On False Prophets

I seem to have been on a run of talking about prophets, being called to ministry, and the like. There’s really no reason why I’m talking so much about that. It’s just thinking that I do. I swear I will get off that subject … but just not today.

The last few months I have been meandering around in the Old Testament and this topic just keeps coming up for me. My thoughts today are about false prophets. The Bible talks a great deal about what it calls “false prophets.” As I have come to understand what that really means, I am struck by the fact that it’s a definition that is timeless. Said another way, false prophets are as real and as proliferous today as they were in the days when the Bible was being written.

I think about that truth and I wonder where they are. Are they in other countries? Surely they’re not in other religions ---- because we consider those false anyway! No, they would have to be found in Christian circles and more specifically in today’s Christian churches. No, really. Think about it. That’s where the false prophets reside today. So how do we spot them? I believe there are some trends in the Bible, characteristics of false prophets that seem to have been common. I’m guessing they would be common today. Here’s what I think those characteristics are.

1. They appear to speak God’s message, but they do not live their own lives according to God’s Word.
2. They “water down” God’s message in order to make it more palatable. (Does this mean “seeker sensitive?”)
3. They encourage their listeners, usually very subtly, to disobey God. They do this by not calling people to repentance and overlooking blatant sin.
4. They tend to package themselves as humble servants, but that may disguise arrogant and self-serving agendas.
5. They appeal to the desires of their audience instead of being true to God’s Word. Often “in the name of love” they will not say what needs to be said.
6. A true prophet --- one who speaks for God, will (like Jesus did) always offend someone. In contrast, false prophets rarely offend anyone with their words.

So what does God think of these false prophets? Look at what it says in Jeremiah 23:

“What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the Lord. …

My heart is broken because of the false prophets, and my bones tremble. I stagger … because of the holy words the Lord has spoken against them. For the land is full of adultery, and it lies under a curse. … For they all do evil and abuse what power they have. …” says the Lord, “… the paths they take will become slippery. … I will bring disaster upon them at the time fixed for their punishment. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

“ … They commit adultery and love dishonesty. They encourage those who are doing evil so that no one turns away from their sins. These prophets are as wicked as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah once were.”

This is what the Lord … says to his people: “Do not listen to these prophets when they prophesy to you, filling you with futile hopes. They are making up everything they say. They do not speak for the Lord! They keep saying to those who despise my word, ‘Don’t worry! The Lord says you will have peace!’ And to those who stubbornly follow their own desires, they say, ‘No harm will come your way!’

Surely God knows where today's false prophets are. but I believe He wants us to understand that as well. God wants us to understand whom His true prophets are --- and who they aren’t. Are we willing to do that? God continues in Jeremiah 23 by giving us some criteria to look for:

“Have any of these prophets been in the Lord’s presence to hear what he is really saying? Has even one of them cared enough to listen? ... I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying. If they had stood before me and listened to me, they would have spoken my words, and they would have turned my people from their evil ways and deeds.…”

“Let my true messengers faithfully proclaim my every word. … Does not my word burn like fire?” says the Lord. “Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?”

“Therefore,” says the Lord, “… I did not send or appoint them, and they have no message at all for my people. … You should keep asking each other, ‘What is the Lord’s answer?’ or ‘What is the Lord saying?’ But stop using this phrase, ‘prophecy from the Lord.’ For people are using it to give authority to their own ideas, turning upside down the words of our God, the living God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies."

So it would seem that just because someone goes to seminary, is ordained by a traditional church and shows up in our pulpits does not necessarily make them a modern day prophet. No, the criteria is not religious pedigree.

The criteria are a supernatural sending from God. Are we Christians willing to look into our pulpits and ask ourselves the hard questions about the people we’re listening to? Are we really more interested in what God has to say? Are we getting God's Word from men (and women) who have taken the time to get to know God, who spend time listening to God and who live their lives in obedience to God? Or are we settling for whatever seems logical, makes us feel good or grows the population of our church?

If God’s Words “burn like fire,” when was the last time you got burnt in your church? When was the last time you got hammered with God’s Word? If you’re not getting burnt or hammered on a fairly regular basis, you just might want to take a hard look at who you’re listening to. False prophets are as prevalent today, if not more so. God knows who they are and where they are. Shouldn't we?