The Vision by Rick Joyner
Discerning the True From the False EPISODE 77
Jesus also warned that in the last days there would be many "false prophets" (Matthew 24:24). This is to be expected because as the Lord also taught, whenever He sows wheat in a field, the enemy comes along and sows tares in the same field (Matthew 13:24-30). Tares look like wheat, and may even taste like wheat, but they are noxious. Satan will immediately try to counterfeit everything that God is doing, creating confusion and, if possible, deceiving even the elect.
However, Satan could not do this if God did not allow it.
Obviously the Lord wants us to learn to distinguish the real from the false and allow the real to be tested by the false in order to purify that which is true.
That false prophets are also becoming more prevalent should not surprise us, but rather encourage us to seek the real with greater determination. If we do not want to be deceived by the false, the answer is not to reject all prophecy but rather to know what is true. Those who cannot discern true prophecy in the times to come will be increasingly subject to the false. If God is planting something, it is because we will need it. If we do not plant a field, but rather neglect it, the only harvest reaped will be weeds. Those who do not receive what God is doing today will end up reaping that which grows wild.
From the beginning, the Lord was committed to allowing mankind to choose between the real and the false, the good and the evil. That is why He put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden along with the Tree of Life.
He did not put the Tree of Knowledge there in order to cause us to stumble, but rather so that we could prove our obedience and love for Him. There can be no true obedience from the heart unless there is the freedom to disobey.
Likewise, true teachers and true teaching will always be shadowed by false teachers and false teaching; true prophets and true prophecy will always be shadowed by the false. The Lord allows the enemy to sow tares among the wheat in order to test our hearts. Those who love the truth will discern what is true, and those who are pure in heart will discern that which is pure.
That the Lord would warn us that there will be false prophets at the end of the age implies that there will be true ones, or He simply would have said that at the end of the age, all prophets will be false. Some do believe that all prophets at the end will be false, but this is a basic conflict with Joel's prophecy that at the end, God will pour out His Spirit an there will be visions, dreams and prophecy (Joel 2:28-29).

There is a danger in being open to prophetic revelations such as dreams, visions, and prophecy. However, there is a much greater danger if we are not open to them. Revelations are not given to us for our entertainment, but because we need them for the times in which we live. As Jesus also declared,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
"But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
"To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.
"When he puts forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
"And a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers" (John 10:1-5).
The Lord's sheep know His voice. They are not deceived by strangers because they know His voice so well they can distinguish it from the voices of others. One of the ways that the Lord has spoken to His people from earliest times has been prophetically. Because we know that God never changes, and because the Scriptures are so clear about the visions,

dreams, and prophecies that He will give to His people, it is imperative for us to distinguish His revelation from the enemy's and then to interpret His messages correctly. After they are interpreted correctly, we must then have the wisdom to apply them correctly.