Wolf in a wool suit.

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"
(Matthew 7:15-23)

In this day and age we need to be very leery of anyone coming to us in the name of Christ. There are so many different denominations, religions, cults and such that we really should be careful.

"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." Matthew 10:16

By what the Bible says we can be innocent or gentle and still be shrewd or wise. So we are not to walk around, as they say "so heavenly minded, that we are no earthly good". But we also are not to be "so earthly minded that we are no Heavenly good". There is a balance that we need to have. Jesus was a great example of that balance.

"But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?' They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, 'If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.' Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground."

"At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?'

"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. 
"Go now and leave your life of sin." John 8:1-11

Jesus knew that these men were evil and that they were more concerned with getting something on Jesus than about keeping the law. It is also believed that they tricked this woman into adultery so that they could take her before Jesus, to test Him. Now I 'm not goofy, I know that Jesus knew their thoughts, but even if he wasn't all knowing, he still, by their track record, would have been cautious of them.
We do not have to walk around being gullible, we need to be strong in our convictions and be bold about telling people, in love. We need to work toward discounting these false prophets of Christianity. Shout it from the mountain tops , the truth about being a Christian. What it means to follow Christ. If we don't, who will. If we do not there will be many led astray and it will be on our hands.

"Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: 'When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood."
Ezekiel 33:2-6

It's so cool how Jesus explains the good tree and the bad tree. Notice that Jesus does not talk about the look of the tree. He doesn't say the good looking tree bears good fruit or the crappy old broken down tree bears bad fruit. He just say good and bad. The look of the tree doesn't always matter. I've seen apple trees that look like they had been beaten with a baseball bat full of nails and it would have some of the best apples ever. Then I've seen some that were well taken care of and beautiful that didn't grow a thing. So as the old saying goes "looks can be deceiving". You may see a guy who looks kinda rough, not your typical television personality or model picture of a perfect pastor, but he maybe be a mature strong Christian. Then you may have a well groomed guy with PhD's coming out of his ears and dressed to the tee, but he maybe a snake in the grass. This could go either way. The Pharisees looked the part, but Jesus said they were serpents, John the Baptist looked like a wild man, living in the dessert, wearing odd clothing and eating strange foods, but look at how Jesus describes him:

"I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…" Matthew 11:11

So be very careful, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."

He says that you will know them by their "fruits" or actions/character, What their life produces. People always want to know who should I vote for they all say the same good things. I say don't just listen to what they say, heck they're trying to get your vote. look at their again "track record", look at how they voted on things, things they've said and done. Everybody acts good when they're at church, it's how they act away from church that shows who they really are.

Enough said, just be careful don't be a push over, but don't be a brick wall either, and keep a sharp eye out for false prophets, wolves in wool suits.

Vern