The Problem with False Prophets

Last updated on: October 18, 2026 at 2:02 pm by Rob Giannamore

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The Problem with False Prophets 2026-10-18T14:02:09-04:00 Rob Giannamore

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Miller’s Station UMC| 10/18/26| Anchor Verse: Jeremiah 23: 1, 9-23

I hear a lot of people talking and preaching about Jesus with their lips, but their words and their actions do not seem to match my lived experience and my educational experience of the risen Christ. These are, false prophets and this was a problem for the people of Jeremiah in today’s passage. I want to you to picture it, Ancient Israel around the early 600s/ late 500’s CE or a long time before Jesus. “They had a strong inkling that they would get taken over by the Babylonians, as many of their prophets, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, more than hinted at their imminent ransack and capture to this global super power. But Israel didn’t like receiving that bit of information. So they turned to people who had positive messages instead: the prophets who would say that Israel would enter a time of prosperity and wealth soon (Jeremiah 23:16). Many went as far to claim from receiving visions or a divine word to prove their prophecies rang true.” We enter into Jeremiah’s text today to explore the notion of false prophets as we begin to prepare our hearts for the upcoming voting season. Our narrative has been dominated over the last 10 years with a Christianity that looks distinctly different than the “Way” Jesus and his followers proclaimed. For many, fear has paralyzed us and allowed people we think have our best interest at heart to take political office only to find out that their true agenda is to restrict further an already restricted world.

Jeremiah is not alone in warning us to guard against false prophets: Jeremiah 23:16 cautions against voices that offer vain hopes from their own minds rather than God; Matthew 7:15 describes false prophets as ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing; Matthew 24:24 warns that deceptive signs may lead even the faithful astray; and 2 Timothy 4:3 cautions that people will seek teachers who tell them what they want to hear.

In today’s message, I want to explore the topic of false prophets by testing their fruit.

False Prophets tell People What they Want to Hear

Fear sells. Uncertainty is de stabilizing and our politicians and marketers feed it to us and unfortunately, we eat it up. Jeremiah 23:16 and 2 Timothy 4:3 warn us about voices that trade God’s truth for messages shaped by our own desires. The problem with truth is that it is subjective. What is true for one person is not necessarily true for another. The only real thing that is true is that Jesus is Lord and God is love.

I work a lot with anxiety in my day job. Our brains are powerful organs that we really do not know a lot about. Anxiety is a great liar, it will fool you into thinking you are not safe when you really are. It will make you worry about things that have not happened yet and may not actually happen. It will keep you from going out of your home. Marketers and politicians and false prophets will manipulate our beliefs to play on these fears. One of my early door to door evangelism questions was “how are you going to get off this earth alive?” This now cringey question was directly aimed at our fear of not getting to heaven. This was bad preaching and bad prophesying. Real prophets speak truth to power, expose lies and radically proclaim a message of love and inclusion, much like Jesus did.
Faithful Discernment asks Whose Dignity is Protected and Whose Suffering is Ignored

The United Methodist Social Principles affirm the sacred worth of every person and remind us that every person is “equally valuable in the sight of God.” Rooted in Scripture, Wesleyan theology, and the witness of thinkers like Bonhoeffer, this conviction calls political communities to protect basic rights and freedoms and calls the church to practice social holiness by defending the vulnerable, promoting justice, and honoring the divine image in every neighbor. But false prophets—ancient and modern—try to convince us that some people matter less, that some voices do not deserve to be heard, and that some neighbors do not deserve protection or rights. Jesus warns us, “Beware of false prophets… you will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15–16). Fear, contempt, and division are rotten fruit; justice, mercy, and humility are the fruit of the Spirit. So the challenge is simple and demanding: Whose voice shapes your view of your neighbor—Christ’s or someone else’s? If we listen to Christ, we will defend the dignity of the vulnerable; if we listen to false prophets, we will justify withholding it. A true prophet leads us deeper into love, while a false prophet leads us deeper into fear.

Jesus Teaches us to Examine the Fruit

God is love and all that God does is brought forth out of love. I will let that one settle for a moment. (Pause for a pregnant pause) In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus presses us to ask: Does a message produce fear, exclusion, domination, and cruelty, or love, justice, mercy, and the common good?

My training as a social worker has become one of the lenses through which I see the world. And through my formation as a social worker, a seminarian, and a student of justice, I have come to understand that justice is not merely a social concern—it is a spiritual practice. Justice protects the dignity of God’s people, pursues equality, and calls us to recognize the image of God in every neighbor. That is why Micah 6:8 matters so deeply: the prophet reminds us that justice, mercy, and humility belong together. Church, we cannot demand justice while abandoning compassion. We cannot extend mercy to others while refusing it to ourselves. And we cannot walk humbly with God until we lay down our pride long enough to see the needs of the people around us.

And this is precisely why Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:15–20 that we will know the prophets by their fruit. A voice may sound holy. It may be persuasive, powerful, and wrapped in religious language. But if the fruit it produces is cruelty, exclusion, arrogance, or contempt for human dignity, then it is not the fruit of Christ. The fruit of faithful words and faithful leadership looks like justice. It looks like compassion, humility, love, and concern for the vulnerable. So when we test the prophets, we must look beyond what they say and examine what grows wherever their message takes root. Does it lead us toward the kindom of God, or does it draw us away from the way of Jesus?

Christian Political engagement is Not Partisan Loyalty but Faithful Neighbor-Love

Now, you all may be a bit squirming in your seats this morning, thinking that the pastor should not delve into politics or preach from the pulpit about political issues. Friends, that is not the way of our Wesleyan tradition and that is not the way of Jesus. Loving our neighbor is not just a nice Christian value, it is also a strong core concept in Judaism.

When we are on take the side of Jesus on the cross and not the side of the executor, we feel compassion for the other. I asked this question a few years ago for a Lenten post, here I posited, “What side of the Cross are you on” and I offered these thoughts:

I recently read a post from a digital creator known as Pastor Brandon: “Any ideology that disciples you to fear, dismiss, or devalue others instead of love them is anti-Christ—no matter how many Bible verses it quotes.” A follower responded by defending a Christian Nationalist point of view, arguing that love does not mean unconditional acceptance into every privilege. But friends, Christ is universal love. Love is the essence of Christ and central to the Bible. Jesus was a brown-skinned, first-century Palestinian Jew—an oppressed man from an oppressed people—who called his followers to rise above the anger and hatred of their oppressors and choose love. This was not only the way of Jesus; it was the Jewish heritage that formed him: building community and looking out for others.

Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister writes in her Ash Wednesday reflection: “The Lenten Gospels reveal to us that in times of temptation, in times of bafflement, in times of discrimination, in times in need of healing, in times marked on all sides by death and despair, there is the option to follow the path of Jesus the Prophet. The one who revealed truth, defended the weak, brought peace, and always, always, always stood up to protest injustice calls to us throughout time and does the same today.” Church, Lent and Easter challenge us to choose which side of the cross we will stand on. Will we turn away like Peter, or take up the cross like Simon, stand boldly with Jesus, and call out injustice wherever it appears?

Closing challenge

I want to close with a simple question today, “Before we ask whether a prophet, preacher (including yours), or candidate speaks to our preferences, we must ask whether their words and actions bear the fruit of Christ.” Amen,

Benediction

Those who live lives pleasing to God shall not be moved.

Go now to embrace the kindom values – values of love, justice and truth.

Go now with God’s blessing, to live those values through the power of our challenging, faithful, loving empowering God.

And may you go – may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be at ease, Amen.

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