false prophets | Life-Giving Water

By Rev. Todd R. Lattig

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16 NLT)

“If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns…” (Mark 8:38 NLT)

Image: AI-generated using DALL·E and customized by the author. Used with the devotional “Not Ashamed” at Life-Giving Water Devotions.

For those who know me, it’s no secret that I’ve been a long-time fan of the Christian heavy metal band Disciple. I even have a tattoo on my right shoulder inspired by their Back Again album — a fiery tribal emblem representing the Holy Spirit. Around it are the words Not Ashamed, anchored by two scriptures: Romans 1:16 and Mark 8:38. One reminds me that I carry the gospel unashamedly; the other reminds me never to be ashamed of the One who called me. I wear it on my body because I live it with my life.

One of my favorite Disciple songs of all time is God of Elijah. It’s loud. It’s raw. It’s righteous. And it captures something the Church too often forgets — that prophets weren’t just preachers, they were protectors. They were the staff that stood between the sheep and the wolves. Elijah didn’t just confront 450 prophets of Baal because he liked a dramatic showdown. He stood there on Mount Carmel because Jezebel had already slaughtered countless prophets of YHWH, and the people were next. This wasn’t a debate. It was a rescue.

Recently, I made a video online that used the image of Baphomet — a symbol that has long been misunderstood by the church. Originally invented during the Inquisition as a false charge against the Knights Templar, Baphomet later became a visual shorthand for “the devil” in Christian imagination. But over the centuries, the image has been reclaimed by various groups — not just Satanists — as a symbol of balance, resistance to authoritarianism, and the freedom to question. I didn’t use it to provoke for the sake of provocation. I used it to hold up a mirror. To confront how fear, misunderstanding, and projection have become the golden calves of Christianity — and they remain well polished today. Some didn’t like it. That’s fine. Prophets rarely win popularity contests. But I didn’t speak up to stir the pot. I spoke to protect the people I love — the ones most harmed when religion worships fear instead of God.

Elijah wasn’t there to win approval. He was there to draw a line — a line between the living God and the idols we build out of fear, power, and control.

By the time Elijah steps onto Mount Carmel, things in Israel have gone terribly wrong. King Ahab has married Jezebel, a foreign queen who brings with her not only Baal worship, but the state enforcement of it. Under her reign, hundreds of YHWH’s prophets are slaughtered. Those who survive are forced into hiding. The altars of the Lord are torn down, and Baal’s priests are given the king’s blessing and the people’s loyalty.

Ahab is not merely a compromised leader. He’s a cautionary tale — a man who trades covenant for convenience, allowing his position to become a puppet string in the hands of empire. And Jezebel? She’s not just a queen. She’s a symbol of what happens when power is wielded without mercy. Her prophets eat at the palace while the people starve for truth.

That’s what Elijah is walking into. He’s not some hot-headed preacher picking a fight over theology. He’s a prophet standing alone in a state-sponsored religious system where the cost of faithfulness is death. His confrontation on Mount Carmel isn’t about flexing spiritual superiority — it’s about saving a people who have been spiritually manipulated and politically deceived. It’s about calling them back from the edge.

So Elijah sets the terms. Two altars. Two sacrifices. Two cries to heaven. And the one who answers by fire? That’s the true God. Baal’s prophets shout and cut and bleed. Elijah mocks them, yes — but not out of arrogance. Out of clarity. Because the stakes are life and death. The people needed to see just how silent their idol really was.

Then Elijah — confident but humble — douses his altar in water. Three times. No room for tricks. No shadows to hide in. He calls on God, and fire falls. Consuming fire. The kind that leaves no question. The kind that doesn’t just burn… it purifies. And when it hits, the people don’t cheer. They fall facedown. They don’t see ego. They see truth. And they remember who they belong to.

This wasn’t unholy rage. It was holy resistance.

It wasn’t about theological disagreement. It was about stopping the machine that was physically and spiritually devouring a nation.

Sometimes, speaking truth will make the very people you’re protecting think you’re the problem. But that’s the risk prophets take. That’s the cross they carry. And when the time is right…God still falls like fire.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Prophets don’t just preach—they protect. Even when it burns.

PRAYER
God of Elijah, You are the One who answers by fire—not to destroy us, but to refine us, to wake us up, and to draw us back. When fear dresses itself in holiness, give us courage to speak. When love feels like confrontation, give us compassion to protect. We are not ashamed—not of You, not of the truth, and not of who You’ve called us to be. Amen.

Devotion written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI).

Read Matthew 7:15-27

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. (Matthew 7:1)

In Christianity there seems to be a fear that one needs to be careful not to be deceived by the devil who will steer one away from the truth and the light of God. When I was growing up, I remember coming across all sorts of different things in Christian bookstores and in churches. I remember seeing tracts that would warn of the perils of the New Age movement, there were tracts warning against the danger of letting your children watch the TV show “He-Man: Masters of the Universe”, and that there were perils in allowing your children to participate in Role Playing Games (RPGs) such as “Dungeons and Dragons.” I have since seen similar tracts and brochures against books such as “Harry Potter” and the like.

What’s more is that fear often crosses into Christian territory as well. “Beware of false prophets who clothe themselves in words of light but are really agents of darkness.” I have seen devout Christians such as Rob Bell and others get thrown under the proverbial bus as being heretics and agents of Satan. And there seems to be some serious Biblical precedent for it, as Jesus warns, “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.” (Matthew 7:15).

But what does Jesus mean by that? Is Jesus trying to strike fear into the hearts of his followers? Or is Jesus doing something completely different? And what do we make of that when we pair it with Jesus’ other warning, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged”, which only comes 14 verses earlier and is what starts off this section of teachings?

The reality is that, while we ought to be worried about taking a wrong turn onto a destructive path, that worry often turns into a form of “holier than thou” judgmentalism that Christians have been warned against by the one we claim to follow. So, first things first. How do we spot false teachings without falling into a group of hypocrites who judge others and lack the humility to see ourselves as the wolves in sheep’s clothing?

First off, Jesus rightly said in today’s scripture passage that you will know a tree by its fruit. We, as Christians, know what God wants from us. God want our full devotion; we are called to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, all of our minds, all of our souls, and all of our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). And, equally as important, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. ANYTHING or ANYONE who leads you to THAT is producing GOOD FRUIT. After all, this is the heart of the Gospel and, according to Jesus, sums up all the Law and the prophets.

Second, if we come across something that is counter to what we find above, we simply avoid it. There is no need to interject Satan, or throw around judgments on the beliefs or their adherents. After all, judgmentalism is BAD FRUIT. We simply need to avoid bad fruit and nourish ourselves on good fruit. But to be in line with Micah 6:8, we also need to have a smidge of humility. Many people say and think differently than us, but that doesn’t make their thoughts and words FALSE. We need to be open to different angles on things without compromising on the core values of LOVING GOD and NEIGHBOR.

In the end, Jesus is calling us about being vigilant in regard to not failing to see the image of God in ALL PEOPLE, even those who express things differently than us. Jesus’ words were not to inflict fear but to caution us to remain true to the Gospel and to spark a little bit of humility in us. Let us not point the scapegoating finger at people and “cry wolf” just because they are different. Rather, let us measure the teachings we hear by the RUBRIC OF LOVE and then determine whether that is something we should or shouldn’t pursue. And let us not forget to measure ourselves and our beliefs by that same rubric!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“LOVE, not fear, IS OF GOD.” – Rev. Todd R. Lattig

PRAYER
Lord, teach me to be open to difference without judgment, and allow me to discern, even among my beliefs, the GOOD FRUIT from the BAD FRUIT.

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