Beware of False Prophets, Part 1

Matthew 7:15-20

I'm sure you're aware again this morning that we are going to be looking at Matthew chapter 7 in our continuing study of The Sermon on The Mount. Matthew chapter 7 and I would like to read as the text from which we'll be studying this morning, verses 15 through 20, verses 15 through 20.

Matthew 7 verse 15 our Lord says, "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. 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 bad fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth bad 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."

Now in climaxing the masterful sermon of our Lord we face an ultimate choice. And we saw last week specifically how our Lord draws us to that choice. Look at verse 13 and 14 for a moment, in climaxing the sermon, in bringing to focus everything that He has said, Jesus says this, "Enter in at the narrow gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in that way; Because narrow is the gate, and hard is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

Now as we saw last time the Lord brings a choice, forces a decision, in other words the response to The Sermon on The Mount is not to admire it, not to extol its ethical virtue, the only permissible response to The Sermon on The Mount is make a decision, to either go through the narrow gate on to the narrow way that leads to life or to go through the wide gate onto the wide way which leads to destruction. Those are the only two alternatives there are. You either have the religion of divine accomplishment, where you recognize your own sinfulness and accept what Christ has done, or the religion of human achievement where you believe you're good enough.

Through the narrow gate you go on the merits of Christ, it's like going through, as we saw last time a narrow turnstile, no baggage which means you can't carry yourself, your sin, your own righteousness, nothing, you go through alone, you go through naked and you go through with great difficulty agonizing to enter that gate in the repentance of your sin. On the other hand to choose the broad gate you can take your sin, your selfishness, your self‑will, your self‑righteousness, it's a wide gate, it's a wide way easily entered, easily traveled. And you make a choice, everyone makes a choice. You either choose God's way or man's way, you either believe your own human achievement is good enough to attain for you a place in the kingdom of God or you know it is not and in desperation you cling to Christ.

That's what Jesus was trying to do, force a decision. He portrayed the broad way all through the sermon and invariably His portrayal was that the broad way didn't make it. They had the wrong view of self and the wrong view of the world and the wrong view of the Word of God and the wrong view of morality and the wrong view of fasting and the wrong view of praying and the wrong view of giving and the wrong view of money and the wrong view of possessions and the wrong view of other people, and all of these were the wrong things and so Jesus was showing them that going the way of self‑righteousness and the way that says I can do it on my own, I'm good enough on my own, I'm religious by myself, I don't need a sacrifice, I don't have to recognize my sin, I don't have to be a beggar in spirit mourning over sin and hungering for righteousness, I can do it on my own. But going that way is going to come up short. You're going to have to have a righteousness that exceeds that, and that's the narrow way. And so we are faced with a choice, a call for a decision. The message is not just to be heard then and admired, it demands a response.

And clearly our Lord calls for the proper response, doesn't He in verse 13? What does He say? "Enter in at the narrow gate." That is the great call that comes from the heart of our Lord, and throughout the entire Sermon on the Mount beloved, that's what He's after that one statement. Don't keep going your way, come God's way, strip yourself of your self‑righteousness, your pride, your self‑sufficiency, your sin, your self‑will, your own goals and come God's way, the narrow gate, narrow because you go alone, narrow because you can't carry anything through, narrow because you come with great difficulty, and narrow because you have to count the cost of what it's going to mean to put yourself under the control of Jesus Christ, very narrow. People say, Christians are narrow minded, that's right, very narrow, totally narrow. And that's exactly what the Bible says.

The Lord then comes to the invitation, the climax of the message, and He calls for a decision, a choice. This is not unlike Him He's done it elsewhere in the Scripture. The compassionate, loving, earnest, tender heart of Christ longs for men to enter into His right path. To forsake their sin and their self‑will and to come repentant over their sinfulness to the only source of true righteousness.

In fact in chapter 4 verse 17 of Matthew He cried, "Be converted." Turn around and go the other way is what that means.

In Matthew 11:28 He recognized the burdens that men bind on themselves by their sinfulness and the impossible religious duties that they try to carry all alone and He said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you (what?) rest." I'll take all those burdens away.

In John 7 He said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." He said, If You're hungry, "I am the bread of life." If you're lost, "I am a good shepherd." He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." He said, "I am the resurrection." Over and over again Jesus offered an invitation.

In the Book of Isaiah we find the beginnings of such an invitation in chapter 1 and verse 18, the prophet Isaiah foreshadowing the very message of Jesus Christ said, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." And then the next verse says, "If you be willing and obedient." God has always wanted to wash men's sin, but men have always had to recognize the need before they sought the solution. And until a person realizes his sin it doesn't become as snow, it doesn't become as wool.

The invitation was repeated later in Isaiah in the 55th chapter in that wonderful and familiar text where Isaiah says, "Ho," calling out, "every one that thirsteth," in other words when you recognize you have a need and you thirst or when you see that your sins are scarlet, crimson, when you know you have a need "Come to the waters, and he that has no money;" in other words you have no resources on your own, you have no ware with all to purchase it, you have nothing good in yourself, "come, buy and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." In other words you don't have anything to bring, you don't have anything to offer God, you come strictly and only on the merits of His good and gracious gift in Christ.

And so you find it in the Old Testament, you find it in the New and you find even the end of the Bible climaxes in a great final invitation in the Book of Revelation chapter 22 and verse 17, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth come, and let him that is athirst come." And then this lovely statement, "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life" do you know the last word? "freely." Freely. All the way through there is this invitation, enter the narrow gate, be converted, come unto Me, if any man thirst, come without money and buy, if your sins are as scarlet or as crimson they'll be as white as snow or as wool, the Spirit and the bride say, Come. The loving heart of God constantly beats in a compassionate attitude toward men and their salvation, their transformation.

In fact in the Old Testament you find in Jeremiah, God crying, the tears of God are shed because men turn their back on Him. And so it is compassion that calls to man from the heart of God. But may I add very hastily that this compassion has some teeth in it also, God is not all love and nothing else. The fact of the matter is that if you don't hear the call and come the way God says to come, verse 13 says, you'll get on a road that'll lead you to damnation. And so it is compassion with some teeth in it, it is love mingled with judgment. The final judgment of the ungodly is in view there. So the Lord is saying. Look, love calls and judgment tarries, but the time will come when love is set aside and judgment is imminent. And so we are to come on the narrow way.

Every man then, every woman, every young person stands at a crossroads, to the right is the narrow gate, the narrow way that leads to life, to the left is the broad way, broad road that leads to damnation, both are marked heaven, one is true and one is a lie. This is the religion of divine accomplishment done by God, this is the religion of human achievement done by man and you make a choice. And you know it's not an easy thing to get into that narrow gate? "Few there be who are able to find it." And once you've found it you must agonize to enter into it.

I think there's one reason among several why it's difficult, and that is because standing in front of those two gates, as you stand at that crossroads are false prophets doing everything they can in their power to push you the wrong way. They're there, obscuring the narrow gate and waving people on like some spiritual traffic cop to the broad road that leads to damnation. And so Jesus says, having given you the invitation I'm going to have to warn you too, and that's where you come to verse 15. He must warn us of false prophets, and it says then, "Beware of false prophets." They stand at the midst of the crossroads trying their best to obscure the narrow way and to push men on the broad way, and they succeed, did you know that? Oh yes, they succeed, highly successful.

In case you don't think so go with me to the end of the broad way, when it all finally comes to an end, and you find that in verse 22, "Many," and it's the same many in verse 13, "the many that go in the broad way." The many who went in now come to the end and they think they've arrived at heaven and they say, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out demons? And in thy name, done many wonderful works?" We're the religious. "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, that work iniquity." It's the wrong road folks, but many go in that way, many. Many, many. Because there are false prophets pushing them that way. Jesus then in effect is saying this: as you strive to enter that narrow gate beware of those who would mislead you. Now in order to understand what He's really saying and unfold this passage I want you to notice two words in our outline, the first one is warning and the second is watching.

For this morning we're going to look at warning, for the next session watching. And I just feel badly that I didn't get to finish the whole thing in the first hour so I'm not going to finish it in this hour because the second part is utterly, utterly essential, and you'll see as we go why I say that. But let's look first of all at the key word, warning. Verse 15, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are (rapacious or ravenous or) ravening wolves." Now the Lord is very clear here, He doesn't leave any doubt in our minds about whom He is speaking. We know He is talking about false prophets.

Now this is not an uncommon thing in the Bible. For example you go way back to the Pentateuch penned under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by Moses, and Moses has for us in Deuteronomy for example chapter 13 God's instruction about false prophets in the earliest times of His redemptive history, listen to what Deuteronomy 13 says, "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee," even if what he says comes to pass, "and says, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them, Thou shalt not harken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God testeth you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, you shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he's spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you." In other words, Moses told the people when you find a false prophet, kill him. They're very serious and they're very deadly.

In Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 10 it says, verse 9, "This is a rebellious people, they are lying children, children who will not hear the word of the LORD: And they say to their (prophets or) seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits;" Amazing. Isaiah says there will be people who want to prophesy these things and there will be people who want them to do it. There's always a market for false prophets because people don't want to hear the truth, they don't, and so there's always a hearing for the false prophets. Jeremiah repeatedly again and again starting in chapter 5 and running all the way to chapter 23 marks the false prophets. Warning after warning after warning after warning.

And you come to the New Testament, and in the New Testament Matthew chapter 24 for example verse 11, "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." There's that many again. There are many false prophets who deceive many people and many go on that road and many wind up saying, Lord, Lord, and He says, I don't know any of you many. I don't know any of you. "But we have prophesied in thy name." And you see the false prophets come to the same end that their dupes come to, they make their claim but their claim does not stand. There shall be many false prophets and they shall deceive many. Verse 24 of Matthew 24, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect." False Christs, pseudō Christos. They try to present themselves as if they were Christ, shams, phonies and liars they are. Romans 16:17, "I beseech you, brethren, mark them who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own body, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the innocent." And Paul says to Timothy, "They speak doctrines of devils." And to Peter the Spirit of God said, "They have damnable heresy." And John says, "You'd better test the spirits." First John 4:1. And so the Bible warns us over and over and over about false prophets, they're going to be around, they always have been around, there have been many false prophets and there shall be false prophets, as long as we live on this earth, till Jesus comes they're going to be here.

Now I want you to think this through with me so I want to give you four words that'll explain the warning in verse 15. Number one is definition, definition, and by this I simply want to define for you the term false prophet, what is a false prophet? Who are we really dealing with in this verse? Let me back up from that.

Ever since the fall of man it is apparent that man is hopelessly lost, man turns his back on God, runs from God. No man seeks God, Romans 3. Men run from God, and they run to hell as fast as they can. And there is no one among them who can turn them around, for man does not have in himself such a resource and so God has to pick out certain people, redeem them, send them to mankind to draw man's heart back to God, these are His prophets. And you find in the Old Testament and the New that a true prophet was known by two things, he had a divine commission and he had a divine message. He was called by God and he was given his content by God, he gave God's message and he was God's man. God selected men for this very strategic function. A true prophet was God's voice.

You go back to Exodus for example in chapter 4 and you'll find that the Lord says to Moses, Moses, don't worry about what you're going to say. Moses was arguing with God about his speech problems, and God said, Moses, I will put my words in your mouth. Prior to that God had actually called Moses out of a burning bush into his prophetic office. And so there was the commission of God and there was the content of God and that consummated the role of a prophet, he was God's man who spoke God's message.

No sooner did God have His true prophets to speak the true message, to be the true shepherds drawing the wayward sheep back to God than Satan began to counterfeit. And as you study the Old Testament you find over and over and over and over the trouble of false prophets, they are every place, they are all over the Old Testament. Just like they're every place today.

In Jeremiah for example we could, we could spend days just studying what Jeremiah alone says about false prophets because he says more than anybody else. But in Jeremiah 14 verse 14 it says, "Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies" here comes the subtlety, in my name." Now listen to me, false prophets prophesy lies in My name. They wear the garment of God, they say they represent God, they say they speak God's Word but they are lies, for he says, "I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke unto them;" I didn't commission them and I didn't give them the message. False prophets. And they were sent to deceive the people and boy they did a great job.

Jeremiah 5:31, Jeremiah says, "They prophesy falsely, and my people love to have it so." They eat it up, because false prophets tickle their ears. Just like in the future when men heap to themselves teachers to tickle their ears. So in the Old Testament the same thing, they say what people want to hear, nice little platitudes that everybody likes, they make you feel good, and it's lies.

In Jeremiah 23 verse 14, the prophet says, "I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing; they commit adultery, and walk in lies; they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them like Sodom, and its inhabitants like Gormorrah. Therefore, thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, make them drink the water of gall; for of the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth unto all the land. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. They make you vain; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD." They make you proud, they appeal to your ego, they are evil, they are fleshly, they are adulterous, they strengthen the hands of evildoers, they're evil but they say what you want to hear.

Further in the 23rd chapter does he speak of them verse 21 he says, "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." And then in verse 28 he sort of sums it up by saying, "The prophet that has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully." He says, I don't want to shut up the true prophets and the true seers just the phonies. And so the Old Testament has to constantly warn that there's going to be prophets who are false.

In Zechariah 11 there is a picture of a false shepherd that is so vivid I need to read it to you, listen to this, "I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off," can you imagine a shepherd that doesn't bother to go find the lamb that gets lost? Can you imagine what kind of shepherd he would be? Secondly, "neither shall he seek the young one," he doesn't help at all with that stray little lamb, doesn't seek to do what is needed to care for him, "nor heal that that is broken," does nothing for the wounded, broken sheep, "nor does he feed the one that stands still, but he eats the flesh of the fat, and tears their hooves in pieces. " Now what in the world kind of shepherd is that? A shepherd who eats the fat of sheep, who is their enemy? And the idea of tearing their hooves to pieces means that he literally rips the hooves apart to get every little last morsel of meat on that frame. What kind of shepherd is that? And God says, "Woe to that idol shepherd." Judgment. "The sword shall be on his arm, and on his right eye; his arm shall be dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." In other words God is going to judge.

Now that is a picture in the future of the Antichrist who is the prototype of all false prophets, he cares nothing for the sheep, he masquerades as if he were Christ and representing Christ and the fact is he rips and tears and shreds the flock. The scribes and the Pharisees were classic examples of this. It's no wonder that they crucified Jesus frankly, I mean He literally unmasked them so mercilessly. They were the ones who paraded themselves as if they were godly, as if they were righteous and they were rapacious and they were self‑seeking and self‑serving and they used the people to gain their own ends. And so the false prophets, were there in Christ's time, Old Testament time, future time, present time.

The New Testament calls them by many things, calls them pseudo prophets, pseudo brothers, Second Corinthians 11:26, pseudo apostles, Second Corinthians 11:13, pseudo teachers, Second Peter 2:1, pseudo speakers, First Timothy 4:2, pseudo Christs in Matthew 24:24. False, pseudo means sham, lie, false, phony. But there's always an audience, always, always, always an audience. Jesus said in John 8:45 for example, "Because I speak the truth, you hear me not." You can't hear the truth, you listen for lies. "Because You're of your father the devil, who is the father of (what?) lies." You hear lies and you're open to lies and Jeremiah 5:31, "My people love to have it so." Why? Because they are of their father the devil who is the father of lies, they hear his lies well, they heap to themselves teachers who lie. Listen, there is an audience all over the place for false prophets, and they are just that, false prophets. If anybody needs to understand we do.

In Ephesians 5:6 Paul says, "Let no man deceive you with vain words." Don't let any­ body fool you with empty talk.

In Colossians chapter 2 and verse 8, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy (the wisdom of men) and vain deceit." So the warning begins with a definition, a false prop­het is one who does not have a commission from God and he does not have   a message from God.

Let's go to a second word, danger. Verse 15 indicates to us not only who they are but why we ought to beware, because they are very dangerous. They are very dangerous now I want you to listen to me people because we can all become easy prey to these people, they are dangerous people. So "Beware" it says, now that word alone ought to let you know they're dangerous. ."Beware." Whenever I see a sign that says beware I stop. I'm afraid I'm going to see some gorilla, some huge dog, fall off something or get electrocuted, beware, and I stop. I don't want to go any farther. It's a severe word, literally in the Greek it means, hold your mind back from. Don't ever expose your mind to the influence of a false prophet. Don't pay attention to, give heed to, follow, notice, devote yourself, don't even put your mind in his vicinity, they're dangerous, they pervert the mind, they poison the soul.

END SIDE ONE.

SIDE TWO.

You see, we see the results of what they do in Second Peter, "Many people follow their pernicious ways." Many people. Suckered along the broad road thinking they're religious following this pied piper who leads them to damnation. And Peter calls them by these terms and these terms speak of how dangerous they are, he calls them natural brute beasts, he calls them filth spots and scabs, he calls them beguilers of unstable souls, he says they allure through the lusts of the flesh. And Jude calls them brute beasts, spots or scars or scabs on your love feasts, and says that they are flatters who flatter people to gain a personal advantage. They are dangerous, they are clever. You'd be better off to embrace a cobra, you'd be better off to crawl in bed with a hungry lion, you'd be better off to drink a bottle of poison than to come near a false prophet. Those things touch the body, false prophets violate and pervert the mind.

Now why are they so dangerous? The end of verse 15, because "inwardly" that is in reality, truthfully, on the inside not what appears but what is, "they are (rapacious) ravenous wolves." In Ezekiel 22 verses 27 and 28 Ezekiel uses that same term, and so we see it not only in the New Testament but in the Old Testament.

Let me talk about this for a minute. The number one enemy of the sheep in Palestine was the wolf, a natural enemy, roaming the hills, seeing a flock and at the precise right moment as it trailed the flock coming out of its hidden place and snatching that sheep and ripping it to shreds and a sheep utterly, totally defenseless against a wolf, defenseless. Now a good shepherd according to John 10 as Jesus delineates for us the pattern and principle of operating as a good shepherd, a good shepherd is always on the alert for the wolf, a good shepherd cares for his sheep so he watches, he's awake, he's alert.

Now connected in John 10 with the flock you have three kinds of individuals, you have the good shepherd, cares for his sheep, he'll give his life for his sheep, he'll do anything he has to do to keep them from the wolf. Then you have the hired laborer, the hireling, as soon as he sees the wolf, what does he do? He runs, man this is only a job to me I'm getting out of here. As soon as the going gets tough he is gone, this is the paid, this is the paid Christian professional who doesn't want any of the heat, just wants the glamour, just collects his check, and we've got those kind of people too. Hired laborers are bad, but there's something worse than them and that's wolves, hired laborers just run wolves eat the sheep. The wolves are the worst enemies. The good shepherd protects the flock, the laborer, you might call him the time serving professional, he just abandons the flock, but the false prophet tears and shreds and destroys the flock. Why are they the worst? Because they are ravenous, and that word means uhm, just what it says. The Greek word, literally the verb form means to snatch or to seize, and you can see the picture as the wolf sinks its teeth into the sheep and is gone. It is also used of a grasping extortioner in the Gospel of Luke and also in First Corinthians 5, someone who is grasping, snatching. They're ferocious, people, they are merciless, they are devouring and thus they are extremely dangerous, that's what He's saying.

Now stay with me. They are so dangerous, false prophets, that we're to be wily and wary as we ever even come near their presence. For one thing even if they didn't influence us, if we got involved with them somebody might think we were condoning them and somebody with less discernment than us would get eaten up. They are very, very dangerous. Let me show you why I say that.

In Jude, that wonderful little book on apostasy at the end of the book we have a section and I want to read it to you out of the N.A.S. I think it really illustrates the point. Verse 21 of Jude says, "Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life." Now he says to Christians, get your life straightened out, get yourself in the circle where God blesses, in the circle where God's love is manifest, be blessed, get your life straight. Then, once you've gotten yourself taken care of reach out. And verses 22 and 23 talk about winning people to Christ.

And so there are three categories given of the people we're going to reach, number one, "Have mercy on some who are doubting." That's what the proper text says. Now when you find somebody who's doubting go along with them and put your arms around them and love them and be merciful to them. Oh, they say, I think I believe and I, I think it's really true but I don't know and I, I just want to be sure and be merciful to those.

There's a second group, not just the doubters but we call these the endangered disbelievers, verse 23, "Save others, snatching them out of the fire." These are the ones who don't believe and they're on their way to hell and you just have to grab them out.' These are just the unbelievers, the, the people who are indifferent, the outsider totally.

Then there's a third category, I call these the confirmed false religions, and when you go to these people it says in verse 23, "Have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh." When you go after somebody to win them to Christ and they are engulfed under the influence of a false prophet you better go in the fear of God lest your own garment be spotted by even getting in, in the influence of the false prophet. You see what Jude is saying is this, this is so serious that in you attempting to rescue somebody under them you can be defiled by their influence, they are vile, dangerous, brute beasts, false prophets. That's pretty important stuff folks, it's a leprosy you don't want near it, because of it's terrible influence. And when you even try to rescue somebody from under their influence you'll find yourself near to being polluted with the evil, vile flesh. So let me say this to you, don't think false prophets are good well meaning misguided folks, they are dangerous, devouring wolves who endeavor to shove people onto the broad road to hell. Sometimes they know what they're doing and sometimes they are duped just like the people who follow them.

That brings me to the third word, and this is the key. Definition, danger and deception, and this is why they're so dangerous, because you don't see the truth. Inwardly they are rapacious wolves but they come to you in what? Sheep's clothing.

Now, in the Old Testament and even in the New in the case of John the Baptist, a prophet was known by what he wore. Elijah for example wore a very rough, hairy, rugged, burlap, uncomfortable garment, and it was a statement, it was a statement to society that he was foregoing create comforts for the cause of God, calling His people to obedience. John the Baptist came as one in the wilderness, he had a camel's hair coat and he ate locusts and wild honey, again he wore the garment of a prophet, the rough, raw, hair of a camel is not anything like you think of when you think of camel hair wool type things today, very rough, very uncomfortable but again a statement of coming aside from the system, from creature comforts, the rough garment designated the prophet. And when the prophet came he came with no worldly goods, he came