Shane Idleman addresses the urgent battle for truth in his sermon 'The Battle for Truth - 7 Traits of False Prophets,' emphasizing the need for believers to be grounded in God's Word amidst rising false teachings. He outlines seven characteristics of false prophets, including their tendency to scatter God's flock, encourage sin, and avoid difficult truths, while calling for a return to prayer and repentance. Idleman warns that the church must not remain silent in the face of societal issues and must stand firm in proclaiming the truth of the Gospel. He encourages believers to seek God earnestly and to recognize the signs of the times, urging them to be bold in their faith and actions.

We've been talking about the battle for truth, correct? There's a battle for truth going on right now in our nation. Is anyone aware of that? Okay, good. Not just me. And the title is Seven Characteristics of False Prophets. The Battle for Truth, Seven Characteristics of False Prophets. And the reason I'm doing this again is because I didn't quite finish from last week. So I want to just do part two and pick up here. I'm going to try to get through the first points fairly quickly. But all of you listening online or listening to the message or here, you can find all of these at shaneidleman.com. I'm going to release an article tomorrow hopefully with these same points. And we left off where? In Ephesians. What does Paul say to the church in Ephesus? Gird up with the truth. Gird up your loins with the truth of God's word. What does that mean? Fasten the truth of God's word to you. And now more than ever before, we need to be grounded to the truth of God's word. We know what's happening, right? Kingdoms are colliding. Looking at the news, kingdoms are colliding. Here's what's happening. Let me give you a brief overview. Believers are now getting more involved even in government. So what does that mean? You think the enemy likes that? Of course not. And of course we know, many of us feel that the end time scenarios are playing out. So I'll be talking about that in the next two weeks. We've got a spiritual battle also is coming against the church, coming against Christians. The recent order to not sing in church. I mean it's just, it's getting ridiculous. And that's why I really prayed that prayer, because, you know, I don't want my opinions to come into this. I don't want Shane Eidelman to come out, but there should be a righteous indignation within true spirit-filled believers on what is going on. There should be something that is upsetting to you, and that drives you to your knees. That's why I said last week, you can have a full gun safe, but if your prayer closets are empty, we're in trouble. That's really where our hope comes from, is in seeking God again and breaking our arrogant hearts and humbly seeking Him. And there are certain players I've talked about before. I wanted to let you know, of course, what's going on. And what you're seeing is there's a funding, there's influencing, and there's controlling. The funding of what is the rioting and the looting and a lot of those things are being pushed and funded by, and I mentioned George Soros and other organizations that want to see America collapse. So you have the funding. You also have the influencing. Do you think the media, the secular media is on God's side right now? They are influencing us. They are influencing our nation. And then, of course, you have the control aspect, the politicians trying to say, don't do this and do this and don't do this. And we need to be that sounding voice now more than ever before. What's that old saying? Speak up now or forever hold your peace. Because at some point, you won't be able to say what you're saying or what we're saying today. They're going to start to call it hate speech. I like what Jim Garlow said. I kind of printed it just in case. A friend of mine wrote this, Jim Garlow. He said, dear health experts and leftists and progressive Democrats and the media, let me just say that. To you, we might be the deplorables, but we are not ignorant. We know the truth. For you, for the record, we just we lost trust in you some time ago. We see through your hypocrisy and your feeble and failed attempts to justify your positions. This is why you yell and scream so loudly. One thousand of you health experts said that we will be plagued by this virus and do not meet in stores or parks or gather for worship. Yet you affirm the rioters and the protesting and the looters, the thieves and all these activities, claiming that this does not present a health concern. You see the hypocrisy and it has to be called out at some point, I believe. And what will happen? God will raise up voices to speak the truth. A.W. Tozer said when we become so tolerant that we lead people into mental fog and spiritual darkness, we are not acting like Christians, we are acting like cowards. I'm going to say that again for those who want to tweet this. When we become so tolerant, think about this, when we become so tolerant that we actually lead people into a spiritual fog, into deception, we are not acting like Christians, we're acting like cowards. And that's what you'll see out there. I know Sean shares his passion as I do for this. So many leaders are remaining silent. And their silence speaks volumes. But praise God, God will raise up voices. We need to be encouraged. God will raise up voices, but we must listen. It's interesting to me, right before the collapse of Jerusalem, right before its fall, you can read this, God said to His people through the prophet, I sent messengers to My people, rising them up early and sending them. Why? Because I had compassion on My people and on My dwelling place. But they mocked My messengers, despised My word, and scoffed at the prophets until the anger of the Lord arose against His own people, until there was no remedy. What do you do when God says you want it, you got it? It's interesting that He chose those three words, mocked. What is mocked? That's imitation, imitating and mocking. And now there's coming out the transgender lesbian Jesus. And Netflix is picking it up. You see, mocking, this mocking that we're seeing throughout our nation, despising is deep hatred, deep hatred. And be clear here, evil when it goes unchecked can get terribly wrong. We're not far from what happened in Germany with Hitler. Because evil when it goes unchecked gets progressively worse. And I don't want to alarm people. I'm trying to be careful here. I know we've got kids in here. But once we open that door to gay marriage, and now men wanting to marry men and maybe three at a time marrying three people, now there's a big push even for pedophilia. You're going to see that, where they're going to start pushing this. And if this doesn't raise a holy indignation in you, I don't know what to tell you. You're probably spending too much time in the world, not in a time of God's word. We need to have that holy fire again that calls the nation to repentance. So where do we leave off? Here's where I'm picking up Matthew 24. Matthew 24, that many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because of lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. And I do believe that Jesus was talking to his contemporaries there in Matthew when he's talking to the disciples. He was talking specifically to them in the early church. But I also believe that there are principles that apply to us now, that there are false prophets and false teachers that have been rising up in every generation. That's actually where the word anti-Christ comes from. So many people are worried about there's an individual, but actually the spirit of the world, the spirit of what's rising up is an anti-Christ spirit against Christ, anti-Christ. And so I believe more than ever before there is a battle for truth. There's a battle for truth. We have to be able to spot out those who are false prophets. But throughout the message here, I'm going to give you little glimmers of hope. Praise God. So the first one on hope, we need hope, we need hope, is that when the enemy rises up a false prophet, God will bring up a true spokesperson. Or actually it's the opposite. God usually calls the true prophet and then the false prophet the enemy will bring in. So anytime you see the enemy working, trust me, God is working as well. And there's tremendous hope in that. I know it's hard, I know it's difficult, but we should not allow fear to fuel our decisions and live in a state of fear. You don't have fear in you as a believer, right? The Bible says there's not a spirit of fear. He doesn't give you a spirit. So where does it come from? It comes from feeding on the wrong things and not conforming our mind to the goodness and grace of God and focusing on hope. Listen, even as we go down, I'm focusing on hope. Even as things look like it's in disarray, I'm focusing on the God of order. You readjust your mind, fix your thoughts on what is good and noble and honest and things that are right. If you're spending a lot of time on Netflix and you're fearful, I can tell you why. Too much of the world, too much of fear, too much of anxiety, you're feeding those things. And what you feed becomes the dominating force in our lives. We have to get back to worshiping God and seeking him. So I want to give a point of clarification that I don't know if I did last week, but there are false prophets who say that they believe in Jesus. There's also false prophets, cults, I've talked about cults before, who deny his deity. And many times you'll hear them do this on your door. Right? So, well, no, he's not really God. So that's clearly a false prophet. But there's also those that rise up inside the church, wolves in sheep's clothing. And there are wolves among you. And we can look at Jude, we can look at Peter. I mean, there's so many verses. So that's really what I'm focusing on this morning is those who appear, oh, we believe in Jesus too. But the fruit is not there. Second Peter, but there will be false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them. And they bring on themselves swift destruction. That's this side. That's your group, okay? You guys can be the ones who deny Jesus. And you guys can be the hypocrites. You say you believe in him, but you really don't. And we found ourselves last week in Jeremiah. And you can tell often by what calling God has given you, by what book of the Bible you like. If you like John the Beloved, and oh, that's so nice, and just laying back in Jesus' bosom and being slow to speak, and you might have that calling. But if you like the fire of Isaiah and Jeremiah, you might be a John the Baptist. So I just read through Isaiah and Jeremiah. It's food for my soul and psalms. The psalms, I just love those. And I can relate with Jeremiah. He said, my heart within me is broken. Can we all not agree when you look at the news? Did you know, it's going to be out. I don't know if you saw it yet. The Los Angeles School District's Teachers Union said the kids are not coming back to school until you defund charter schools and defund the police. Well, let me say, I got a message for LA Unified School District. Not on my watch. Not on my watch. There are people standing up, standing up. If you want to defund the police, it might mean you're doing something wrong. I didn't want the police in my 20s. I was driving around with that cord of Jack Daniels in between my legs, and I was on a highway to hell. I was singing ACDC. I'm on a highway to hell. I was singing Metallica, darkness, imprisoning me, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba. And you're singing these things, and you're living. I didn't want to see the police. I avoided the police. Now, of course, there's changes that need to be taken. I understand that. But we are throwing out the baby with the bathwater. And what's happening is you're seeing many pastors say nothing. They'll support ungodly movements, but they will not say anything about the ungodly behavior that is happening. And I will no longer remain quiet. You can email me. You can text me. You can say something to my face. I do not care. I have to stand before Almighty God for my decisions. You don't know that, but that's what the enemy uses. I should say you do know that. The enemy uses intimidation, right? Shane, if you don't be quiet, what you're saying is going to be labeled hate speech. You know what? It's love speech, so I don't care. You might lose your 501c3 status. Guess what? We've already set up the church to where we could lose it and still pay taxes. We got you. We got plan B, C, and D because God is on the throne. You cannot silence the truth. You cannot silence the truth. That's what you have to remember. You cannot silence God. Who's going to silence God? God said, I put the Pacific and the Atlantic right where I put them. I raised up kings and I pulled down nations. I set the moon and the sun and the atmosphere. Who can stand against God Almighty? We need to get back to that. We need to get back to Bible believing, preaching, and prayer, and worship, and having our nation change from the inside out. And so we said, oh, God help us. Their course is, the whole land mourns. There's a curse. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil. Both prophet, God says both prophet, my spokesman, and my priest, those who represent me, they are profane in my house, says God. And I think before we start worrying about Hollywood and Washington, we need to look within because God said judgment is going to start in the house of the living God. God is more concerned about cleaning his house first. Because see, when this house is clean, then that filters out into the nation. The condition of our nation falls squarely upon our shoulders. Look in the mirror to see what is happening. It is the deterioration of the family. Do you know that's what's happening? You look, how is all this happening? It started many, many years ago in the family. As the family goes, so goes the nation. Men who are called to be spiritual leaders in their home start building man caves, and going out and getting drunk, and watching sports, and they refuse to lead spiritually, and as a result, the family declines and goes down. If you have a man cave, don't feel bad. I have one too. I think I do, I don't know. It's that whole lifestyle. We're called to die for our families. If men would just stand up again and say, that's not right, we shouldn't be doing that, and that's why it cracks me up sometimes. Men, I don't like this emotional worship you guys do. Well, you get real emotional about sin. You love to shout in joy about sin. You love to shout in joy when your Broncos win, or when your Packers win, or when your 49ers win. Hey, I just made $100,000, and you're jumping up and down, but when you come into the church of the living God, and you're handcuffed, and you're bored to death, it's because you're dying spiritually. You need, there should be an excitement. There should be a joy. I want to worship God. Oh, if it was up to me, I would have never preached this morning. I would have said, hit rewind on that song. Hit rewind. This is how I fight my battles. Folks, you better get ready for battle. You better learn how to pray, and how to fast, and how to worship, and get excited about it. And that's coming from a conservative Christian, whatever that means. Right, conservatives, suit and tie. We don't get excited like that, Shane. We just, we just, I don't know what we do. We just worship. That's boring. There should be. No, but you sing those songs. I was lost, but now I'm found. Don't you understand? I was blind, but now I see, and so were many. How many of you did God rescue from the gutter, and pulled you out, and you're going to come into the house of the living God and be quiet? How many of you, how many of you has God saved your children, and pulled them from the brink of destruction, and you're going to come in here and be bored during worship? You're going to be bored and not excited. Let me tell you why. You need spiritual resuscitation. And that's my job. Look at that. Heart is done. Mouth to mouth. No, no, no. Just resuscitation. Pump that up. Don't we? We need to be revived and renewed and excited about the things of God. Jeremiah said, My heart within me is broken because of the false prophets. All my bones shake because the Lord is holy, and holy is his name. The land is full of adultery, full of sin. The curse is on the land. We are mourning. God has dried up the pleasant places of the wilderness, and the people are experiencing the wrath and judgment of God. For both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house, God says, I have found their wickedness. See, we're so worried about Hollywood and Washington, but do you know judgment starts in the house of God? I'm more concerned about this house than the White House, honestly. Because God says, If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven because I'm looking at the heart of my people. My passion is for my people. I desire to move on behalf of my people. So let me go through these quickly. A few of these I touched base on last week. Seven characteristics of false prophets. Number one, they scatter God's flock rather than unite us. I'm talking about true spirit-filled believers. They try to scatter God's flock. Woe be to the shepherds. Again, Jeremiah 23. Woe be to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. So false prophets are more concerned about what Oprah says than what true spirit-filled believers say. They will divide the church. And I gave you an example of a pastor who I would consider a false prophet. People say, Shane, that might get back to him good. I hope it does. But he actually mocked churches where the virus came in and hurt about 20 people and the church had to close down for a few weeks. He was mocking them on the media, dividing, instead of praying and fasting and protecting the church and not gossiping. See, these false prophets will divide the true body of Christ. That's one of their goals. They don't know it because they're working for the enemy. But a characteristic is they are not. So look at all these. You don't know who to trust out there in the media, right? Who to follow? Who not to follow? What's going on? Are they bringing the body of Christ back together through prayer and worship and true unity? Always remember this about unity. Never forget this about unity. Unity is never unity for the sake of unity. Can't we all just get along? No, we can't if you're rejecting God and denying His Word. True unity is unity of faith, unity of truth, and unity of the Holy Spirit. See, the Holy Spirit in me and the Holy Spirit in you is never divided. So you're finding a lot of so-called Christians out there taking the wrong side of these issues and actually dividing the church. Are you as confused as me seeing posts and things like, what are these people thinking who call themselves Christians? It's almost like they're uniting with darkness and not the light. And it's interesting when you read what the prophet said when they said, woe be to those who call good evil and evil good. Aren't we doing that? Do you see that couple that was defending their house from protest? I believe they got their weapons seized and the DA was going to press charges. We have lost our mind. We have lost our mind. Where are the leaders calling that out? Because, see, the evil will just keep pushing and pushing and pushing. And most people just, well, I don't want to say anything. I don't want to say anything. You be the steamroller. I'll be the pavement. When God says, no, you do business until I return, you be that voice. You hold the line. Having done all, stand. Having done everything, and I think, Lord, I've done. There's nothing I can do. He said, Shane, I don't mind. Just stand. Stand, therefore, with your loins girded about with truth. Hold the line of truth. Preach the truth until Christ comes again. Point people to the cross. Point them to redemption. That is the only hope. And then also, also, in case you haven't found out, I'm not trying to win a popularity contest. We have to start telling it like it is. Did you know that truth used to come from the pulpit? That live separation of church and state wasn't even in the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson coined the phrase when he wrote to the Danbury Baptists of Connecticut, and he assured them that there would be a wall of separation of church and state so the government could not interfere with the churches. So they could not. And for 150 years, everything was fine until the Supreme Court made a decision to where now government could intervene with the churches. And so now the churches want to be silent, and they don't want to speak to these issues. But the pulpit is where people used to get the right information to see if it lined up with God's word. And now we're so, did you know you can say, hey, this candidate believes this, this candidate believes this, the Democratic Party's for this, Republicans are for this. You should be able to tell people what the truth is. How else do you get the facts? But when you start to silence that truth, that's when you're in dangerous waters there, and false prophets will be on the side of silencing truth. Trust me. And then number two, they do not care about the spiritual needs of the flock. God says, because you have scattered my flock and driven them away, and you have not cared for their needs, I will punish you. So false prophets are too busy trying to keep their kingdom together. I don't want my kingdom to come crushing down. A true spokesman of God says, God, it's nothing but your kingdom. Even if I lose some things, even if I become nothing, even if I'm scorned and ridiculed, at the end of the day I have to go home and say, have I done what God has called me to do? And they will die to self. They will find themselves on the foot of the cross, weeping over the nation and repenting and humbling themselves. But a false prophet will protect their kingdom. They don't care about the true spiritual needs of the people. And then number three, we talked about last week as well, they encourage sin. Did you know that? False teachers encourage sin. Here's the key. Somebody truly speaking on God's behalf will tell you run to repentance. They tell you run away. You don't need to repent. You don't need just love. Who are you to judge? You can't judge. Who are you to say these things are wrong? God is love. The attribute that sticks out above all attributes of God, quite frankly, is holy. For I am holy. You shall be holy. Come and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The angels cry, holy, holy, holy is our God. And the only way to experience that holiness is via repentance. So false prophets encourage sin. Jeremiah, God pointed out, they commit adultery. In other words, they commit sexual sin. And that's an epidemic right now. They also strengthen the hand of evildoers. Think about this. God says these false prophets strengthen the hand of evildoers so no one turns back from his wickedness. So they actually encourage people in their sin. I've shared this before. A man I debated on Fox News. He said, he was asked, if somebody comes with you and they're struggling with same-sex attraction, what do you tell them? He said, I tell them to embrace it. They encourage. Here's the difference. I will encourage people through their sin, but I do not encourage them to continue to sin. So false prophets will encourage people by their silence. See, when you say nothing, you say something. And those of you right now, I'm going to drop a truth bomb. Do you think you're just going to get out of this culture war somehow? No, those days are over. But Shane, I didn't sign up for this. It signed up for you. As an American citizen who calls yourself a Christian, you will have to at some point get out of your comfort zone. And call, I am on this side or I'm on this side. There's no more just kind of middle gray area. They are calling good evil and evil good. And there will have to come a point where you make a decision. There's a line of demarcation being drawn in the sand. That line is called truth. The absolute inerrant truth of God's word. So they encourage sin. They're more afraid of holiness than sinfulness. False prophets do not like to talk about holiness. But let me offer some hope here. Well, I want to read. I should read. I want to read 2 Peter. For when they speak great swelling words. 2 Peter 2.18 about false prophets. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness. Have you ever noticed that? What did they just say? Well, the philosophical conclusion of that might make you think these ramifications could take place spiritually. But really cognitive that's not going to happen. What are you talking about? Great swelling words of emptiness. Emptiness. I could get a homeless man off the street who just came to know the Lord. And he would say, I don't know. I was blind. But now I see. I was lost. But now I'm found. And you would change hearts in this room. But you get a false prophet filled with emptiness. The spirit of the living God is not speaking boldly through that person. And there's no life. There's no life in the word of God. The spirit gives life. The letter kills. But the spirit gives life. So they trick people through the lust of the flesh. Through lewdness. The ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty. This is what a false prophet always says. They promise you liberty. Come on. Just be yourself. Like Nike's slogan. If it feels good. That's not biblical. I'm going to tell you the opposite. If it feels good, be careful. Check it through the filter of God's word. But they promise them liberty. But they themselves are slaves to corruption. But here's a hope alert. God offers freedom. So I don't know where you're at. I don't know who's listening. I don't know what you came in with. But if you're bound in sin, God can set you free. Who the son sets free is free indeed. The Bible talks about repentance. Not excusing your sin. What we're seeing across our nation is blame shifting. Isn't it? Blame shifting. It's not my fault. It's their fault. And nobody's taking responsibility instead of calling it like it is. And saying, God, I repent of my sin. If you want to be set free, I don't know what you're addicted to. Or what you struggle with. Maybe you've been beating yourself up for years. God can set you free. But it's full surrender. It's full surrender. I don't know why. But I wrote a book, you know, Help, I'm Addicted. It talks about overcoming addiction. God has given me a ministry to those who are addicted. And many times you'll find that when people are struggling with this, it's because a part of them still enjoys that sin. There's a part of them. I think it was John Owen, the famous Puritan, who said, Our little pet sins are as dear to us as children. We cleave on to them and we can never let go. There does have to come a full surrender. Saying, Lord, this is wrong in your sight. I do not want to enjoy this. I want to get rid of this. God, would you help me? And God can set you free. And there's a struggle, though. There's a fight. Many of you, I've told you this before. 20 years ago, I came back to the Lord. I fell back into alcohol a little bit, even as a believer. You know how that's possible? Amen. Or is everyone in here perfect? I'll talk to you at 11 a.m. But it was those little thoughts, right, that bring you back. Just one chain. It's been a year. Oh, that's true. I can have one now. You start to compromise. Xanax? Valium? Vicodin? Porn? See, it's those little whispers. And you go back into the bondage that God set you free of. And you can't experience freedom. Oh, my point was this. How many of us have prayed, God, please take this away? And thank God he does sometimes. But many times you have to fight. When I talk to people and encourage repentance from homosexuality, I will let them know, listen, God might lift it, but he might not. And if he doesn't, he will hold you all the way through. The high suicide rate that we're seeing in that LGBTQ community is not because the church is coming against it. It's because the conviction of the Holy Spirit will never leave. No matter if Hollywood validates it, no matter who validates it, sin, when it's left unchecked, will lead to depression and anxiety. That's why there's a high suicide rate. We need to be pointing them to the cross. Say, listen, you struggle with it. I struggle with other stuff. I can't relate to you. You can't relate to me. Let's tell you how Jesus walks you through the struggle, clinging to the old rugged cross, clinging to that old rugged cross where there's true freedom and redemption. And we've given people the lie just praying God will take it away. Well, what about if he doesn't? What about if he doesn't? If there's still a spiritual battle from here on out? But my point on that was false prophets will continue. They'll encourage you to continue in sin. And then number four, I love this one. You'll know them by their fruit for this. False prophets always, without a shadow of a doubt, avoid the difficult truths in the Bible. They'll talk about love and joy and unity and forgiveness. Can't we all just get along? These truths, yeah, they're kind of truths, but do you know the power of God's word is in its total application? But they forget about holiness and judgment, the blood of Christ, repentance, sin. It amazes me that they don't want to talk about the very thing that put Jesus on the cross. Don't mention hell, of course not. Jesus did. Jesus actually talked more about hell than heaven. He said, don't worry. Don't fear those who can kill your body, which many of you are worrying about that. He said, fear him who can cast both body and soul in hell. He told the disciples, go out and preach love. No, he said, go out and preach repentance. A turning from sin, a turn from sin. To truly help our nation, to truly help people in the church, you have to talk about the difficult truths as well as the beautiful truths. I talk about mercy, but judgment. Grace, but holiness. Heaven, but hell. And they will avoid difficult truths like the plague. Jeremiah 23. They continually say to those who despise me, the Lord has said, you shall have peace. And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, no evil shall come upon you. So here's the thing. Jeremiah is prophesying, I believe, when Judah and the nation of Judah and Israel were split up into northern and southern kingdoms. And God's people had become corrupt. They are worshiping Molech and Bel and sacrificing their children on the altar of sexual perversion. Sound familiar? And they were a form of idolatry. They were drifting from God. And God said, listen, you false prophets, you're encouraging them in this sin. You say, don't worry, don't worry. God doesn't care. Continue in what you're doing. God says, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they spoke. But had they truly stood in the counsel of God's word, they would turn the entire nation back to me. Is not my word like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? Is not my word like a fire that devours? But you have perverted the words of the living God. These false prophets avoided telling people, hey, your sin could be causing this judgment. That's what we need today. We need that today in our airways. But it has to come from a broken, humble heart. If you get up and try to preach this message in pride, you will be utterly ashamed when you get home. God will humble you. I thank God so much why he has humbled me over the years. I remember that story of a young man who just graduated seminary. He was 24 and arrogant and they just gave him a church and he came up to the pulpit. He came up here and he said, all right, I'm going to impress him with my exegetical interpretation of scriptures from a pneumatic, I'm sorry, pneumatology, eschatology, hermeneutics, homiletics, all that good stuff. We need those words, but you got to have the spirit of living God. So he came up here and he said, I'm going to let them have it with the word of God. And I prepared this sermon. It's polished at three points in a poem. And it fits all the inductive, deductive, immediate approaches to my seminary sermon preparation. So my professor would give me an A plus on this. And the crowd is unmoved. He loses his spot. He doesn't feel the unction, the anointing, the power of the spirit. And he goes back and he sits back down in utter defeat and failure. He walks down humbled, broken, and he sits down and the old usher turned to him. Thank God for the old deacons, right? He said, young man, you want to know what happened? He said, if you would have went up to that pulpit, the same way you came down, you would have succeeded. Anytime you let forth the word of God, it has to come from a broken, humble vessel. If not, we're just an arrogant Pharisee in angry rants. Leonard Ravenhill said, you have to weep before you whip. You have to weep for your people. George Whitfield would never preach a sermon on hell without weeping first. So false prophets, false prophets will avoid difficult truths. And isn't that true? To truly help people, you have to give them the cure. Not encourage the disease. So all these people you're out there, who do I listen to? Are they talking about difficult truths? Are they talking about difficult truths? I know some of you guys watch people on TV and you're wondering what I think. I'm not going there today. Number six, very eager to spread false doctrine. They are very eager to spread false doctrine. I've noticed this. A true spokesman for God comes to the pulpit with fear and trepidation. Like Spurgeon said, every step he took at that wonderful pulpit in England, every step was, I need the power of the Holy Spirit. And you come up here, you're not eager. I'm not eager to rebuke. I'm eager to weep. But Lord, but I can't be quiet. Have you ever been there? I can't be quiet. His word is in my heart like a burning fire. It's shut up in my bones. I'm weary of holding it back and I cannot. Though they say they will kill me, like Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. You've got to get that point of courage because everybody's waiting for the rapture, but they're avoiding responsibility. Do you know you might go through persecution? Go tell, this cracks me up. Go tell all those people in Iraq, in Syria who are being beheaded for their faith. All the civil unrest in Africa right now. People being killed. Go tell them, don't worry. As soon as it gets tough, you're out of here. They would laugh at you. They've lost children. They've lost their spouse. In America, Christianity has created this kind of comfort. Be a millionaire. Wait for the rapture. Let me just enjoy life. The Bible says, die to self. Humble yourself. Carry the cross. But that's true freedom because I don't care what the world takes from me. If I've got Christ, I've got everything. If I can still hold on to the cross, if I still have a God who will never forsake me or never leave me, I've got everything. You plus God is a majority. Get that on your side. Be encouraged though, folks. God is moving. I was on a conference call with somebody on President Trump's advisory team in Washington the other day, and they are raising up young pastors to speak the truth. I think I barely got in that criteria. I told them my wife is a millennial, so I'm okay. But there are people holding the line. You can ask my wife. I told her a couple months ago. I said, I don't worry about vacation. I don't know what the future holds. I don't know if we'll ever own a house again. We just sold our house last week, and we're renting now close by. Everybody's like, are you moving? So I tease them. I say, Idaho or Texas? We're out of here. Right? Kidding, of course. We signed a lease. Don't worry. But my point was, I don't know where America's going, but it's going to hell in a handbasket quickly, and I have to stand. My life now is about standing for the truth. And you have to get to that point. That's where you get rid of a lot of the fear, because if God is for you, who can be against you? But Shane, that might get you killed someday. It sure might. It sure might. And once you... You know why people are so worried about this virus? Because they're not ready to meet their maker. I'm just shooting you straight. I am shooting you straight. I have not sent these prophets, God said, but they ran. I have not spoken to them, but they prophesied. So they are very eager to spread false doctrine. They're excited. There's an urgency about them to get you to sin. And then number seven, we find this right in Jeremiah as well. Oh, I already quoted this. I knew I had it somewhere in my mind. They lack boldness, and there is no urgency in their preaching. Wait a minute. You said they're just very eager. They're very eager to spread false doctrine, but there's no boldness and urgency. Did you know all the... Study the early preachers. You can look at church fathers. You can go back, way back, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Ignatius. You can look at Augustine. You can look at John Hus, William Tyndale. You can look at the early Paul and Peter. There was always an urgency, right? Or was it... Okay, guys, next week you can consider these things. You know, you're good this week. No, it was always today. Today. Today is the day of salvation. There's an urgency and there's a boldness. Why is there a boldness? Why is there a boldness in true spirit-filled preaching? Because the spirit of the living God cannot remain silent. So there's a bold, there's a righteous indignation that says not on Wild Watch. You will not allow perversion into our homes through Netflix and all these things. This pedophile agenda will not... Now, it might keep prevailing. I don't know, but we're called to fight, not flee. Can you imagine if Christians say, no, that's not happening. We're gonna pray. We're gonna fast. And we're gonna seek God. And we're gonna turn this nation around. This is what the Lord says, though. Stand in the courtyard of the Lord's house, Jeremiah, and speak everything I tell you to tell the people. Do not omit one word. Do not omit one word. And you don't know how many times over the years I've had my sermon notes and I go to cross something out and I'm like, oh, that's gonna step on some toes. And I finally realized, maybe God wants to step on some toes. Maybe He wants to ruffle some feathers. Maybe He wants to hit some people on the side of the face with a right hook. Metaphorically speaking, right? I mean, maybe. Did you know one of the... I love the love of God, the grace of God. It's grace that's brought me here thus far and it'll be grace that takes me home. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was blind, but now I see. So I love that. But there's also a call to really help people. And you only really help people through repentance. Turning from your sin and turning back to God, that's how you really help people. This is what the Lord says. Do not omit a word. So false prophets will say, you know what, I think. I think, I could be wrong. I remember when I came against the emergent church movement a while back and these guys, they wanted to get rid of the pulpit and put a couch down. Let's just all have a conversation. Get rid of bold, spirit-filled preaching that changes nations. Let's just talk. Here's what I think, here's what I think, here's what I ponder. And did you know that Jesus had the same problem? That's why they said no man ever spoke like this man with such authority. No man ever spoke like this man with such authority. Because he didn't say, well, here's what this teacher says, here's what that teacher, I don't know. He said, here it is. Here it is, I lay it out. I lay out for you the way of life and death. Choose life that you may live. The road is narrow, choose the narrow road. Broad is the way to destruction. Many false prophets will rise up and you'll know them by their fruits. Many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, Lord, we did all these things in your name. He'll say, depart from me, I don't even know you. You who practice lawlessness. He spoke the truth with authority. And there's something to it, I can't explain it. But when you preach God's word in the right spirit, there's a boldness, there's an authority that comes with it. You can say that is wrong. You can cast out demons. You can raise the dead, I'm getting controversial. You can pray over healing because the spirit of the living God is moving mightily through you. And many of you have never experienced a powerful moving of the spirit. And you're scared of what you've never experienced. But that's where true authority comes from. Shame that hurt, good, take it home and say, Lord, I need the filling of your spirit. Did you know 100 years ago, I read books, real books, you know this. I think I've told some of you this in a sermon. But before they would call a pastor to a church, I'm talking when the revivals were breaking out, Great Awakening, First Great Awakening, Finney, Whitefield, Wesley, second grade, all these things. They would never ask, well, where did he go to school? Now, it's important. Education is very important. I read books, I read lots of books. I try to stay educated, Systematic Theology and End Times. But they would rarely ask that. What would they ask? They would ask, has he received his baptism of fire? Because you get a pastor who's received his baptism of fire, not weirdness, fire. John the Baptist said, I'm not even worthy to unloose his sandal straps, but he's coming. He's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with gentle water, with a jove. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Boldness is always a sign of someone filled with the Spirit. Do you think Shane Idleman in the flesh would be preaching this message? You know what, I would sound like Joel Steen. If it was, was that offensive? Sorry. No, I'd be an encourager. I didn't say anything. I would be encouraged, just encouraged, just encouraged, just encouraged, just encouraged. Now there might be a place for that. God calls different people to different things. But if I just did that in just my flesh, I would just, because what are you thinking? What's your opinion? Hope they're not upset. Hope everybody leaves okay. Are you coming back next week? You might not know this, but we've had thousands and thousands of people come to this church in the last 10 years. Shane, come on. And I'm being, I'm under, I'm conservative here. Thousands. Thousands. What happens? Most of the time. Now granted, of course, you know, this doesn't happen a lot of times, but I don't want to hear that. That's too much. I just want to just be encouraged. Just tickle my ears. Don't challenge my heart. But that's how you really get people to change, is you have to challenge their heart. I promised my wife I wouldn't put down pastors again, so I have to, I won't do that the second service. It just comes out, right? But let's be honest. Let's be honest. I'm just going to shoot you straight. I don't know, because people ask me, I guess I will just answer it. I don't know where he's at with God. I don't know. False prophet. I don't know. I think his dad died. He was behind the camera, and they put him up here, and he's a motivational speaker. He's a motivational speaker. False prophet is going to intentionally deceive, and they're unconverted. I think, if anything, he's a motivational speaker, but you can't be a pastor and deny the difficult truths of the Bible. You can't go on Larry King and say, you know, Larry, I don't know if Mormons go to heaven. I don't know. It's not my job. Yes, it is your job. It is absolutely your job to tell people how to get to heaven. And that type of preaching, right now, is not going to bring revival to our nation. I have never read about one revival, ever, ever, ever, ever, that started, number one, with prayer. Always prayer meetings. I can take Duncan Campbell's New Hebrews Revivals, Welsh Revivals, all kinds. They always start with prayer meetings, powerful prayer meetings. But sin is also preached. Repentance is preached. The blood of Christ is preached. That you preach. Why? Because revival, what is that? The heart of revival is, what are you doing? You are resuscitating that which is dead. So when the church is dead, it means revival. And you don't wake the dead by singing them lullabies. You wake the dead by saying, get up! Repent! Repent! Do you know somebody named John the Baptist did that? Repent! You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come? He told religious leaders that. Who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come? Don't say we are Abram's children. For God is able to raise children of Abraham from these very stones. But even now the ax is laid at the root of the tree and God is breaking down. For the kingdom suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. Because Christ has come, he has conquered hell, death, and the grave. So you can walk in that power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. But false prophets, false prophets, lack boldness and there's no urgency in their preaching. And I truly believe, I truly believe, people email me all the time. I don't know, I don't know their hearts. I really don't know. But I would say this, and I can say this because I can gravitate towards this really quick. So I'm not elevating, you know, this church or any other churches. But right now we need pastors broken and humbled and filled with the spirit of the living God. And many people, many pastors are not. They're too busy making craft beer and watching Netflix. And the world and arrogance and their degree. And I don't want a master's degree, I want a degree from the master. Now, before I get emails from seminary students, I think education is good. I would never discourage, you can't just say, well, where's the book of Matthew at? Who is that again? Matthew, is that related to Mark? And is John, John the Baptist? You gotta know the Bible, of course. But it's better to be taught by the spirit. And what you'll also find is if you're at, say, Dallas Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, Master's Seminary, you're also taught under what they believe. That's why many people aren't open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, because they've been taught that they are wrong and from the devil and have ceased. Or they're taught a certain way. That's why I want to talk about the rapture and the end times, because we're taught a certain way. And sometimes that's good, but it's good to hear, I want to hear from John Wesley and I want to hear from John Calvin. I want to hear about the depravity of man, Calvinism, the five points, the tulip, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, but I want to hear about the side where man is responsible to repent and believe. And I want to get the full breadth of Christian history, not heresy. Look at the full breadth of Christian history. And I'm going to close here shortly, but as a result, the world loves false prophets. Do you ever say, how did that pastor get on Oprah? I would take it if it was offered, don't get me wrong. I would go on Ellen DeGeneres, I made people upset. I would go on these shows if they didn't limit what I was to say. If they didn't limit what I was to say. I would go on shows and talk about the real gospel. How are you going to reach the world if you're always so scared of them? You go into places, not that you compromise. Now if it's going to send a compromise message, that's different. Hey Shane, would you come and tell us what you believe? Sure, of course. But the world will love false prophets. So whatever the world is gravitating towards, if the world likes these certain teachers, be careful, because the world will hate a true false prophet. They will hate a true spokesman for God. Now what happened when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak, the people and the priests, and they said this to Jeremiah, you will surely die. See, they hated what he had to say. Then Jeremiah ran away. Nope. Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people, and he said, the Lord has sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city the words which I have heard. Now therefore, amend your ways and your doing, and obey the voice of the Lord. Then the Lord will relent concerning the doom that he has pronounced against you. See, God will always bring a spokesman. God will bring a voice of truth. God doesn't say, too bad, you want it, you got it. He says, I'm bringing you my prophets. I'm bringing you my prophetic voices. I'm bringing you the conviction of the Spirit. I'm bringing that conviction. It's up to you to turn and repent. My sheep hear my voice. A stranger they will not follow. So a big point, a big issue, I'm sorry, a big point here on hope. God will lead you. You need to be strengthened this morning. Understand that God will lead you. He has not forsaken you. If you are a true, blood-bought child of God, God has not forsaken you. He will lead you. My sheep hear my voice. A stranger they will not follow. And oftentimes he leads through silence. The more desperate I become, you know what I do? The more desperate I become for more prayer. God often uses difficult times to draw us back to him. Are you locked and loaded with the Holy Spirit? Gun safes are full, but prayer closets are empty. That's why I'm glad we sang that song. This is how I fight my battles. This is how you're going to fight your battles. You can't buy more ammunition. You can't fight back necessarily. I'm all for defending. I'm all for that. I've talked about that last week. But this is a spiritual battle. So how do I fight my battles by yelling and posting things on Facebook? No, this is how I fight my battles with prayer and worship. Are churches having prayer meetings and worship nights and getting back to the heart of God? This is how we fight our battles. That's why I so appreciate Sean and his team. What they did, they've been at San Francisco this week on the bridge singing worship. Down at Huntington Beach last night, singing worship. This is how we fight our battles. The world has to see how much you love them. What happens is you love the world and you worship God, they begin to push back and you continue to worship God and love him. But the most important question I want to ask some of you this morning, some of you listening, is do you truly know God? Do you truly know him? Because my big concern for the false prophets, this might surprise some of you, my big concern is not everything we talked about, even though it is a concern. My big concern, what makes my blood boil about false prophets, is they do not offer people the true gospel. Correct? You will not see a false prophet tell someone, you need to repent of your sin. You need to embrace the lordship of Jesus Christ. Get down on your knees right now and call out to God and repent. Why? Because they themselves have never repented. They never have. I told you a few years ago, I went down and debated a Catholic priest. Purgatory came up. And he said, Shane, we have to have purgatory. How do you, Shane, deal with the shame and guilt? How do I deal with the shame and guilt? I dealt with it on the cross. You don't need to go somewhere to deal with the shame and guilt. It's done. What did Jesus say? Tetelestai. What does that mean? It is finished. The wrath of God culminated on that day in history that where God poured his wrath on the son. That's why Jesus said, my God, why have you forsaken me? Father, I'm enduring the wrath of God and praying for the sins of humanity. So that's why you can walk boldly through the throne room of grace and pray and have your prayers be heard. There's no purgatory. There's no good works. You stand empty and blameless before Almighty God because of what Christ did on the cross. Did you know this week, I bet you didn't know this, in 1415, this week, 1415, John Hus was burned at the stake and his accusers made it clear at the trial that Hus would not only die, but that he would die without hope. You know what they told him? I think it was on the reading there of the scroll. They said, John Hus, on this day, this year, we take from you the cup of redemption. Because remember, salvation was through the papacy. Salvation was through the church. They could give, they could take. That's not the gospel. That's a false gospel. And John just smiled and said, you can never take away the redemption of Jesus Christ. They cannot take that from us. So I don't know where America's going. I've never seen a nation crumble so quickly. Sometimes I'm at my wits end. I pray. I fast. I seek the heart of God. I'm preaching my heart out. I'm trying to write. I'm trying to do all that I can do. I don't know what's going to happen. But I know that God calls us to persevere. To not give up. Having done all, stand. Having done all, stand. Just stand there. Don't you love that about God? He says, Shane, go fight, buddy. Go, go, go. He says, Shane, you just stand. You stand there with the spirit of the living God within you. The boldness. The truth. You stand. You hold the line. And if God go before you, who can be against you? What I believe is happening in America, too, is how many times have I told you this? I believe that God's bringing a revival and awakening. I believe this church is a part of it. I believe other churches are a part of it. I truly do. I'm not just saying that. I truly believe that God's not giving up. But America's not ready yet. She's angry but not humble. She's loud and arrogant but not broken. But what you see now is God is breaking the people. There goes your finances. When I bring pestilence, virus. When I bring the sorts of unrest. And when I bring famine, financial eclipse, you could see these things. So what is happening, the dominoes are crumbling. So my question is, church, when are you going to wake up? Church of the living God, would you awake from your slumber like the prophet Jesus said? Wake up, wake up and worship God. Come out, oh God, give us a measure of revival in your bondage. Wilt thou not revive us again so your people can rejoice in you? When the church is crying out, God, we need you. And the prayer rooms are full and the prayer services are full and the altars are full. Watch out because redemption draws nigh. But as long as you stay worried about AR-15s and ammos and then defending in anger, watch out. Because you may be judged more until you get to the spot of brokenness.