By Pastor Pam Sheppard
In ministry since 1981, I know a thing or two about false prophets. Besides the TV mega preachers that I watched for years, I also came to know at least 200 ministers while I was pastoring in a well-known denomination. So from my observations, I have designated 3 different types of false prophets. The deceived, the detoured and the diabolical.
There are those false prophets who are really saved but they followed the wrong leaders, and “sucked into themselves” mixed and false doctrines and practices. In short, they heeded and harkened unto the voice of seducing spirits and doctrines of the devil. However, they have not yet departed from the faith. These I call, “the Deceived.” Some of them will be set free. Because of pride, sad to say, others won’t be. Some false prophets would prefer to be caught up in a scandal than to admit that they taught error and thereby “led the people in the wrong direction, away from God, and not toward Him.” They are too spiritually proud to admit that they did not rightly divide the word of God.
Then there is the false prophet who was once used of God mightily, but he or she got deceived by the enemy and fell into disrepute. These I call “the Detoured.” This man or woman becomes a pretender—one who is very dangerous to those who are babes in Christ or who remain carnal Christians. Their followers “stand by their man” even when they should jump ship. The bible has a classic example of how the detoured “Old Prophet” deceived the man of God, resulting in the latter’s death. (I Kings 13)
Then of course, there is the out-and-out pretender who knows that he or she is serving the spirit of the Anti-Christ and everything they do is a masquerade. These I call “the Diabolical.” They are imposters, planted in among Christians to willfully bring confusion that will lead to destruction.
Every false prophet type— whether the Deceived, the Detoured, and the Diabolical— is equally dangerous. Why? Because they can leave a huge trail of victims. I am humbled and thankful that although I was on the road to becoming a false prophet, the Holy Ghost jerked my chain, then cut it and broke it. When I was deceived by charismatic teachings,” God blessed me by closing doors and blocking me from spreading error. Even though I once had the heart, the skill and the desire of a mega preacher, God purposefully would not allow me to become a popular celebrity.. When a door opened, the Holy Ghost closed it and blocked my way through it. Moreover, among those that I have pastored, even though I personally believed some mixed doctrines, I didn’t teach them to those who allowed me to lead them. So praise God, after 36 years as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I have no victims.
For example, I spoke in tongues, but I didn’t teach my followers to do so. I tithed, but I did not preach a “sow a seed,” prosperity gospel. In fact, I was completely self-sustaining. I gave back my church salary in the form of tithes and offerings to the churches that I pastored. When I practiced healing and the laying on of hands, I never told anyone to stop taking their medicine and “walk by faith.” I primarily preached the cross, sin, repentance, rebirth and the resurrection. But make NO MISTAKE. The false prophets of all 3 varieties:— the deceived, the detoured and the diabolical— are equally dangerous! Your prayers for them to repent may NOT prevail. And why not?
In order to repent, the false prophet has to do more than apologize and ask for forgiveness from those he has 
abused and deceived. If he has been made rich off of the backs of poor people by preaching the prosperity gospel, then God will require him or her to “give back” all of that money to the poor. Not too many false prophets are willing to give up those jet planes, million dollar homes and those Bentleys. Even the false prophets who are NOT mega, many of them have practiced the lie for so long, that it is practically impossible to receive the truth and act on it. Far too many have made “ministry” their career and not their calling.
Ask the Apostle Paul. He maintained as a tent maker. He would not allow any of the churches that he set up to totally provide his livelihood. That is why he could write, “whether abased or exalted, I can do ALL things 4 through Christ who strengthens me.” In other words, JUST SO YOU KNOW, I am not dependent upon YOU to live and to serve my God. When a false prophet’s livelihood is intricately tied to church dollars and resources, he or she is captive to a self-made trap that cannot be escaped from without God’s help. Actually, some false prophets have to be stripped naked to find God again, if they ever knew Him. So if you really think a particular false prophet is deceived, perhaps detoured but not diabolical, then your prayer should be “Lord, strip him.”
A word of caution. The religious demon assigned to me tried to set me up to become a false prophet. In several dreams, he showed me standing before huge audiences, walking up and down across a platform with my bible in my hand, preaching and teaching. He even showed me pastoring a church of about 10,000 people. Because I sought after the power to slay in the spirit, after 10 years of seeking, I got it. I could wave my hand, and certain ones would fall out, unconscious. However, I began to question this power because I noticed that the ones in my congregation who fell out the most, were also those who could not STAND for the Lord, relapsing or backsliding constantly. So I said to myself, “Pam, there is something wrong with this so-called gift. This cannot be from the Holy Ghost!” Once I prayed to the Lord and asked Him to “show me the darkness,” I got quite the wake-up call that revealed that the mega preacher phenomena of today is NOT of the Lord. It is a combination of human charisma, “anointed” by the enemy’s power. My testimony is in “Come Out of Her God’s People.”
So if you are on that road, you need to get off, and get off with a quickness! If you have been burned by a false prophet, there is help. Call 1-888-818-1117
For more help about how to recover from experiences with false prophets I recommend The Church of the End-Time Zombies. Paperback http://www.lulu.com/content/16262055 and e-book http://www.lulu.com/content/16464312
Faces of the Religious Demon Paperback http://www.lulu.com/content/11647727 and e-book http://www.lulu.com/content/11647727
For all books by Pam Sheppard go to http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/pam_s911
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