Do men gather grapes from thorns?Matthew 7:16, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” An immutable law of nature is that all life brings forth of its kind. Thus the question, do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? The answer is no, they do not, and Jesus implied, they cannot. This Scripture is often misunderstood through misapplication. It does not instruct us how to discover “true Christians” nor provide a touchstone for self-evaluation. Also, it is often erroneously tied to Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Well-meaning teachers have led us through the evaluation of our Christian walk and made claims that the absence of this listed fruit in our lives is an indicator of not being converted (or completely converted). Absence proves nothing. It is the PRESENCE of fruit that determines the family of the vine. For example, you may walk through a garden and see a vine with no fruit on it. Discounting the ability to identify by foliage, can you accurately say this is not a pumpkin vine because you see no pumpkins? Of course not. It may be fully under way growing pumpkins at that very minute, but perhaps it’s diseased or malnourished, or at that moment it’s too young, or hindered in some other way to bear fruit. The presence of a watermelon, however, proves it is not a pumpkin vine. The question remains, to whom does this Scripture apply? In context, the Lord was warning us of false prophets. He says that we will know false prophets by their fruit, “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil 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.” (Matthew 7:17-20) Jesus was telling those who would hear, “These men are thorns, not vines.” If you find a grape on a thorn it is because it was stuck there, it did not grow there. How it got stuck there is a matter for consideration. A false prophet is a deceiver. This is a person falsely speaking for God (without authority) or a person speaking falsely for God (saying things that are not true). The difference is subtle, but important. The latter speaks lies in the name of God. These are usually not a threat to biblically sound people. The words of a false prophet are weighed and found in error by way of the axiomatic truth that the Spirit of God will not contradict Himself. Neither will the Spirit within us nor will the Spirit who brought forth the Scriptures, allow the lie to be believed. But, the other is more deceptive. The person falsely speaking for God however, may be saying very nice things, Scriptural things, and things without the least contradiction; they are being said, however, without unction, without compulsion, without authority to speak. Through this kind of false prophet we are led into creaturely activity (fleshly motivated good works) and this subsequently causes an erosion of active communion with God to take place.  The Clothing of a Shepherd All that being said, we are warned to beware of the false prophets because they wear the “clothing of a shepherd” (sheep’s clothing) and are inwardly starving, and desperate wolves. Sometimes “sheep’s clothing” is misunderstood to mean that these starving wolves dress themselves up like sheep, but it is, more...

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