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How Do We Know If A Prophecy Comes From The Lord?

17 Sep

What’s one very important thing regarding prophecy when it pertains to God?

Deuteronomy 18:14-22 – 14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”

17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19 If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.”

21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

It has to come true.  Not a high percentage, but one hundred percent.  God is not just good on His predictions but perfect.

What is the fate of a false prophet suppose to be?  Verse 20 suggests that his career is cut very short.  Impersonating prophets are to be put to death.  I would say God takes that pretty seriously.

Tomorrow we will talk about a second thing that is important regarding rather or not a prophecy could be from God.

 

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  1. Clint Bridges

    December 7, 2012 at 10:36 pm

    This is an interesting post. So let me ask you a question. I came to the Lord in an A/G Pentecostal Church ministry and was very much involved in local community A/G Churches in Othello (1972-1979) and Moses Lake (1979-1984). At that time I then changed fellowships and move to the Christian and Missionary Alliance Fellowship in Moses Lake. Many times during the services there would be a “prophecy” in tongues with an interpretation. Everyone would be still themselves when these occurred, then usually the pastor would comment and the service would go on. No one was really ever held to any accountability on these prophecies, though everyone seemed to honor them as having come from the Lord. Several times I heard things prophesied that later never came true. More than I heard it prophesied, sometimes multiple times and very emphatically, that the person would be healed of their disease or be completely delivered from the terrible circumstances in which they found themselves. Later, several of these people died of their diseases or suffered the terrible calamity and some even left the faith because of the terrible things that happened to them.

    When I asked about the prophecies concerning these folks I was given several answers, including, “the Lord decided to answer the prayer by taking them home”, “it’s not our place to try to understand the workings of God”, “well they would have received it if they only had enough faith”, “well they must have had something blocking them from receiving God’s blessing”. No one ever held the “prophet” who prophesied responsible for what he or she had said within the service. One has to be careful not to be too critical on this, and one must be careful to keep things within context, but the times that come to mind, there was no doubt as to what the context of the prophesy was, it was complete, future, restorative healing or deliverance. And it never happened. I find this to be disturbing and think it is a severe weakness and a dishonesty within our faith. If we insist on always quoting the above Scripture verses as tests for being a true prophet, then we must certainly apply it to ourselves and within our own worship services. If we choose not to apply it to ourselves, then we are simply arrogant Pharisees ourselves.

    Clint