David Diga Hernandez - False Prophets and Heretics

First of all, I want to begin by saying that I understand that the scripture makes it clear that we have a responsibility to discern and to rightly divide the word of truth. We have to question prophecies; we have to question things that seem suspect, and the Bible makes that perfectly clear. First John, chapter 4, verse 1, says, «Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the Spirit they have comes from God, for there are many false prophets in the world.» Jude chapter 1, verse 3, says, «Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.» So, that word «contend» talks about defending, holding to, or keeping your ground. The Bible is very clear; we are to be discerning, and there are false prophets in this world. We are to judge. There is this idea — especially in the United States — concerning judgment that we’re not to judge: «Judge not, lest ye be judged.» We’re going to show you that portion of Scripture in just a moment, and we throw these ideas around of, «Well, we don’t want to judge this person or that person,» and we try to be very lenient. I understand that we need compassion; I understand that we need love and mercy and all of these wonderful things that are characteristic of God. However, the Bible actually teaches us that we are to judge. In fact, Jesus said that when judging someone, you’ll know them by their fruits; you know them by what they produce in their lives. Now, this doesn’t mean that if anyone has ever made a mistake, they are therefore not of God. I mean, think about yourself: after giving your life to the Lord, have you never made a mistake? Have you never made an error? Have you never looked at a scripture and maybe not rightly divided it? So, this is not saying that if you make a mistake or if you have something that sounds a little off or seems off, that you are therefore thrown out. No, this is Jesus talking about a very foundational truth that from bad trees comes bad fruit, and from a good tree will come good fruit. But let’s take a look at Matthew chapter 7, verses 1 to 5. This is what the scripture says: «Do not judge others, and you will not be judged, for you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, 'Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye, ' when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?» Verse 5: «Hypocrite! Now, watch this. This is very key because often people quote this portion of scripture to say that you are not to judge anyone. The Bible says to judge with righteous judgment. We are to judge those within the church who are sinning. Look very carefully at what Jesus says: 'Hypocrite! First, get rid of the log in your own eye, then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.'» So, Jesus isn’t saying don’t judge; Jesus is saying if you’re going to pass judgment, make sure you’re not a hypocrite and doing worse or the same that you are judging someone else for doing. He is basically talking about judging in accordance with how you live. Now, the scripture isn’t telling us not to judge; that’s perfectly clear. But just remember this: God will judge you with the same standard that you used to judge others. Judge with righteous judgment. So, the Bible makes it clear: discernment, ask questions, judge, be on the lookout, be on your guard. But at the same time, there is a balance. Is this a license to criticize everyone? Is this a license to divide and to isolate? By no means! Trust me, I’ve seen frauds. You want to talk about false prophets? I was sitting in a church service when this so-called prophet got up and stood in front of everybody, and I was sitting somewhere in the front row. He calls out this gentleman in the very back, and for the sake of privacy, I’m just going to make up a name here — we’ll say, «Is there a Johnny Simpson here?» And so, the guy stands up and says, «That’s me.» He goes, «I see that you live at…» and he tells him his address, city, state, zip — everything! This guy had it down. The man says, «Well, I don’t actually live at that place. I don’t live there, but I forgot to change it on my Facebook page.» So, it was very obvious that the so-called prophet was just gathering information from people’s Facebook profiles as they checked into the service where he was ministering. This happens. There are false prophets; there are frauds out there. I’ve seen people use an earpiece and talk to people on the radio, and it’s so-called words of knowledge. I’ve seen — unfortunately — where people pay someone to say they’ve been healed, and they weren’t really healed; they’re just an actor. They justify it by saying, «Well, it stirs the faith of the people, and therefore it is ultimately for the better.» But I’m not saying that there are no frauds; I’m not saying that there are no false prophets. I’ve seen heretics; I’ve seen preachers, so-called, who claim the name of Jesus.