Here is something extra to explain about the purpose of cast fire on false prophets in the church:
Matthew 24:24
- "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."
Yes, their works (abominations)
are a sign. And their works "are" so deceptive that it might even deceive the very elect
if that were possible! Thus it cannot be miraculous literal signs, because that would fool no one but the gullible. The signs are false teachings so cleverly put forth as to actually be believable to most professing Christians. There isn't any literal miracles even close to deceiving the elect, but what is close to deceiving them are the signs which are
doctrines that appear righteous, but that re actually transgressions of God's laws. i.e., lawlessness masquerading as love, anti-lordship policies, free will, sentimentality over obedience, grace by works, workless grace, situational ethics, immorality disguised as liberty, etc., etc. Iniquity abounds because it is like that--it dresses itself up to appear to be fair, good and righteousness. Satan isn't called the great deceiver and the father of lies for nothing. It's because he hopes you don't know his names and recognize his deceits.
Isaiah 30:8-13
- " Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
- That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
- Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
- Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
- Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
- Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant."
The false Christs and false prophets do arise and do show forth great signs and wonders. The sun is tuned into darkness and the stars fall from heaven
because they are false prophets. If that's not a sign, I don't know what signs are. And these signs are so deceptive that if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect. However, God has opened the eyes of the elect that they not only "see" the signs, but more importantly recognize them for what they really are. Not worldly, earthly or physical, but spiritual. Now let read Matthew 24:24:
Matthew 24:24
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Because the
signs are spiritual, they are the
same signs that were taking place when Christ came the first time as the Sun was turned into blood and
Joel 3:15-16
- "The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
- The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."
The end result was that the Lord cleanse the blood of people that He had not cleansed (gentiles), and the New Testament church was established. The stars didn't literally/physically withdraw their shinning or fall from the heavens, this all indicated the darkness in apostasy that was in Israel as the messengers of God fell away from Him and the Kingdom taken from them. God's definition of signs, not the false teachers definition.
Acts 2:16-21
- "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
- And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
- And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
- And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
- The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
- And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Did the moon literally/physically turn into blood? The answer of course is no. And yet this was the fulfillment of the signs prophesied in Joel of the fall of the Old Testament congregation. Likewise, when the church falls away from God in this same way, these same sns show themselves. The Sun being dark, the moon bnot giving her light and the stars falling from heaven. Signs of the apostasy, the falling away, the fall of what is spiritually Babylon. Bottom line, it isd the false prophets working so tremendously that is the sign hat would even deceive the elect
if that were possible. By the grace of God, it is not possible. Why?
John 8:46-47
- "Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
- He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."
Even so, either convict Christ of sin and reject Him or if you cannot, then that beg the question, "why were they standing against His claims and proclamations?" The
fact was, they couldn't hear Christ's words on a spiritual level because they didn't have the Spirit to do so. He that is of God hears God's words, and therefore if they could not hear them,tey were not of God. The True believers have God's word as their ultimate authority, therefore they receive His word. When God says the stars are the messengers of the church, they receive hat. When God says the church is a candlestick (or lamp stand) that is not to be hid under a bushel, they believe that. Because when the light goes out, the candlestick is useless as a source of light. That's a sign. Not a miraculous sign as Charismatics and Pentecostals believe messengers can do, but God authored signs. A sign that God has sent fire down from heaven upon them.
Ezekiel 9:5-6
- "And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
- Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house."
Same as the fire from the mouth of the two witnesses that slaw the wicked. It's the judgment of God upon the false.
1st Peter 4:17
- "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"
Contrary to what some professed Christians believe about a church never being judged,
all must pass under the judgment of God, and God's own household first (just as the congregation Israel because we are no better).