False Prophets

It's interesting how Jesus starts talking about the false prophets immediately after naming the broad and the narrow path, isn't it? "Be careful!" he says. As if it were those false prophets that would keep people from wandering on the narrow road. We recently discussed that passage at "impressions", our bi-weekly gathering, and we noticed that "prophets" always want to talk on God's behalf. After all, prophets make God's voice known or speak in His name. And immediately we got all the stories. Stories about Swedish pastors in recent times that have exploited people or misused their position. Stories about (non-Swedisch, in that case) catholic nuns who behaved like maniac. I remembered stories of my friends wehen we still lived in Bavaria, a still pretty catholic state of Germany, how they got ringing slaps in the face by the priest because the children couldn't sit as still as they were supposed to in an completely non-understandable, probably Latin service. So here we have it, the lion's share of false prophets in European history. It's mostly because of them that the vast majority chooses any way of life as long as it is not a Christian one.

What is Jesus going to say about it? Well, that's easy to tell. He'll tell us that He has warned us many times. "You should have known!" He'll tell. "I told you, watch out for false prophets! Don't fall for their line! You'll recognize them by their fruit!" This is what he said back then and he is going to remind us. You know, fruits don't grow over night. it takes some time. He who observes has enough time to recognize what kind of fruit is growing forth. At one point it becomes obvious: This tree does not bear love, joy, peace, patience. It doesn't taste like goodness, gentleness, or self-control. This fruit tastes as bitter as selfishness, it has been sprayed with the poison of power. Whoever takes fruits like this in his mouth has to spit them out. You need to start looking for better trees at once. But the search for better trees is everybody's personal responsibility. One must not blame a weed for bringing forth bad friut, for there is nothing else to be expected. Only he who seeks will find. But: Sweet fruits are only to be expected close to narrow roads. That is their natural environment. And by the way, as a rule true prophets are not as sparkling and glittering false prophets. They tend to be as unimpressive as narrow roads.