Matthew 7 (Inspired Version)
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. And, again, beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing; but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits; for do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Verily I say unto you, it is not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, that shall enter unto the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. For the day soon cometh, that men shall come before me to judgment, to be judged according to their works. And many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name; and in thy name cast out devils; and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I say, Ye never knew me; depart from me ye that work iniquity. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock, and the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand; and the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings with his disciples, the people were astonished at his doctrine; For he taught them as one having authority from God, and not as having authority from the Scribes.
In light of what is happening in the LDS world this weekend, I thought these words by the Lord were timely. In instances were judging is necessary by the individual saint, the Lord has given us the above rule of judgment. He tells us to observe the ‘fruit’ and from there you can tell the roots the tree is planted in. Not only that, but he begins the discourse by stating who he is here giving us to judge, the prophets in sheeps clothing. Some are true, but “beware the false”.
It is readily made apparent too, that these are men who declare themselves to be prophets amongst us, but are not. The Lord tells us that they are amongst the sheep. They were the same clothing as sheep. I discussed this more in the vomiting wolves blog. These are folks who spoke in the Lords name, cried Lord, Lord, and did many wonderful works in the name of the Lord. They professed in every way to be the leaders of the sheep, claiming his name to lead amongst the sheep.
The idea of works is mentioned a couple of times as the fruit. The Lord here tells us that they, the ravening wolves, will think that their works are wonderful in the sight of the Lord. They will think that their words are pleasing to his ears. Yet, their many works and words are counted as evil fruit, bad fruit to be hewn down.
After giving us the principle of the Good and bad fruit he states, “Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man…”, he gives us the parable of a wise and foolish man. What does he mean by saying, whoever does these things? What things are to be done? To judge. To Judge the prophets, the people, through the principle of fruit. It is our job, as wise men, to judge the people who intend to lead us by the fruit that they produce. By so doing we judge wisely and build our foundations on Rock.
It is interesting to note here too, what is the standard by which we judge? Good and Evil. In Moroni 7, Moroni tells us to follow the sprit. That which asks us to follow the doctrine of Christ is Good, that which doesn’t is Evil. Than to know this and make this judgment, we must know the Gospel. We must know the standard by which things are judged. We must know it well, and NOT rely on the ‘prophet’ to give it to us (ezek, 14). The Lord here states, that they will be doing and saying and teaching things that they believe to be good. The people than, in consequence will be taught a perverse idea of good and evil, as evidenced by the principle of the ‘few’.
At the end of this mini-discourse the Lord astonishes everyone because he demonstrates the type of a TRUE prophet. “The people were astonished at his doctrine; For he taught them as one having authority from God, and not as having authority from the Scribes.” A true prophet has authority from God, which regularly astonishes people he is talking too (i.e. read about every prophet in the scriptures). And not only that, but he spoke AGIANST the people who were currently their leaders, the givers of law. The Scribes employ was to write read and interpret the Law. They were the Leaders who gave the people their instructions of religious worship. Yet, when this Jesus spoke, he didn’t speak with that authority. The “church” didn’t give him his authority; he in fact contradicted that authority. It was astonishing that his fruit was in accord with scripture, when the fruit of those over them who interpreted law was not.
So then, getting to the point. Written in the book of Good and Evil, we should be able to find instructions, descriptions, of the fruit to judge by. IF we are to judge by their fruits, we need a righteous precedent to lean on. Let us describe them, the prophets, what they do, what they say, how they are treated. Of course, we could likewise describe the evil fruit….
