By Deolu Akinyemi

I haven’t formed these for myself, and it requires no special revelations, simply dare to read the Bible – Jeremiah 23 (MSG). Can you honestly score this?

These are the true definitions of false prophets and teachers.

1. Pastors that turn God’s sheep into theirs.

2. Pastors that preach to sheep but never pay specific attention to their lives individually. (Clearly you can’t do this for many – so it’s gotta be few)

3. Pastors who preach messages that fill the people with fear of anything or anyone but God.

4. Pastors who mislead the people – misleading them is leading them in a way that doesn’t help them also disciple others. The end of this sheep is to become shepherds.

5. Pastors that are not shepherd-leaders, but wolves in sheep clothing – their fruits are exploiting the people for offerings and emotions. “A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook – Matt 7:15-20″

6. Pastors that divide the people by creating a Church brand that is unique and different from others. (God’s true leaders unite the people under Christ’s Headship)

7. Pastors that promote idolatry by sharing what belongs to Christ – Pastors that are quoted like God, worshiped by members and glorified by the people’s testimonies.

8. Pastors that are faithless – this faithless is like not faithful. These are people whose loyalty to Jesus is not singular. That’s why faithless, adultery and idolatry is used together. They are Pastors who combine strategies and worldly methods to grow the flock. They are not faithful to their metaphoric Husband (Christ)

9. Pastors that don’t act like silly fools (in the Bible), how? How is this possible? By using other texts other than the Bible. Particularly self help and desire meeting texts. Pastors who quote public speakers and unbiblical wisdom.

10. Pastors that preach that you can have a better life, you can become better. Pastors that create any doctrines that ascribes any value to the flesh.

11. Pastors that preach a lie – remember there are no 2 truths, just one – His name is Jesus the Christ. Any pastor the leverages on any strategy or truth that is not Christ (even if taken from scriptures out of context) is living a lie and subsidizing a culture of wickedness.

12. Pastors that multiply in a nation and the corruption in their nation is not stemmed but blossoms.

13. Pastors that preach lies, lies and more lies. How can a pastor preach lies? Success, Wealth, Prosperity, Holiness, Faith, Discipleship, Evangelism, all of this if Christ is not the centre and their true definition are lies.

14. Pastors that preach everything is going to be alright to crowds of people who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, (people who have no taste for God).

15. Pastors who preach -“nothing bad will ever happen to you” to people who are set on their ways. Pastors who tell crowds messages of peace and it will be well. These are lies, as Jesus did not promise such.

16. Pastors who have not met with the true God, or bothered to hear what he says or live out his WORD. The emphasis is Christ, that’s the Truth, that’s the WORD. God will utterly destroy these pastors.

17. Pastors who God did not send, and who did not bother to sit down with Him. The proof of who sent you is your fruit and your message – what you produce.

18. Pastors who use the Bible as text, but do not centre their message on the truth – Christ. Pastors who use the Bible to actualize their dreams.

19. Pastors who are following their fathers in the Lord, and ancestors more than God.

20. Pastors who don’t really care about God, and what He truly wants and how he feels. Pastor who care more about themselves or the people than God.

21. Pastors who swap dreams with other pastors, who are in a competition for bigger cathedrals and gospel cities. Pastors who use monuments to distract the people from the real MESSAGE – Christ – the only message that saves and matures.

22. Pastors who preach second hand messages, who listen to each other to get what God is currently saying. They make up things and pretend it’s a sermon.

23. Pastors who ruin the people’s eternity and real lives by their cheap and reckless messages. Their messages feed greed and materialism, and destroy the people’s eternity.

24. Pastors that do nothing for the people in the light of eternity. Nothing!

25. Pastors who realized what the true message is and start preaching it without true repentance.

26. Pastors pretending to know what God says, who should really be asking questions.

27. Pastors who got a heritage of God’s service from their fathers in the Lord, but have taken it to a new level of corruption.