The Bible says that the sheep follow their shepherd. Is it possible for people to be led astray by false prophets without knowing them?
Sadly, the answer to your question is YES! Before we consider passages that show this, it is good to reflect on that fact that when one is first saved they are indeed “sheep following their Good Shepherd.” This is brought out clearly in the following verses where Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep…My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:11, 27-28). Yet in that same chapter He warned of “false shepherds” who would seek to lead His sheep away from Him. In verse 12 we read, “But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.”
The Apostle Paul warned of this (when speaking to the elders at Ephesus) in Acts 20:28-30, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolfs will come in among you, NOT SPARING THE FLOCK. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to DRAW AWAY DISCIPLES after themselves.”
Paul referred to some “false teachers” who were already causing some to be led astray. In 1st Timothy 1:19-20 and 2:16-18, “Having faith and a good conscience, which some HAVING REJECTED, concerning the faith HAVE SUFFERED SHIPWRECK, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander…But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness, and their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have STRAYED CONCERNING THE TRUTH, saying the resurrection is already past; and they OVERTHROW THE FAITH OF SOME.” He faithfully warned the saints at Colosse of men like this, “Beware lest anyone CHEAT YOU through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8).
Jude also wrote of such men who made inroads into the church to lead Christ’s sheep astray. We read of this in Jude 4, 16, 19, “For certain men crept in unnoticed…ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness…walking according to their own lusts; and they speak great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage….these are sensual persons, who CAUSE DIVISION.”
Let’s also consider the words of the Apostle John in 1st John 2:18 & 26, “Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come…these things I have written concerning THOSE WHO TRY TO DECEIVE YOU.” John is addressing “babes in Christ.” Because they are so young in the faith and have not yet been established in the Word of God, they are vulnerable to the deceptions of false teachers. But to encourage them he says, “Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father” (verse 24). The KEY to not being led astray by anti-Christian teachings is to continue in the truth of Jesus Christ that they had learned when they were first born again. If we give ear to one who denies the truth of Jesus Christ (that He is the Son of God who became a Man to die for our sins on the cross), we may very well be led astray. But if we abide in that truth, we will continue to “abide in the Son and in the Father”; in other words, we will continue to “follow the Good Shepherd.” (304.4) (DO)