“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (Matthew 7:15-20, NKJV).
There are those enemies of Christ in the world, male and female, who disguise themselves as Christians, but whose sole purpose is to rend and devour. These ravenous wolves, as Jesus refers to them, are insatiable in their desire to cause destruction and division. They feed on the ensuing chaos, leaving dismembered spiritual corpses in their wake, like an insane, glutted predator who kills, not to survive, but for the sheer joy of satisfying some kind of metaphysical bloodlust.
Their strategy is to infiltrate the church as harmless spiritual authorities, prophets, speaking forth the Word of God deceptively, for profit or power, in order to fill their coffers at the expense of the very people about whom they purport to care. Sometimes the goods they seek are material. At other times their desire is to engorge their pride-obsessed and swollen self-image. Often, a church splits and dies in the wake of their attacks.
Jesus' warning here is to be vigilant. The infiltrators are out there seeking to make an incursion. They can be identified by carefully observing the fruit of their activities. Is it prickly and hurtful, or sweet and nourishing? Does it build up or tear down? Does it bring unity or disunity? While we are in no position to judge another's heart, we can judge the outcome of his or her words and actions.
Christ further teaches that there is a certain twisted consistency to the fruit born of these "inwardly… ravenous wolves". Their true nature eventually emerges as thorns or thistles, despite how deceptively pleasant the initial flowering buds appear. And that's key information. It means it may take time to ascertain the full impact of these false prophets. What at first may appear beneficial and positive, when fully grown, is rotten and toxic. The opposite can also true. Judgment in this context must be measured, deliberate, and not impulsive.
As an illustration of the latter point, I know of a famous pastor determined to teach the Word of God verse by verse, book-by-book, in expositional rather than topical fashion, who, when he first took over a thriving church more than a generation ago, immediately lost over half the membership. A cursory, premature assessment of these results would have labeled the man's efforts as negative, perhaps libeling him as a false prophet. It would have been a vastly inaccurate judgment, for now that man has become the founder of a massive nondenominational movement that has engendered 1000's of churches worldwide dedicated to the same distinctive focus of teaching the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Tens of thousands of souls have been saved because of his faithful efforts. Third and fourth generation pastors have arisen, faithful, well-grounded men, taught by men who were taught men who were taught by this one servant of God; the epitome of lasting, plentiful, good fruit.
More thoughts on fruit-bearing can be found here. And no discussion in this arena can be complete without reference to Jesus' foundational teaching in John 15.
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. (John 15:1-8, NKJV).
