A prophet was a person called to speak (Heb. nabi, prophet). God has called men and women to prophesy, or speak for Him, sometimes by predicting the future, but more often by sharing a message from the heart of God.
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Moses was a prophet of God. Israel was instructed to look for a prophet like Moses, and found One greater than Moses in the person of Jesus Christ.
Looking for a Great Prophet.
“Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. 22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you” (Acts 3:21-24).
Jesus, Greater than Moses.
“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; 2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. 3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, in as much as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. 4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. 5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; 6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Heb. 3:1-6).
There was great danger in not listening and obeying “that” prophet, Jesus. “And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. 24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days” (Acts 3:23, 24).
As God has called people to speak for Him, so the Enemy, Satan, has called men and women to speak for him.
The prophets of Satan are false prophets, who must be identified and rejected. Consider the marks of a false prophet.
First Mark of a False Prophet
Through signs and wonders, a false prophet will lead a person to worship a false god. “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.4 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him” (Deut. 13:1-4).
Illustration.
The heart of Solomon was turned away from the Lord because he allowed false prophets to influence him through the women in his life.
“For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. 7 Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. 8 And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. 9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice” (1 Kings 11:4-9).
False Gods in Israel Honored by Solomon
Ashtoreth Goddess of the Zidonians
Milcom A God of the Ammonites
Chemosh A God of Moab
Molech A God of Ammon
Second Mark of a False Prophet
The predictions of the False Prophet do not come to pass.
“But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. 21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follows not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18:20-22).
Third Mark of a False Prophet
The False Prophet will instill fear into the hearts of the people of God. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). Fear is an unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or wariness of danger (Merriam-Webster). To be afraid, is to expect something to happen with alarm.
One of the greatest groups of False Prophets on earth today are those found outside the Church in the cults, and those within the Church called Dispensational Teachers.
The founder of the Mormon Religion was Joseph Smith, Jr. “The Prophet.”
The founder of the Seventh Day Adventist was Ellen G. White, “The Prophetess.”
The founder of the Jehovah Witnesses was Charles Taze Russell.
One of the fathers of the Millennial Movement, that spawned these cults was a Baptist farmer and lay minister named William Miller.
Some of the leading figures today in the prophetic circles of Dispensationalism include John Hagee (April 21, 1940), Hal Lindsey (Nov. 23:1929), and Jack Van Impe (Feb. 9, 1931 – Jan. 18, 2020).
To say this is not to be mean spirited. It is to say that some Christians can have a good heart, but bad theology. It is also to say that some False Prophets have bad hearts and bad theology. It is also to recognize that a person can simply be in doctrinal error one day, but the next day be labeled a False Prophet, because what they predicted, in the name of the Lord, did not come to pass.
Consider the Evidence
FAILED PROPHESY AND MISSLEADING INFORMATION
Joseph Smith, Jr.
Jesus would return within 56 years of 1835 or by 1891 (History of the Church, Vol. 2, page 182).
Ellen G. White
After predicting the world would end in 1843, 1844, & 1845, she wrote, “Now time is almost finished, (1851) and what we have been 6 years in learning they will have to learn in months” (Early Writings, p.57).
Charles Taze Russell
The “End of the Harvest” would acure by 1878 and the gathered saints would be translated into spirit form. His successor, President J. F. Rutherford predicted the world would end in 1925. “Therefore, we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews 11, to the condition of human perfection,” said Rutherford.
William Miller
“My principles in brief, are, that Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, cleanse, purify, and take possession of the same, with all the saints, sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844.” The date was revised to October 22, 1844 only to become known as The “Great Disappointment.”
Jack Van Impe
In the 1990s, Van Impe said he expected Christ to return between 2001 and 2012. He warned Christians to be on the lookout for the Antichrist and moves to establish a “New World Order.” He died on Jan 18, 2020, thereby ending a 68 years career of misleading and scaring God’s people while making merchandise out of them with his doomsday books, tapes, and TV program.
John Hagee
In his book Four Blood Moons: Something is About to Change, Hagee deliberately led people to believe the lunar eclipse of April 2014 was the beginning of the end times as described in the Bible in the Book of Joel (Acts 2:20; Rev. 6:12).
Harold Camping
May 21, 2011 would be Judgment Day and mark the Rapture.
Hal Lindsey
Lindsey predicts that the “Jupiter Effect” will occur in 1982 and at that time dams will burst and nuclear power plants will have major melt downs *Lindsey predicts that the European Union will be the most powerful entity in the world by the mid 1980’s
Lindsey announces that the Antichrist is alive and well in Europe as he is making this speech and will soon make his appearance
Lindsey predicts that Russia will invade Jerusalem in the 1980’s and that the U.S. will be powerless to do anything about it.
Lindsey announces to the people of his audience that the rapture will occur in their lifetime.
According to Hal Lindsey all these predictions are based on “clear Bible prophecies.”
Lindsey was born Nov 23, 1929 and shall soon join all the other False Prophets of the modern era.
Tim Lahaye
With Jerry Jenkins, authored the Left Behind Series; they linked their beliefs to the Y2K bug. But the world did not end.
Pat Robertson
In his book, The New Millennium, Robertson predicted the destruction of the earth to be in early 2007. Other failed prophesies include Iran would have a nuclear weapon in 2014; Jay D. Rockefeller would be elected president in 1996; he would be president in 1988; World War III would begin in 1980.
Benny Hinn
On December 31, 1989 at a New Year’s Eve service at Hinn’s church in Orlando, Benny prophesied that Castro would die in the 1990s. Hinn also prophesied that God would destroy America’s homosexuals with fire sometime in that decade.
Glenn Beck
In 2006, Glenn Beck predicted Israel was going to be destroyed, and then Armageddon would ensue.
Oral Roberts
Roberts prophesied the political environment and the attack on the World Trade Centers would result in the rapture of the saints, and the end of the world thereafter.
Common Characteristics Among False Prophets
What every false prophet has in common is an arrogance to believe they alone have insight into the future, the willingness to speak dogmatically, and the ability to “see” current events in the Bible, not by way of application, but by way of interpretation. One clever prophetic buff believes the moon turning to blood refers to a violent conflict that will be fought on the moon as nations arrive to conquer it. Study Joel 2:31; Revelation 6:12
But then another generation, an earlier generation, taught the same prophesy had been fulfilled. On May 19, 1780. The moon became as red as blood on this “Night of the Dark Day.”
Fourth Mark of a False Prophet
The False Prophet boldly dares to contradict the Word of God. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).
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Jesus taught His disciples would experience great tribulation. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
The False Prophet teaches the disciples of Jesus will not experience great tribulation.
Jesus taught His disciples they would not be taken out of the world, and to that end prayed. “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15).
The False Prophet teaches the disciples of Jesus will be taken out of the world.
Fifth Mark of a False Prophet
The False Prophet will bear bad fruit. “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matt. 7:18-20).
Without exception, the fruit of the False Prophet is characterized by fear, anxiety, immorality, and more false doctrine.
Sixth Mark of a False Prophet
The False Prophet inevitably embraces a doctrine of salvation by works, while rejecting Jesus Christ as God and Man. The False Prophet will teach what is contrary to the historic faith, the simplicity of Scriptures, and sound Bible doctrine.
Denial of the Biblical Doctrine of Christ
“And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 John 4:3).
Rejection of the Historic Faith.
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).
Unsound Doctrine
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:1-2).
