July 1926
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S _________________________________ 383
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C o n t r i b u t e d A r t i c l e s
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^ ^ " ^ ‘Beware of j^alse prophets” A Reconsideration o f an Old: W arning DEAN JOHN MURDOCH MACINNIS Bible Institute of Loe Angeles
First, the foundation of a living and true prophetic min istry and message is a living experience of Jesus Christ that changes the life from the Inside heart of it to the details of its outward expressions. This is the outstanding lack in the lives of those false prophets to whom Christ shall say at the judgment, “ I never knew yon.” He did not know them in a living experience that made them living prophets and enabled them to say, “ Lord, Lord” by the Spirit of God. In a mere professionalism and an external activity they were able to do many striking and attractive things, but there is no living message and no vital service where the transforming touch of the living Christ is not upon the heart and life. We have no true prophetic message, not until Jesus Christ lives in us in a vital, transforming experience. The second observation is that the thing that matters in religion is the thing that happens at the inner core of the life and changes it at its foundation and finds expression in its daily walk and conversation. The thing that mattered was not the sheep’s skin but what was inside the sheep’s skin. It was not the skin that gave direction and flavor to the life, but the wolf. It was not the foliage that gave shape and flavor to the fruit, but the inner life of the vine. It was not what they said and did but what they really were that made the final difference in the life of these false prophets. A prophet is not made from without, he is born again by the Spirit of the living God, and the flame is kindled in the inner soul. The third observation is that in this new life that makes possible a genuinely prophetic ministry and message, the thing that tells is the doing of the will of God and obedience to Jesus Christ. It makes no difference how fine a sheep’s skin we may have on, nor how beautiful the thorn looks, nor the thistle, nor how correct our creed and profession, nor how wonderful our sermon, nor how startling the big things we are doing, if the inner life is not finding expres sion in the right kind of fruit. Jesus said, “ By their frnits ye shall know them.” It matters little how much like a sheep the skin is if we are constantly hearing the growling of the wolf. It matters not how much like a grapevine the thorn bush may appear as long as we have thorns instead of grapes. For fear man might be mistaken at this point God gives us in His own Word a detailed list of the fruits of the wolf life as over against the fruits of the sheep life, and graciously puts them in the terms of everyday life so that we cannot pos sibly mistake them. He says the wolf life, or the life of the flesh, is mani fested in any or all of the following: fornication, unclean ness, sensuality, idolatry, magic. That far in the list we can easily follow the thought and feel quite comfortable.
HEN Jesus warned us against false prophets He was not thinking primarily of people who were in revolt against the Scriptures or the standard interpretations of the same; on the contrary; a careful study of the context o f this warning will show that He was thinking of people who were making an extra effort to conform with external standards and to have people think of them as theologically and ecclesiastically correct. All through the Sermon on the Mount He is contrasting the true with the false, and the false He associates again and again with the Scribes and the Pharisees. Their trouble was not a lack of reverence for the Scriptures and the traditions of men, nor a lack of the knowledge of the letter of the Scriptures; they were false prophets because they had a false life, and that is exactly the kind of a false, prophet Christ is warning us against. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He does not take issue with the standards but makes a definite and conscious effort to conform to them. He consciously puts on the sheep’s clothing in order to make the outside look as much as pos sible like a sheep. No details are overlooked in this regard. Jesus also warns the disciples that people in this age will be guilty of the same formalism and externalism. He says that it is “ not everyone that saith Lord, Lord, who shall enter into the kingdom of heaven bat he that doeth the will of his Father who is In heaven.” When we come to the Judgment there will be those who will be denied by the Lord and they shall answer, “ Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Thy name and by Thy name cast out demons and by Thy name do many mighty works?” In other words they claim that they made the right approach to Jesus Christ— they addressed Him as Lord; they had a right message and they delivered it in His 'j name; in His name they cast out demons, and in His name they did many mighty works. They were right in their profession and in their activities but they were all wrong in their inner life and spirit. They called themselves sheep but the wolf nature mani fested itself. They wanted to be known as great minds but the thorn life was evident in their contacts with their fellows. They wanted to be known as fruit trees but they could not hide their thistle nature. The reason for this is given by Jesus when He said, “ I never knew yon." That, of course, does not mean that He was not cognizant of their existence, because He knows all things. This has reference to knowing them in a vital experience and a mystic relationship that would change the wolf through a new birth. While they were clothed with a sheep's skin, the inner life was the wolf life. This reconsideration of this old warning leads to several
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