There once lived a Christian by the name of Clarence, who had a grand imagination. In his church Clarence was affectionately known as “the inventor.” This dreamer was very different from the other members of his church and considered a bit odd. For one thing, he always had a positive outlook on life.
One day at a church picnic Clarence ate more than he should have, or as some people say, “His eyes were bigger than his stomach.” When he went to bed that night he fell into a deep sleep full of strange dreams. First, Clarence dreamed that he was a missionary in Syria and that Saddam Hussein was a member of his church. Later, he dreamed that an army of baked beans was chasing him.
But of all his dreams, one left a great impression on him. In this dream Clarence was a real inventor. He invented a pair of glasses he called “FPI” (False Prophet Identifiers). These special glasses were designed to allow the wearer to identify and distinguish between the “sheep and the goats,” that is, true Christians and false Christians.
The way the glasses worked was simple. A minister using these glasses could identify a false Christian by looking at the person’s heart. If the heart looked white and clean, the person was a true Christian. But is the heart was dark, it meant that the person was not of Christ, but was instead a false prophet.
The impact that this invention had on the church was extraordinary. Church pews emptied dramatically as false Christians fled upon being uncovered. In some cases, ministers had to leave churches as they were discovered to be false prophets. All this resulted in a great revival in the churches. Freed from these evil influences, congregations grew in love and in faithfulness to the Word of God. Divisions evaporated, contentions ceased, and the sweet and real presence of Jesus was felt more and more.
You and I know that only God can see the heart of a believer. When Samuel went to anoint the new king in Israel, he was told:
“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’” (1 Samuel 16:7)
We don’t need to have special glasses at church for our job is to preach the Gospel and not to go around like the Inquisition trying to identify who is a Christian and who is a false prophet. The Bible lets us know that:
“…You will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16)
Let us proclaim the Gospel to all and God will use it for his glory. Those that reject Christ and those that are false prophets will perish, while those that listen, repent and believe in Christ will be saved. We will never know with certainty all that are true Christians in this life, but one day we will be together in heaven forever and we shall rejoice in our eternal salvation.
A. G.
