[The Lord told His prophet, Jeremiah:] "For wicked men are found among My people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. Like a basket full of birds, their houses are full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich, they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. Shall I not punish them for these things?" says the Lord, "and shall I not avenge Myself on a nation such as this?"

   [Peter warned Christians:] "But even in those days there were false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you today. They will be men who will subtly introduce dangerous heresies. They will thereby deny the Lord Who redeemed them, and it will not be long before they bring on themselves their own downfall. Many will follow their flagrant immorality and thereby bring discredit on the way of truth. In their lust to make converts these men will try to exploit you too with their bogus arguments. But judgment has been for some time hard on their heels and their downfall is inevitable."

   [Jesus warned:] "Beware of false teachers who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are wolves and will tear you apart. You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You need never confuse grapevines with thorn bushes or figs with thistles. Different kinds of fruit trees can quickly be identified by examining their fruit. A variety that produces delicious fruit never produces an inedible kind. And a tree producing an inedible kind can't produce what is good. So the trees having the inedible fruit are chopped down and thrown on the fire.

   Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit produced. Not all who sound religious are really godly people . . . the decisive question is whether they obey My Father in heaven. At the Judgment many will tell Me, 'Lord, Lord, we told others about You and used Your name to cast out demons and to do many other great miracles.' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you evildoers.' "

Taken from Jer. 5, II Pt. 2, Mt. 7, The Revised Standard Version,
The Phillips Translation and The Living Bible. For free Lifescope book,
write to Box 1575, Carlsbad, NM 88221. Please send $1.00 for postage and handling.

MAY 15 - SERIES D-7