Jesus said to his disciples, «Beware of false prophets: they come to you in sheep's clothing but inside they are wild wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Do you ever pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree always produces good fruit, a rotten tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit and a rotten tree cannot bear good fruit. Any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire. So you will know them by their fruit».
Source: http://evangeli.net/gospel/
Analysis
Today's passage warns of false prophets, people who claim to be of God, and to deliver the divine truth, yet in actuality, they are frauds. The passage is a short but very stern message on all of us, to be vigilant and wary of false prophets. Jesus first gives the warning to His disciples, and us, then continues with a metaphor to illustrate His point. As He said, a grape is not picked from thornbushes, and figs are not picked up from thistles, i.e. some sort of prickly grass. A good tree produces good fruit, and a rotten tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit and vice versa. Jesus then tells us that we will know the difference of the prophets by their fruits.
The metaphor is fairly simple, though it is important to understand what prophet here means. Prophet simply means a person who claims to proclaim the will of God, or the truth. Of course, prophets are usually associated with God, but since God is of the truth, anyone who proclaims the truth, especially a new truth, is a prophet. Or in short, anyone who brings new teachings, ideas, and claim them to be the truth can technically be described as a prophet. However, we must be wary on the difference between a fake and true prophet. The problem is many fake prophets will look like they're true, and thus be convincing, so how do we identify them?
As Jesus said in His metaphor, true prophets should produce good consequences, while frauds will only cause chaos and destruction. While it is true that the truth may cause discomfort for some, most of the time, the end of the conflict should be for the better. As such, critical analysis of what happens is necessary. For even Jesus claims that His coming would bring conflict. However, there is a much more effective method of identifying these frauds, that is the fruit of their mouths, their words. If what they say is true, then the prophet is most likely a true prophet. And when it comes to God, it would be very easy to identify which prophets are true and which are fake, as the issue of God is a basic problem, meaning it concerns the absolute truth, and thus you don't have to search for too much premises to analyze it. Though again, a prophet doesn't have to be related with God, if they bring new ideas and claim it's true, they're a prophet.
This is all interesting, but what good does it serve us? There is one thing we can take from this passage, don't trust anyone that easily. If anyone starts saying that they have the key to the truth, listen to them, and put what they say to absolute scrutiny, doubt it as much as you can, and only when you are unable to find any contradictions and flaws, you can accept it. Though it is wise to keep your doubts for another time. Another thing, we should be careful in the present, as there have been people claiming to be prophets, or to espouse the truth, but are apparently fakes. And the frauds have done quite the damage to this world and humanity. I can name a few, but that would create a chaotic mess, so I won't. As such, I believe that is all I have to say, have a nice day and see you tomorrow.
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