house, I had a plan. I went into my room, emptied out a wooden box, found a piece of white string, and grabbed a blanket. I had paid close attention so I knew what to do. I held the box with my left hand while saying “abracadabra,” and slowly waved my right hand over the box. I held my breath as I pulled off the blanket waiting to see a dove that would be my new pet—nothing. I tried again, but still nothing so I paused to evaluate. I had a white string and the magician had used a piece of rope—that must be the issue! The string was probably too little to turn into a dove. I found a small piece of string that was just thick enough to be considered a rope in my book and I tried again. And again. And again. I’m not sure how long I spent trying to turn this bit of rope into a dove but it felt like all afternoon, with no luck.
I was fooled by the magician’s magic trick that day and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. Of course, in this case, my knowledgeable grandparents had taken me to a harmless magic show but I was unwittingly taken in! That is somewhat the purpose of these magic shows. We put ourselves in front of it willing to be deceived and taken in by the magician’s tricks but what about false teachers? Not every deceiver is as easy to spot as these magicians!
This is why the Bible tells us to beware of deceivers and false prophets. Many times these false prophets can look like legitimate teachers of the Word. So how are we to know? By spending time in the Word and getting to know God as a dear friend. If we invest time getting to know Him as we would one of our friends then we can spot the false teacher a mile away! But if we don’t invest in a relationship with Him, we can be easily deceived. If you had big plans for spending a lot of time in the Word and you find yourself getting derailed, I urge you not to give up! This is the most important relationship you can invest in and it’s worth pushing through the challenges that might get in your way in order to get to know Him better!