For a while now I have been wanting to write about prophecy. Why is that? I have noticed many Christians being deceived into believing false prophets and false prophecies, even when the prophecies did not come to past. The biggest example I can think of is during the year 2020. It was politically the most polarizing year of my lifetime in the United States. America was and still is the most divided it has ever been in my lifetime and my parent’s lifetime and my grandparent’s lifetime. Many “prophets” prophesied that Donald Trump would win the election and be given a second term. Unfortunately, what not many people knew was that these “prophets” were speaking visions of their own heart since they wanted Trump to be president a second term and they were not speaking from the Lord. However, when the votes were finished being counted on November 7th 2020, Joe Biden won both the popular vote and the electoral votes and on January 20th 2021, he was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. Due to the lack of discernment when it came to prophecy I feel compelled to write an analysis of what the Bible says about prophecy. Unfortunately, this has not just happened in the USA, but in other countries as well. I remember in a country where I have connections with, there were a lot of my friends from this country sharing this video of a man prophesying that there would be a change of government in this country by the end of 2020. However, by the end of 2020, there was no change of government in this country.
Before you get upset at me please understand that although I using political examples, me writing this has absolutely nothing to do with my political opinions and if you continue reading this article past this paragraph, you will see that this article is not about politics, but prophecy. If evangelical “prophets” back in 2020 started prophesying that Joe Biden would become the new president of the United States, and he did not win the election 2020 election and if January 20th 2021 came and Joe Biden was not sworn in as president, and Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term, I promise you that I would still be be writing an article on prophecy.
Growing up in an unhealthy ultra-charismatic environment, I had people prophesy to me many times. At the time I did not have the spiritual maturity to know that what they were saying was not true, but now whenever I have people come up to me and prophecy to me, the first verse that comes to mind is 1 John 4:1 which says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” In other words, this verse is saying just because someone says “God showed me” or “God told me” does not mean they are really seeing or hearing things from God. Secondly, if someone does “prophesy” to you, you must make sure that they are really hearing from God, because false prophets do exist and we are warned of this.
Then that leads to the question, “How can we know whether a prophecy is true or not true?” One of the most obvious ways to see if a prophetic word is true is to read the Bible, because if someone is saying something contradictory to God’s word than it is guarantied that the person prophesying is not hearing from God since in Hebrews 6:18 it says that it is impossible for God to lie. Another answer can be found in Deuteronomy 18:21-22 where it says, ”And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”
If you claim that you are a prophet or that you are constantly hearing things from God, I encourage you to ask yourself this question, ”If I were under the old covenant, and I was convinced that I received a prophetic word from God, would I be willing to die if it did not come to past?” The reason why I would encourage you to ask this question is because under the Old Testament although all sin was bad, not all sin bore the same punishment and the most severe punishments bore death or execution, which includes false prophecy. In the same passage I quoted earlier, it is written in Deuteronomy 18:20, ”But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.” If you think I am being to harsh, then remember it like this: Be very careful about saying “God told me” or “God showed me” because false prophecy or speaking a false word in the name of the Lord is not something God takes lightly.
Since as seen in Deuteronomy 18:20-22, that false prophecy was something that was worthy of death in the Old Testament and that if someone prophesies something that does not come to past they must not be feared, it can be concluded that prophecy is not one of those things were you get a do over. Some object to this conclusion and say, ”Saying that a you’re not a prophet unless you get every prophecy right is like saying you’re not an evangelist unless every person you evangelize to comes to Christ.” However the spiritual gift of evangelism and prophecy differ greatly. When someone claims to prophecy, they are claiming to receive new revelation from God that has not yet come to past and that we have no way of knowing whether it will come to past. With Evangelism on the other hand, an Evangelist is simply spreading the news of revelation that has already come to past, which is the Gospel. Therefore, this argument is a false equivalence.
The final point I want to make is that not all false prophecy is from the devil. Some like to think that prophetic words are either from God or the Devil. However, this is not the case. For example, during a time when there were many so called prophets in Israel, the prophet Jerimiah warned the Israelites: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:16).” So, while some think there are 2 types of prophecies, there are actually 3. First there is prophecy that comes from God from prophets such as Isaiah, Jerimiah, and Ezekiel. Then there’s prophecy that comes from the devil. These are false prophets who say things they know are not true in order to deceive people. Then there is prophecy that comes from the human heart. These prophets say things that they want to be true. So if someone prophesies a word in the name of the Lord, do not automatically assume it is demonic, it is many times just someone saying things that they want to be true.
I now hope that you were able to read past the introduction to see that the article was not about politics, but prophecy. Personally, I think that it was a good thing that I waited about year to write on this subject, because I hoped that some people would have calmed down enough to read what God’s word has to say about prophecy. This article was primarily written so that people will know that we should not believe everyone who speaks in the name of the Lord, as well as the fact that speaking a false word in the name of the Lord is not something God takes lightly, and that not all false prophecy is demonic. My final hope as a whole upon writing this article would be that Christians would next time practice more discernment when someone says,” Thus saith the Lord.”
Jean-Marc Brand 