The prophetic calling comes with a warning. We are to test all prophets and all prophetic words, to make sure they are genuinely from G-d.
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, “Don’t quench the Spirit, don’t despise inspired messages. But do test everything — hold onto what is good, but keep away from every form of evil.”
They Seek Recognition and Often Money
Do modern-day prophets seek recognition and prestige with this position? Does it fulfill a need for them to have a purpose? Are they out for glory and fame? Does the prophet enjoy the title? If so, they could be a false prophet. Their desire for having this gift is not to bring people closer to G-d but to offer “mysteries and revelations,” drawing people closer to the false prophet and s/he gains a following.
Jeremiah 5:31, “The prophets prophesy lies, the cohanim (priests) obey the prophets, and my people love it that way. But what will you do at the end of it all?”
Jeremiah 6:13-15, “For from the least to the greatest of them, all are greedy for gains; prophets and cohanim (priests/pastors) alike, they all practice fraud, they dress the wound of my people, but only superficially, saying, ‘There is perfect shalom,’ when there is no shalom. ‘They should be ashamed of their detestable deeds, but they are not ashamed at all; they don’t know how to blush. Therefore when others fall, they too will fall; when I punish them, they will stumble,’ says Adonai.”
They Don’t’ Speak of Repentance
The whole purpose of a prophet is to bring the people back to G-d. A true prophet will expose and rebuke the sin, call for repentance, and bring people back on track with G-d.
Lamentations 2:14, “The visions your prophets saw for you were futile, just a whitewash. They did not expose your guilt, so as to reverse your fortunes, no, the visions they saw for you were alluring, but futile.”
Their Prophecies Don’t Always Come to Pass
Nothing that G-d says comes back void. So if this is a word that is genuinely from G-d, it will come to pass. If it is not from G-d, then the prophet spoke presumptuously.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22, “But if a prophet presumptuously speaks a word in my name which I didn’t order him to say, or if he speaks in the name of other gods, then that prophet must die.’ You may be wondering, ‘How are we to know if a word has not been spoken by Adonai?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of Adonai, and the prediction does not come true — that is, the word is not fulfilled — then Adonai did not speak that word. The prophet who said it spoke presumptuously; you have nothing to fear from him.
This test must be used with discernment. Sometimes a true word of judgment is not fulfilled because the people repent (as in the example of Jonah and the people of Nineveh), or the Father shows mercy and postpones judgment.
The majority of examples, in scripture, shows a true prophet’s words of judgment were fulfilled. The people did not repent, and the consequences and curses, as prophesied by the prophet, came upon the people.
They Can Often Resort to Fortune Telling
A true prophet does not always deal with seeing the future, yet modern-day prophets are regularly predicting future events. This can fall under future telling or fortune-telling. People are curious to know what their future is, so they will seek out these types of prophets. We should be trusting G-d with our future and not seek out future tellers.
The idea that prophets are future tellers developed after 300 A.D. when the Church began to embrace Greek and pagan thinking and practices. Once this happened, they began to distance themselves from the Biblical (Hebraic) foundations.
False Prophets Can Preach False Doctrines
This one is very apparent. The time to know your scriptures is now. Many of these false prophets are also false teachers, yet people don’t know their scriptures enough to test.
Deuteronomy 13:1-5, “Everything I am commanding you, you are to take care to do. Do not add to it or subtract from it. “If a prophet or someone who gets messages while dreaming arises among you and he gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder comes about as he predicted when he said, ‘Let’s follow other gods, which you have not known; and let us serve them,’ you are not to listen to what that prophet or dreamer says. For Adonai, your God is testing you, to find out whether you really do love Adonai your God with all your heart and being. You are to follow Adonai your God, fear him, obey his mitzvot, (comandment) listen to what he says, serve him and cling to him;
2 Peter 2:1-3, “But among the people, there were also false prophets, just as there will be false teachers among you. Under false pretenses they will introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and thus bring on themselves swift destruction. Many will follow their debaucheries; and because of them, the true Way will be maligned. In their greed they will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their punishment, decreed long ago, is not idle; their destruction is not asleep!”
They Can Have False Signs and Wonders
Yahshua also warns us of false prophets who will deceive many with signs and wonders.
Matthew 24:11, 23-25, “Many false prophets will appear and fool many people;” “At that time, if someone says to you, ‘Look! Here’s the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ don’t believe him. For there will appear false Messiahs and false prophets performing great miracles — amazing things! — so as to fool even the chosen, if possible. There! I have told you in advance!”
Mark 13:22-23, “There will appear false Messiahs and false prophets performing signs and wonders for the purpose, if possible, of misleading the chosen. But you, watch out! I have told you everything in advance!”
We need to be so careful at running after signs and wonders, especially in the times we are in!
Revelation 13:14, “It deceives the people living on earth by the miracles it is allowed to perform in the presence of the beast, and it tells them to make an image honoring the beast that was struck by the sword but came alive again.”
Because signs and wonders also follow true prophets (Moses and Elijah example this), it cannot, on its own, be a test-point in determining if a prophet is true. How then do we know if a word is from G-d? A true prophet’s word will be one of repentance, and always be in line with obedience to the Instructions of G-d, and His Word.
What Follows the False Prophetic?
Simply put, destruction will follow.
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12, “He will enable him to deceive, in all kinds of wicked ways, those who are headed for destruction because they would not receive the love of the truth that could have saved them. This is why G-d is causing them to go astray, so that they will believe the Lie. The result will be that all who have not believed the truth, but have taken their pleasure in wickedness, will be condemned.”
With believers, lawlessness will abound. They will not adhere to the scriptures. They will be enticed with teachings outside of scripture. Believers will follow a lie and their love for truth will draw cold.
As a result of this deception, the lawlessness will abound, and then G-d Himself sends the power of delusion, whichever form it takes.
1 Samuel 15: 23, “For rebellion is like the sin of sorcery, stubbornness like the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Adonai, He too has rejected you as king.”
Spirit of Python and the False Prophetic
The Spirit of Python disguises itself as a spirit of light when it is a spirit of darkness; (false prophetic and teaching), that works hard at deceiving you. It will dilute, cheapen, and weaken the Word of G-d. It will start with the truth, then twist it with deception.
2 Corinthians 11:13, “The fact is that such men are pseudo-emissaries, (false apostles): they tell lies about their work and masquerade as emissaries, (apostles) of the Messiah.”
Romans 3:13, “Their throats are open graves, they use their tongues to deceive. Vipers’ (serpents) venom is under their lips. Uses deceiving powers to dry up the life of the believer.”
The python spirit is at work in our congregations/churches, conferences, and false prophetic. In Acts 16:16, the slave girl was demonized with a spirit of divination. This spirit was a python spirit. It prevents congregations from doing the will of G-d, and they are distracted. The spirit of python works with other spirits like Jezebel and Baal. These spirits use witchcraft; (false prophetic/teaching) to establish a platform for them to operate; using witchcraft to fool many believers.
If you notice, when this spirit is operating through the false teachers, healers, and prophetic, people will leave with a spirit of offense, depression, doubting if G-d is really real, and can heal them, heaviness, (cloud of discouragement), feelings of being manipulated, intimidation (fear) and religiousness.
Are You Following Others More Than Following the Word?
- Are you being a student of the Word of G-d, and understand it? Or are you following the doctrines and teachings of a specific denomination or particular person?
- Are you giving up your responsibility of knowing the scriptures to pastors and leaders, instead of studying the Scriptures for yourself?
- Do you test what your pastor, leaders, evangelist, famous prophets with the Word of G-d, and what He says from what you are hearing
Acts 17:11, “Now the people here were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they eagerly welcomed the message, checking the Tanakh every day to see if the things Sha’ul (Paul) was saying were true.”
Ezekiel 22:25-28, “There is a conspiracy of prophets in it like a roaring lion tearing up the prey; they have devoured people, seized wealth and valuables, and widowed many in it. Her cohanim have done violence to my Word, profaned my holy things, made no difference between the holy and the common, not distinguished between unclean and clean, hidden their eyes from my shabbats, and profaned me among themselves. Her leaders in it are like wolves tearing up the prey to shed blood and destroy people, in order to benefit unjustly. Her prophets have “plastered” for them with whitewash, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, “Thus says Adonai Elohim,” when Adonai has not spoken. How many of our modern day prophets would come under what Ezekiel was saying.”
People we must test..test..test
We Are Being Tested. Yahshua Warned Us That We Would
1 John 4:1, “Dear friends, don’t trust every spirit. On the contrary, test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Jeremiah 26:4-6, “So tell them that this is what Adonai says: “If you will not pay attention to me and live according to my Torah, which I have given you, and listen to what my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, say — I have sent them frequently, but you haven’t listened —then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing for all the nations of the earth.”
A True Prophet
A true prophet is always in harmony with other prophets of G-d and Scripture.
1 Corinthians 14:30-33, “And if something is revealed to a prophet who is sitting down, let the first one be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, with the result that all will learn something and all will be encouraged? Also, the prophets’ spirits are under the prophets’ control; for God is not a God of unruliness but of shalom.”
G-d is a G-d of order; many of our modern day church services focused on “self,” “flesh,” “I need this,” or who has the greatest word. Our attention is on what people want to hear and future telling. What happened to conviction, repentance, forgiveness, and bringing people back to the ways of G-d?
The goal for a prophet (when he brings a message of repentance, with future consequences for disobedience to the Word of G-d) is that his warning was heeded, people would repent, and the consequence would not happen. He is hoping the correction G-d implements, would not come to pass.
Hold Fast to the Word of G-d and Test Everything
Matthew 24:10-13, “At that time many will be trapped into betraying and hating each other, many false prophets will appear and fool many people; and many people’s love will grow cold because of increased distance from the Word.
But whoever holds out till the end will be delivered.”
Trust the Holy Spirit to bring to light all that is in darkness. Don’t distance yourself to the Word. Proverbs 4:23, “Above everything else, guard your heart; for it is the source of life’s consequences.”
Amen & Shalom
Eliyahu Praise
