The evidence of our faith and belief in God is in the degree to which we change our behavior to "walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice". According to His Word and His Word alone we walk, keep, and listen. And what does He confirm from His end? That we "should keep all His commandments". It's not just something we voluntarily undertake as a new creation in Christ, it's a continuing requirement to which He requires our vigilant adherence. It's not just something we offer, it's required. "His ways", "His statutes", "His commandments", "His ordinances", and "His voice". How is it that we come to tolerate OTHER ways, rules, and guidance?

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We have either experienced personally or know first-hand of someone who has begun the journey on the road to a personal relationship with Christ only to end up somewhere else, far off-course from that originally intended. Sometimes it's obvious that a conscience choice was made at some point to simply leave the path—what the Bible often refers to as "turning to the right or the left"—other times it's not so obvious, seeming to have occurred by going off-course by tiny increments so as not to abruptly notice that the path has eventually been left. This is an especially delicate discussion in trying to determine why a person, ministry, or even entire spiritual movement appears to have begun legitimately and derived its source from God, but later mutates into something else, something eventually and obviously no longer of God. What went wrong? How can we avoid making such mistakes ourselves?

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There are two basic flavors of false prophets—those who claim spiritual insight, knowledge, and power through some entity other than the One True God, and those who falsely claim such as coming in His name. One attempts to exalt a false god to overtake the place of God, the other to exalt themselves in His place. In either case, the defining biblical characteristic is that they speak "presumptuously".

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Sometimes I like to work Scripture backwards to capture the teaching:

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As someone that has held administrative positions within churches that's required me to provide monthly and annual reports tracking how monies were collected and spent, these verses have really grabbed my attention. I've never heard of any religion that did not require its members to tithe of their earnings or resources in some way to support it. And so I'm recalling the typical financial reports that I would generate to show what was received and how it was spent. Typically "tithes and offerings" went into the General Fund and covered the core operations of the ministry. Separate accounts and fund raising efforts were maintained for the Missions Fund to support missionary activities and even a "Bear-A-Burden" fund to assist church members on an emergency basis. But here we have what is the equivalent to the whole yearly tithe of produce being directed NOT to the operation of the main ministry/church, but to meet the needs of the "…Levite…the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town".

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False prophets can prophesy something which actually comes true. They can even perform an actual sign or wonder. Their actions can perfectly imitate those of true, godly prophets. But the true test of ALL signs and wonders as to whether or not they are truly come from God is the accompanying message. The explanations and messages accompanying the signs and wonders of the true prophets of God magnify the One True God; those of the false prophet entice observers to follow another, very often the false prophet himself.

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Every generation of Believer has to come to grip with the issue of whether or not a belief, practice, or activity of another religion is applicable to Christianity. There are many things that "feel" familiar or that look the same. There are other things that look to be so successful and beneficial to the practitioners that one wonders if they wouldn't be useful tools in the pursuit of one's own spiritual goals. "Beware that you are not ensnared and follow them."

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