Wednesday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time (Year II)
2 Kings 22:8-13,23:1-3 | Psalm 118:33-37,40 | Matthew 7:15-20
Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves. You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? (Matthew 7:15-16)
Which begs the question: What fruits do false prophets offer?
Working from first principles, we recognize that true prophets (and indeed true Christians) are invariably guided by the Holy Spirit, so their fruits are essentially the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
St. Paul also wrote:
If you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence, since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit, the Spirit is totally against such a thing, and it is precisely because the two are so opposed that you do not always carry out your good intentions. (Galatians 5:16-17)
So a sure-fire way to recognize false prophets is to remember that they operate from a base of self-indulgence, and:
When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility; idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. (Galatians 5:19-21)
In short:
- true prophets and Christians set themselves aside to serve their brethren to the glory of God, while
- false prophets and Christians set God aside to serve themselves to the glory of…something disturbing.
Lord, send forth your Spirit to save us from self-indulgence. Amen.