Christian Minister: False and Corrupt
Source: Nav
Deuteronomy 13:1–5
If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, / and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, “Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them,” / you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 18:20–22
But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.” / You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?” / When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
1 Kings 12:31
Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.
2 Chronicles 29:34
However, since there were not enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings, their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests had been consecrated. For the Levites had been more diligent in consecrating themselves than the priests had been.
2 Chronicles 30:15
And on the fourteenth day of the second month they slaughtered the Passover lamb. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the LORD.
Nehemiah 13:29
Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
Proverbs 19:27
If you cease to hear instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.
Isaiah 3:12
Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you; they turn you from your paths.
Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter.
Isaiah 8:19, 20
When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? / To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
Isaiah 9:14–16
So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day. / The head is the elder and honorable man, and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies. / For those who guide this people mislead them, and those they mislead are swallowed up.
Isaiah 28:7
These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.
Isaiah 29:10, 11
For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers. / And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.”
Isaiah 30:10
They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.
Isaiah 43:27, 28
Your first father sinned, and your spokesmen rebelled against Me. / So I will disgrace the princes of your sanctuary, and I will devote Jacob to destruction and Israel to reproach.”
Isaiah 44:20
He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”
Isaiah 56:10–12
Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber. / Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain: / “Come, let me get the wine, let us imbibe the strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”
Jeremiah 2:8
The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.
Jeremiah 5:13, 14, 30, 31
The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them.” / Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says: “Because you have spoken this word, I will make My words a fire in your mouth and this people the wood it consumes. / A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land.
Jeremiah 6:13, 14
“For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit. / They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
Jeremiah 8:10, 11
Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit. / They dress the wound of the daughter of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
Jeremiah 10:21
For the shepherds have become senseless; they do not seek the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.
Jeremiah 12:10
Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.
Jeremiah 13:20
Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride?
Jeremiah 14:13–16
“Ah, Lord GOD!” I replied, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” / “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds. / Therefore this is what the LORD says about the prophets who prophesy in My name: I did not send them, yet they say, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ By sword and famine these very prophets will meet their end!
Jeremiah 23:1, 2, 11, 14–16, 21, 25–39
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. / Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD. / “For both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 27:9–18
But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ / For they prophesy to you a lie that will serve to remove you from your land; I will banish you and you will perish. / But the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave in its own land, to cultivate it and reside in it, declares the LORD.”
Jeremiah 48:10
Cursed is the one who is remiss in doing the work of the LORD, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from bloodshed.
Jeremiah 50:6
My people are lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, causing them to roam the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.
Lamentations 2:14
The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.
Lamentations 4:13, 14
But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst. / They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.
Ezekiel 13:1–23
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, / “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Tell those who prophesy out of their own imagination: Hear the word of the LORD! / This is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, yet have seen nothing.
Ezekiel 14:9, 10
But if the prophet is enticed to speak a message, then it was I the LORD who enticed him, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel. / They will bear their punishment—the punishment of the inquirer will be the same as that of the prophet—
Ezekiel 22:25, 26, 28
The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her. / Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. / Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken.
Ezekiel 34:1–31
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, / “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock? / You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock.
Ezekiel 44:8, 10
And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but have appointed others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.’ / Surely the Levites who wandered away from Me when Israel went astray, and who wandered away from Me after their idols, will bear the consequences of their iniquity.
Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
Hosea 5:1
“Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O royal house! For this judgment is against you because you have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor.
Hosea 6:9
Like raiders who lie in ambush, so does a band of priests; they murder on the way to Shechem; surely they have committed atrocities.
Hosea 9:7, 8
The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have arrived—let Israel know it. The prophet is called a fool, and the inspired man insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and hostility. / The prophet is Ephraim’s watchman, along with my God, yet the snare of the fowler lies on all his paths. Hostility is in the house of his God!
Amos 2:11, 12
I raised up prophets from your sons and Nazirites from your young men. Is this not true, O children of Israel?” declares the LORD. / “But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.
Micah 2:11
If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!
Micah 3:5–7, 11
This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths: / Therefore night will come over you without visions, and darkness without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them. / Then the seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be disgraced. They will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God.”
Zephaniah 3:4
Her prophets are reckless, faithless men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to the law.
Zechariah 10:3
“My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders. For the LORD of Hosts attends to His flock, the house of Judah; He will make them like His royal steed in battle.
Zechariah 11:4, 5, 16, 17
This is what the LORD my God says: “Pasture the flock marked for slaughter, / whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them. / For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves.
Zechariah 13:2–5
And on that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. / And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not remain alive, because you have spoken falsely in the name of the LORD.’ When he prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will pierce him through. / And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.
Malachi 1:6–10
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ / By presenting defiled food on My altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’ By saying that the table of the LORD is contemptible. / When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the LORD of Hosts.
Malachi 2:1–3, 8, 9
“And now this decree is for you, O priests: / If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart. / Behold, I will rebuke your descendants, and I will spread dung on your faces, the waste from your feasts, and you will be carried off with it.
Matthew 5:19
So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 7:15, 22, 23
Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. / Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ / Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
Matthew 15:9, 14
They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’” / Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Matthew 20:20–27
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and knelt down to make a request of Him. / “What do you want?” He inquired. She answered, “Declare that in Your kingdom one of these two sons of mine may sit at Your right hand, and the other at Your left.” / “You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” the brothers answered.
Matthew 23:3, 4, 13
So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. / They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. / Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
Matthew 24:4, 5, 24, 26, 48–51
Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you. / For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. / For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
Mark 9:33–35
Then they came to Capernaum. While Jesus was in the house, He asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” / But they were silent, for on the way they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. / Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all.”
Mark 10:35–37
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and declared, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” / “What do you want Me to do for you?” He inquired. / They answered, “Grant that one of us may sit at Your right hand and the other at Your left in Your glory.”
Mark 13:21, 22
At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. / For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
Luke 6:39
Jesus also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?
Luke 9:46
Then an argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.
Luke 11:35, 46–52
Be careful, then, that the light within you is not darkness. / “Woe to you as well, experts in the law!” He replied. “You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load. / Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
Luke 12:45, 46
But suppose that servant says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk. / The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate. Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
Luke 21:8
Jesus answered, “See to it that you are not deceived. For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.
Luke 22:24
A dispute also arose among the disciples as to which of them would be considered the greatest.
John 3:10
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and you do not understand these things?
John 5:43
I have come in My Father’s name, and you have not received Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him.
John 10:1, 5, 8, 10–13
“Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. / But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will flee from him because they do not recognize his voice.” / All who came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
Acts 20:29, 30
I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. / Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.
Romans 2:19–25
if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness, / an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— / you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
Romans 16:17, 18
Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Turn away from them. / For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
1 Corinthians 3:1–4, 10–16, 21
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. / I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, / for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?
1 Corinthians 11:18, 19
First of all, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. / And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.
2 Corinthians 2:17
For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God.
2 Corinthians 11:1–31
I hope you will bear with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that. / I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. / I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
Galatians 1:6–8
I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— / which is not even a gospel. Evidently some people are troubling you and trying to distort the gospel of Christ. / But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!
Galatians 5:10
I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is troubling you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be.
Ephesians 4:14
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
Philippians 1:15, 16
It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. / The latter do so in love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.
Philippians 3:2
Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh!
Colossians 2:4, 8, 18, 19
I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric. / See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ. / Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.
1 Timothy 1:3–7, 19
As I urged you on my departure to Macedonia, you should stay on at Ephesus to instruct certain men not to teach false doctrines / or devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculation rather than the stewardship of God’s work, which is by faith. / The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.
1 Timothy 4:1–3, 7
Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, / influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. / They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
1 Timothy 6:3–5, 20, 21
If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching, / he is conceited and understands nothing. Instead, he has an unhealthy interest in controversies and semantics, out of which come envy, strife, abusive talk, evil suspicions, / and constant friction between men of depraved mind who are devoid of the truth. These men regard godliness as a means of gain.
2 Timothy 2:14–18
Remind the believers of these things, charging them before God to avoid quarreling over words, which succeeds only in leading the listeners to ruin. / Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth. / But avoid irreverent, empty chatter, which will only lead to more ungodliness,
2 Timothy 3:6–9, 13
They are the kind who worm their way into households and captivate vulnerable women who are weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions, / who are always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. / Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth. They are depraved in mind and disqualified from the faith.
2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.
Titus 1:10–14
For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision, / who must be silenced. For the sake of dishonorable gain, they undermine entire households and teach things they should not. / As one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
Titus 3:10, 11
Reject a divisive man after a first and second admonition, / knowing that such a man is corrupt and sinful; he is self-condemned.
Hebrews 13:9
Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.
2 Peter 2:1–22
Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. / Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed. / In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
2 Peter 3:16
He writes this way in all his letters, speaking in them about such matters. Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
1 John 2:18, 26
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. / I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
1 John 4:1–3, 5
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. / By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, / and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.
2 John 1:7–10
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, refusing to confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. / Watch yourselves, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be fully rewarded. / Anyone who runs ahead without remaining in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever remains in His teaching has both the Father and the Son.
3 John 1:10
So if I come, I will call attention to his malicious slander against us. And unsatisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and forbids those who want to do so, even putting them out of the church.
Jude 1:4–11
For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. / Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe. / And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day.
Revelation 2:1, 2, 12, 14, 15, 18, 20–23
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. / I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles. / To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword.