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1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
In this passage, John warns the church that the world is full of false prophets, and to to watch out for them. This warning is repeated many times in the scriptures. The passage in 1 John is in reference to a person who denies that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. However, a general principle can be taken from the passage. The principle is that one of the tests of a prophet is whether the teaching of the prophet conforms to the already- revealed Word of God. If the prophecy denies the Word of God, it is false. God does not contradict himself.
There are other tests of a prophet given in the Bible. In the Old Testament one test of a prophet was whether the thing that the prophet predicted actually came to pass. If the thing that was prophesied did not come to pass, then the person was a false prophet.
Just because the sign or wonder came to pass was no assurance that the prophet was from God. The other test was Did the prophet lead the person to another God? Notice that the hypothetical question, Why did God allow the false prophet to speak?, is answered by the rest of the passage. God wants to "test" you, or prove your character, through your response to what purports to be His Word. If you truly love Him, you will reject what is not His Word. The crime of false prophecy was taken so seriously in the Jewish theocracy that it was a death penalty crime to give false prophecies leading people to another God. It was analogous to treason against the country.
A great example of the usefulness of this occurred with the words of Jesus. He warned the Jews of his generation that if they saw Jerusalem surrounded, they should flee to the hills and not go back into the city, and that the destruction of the city would follow shortly. A great number of false prophets arose who told the Jews that the Roman army would be destroyed by God. The people in Jerusalem had a clear choice, they could follow the words of Jesus, or the words of the false prophets. When the army of Emperor Titus surrounded the city in 70 A. D. and then later made a sudden withdrawal, the opportunity to test the faith of the people came. The believers followed the words of Jesus and went to Pella, in the hills. When the Roman army returned and eventually destroyed the city of Jerusalem, the believers were alive and safe, out of the city.
Today, the issue of prophesy and prophets falls into two broad camps with most people somewhere in between. The cessationist holds that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including prophecy, were for the establishment of the first century church and do not occur today. However, even if a person is a cessationist, there is still a need to determine if any teaching that is given is from God or not.
On the other end of the spectrum, others see the gift of prophecy and the ministry of a prophet continuing through church history. Many of them view the modern prophets differently from an Old Testament prophet, going so far as to teach that the New Testament prophet can give false prophecies and still be a true prophet.
This view is popular in such groups as the Vineyard and the Kansas City Prophets (which publish journals of prophetic messages to the church today). They are concerned both that they don't shut out prophesy, and that they test it. However, they are often prone to look for reasons to justify the prophet when a prophecy does not come to pass. This involves unfalsifiableness. For example, if a prophecy is given that a person would get $100 in the next week, and it doesn t happen, then the person who didn t get the $100 would be blamed and it would be said that he did not get the $100 because of some fault in him. The prophet can not be allowed to lose. Another example would be the church service where two prophets speak, one saying God loves this church and is pleased with its actions , and the next saying God is angry with this church because they are always coming up short. This leads to confusion.
Often an answer to the question How do I test a false prophet? is given that is feeling-oriented answer, like Pray about it , etc. In discernment, prayer is important, however testing truth claims requires using the mind that God has given us for that purpose. No matter what camp a person falls into, the same method of using logic and reason to test a truth claim should be used. Testing requires the use of logic and reason and includes:
Copyright 1996 - Last Updated 08/09/99
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