SIGNS OF THE TIMES (1) (FALSE MINISTERS OF GOD)

"And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?...And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many."

Matthew 24:3,11

"But there were FALSE PROPHETS also among the people, even as there shall be FALSE TEACHERS among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."

2 Peter 2:1

There are several signs the Bible recorded will indicate the time of the end. One of the core things God highlights as an indicator is the prevalence of fake ministers of God.

There are two kinds mentioned here: False Prophets and False Teachers

A prophet is the mouthpiece of God and was required, especially in the Old Testament, to share God's heart with His people and propel them into His destiny for them. A prophet is God's representative before the people, and his responsibility is to speak exactly what God is saying. He has NO RIGHT to speak his opinion.

A teacher is a minister of God whose responsibility is to teach God's Word and to guide people into the understanding of the principles stipulated in it. He observes the borderlines God has set and never goes beyond them to tamper with the foundations of the Truth.

Now there is a proliferation of charlatans who call themselves "prophets", manipulators who peddle lies and deceit in the Name of God. These are brigands who have no fear of God and are ruled by their greed and other sensual desires; robbers who perform lying wonders
(2 Thessalonians 2:9)
Sons of the devil who concoct abominations turning "petrol to pineapple juice", getting people to eat grass, dictating people's telephone numbers, declaring the color of people's underwear, getting prayer request slips to combust without lighting a fire in a bid to prove that God has heard and answered, as well as other such meaningless and fatuous activities that add absolutely no value to people.

These rogues have taken advantage of the undiscerning, unintelligent and desperate hordes and have brought God's Name into their iniquity. The lowest parts of hell are kept for such deceivers and many of the docile that follow them.

There are also false teachers who twist God's Word and introduce "damnable heresies"; many of these people start off well but eventually veer off and begin to go beyond the established truth in scriptures. There are those that are teaching that salvation/eternal life cannot be lost (ALL kinds of life can be lost: battery life, electrical life, plant life, animal life, human life etc) and by so doing they remove the concept of judgment, this emboldens them and all who follow their pernicious ways to do all kinds of things in the false notion that punishment will not be meted out. Some make light of the fundamentals of the Faith (Death & Resurrection of Jesus, the Blood, Redemption etc) while others give false hope to people who look for ways to justify their transgressions and rebellion.
They, like the false prophets, will pay a bitter price for their lack of reverence for God & His Word. This will be an eternal price specially kept for those that twist God's Word to deceive people and keep salvation from them.

There are a number of things the Bible states as characteristics of these false ministers.
Below is a list, this is not an exhaustive list because there are a number of other characteristics I don't have the time or space to list:

(1) They use divinations to back their falsehood (Jeremiah 14:14)
* Any "minister of God" who has the boldness to play games with necromancy, fortune-telling, tarot cards, Ouija boards, charms (juju), black magic, astrology etc has crossed the rubicon and is a false minister.

(2) A servant of God speaks as the oracle of God; God uses him to provide solutions to the problems of humanity. For this reason he is a tool in God's hands to show people the causes of their banishment and turn them from captivity (Lamentations 2:14)
No false minister proffers real solutions, he doesn't have the power to do so.
* In the final analysis the true test of the veracity and effectiveness of a servant of God is seen in the transformed lives his ministry has caused and his ability to communicate God's mind in such a way that it produces insight, dispels doubt, provokes faith and provides guidance.

(3) Someone once said, "You may teach what you know but you can only reproduce what you are". You will know a real servant of God not only by what he says but primarily by what he does (Matthew 7:15-20)
* EVERYBODY makes mistakes, NOBODY is perfect; having said that it is important to realize that if it is a mistake nobody will live in it or try to justify it. If a person has a weakness he will realize it's a weakness, but if the fruits a person manifests perpetually contradict the life he claims to have then it should be apparent to everyone that he doesn't actually have it.

(4) False prophets and teachers deceive people and lead them away from the principles of God's Word (Matthew 24:11,24)
* Any message or prophecy that cannot be authenticated by God's Word (the Bible) should be thrown away immediately. God sets boundaries with His Word, anything that goes beyond it is an adventure into perdition.

(5) A false minister is interested in playing to the gallery and maintaining a fake reputation before men. There are people who are more interested in the praise of men than they are in the praise of God, while this does not mean that everyone who seeks the approval of men is of the devil it is very clear that people who are not in ministry because of their service for God are in ministry because of what they can get from man. (Luke 6:26)
* A person who is only interested in pleasing men or assuming a false posture before them will NEVER please God.

(6) A false minister will NOT glorify Jesus Christ; he will only glorify himself. When you see "ministers" who are only interested in pointing to themselves and reveling in what things they have accomplished without any recourse to God you possibly have seen a false prophet (1 John 4:1-3)
* Self does not work in the same frequency with Christ.