Author:
Apostle Eric vonAnderseck
Eric serves as a called and confirmed Chief Apostle in the restored government of God. He is the founder of s8w Ministries, and it is through his stewardship that God ushered in a new season of restoration for all believers who desire to walk in the fulness of Christ. View my profile.
Just yesterday a prophet of the false religious system stated that God spoke to him saying, “Tell My people they have purpose—they have been chosen by Me for Me.”
How do we know that this is a false prophecy?
What are the signs? And how is God testing hearts? We’re going to get into that just now to discern the voice of the stranger.
The first thing this false prophet did was to package the declaration with flattering words. He mentioned how he felt—joyful. How the voice sounded—pleasant. His reaction—he was overwhelmed and excited.
Although he constantly repeated that we are made by Christ for Christ, his teaching, prophecy, and exhortation was not about Christ—it was about you and your purpose—which is to hub faith to yourself. When Christ is truly taught by apostolic stewardship then Christ is the hub of your faith and His purpose for you is not related to ministry gifts you hope to someday see come into fruition.
The First Sign of a False Prophet
So then, the first sign of a false prophet is that his prophecy centers on the kingdom of the flesh, remaking God’s purpose in the image and likeness of man. On the contrary, a true prophet directs the hearts of the people into God’s covenant whereas the work of Christ in you and through you is observable every day through your priesthood.
The reason a false prophet puts your hope into a future event taking place is to solace your heart. There is a great deal of needless suffering that is caused by faith not having present substance. God placed hope in the present for our present experience of Christ. This is what the anointing does each day—it gives substance to hope.
Hebrews 11:1
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
The present manifestation of grace made living by the anointing testifies of Christ in His tools and therefore you partake of His virtue. That is a present power your faith needs to express Christ. That is a present reality of your hope in Christ. God gives substance to your hope in Christ each day. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The future glory is testified of in the present fruit bearing process of the soul.
When you are in covenant with God then Christ is the hub of your faith and His spiritual tools are the conduit for His grace to flow from God’s throne to your heart. There are 9 spiritual tools God gave you to use every day to touch Jesus. You have to touch Him in order to be identified as belonging to Him. The mark of Christ is in these things of Christ that God sprinkled His blood upon, thus sanctifying them for your faith to express Him.
False prophets place God’s purpose into evangelism to escape responsibility to the covenant. They take the name of Christ in their lips, but do not conform to Him. They believe that a noble cause (God wants people saved) justifies their desire to direct faith inward. This is a form of slavery. He’s binding you to yourself, not freeing you to Christ. Here again you’re being empowered to discern the voice of the stranger.
John 10:4-5
4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
Why God Places His Sign in His Covenant
God’s conditions for salvation are packaged in the new covenant whereby He officiates over your faith by His stewardship, knowledge, tools, and priesthood that He may create in you the character of Christ. All God’s children are called “saints” in that they have consented to these conditions and the sign of Christ is upon them. God sanctifies you (separates you unto Himself) by the sign of Christ.
A false prophet places the sign of faith into events to prove that they are speaking from the heart of God, and then point to other events that took place to cement in your mind that he must be speaking the truth. As if events cannot lie. So then, a false prophet strings events together.
God allows these events to take place to separate the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats. Those who follow the event do not carry the sign of Christ. God places the sign in His covenant to prove the heart, to see who is following His commandments and who is following after the lust of their own heart. Of course, today we are talking about the new covenant commandments, aren’t we? Let’s read those scriptures from Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 13:1-4
1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams:for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
By placing the sign of Christ in His covenant God was also placing the sign of Christ in His stewardship. If the revelation does not come through God’s established government whom He raised up to transition the church back to the new covenant, the word, prophecy, or revelation is not from God. You cannot place your confidence in the person who is a stranger to God’s covenant.
When the Character of Christ is Missing
Why does this false prophet, and many others like him, believe that a message about “purpose” will drive Christians into renewed zeal? The reason is simple. Despite the glut of books written about God’s purpose for your life, believers still feel disconnected from God’s purpose, they’re still not living God’s purpose—they’re still waiting for it to materialize.
The reason for this lack of purpose is NOT for lack of being prophesied over, NOT for lack of making declarations, but rather for the lack of the essential character of Christ that is missing from their faith.
When the character of Christ is missing from your faith then the flesh steps into this gap to turn the gospel into a message about God’s power manifesting through evangelism. This is where you can see the foundation is missing from this person’s faith. He’s not building upon Christ, but rather building upon the unmet expectations of the generation before him.
God’s purpose for you is revealed in the 12 essential elements of the gospel. They are the character of Christ that God wants you to partake of each day. God’s present power is in the anointing that carries out this process of regeneration in your soul.
God’s purpose for you is not evangelism, but rather that your soul bear the fruit of Christ. This is not the fruit of evangelism. You were created by God for God, and this means that God is placing the tokens of Christ in you to sanctify your vessel to receive you back to Himself.
True prophets direct God’s saints into the covenant and confirm the stewardship God selected and anointed to return His people to this true purpose.
