For the record:Not all men of God are fake!

To be honest,true men of God still exist.Though it is becoming difficult to differentiate between the true from the fake ones,it doesn’t mean the real ones are no more.This article is meant to encourage the men of God that have stayed true to their calling despite attempts to make them compromise.

There are Pastors that are true Shepherd and not hireling.There are men of God called into the Prophetic ministry that have not been corrupted by money and fame.Some true Apostles are still in our midst who do not prey on gullible Christians to profit themselves.Some Evangelists still spread the fragrance of Christ from nation to nation without boasting of the number of cities they have ‘churches’ in.There are Teachers of God’s words who are yet to be bought over by the crowd to teach what they want to hear.

How many are these true men of God? Unfortunately,they are few! How few are they? They are very few! Compared to the fake ones,they are highly infinitesimal.

It is worth noting that this is not a recent development.True men and women of God have always been tiny percentage of the fake ones in every generation.For example,1 Kings 22 tells us a very wonderful story of the Fake vs True prophets.Two Kings (Ahab and Jehoshaphat) wanted to go to a war against another nation and they needed direction:

So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth Gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the counsel of the Lord.”So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—and asked them, “Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?”“Go,”they answered, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”vs 4-6

400 prophets were gathered together by King Ahab and they pulled their ‘anointing’ together to prophesy ‘positivity’ into the life of the King.They prophesied lies.One would have thought that their number would justify the authenticity of the prophecy.No! Popularity or large number of people is not a sign of endorsement by God .One thousand flies can be wrong eat sh*t!

King Jehoshaphat suspected something was wrong regarding the 400 prophets ‘arranged’ by King Ahab.Therefore,he gave this piece of advice:

But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?” The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” vs 7-8

The question of Jehoshaphat was very intriguing.The 400 prophets are prophets of what? Prophets of the Lord or prophet of Ahab? They were Ahab’s prophets of course.The wickedness of Ahab had gotten to the point he had prophets paid to prophesy for him.Our generation is witnessing the same thing now:

For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear-2 Tim 4:3

These fake men of God that people have gotten for themselves are in large number compared to the true men of God.

Put yourself in the shoe of Prophet Micaiah.How would you have felt? 400 fake prophets vs 1 True prophet! I tell you,this is how the true men of God are feeling now.They feel outnumbered by the charlatans!

Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them.Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made iron horns and he declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.’”All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. “Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious,” they said, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”vs 10-12

400 prophets being bankrolled by King Ahab kept saying the same thing: Go to this war,you will conquer.If you were Prophet Michaiah would you dare to be different? Would you decide to go against the popular opinion? Sincerely speaking,it is not an easy thing to stand alone.

The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.” vs 13

Prophet Michaiah was advised to conform to the reigning prophecy in town.This was the same way the 400 prophets were recruited.They didn’t start their ministry being charlatans,they were influenced!I tell you this is how many true men of God become fake men.Conforming to the pattern of the world until they start performing magics in place of miracles.

But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what the Lord tells me.” Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd,and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’” vs 14,17

He decided to stand alone but the verses below show what real men of God go through when they take such stand:

Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the face. “Which way did the spirit from the Lord go when he went from me to speak to you?” he asked. The king of Israel then ordered, “Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king’s son and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.’” vs 24 and 26

Prophet Michaiah paid dearly for saying that.He was slapped by one of the fake Prophets and King Ahab threw him in prison.Saying the truth has consequences! If you are a true man of God you will surely be attacked by the charlatans and their owners!

Come to think of it,if all these could happen in the days when the ‘gospel’ had not been commercialised ,how much more now.If the ratio of fake vs true prophets then was 400:1,what do you think it is now?

However,the good news is that for every 400 fake prophets,there is always 1 prophet that is still true.If you are one of the few men of God,don’t be discouraged.People like you are rare in every generation.You are celebrated.

So,don’t let us throw the baby out with the bathwater yet.Men and women who are not in ministry for pecuniary reasons still exist.Men and women of God that won’t fake miracles or embelish testimonies to pull crowd are in our midst.

Like Prophet Michaiah,their messages are not popular but they are true.

They are very few in number but God is with them.

They are not trendy by world standard but they are in tune with the Spirit.

They don’t pull crowd but they pull down strongholds of the Devil with truth.

Many hate them but they care less provided God approves of them.

They have very few followers because people hate the truth!

Nevertheless,true men of God still exist.