Featured The Test of a False Prophet and False Denominations

Scripture has provided an easy fool proof test to identify false prophets. A false prophet is one who is being empowered by demons. Those who follow the teachings of a false prophet are being led by demons. Miracles and signs and wonders being performed by a false prophet or by those who follow the teachings of a false prophet are being empowered by demons.

So here is the beauty of this simple test. You don't have to argue over interpretations if you can demonstrate a person or a movement has originated with a false prophet - if it is a false prophet it is demonic in origin and so is any denomination or movement that either claims that person as their prophet or follows the doctrines of that false prophet.

The greatest Old Testament prophet (Moses) who furnished the first five books of the Old Testament provided two tests to reveal false prophets (Deut. 13:1-5; 18:18-20). Under a theocratic government such as Israel just failing these tests ONCE resulted in death for that prophet. Christians are not under a theocratic government where they can put people to death, but nevertheless, failure of either of these tests still proves that man or woman is a false prophet.

The reason that the death sentence could be imposed for just ONE FAILURE is because God promises to be with the mouth of his prophets so they do not fail even once either of these tests. Even when at times God uses lost persons or false prophets to speak through he overrules their mouth so they cannot speak anything but what he wants them to speak. This is seen clearly in God's use of the High Priest Caiphas who sentenced Christ to death:

And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; - John 11:51

This is clearly seen by the use of the false prophet Balaam who ultimately failed the first test of Moses in Deuteronomy 13:1-5. However, he realized when God spoke through him he could not control what he said:

Nu 22:18 And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.

Nu 22:38 And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say any thing? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak.

Nu 24:13 If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the LORD saith, that will I speak?

God controlled the mouth of all true prophets so they could not violate the tests of a true prophet. Like Moses, Jeremiah thought he could not fulfill the role of a prophet as one who could speak for God, but God said unto him:

Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. - Jer. 1:9

Deut. 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.


Jesus told his apostles who would produce inspired scriptures:

Lu 21:15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, where against, all your adversaries shall not be able to speak nor resist.


This is what Peter meant when he spoke of the scriptures provided by the prophets:

2 Pet. 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Prophets did not give forth their "private interpretation" or personal opinions but what they gave forth "came not....by the will of man" but they spake as they were moved or under the control of the Holy Spirit. This is why God's true prophets never fail the tests of a true prophet and this is why false prophets can always be identified because they will ALWAYS fail one or more Biblical tests of a prophet.

OBJECTION: Nobody is perfect, everybody makes mistakes. Not everybody claims to be a prophet or claims to speak in behalf of God. If you claim to be a prophet of God then you are subject to the Biblical tests to determine whether you are a true or a false prophet and God's prophets always pass these tests because God's prophets have their mouth kept by God so they always pass these tests.



A. The First Mosaic test that reveals a false prophet: - The test of true doctrine:

Deut. 13:1 ¶ 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.
5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

1. His prophecies come true - "And the sign or the wonder come to pass"
2. His doctrine contradicts what has previously been confirmed and revealed as God's commandments
3. He is to be put to death - "And that prophet, or that dreamer of dream, shall be put to death"

COMMENT: God used miracles signs and wonders to confirm the message of His prophets to be true. Satan uses miracles signs and wonders to deceive the people of God into thinking his false doctrines come from God, therefore, Paul identified miracles signs and wonders coming from Satan and his prophets as "lying" wonders (2 Thes. 2:9) not because they were not authentic or real but because they were designed to deceive people into thinking they were from God.


B. The Second Mosaic Test that reveals a false Prophet - the Test of prophetic accuracy:

Deut. 18:20 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 follow 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.

1. Just one failure results in death - no second chances - Because God puts his words into the mouths of his true prophets so they do not fail (Deu. 18:18 "will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.")

2. If anything prophesied does not come to pass as prophesied it is the proof of a false prophet.


C. After Moses God gives at least five more tests to reveal false prophets, and failure just once in any of these tests reveal that person as a false prophet

1. The Test of Divine Origin of all claimed revelation from God - Plagiarization proof of a false prophet:

I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied....Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. - Jer. 23:21,30


2. The test of good fruits:

Beware of false prophets.. ye shall know them by their fruits. - Mt.7:15-1,6

The test of fruit of their mouth - doctrinal character, as well as the fruit of their lives or moral character. God's prophets are called "holy men of God" (2 Pet. 1:21) while false prophets are characterized by unholiness (2 Pet. 2; Jude).

(CONTINUED in one more post)

 

3. The test of confusion:


God is not the author of confusion...If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord- 1 Cor. 14:33,37


All who claim to be prophets but teach and practice precisely what characterized the confusion in the worship service at Corinth are false prophets. Those who claim his teaching in the immediate context is not for today or teach contrary are false prophets.



4. The Test of Christ's Person:


1 Jn. 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.

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3 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.


The preexistence of Jesus Christ as someone not human prior to the incarnation is as much part of this test as it is to acknowledge the full humanity of Christ. Hence, the dual nature of Jesus Christ as both God and man is a test of all true prophets.




5. The Test of Apostolic Finality


1 Jn. 4:5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.


The contextual "us" in this context are the apostles defined at the beginning of this epistle (1 Jn. 1:1-3). The writer of Hebrews tells us that God spoke prior to the coming of Christ through prophets but in these last days spoken through his Son (Heb. 1:1-2). He further explains this in Hebrews 2:1-4 as Christ's words are conveyed through the apostles and then confirmed by miracles signs and wonders. Indeed, the apostles were selected and ordained as the authorized representative spokesman for Christ (Jn. 14-17). The Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance all things that He said and they would convey it orally to those within their generation and then preserve it in written form for all future generations.


The apostolic writings are the final prophetic revelation from God unto Christ comes again. Hence, all self-proclaimed prophets after the apostolic age are false prophets who by their very profession deny the completeness of apostolic revelation in behalf of Christ.


True apostles had to be eyewitnesses of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ or have seen his physical raised body as did Paul (Acts 1:20-21) of which Paul claims to be the "last" of all to have seen him physically (1 Cor. 15:8).




D. Application of just the first five tests

For the present, we will ignore the previous two tests and just apply the first five tests.

Just the application of the first five prophetic tests is completely sufficient to expose the Roman Catholic Church, the Mormons, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Pentecostals, The Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science and all post-apostolic movements originating with prophets as demonic in origin and in power.


Just like the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Roman Catholic Church claims to be the prophetic mouth piece of God. Their chief prophet - the papal office - has been proven over and over again to be a morally corrupted office as well as a doctrinally corrupted office. Mary Baker Eddy, Ellen G. White, Joseph Smith, Benny Hinn (countless other pentecostal false prophets) Joseph Smith, etc. all have recorded false prophecies proving they are all false prophets and therefore the movement they are identified with and teaches their doctrines, publishes and reads their books is just as demonic in origin and power as their false prophets.

These prophetic tests are a very simple way to identify a false prophet, and therefore identify any religious movement that claims them as their prophet or follows their teachings to be just as false as their prophets. You don't have to debate and argue about interpretations of their different doctrines. It does not matter if they have SOME truths as the essence of deception includes SOME truth. What matters is their PROPHETIC SOURCE is not God but Satan and the indisputable proof is they have failed one or more of these Biblical tests JUST ONCE!

To argue that we cannot put prophets to death today does not mean that God would not put them to death today if he had a theocratic government still upon earth. It does not change God's tests to reveal a false prophet and the source of false doctrine and false denominations all originate with a demonic source (1 Tim. 4:1)

 

I am sure such false thinking stimulates your ego, but the "One Universal (Catholic) Christian church" has nothing to do with the church of Christ in the New Testament at all in any sense whatsoever. Indeed, it is the first Christian cult and there is no other cult as cultish as Romanism. There is no other institution that claims the name of Christ that is more of a perversion of His name or glory. In other words it is "the mother" of all harlot institutions.

 

No, we come directly from church at Jerusalem and our history is perverted by rash Roman monks who distorted history, distorted their enemies, and even whose rash hands distorted the very scripture documents. We are the hated maligned Anabaptists who have been charged with every evil under the sun by Roman monks who provided a revisionist history that gives the old Harlot a new face lift.

However, you are trying to derail the primary subject of the OP and that is the Biblical tests to expose false prophets.

 

The subject is the test of a false prophet and false denominations not what denomination I might or might not belong to. I don't claim to be a prophet nor does the denomination I belong to claim to have prophets neither does my denomination believe in ongoing revelation but your does. So the OP cannot possibly apply to me or my denomination as we do not claim ongoing revelation nor do we claim prophets or apostles but yours does.

 

This is included in the OP or did you even read it?

This is not presented by John as a test of a true prophet. The Bible does not demand true Christians to love falsehoods, false denominations and false teachers and false prophets, as love "rejoiceth not in iniquity" (1 Cor. 13:7). Instead the Scriptures clearly demand to mark and expose falsehoods, false denominations, false teachers and false prophets (Rom. 16:17) and avoid them. Even heaven rejoiceth with the destruction of the Great Harlot - Rev. 19:1-4.

There are saved people in the Old Harlot but IN SPITE OF HER teachings and such are commanded to come out of her (Rev. 18:4).

 

John Smyth did not start our denomination. There is an overwhelming abundance of evidence of Baptists in England long before Smyth both under the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth.

You never contribute to the OP's but are always trying to derail threads. I am putting you on the ignore list.

 

Bob, it is clear from reading your post that you did not read my posts in their entirety before commenting. Read them first and then comment. For example, I gave the actual tests in the post but your comments are made as though I did not give the actual Biblical tests.

No circular reasoning involved here at all as 1 Jn. 4:1-6 is clearly speaking about false prophets and identifying them with the "spirit of error" just as 1 Tim. 4:1 clearly identifies the origin of false doctrine with demonic spirits of error.

I provided the substance in seven clear Biblical tests of false prophets.

Again, you need to read my posts in their entirety as seven Bible Tests are given and outlined. I am explaining why true prophets do not fail those tests because God controls their mouth.

The Biblical tests do not condemn conditional prophecies but condemn absolute prophecies which fail to come to pass that are clearly stated will come to pass (Deut. 18:18-20). A conditional prophecies is not an absolute prophecy.

I am glad we agree on the major points.