January 19 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

A prophet is someone who speaks for God. When he opens his mouth, he does not speak for himself. Instead he proclaims: "This is what the lord says," or, as some Bible versions forcefully put it, "Thus says the lord." This man Hananiah also said that he spoke for God. But he was lying. Hananiah was a false prophet.

There are countless false prophets in the world today. Every one of them has a following. Often they proclaim their message with more zeal than the true prophets. Yet they are lying.

How are you going to tell whether a prophet is true or false?

If you want to know if a certain painting is an "old master" or an imitation, you have it judged by an expert. It's not that simple when it comes to the truth or falsehood of the Christian faith. Yet there is a similarity. The Christian faith rests on historical facts. The report of those facts is contained in historical documents. Those documents, the books of the Bible, are open to scientific examination, such as is applied to any historical document.

You would think that in a matter as important as the question of right or wrong, the truth or the lie, people would spend a bit more time in investigation. If cancer is worth millions of research dollars, shouldn't some research be done into the lives and writings of the founders of certain "churches"? If Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was a false prophet, his teachings have deluded more than twelve million people around the world.

Too many Christians are apathetic when it comes to the deceivers against whom God himself has warned us. We must consistently oppose false teachings and continually pray that God will destroy the works of the lying prophets. We should also give more generous and enthusiastic support to schools and seminaries that are faithful to the truth.

Above all, we must live close to Christ and have his Word in our hearts.

Reflections

What "false prophets" are deceiving people today? How?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.