False Prophets and the Wandering Flock

"...to us like a preceding and following rain upon the earth." One must understand by thought another preceding rain, which is the word concerning the incarnation of the Savior, and a following one, which is the word concerning his theology. Those who have enjoyed both of these waters say: 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, a glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth' (John 1:14). This same understanding is held by that which was written to the Corinthians by Paul: 'Even if we knew Christ according to the flesh, but now we know him no longer' (2 Cor 5:16). To provide the former answer regarding the two covenants, one should use that: 'Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, set apart for the gospel of God, which he foretold through his prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son, the one born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness' (Rom 1:3-4).

A third understanding is also stated: let the things 'known and prophesied in part' (1 Cor 13:12) in this present age be taken as a preceding rain, while the 'face to face' seeing which will be shown in the coming age is the following rain. And let these things also be affectionately spoken: let the corrective discipline of morals and appropriate practical virtue be a preceding watering, while the following one is the knowledge of the mysteries of God the Word.

This double rain will exist, God himself providing it, when we proceed toward knowing the Lord through inquiries and the searching of the God-breathed Scriptures and the training appropriate to unhindered contemplation; for when these have been prepared beforehand, the Lord being sought will be found 'ready as the dawn,' becoming a preceding and following rain to the earth that received the seed of Jesus. For in this way the following things will bear fruit, as the spoken word makes manifest what was previously brought forward: resurrection, life, and perfect knowledge, as it says: 'For it will rain upon us like a preceding and following rain upon the earth. And we shall rise and live and stand before him and know' (Hos 6:3).

Having been filled with these God-breathed good things, the one who has sought the Lord as a weary person will release himself from the sayings of false prophets who are more like dreamers than those seeing actual things. Such are those who have launched heresies into Christianity, 'not understanding either what they say or about whom they affirm things' (Acts 17:21).

"attending to the deceptive spirits and teachings of demons, in the hypocrisy of liars, having cauterized their own conscience."

Those who have cast aside watching and sobriety are carried away by false dreams, being swept along by passion, as they sleep and drink at night; for concerning those who are dreaming and always desiring to slumber, it is written: "Those who sleep at night sleep, and at night they drink," being deprived of the light of the truth. Therefore, even if they ever promise a comforting parable, they call out in vain; for no pasture or herb shall come from their supposed divinatory proclamation. Thus they wither like sheep not having pasture, concerning which the holy man said: "The Lord shepherds me, and I shall not want anything; into a place of green pasture, there He has pitched my tent" (Psalm 23:1-2). And this fertile pasture is found by the one entering and exiting the door, other than that of the Savior who declares: "I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go out and find pasture" (John 10:9).

Being deprived of this, those attending to dreams and false divinations will wither like animals not having feeding-grounds, as they can no longer exist in them being greatly afflicted, the wrath of God being provoked against the faulty shepherds because of their laziness regarding the flock, so that the lambs might be tested by the wrath of God the Shepherd, and the feeding lambs being rebuked and afflicted, just as they themselves will wither along with the gathered sheep.

Indeed, harm has surpassed the flock because of the leaders who fell into ungodliness, about whom God Himself says: "The shepherds were unfaithful to me, and behind useless things they went" (Ezekiel 34:2-10), as they attend to both divination and false dreams being promised, just as the sheep themselves are being harmed, undergoing destruction. For it was most strictly said by Him who tends all: "My people became lost sheep, and their shepherds drove them away," so that the lambs themselves were also afflicted, no longer having the benefit of the feeding pasture. Yet, even if they were thus divided among themselves, through the goodness of the Good Shepherd, the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" was set up for them.