THE FOUNDATIONS OF FALSEHOOD (2)

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.   Last week, we presented a lesson entitled:  “Foundations of Falsehood.”

1.    We learned that many religious groups have been founded by individuals who claim to be prophets.

2.    We also learned that the Bible teaches that many false prophets are gone out into the world.

3.    Thus, we need to have a method whereby we can try the spirits to see whether they are of God (1 John 4:1).

4.    Fortunately, God has provided several tests of a prophet. 

 

B.   One of those tests involved the predictions the “prophet” makes regarding future events.

1.    Moses sets forth this test in Deuteronomy 18:22.

 

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, not come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presump-tuously:  thou shalt not be afraid of him.

 

2.    If a prophet predicts something that is supposed to happen, but it does not happen, then he/she is a false prophet.

a.    We should not honor him as a man of God.

b.    We should not follow any of his/her teachings.

c.    Any religious group the individual has established is built upon a foundation of falsehoods.  One should not be a member of a religion built by a false teacher.

 

C.   We looked at three individuals last week who made various prophecies that did not come to pass.

1.    William Miller and Ellen G. White of the Seventh-day Adventists.

2.    Charles Taze Russel of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

 

D.   Let’s look some other “religious” prognosticators in this lesson and see if their predictions came to pass.

 

I.             JOSEPH SMITH – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Mormons

 

 

A.   Brief Background

1.    Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805.

2.    A spiritual revival took place during his teen years known as “The Second

Spiritual Awakening.”

3.    When he was 14, he reported seeing two personages, the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

a.    This was in response to a prayer request he made asking God to show him the true church.

b.    God told him all the churches were wrong.  Smith was told to establish the true church.

c.    In 1823, he was visited by the angel Moroni who directed him to a buried set of golden plates.

d.    Smith translated these.  The translation resulted in The Book of Mormon being published in 1830.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was founded that same year.

 

B.   Prophetic utterances of Joseph Smith

1.    A prophecy about the second coming of Christ.  “President Smith then stated that the meeting had been called because God commanded it; and it was made known to him by vision and by the Holy Spirit…it was the will of God that they should be ordained to the ministry and go forth to prune the vineyard for the last time, for the coming of the Lord was nigh – even fifty six years should wind up the scene.”  (NOTE:  1891 marked the 56^th year foretold by Joseph Smith.  The year came and passed.  Jesus did not return).

2.    He also made a prediction about the Mormon Temple being built in Independence, Missouri during that generation to whom he spoke.

a.    “Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation. For verily this generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house” (D&C 84:4-5).

b.    All those living in that generation have passed away.  There was never a temple built in Independence, MO. 

 

C.   The Mormon Church is founded upon a false prophet. 

1.    His words are vain and empty.

2.    The religion he established is also vain and empty.  It was built upon “A Foundation of Falsehood.

 

II.           MUHAMMAD – Islam

 

 

A.   Brief background:

1.    Muhammad lived from 570 to 632.

2.    He said he received his first revelation from the angel Gabriel when he was 40 years old.

3.    Three years later he began to proclaim the revelations he said he was given. 

4.    The Quran is said to contain Muhammad’s revelations.

5.    The religion of Islam is founded upon Muhammad and his revelations.

 

B.   Muhammad made several prophecies during his lifetime.

1.    The appearance of the antichrist would come one year after the fall of Constantinople.  In Hadith, Book 37, Number 4283, we read:  “The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, The time between the great war and the conquest of the city (Constantinople) will be six years, and the Dajjal (Antichrist) will come forth in the seventh.”

2.    The facts:

a.    Constantinople fell in 1453.

b.    The antichrist should have come in 1454.

c.    Over 500 years have past and the Antichrist has not been revealed.

 

C.   Muhammad is a false prophet. 

1.    He is not to be feared. 

2.    His words should not be held in reverence. 

3.    Too, the religion he founded is not the true religion.  It has been built upon “A Foundation of Falsehood.”

 

III.         CLIMATE CHANGE

 

A.   God gave man the earth to be used for his benefit (Gen. 1:28).

 

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:  and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

 

1.    Man was to subdue, that is, to conquer and subjugate, the earth.

2.    Man was to have dominion, that is, to rule and reign, over the earth.

3.    NOTE:  The earth was made for man. 

a.    Man was not made for the earth. 

b.    Man is not to let the earth conquer him.

c.    Man is not to let the earth rule and reign over him.

 

B.   Today, we have individuals who call themselves environmentalists who are worshippers of the earth.

1.    They have convinced themselves that mankind is the enemy of the earth.

2.    There are many young people who are developing what is known as climate change anxiety disorder. 

3.    Some of the practices:

a.    Individuals will literally weep if trees are cut down.

b.    They oppose technological advances that benefit man if they believe these advances harm the planet in any way.

c.    They believe that the ice caps are melting at alarming rates and will eventually swallow up large parts of the continents.

d.    Every fire, every flood, every hot day, every cold day, every tornado, and every hurricane is said to be the result of climate change. 

 

C.   This cult has its leaders who tell us that if we do not change our ways, the earth will be destroyed.  Several have made predictions to this end.

1.    “The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970.  Its political sponsor, Senator Gaylord Nelson warned:  ‘Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, believes that in 25 years, somewhere between 75 and 80 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct’” (Seven Big Failed Environmentalist Predictions (thefederalist.com).“ 

2.    In January, 2006 — when promoting his Oscar-winning (yes, Oscar-winning) documentary, An Inconvenient Truth — Gore declared that unless we took ‘drastic measures’ to reduce greenhouse gasses, the world would reach a “point of no return” in a mere ten years. He called it a ‘true planetary emergency’  (Al Gore's Doomsday Clock Expires & Climate Change Fanatics Are Wrong Again | National Review). 

3.    In a Tweet on June 21, 2018, a young lady named Greta Thunberg makes this statement:  “A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years.” 

4.    In a Tweet on January 21, 2019, a congress woman named Alexandria Ocasio--Cortez wrote:  “Millennials, and Gen Z, and all these folks that come after us, are looking up and we’re like ‘the world will end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change…’” (Ocasio-Cortez: ‘World will end in 12 years’ if climate change not addressed | The Hill). 

 

D.   The prophecies did not come to pass.

1.    1995 has come and gone and 75 to 80 percent of all the species of animals are not extinct.

2.    2016 has come and gone and we are not at a point of no return regarding our weather and climate.

3.    June 2023 has come and gone, and we are still using fossil fuels and humanity has not been wiped out.

4.    We have five more years to wait to see if AOC’s prophecy comes to pass, but it is extremely doubtful.

 

E.   The Bible is clear as to the one who controls the weather and the earth.  It is God and God alone.

1.    God upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3).

2.    “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22).

3.    He “gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment…” (Prov. 8:29).

4.    He created the earth to be inhabited by man (Isa. 45:18).

5.    Man will not destroy the earth.  The earth will be destroyed when the Lord returns to this earth (2 Pet. 3:10).

 

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   One of the tests of a prophet involves the truthfulness of any prophecy that is made.

1.    If the prophecy does not come to pass, the person who made it is a false prophet.

2.    He is not to be feared.

3.    His teachings should be rejected.

4.    Any religion he establishes, is built upon “A Foundation of Falsehood.”

 

B.   NOTE:

1.    Because a false prophet is no longer alive doesn’t mean that he can now be honored.

2.    Because a religion has been around hundreds of years does not mean it has been built on a solid foundation.

3.    Because hundreds and thousands of people believe a religion to be true does not mean that it is approved by God.

4.    Because a person is comfortable in a religion does not mean that the religion will not come crumbling down.

 

C.   The test of a true religion is whether or not it will stand in the judgment.  “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up” (Matt. 15:13).