What Does God Say About Prophets?

For many months I desired to write about a very troubling time in the greater Christian community. Nothing is more influential than for a “so-called” minister to speak in the name of the Lord. With an ever-increasing lack of the knowledge of the Word of God, multitudes mistakenly believe almost everything they hear from such individuals to be Divine Wisdom. On January 23rd of 2021, I received this article from Pastor Keith Surface of Calvary Outreach in Porter, Texas, a minister friend who was equally concerned about the damage being done among professing Christians. He included every verse of Scripture I was basing my articled on, only adding one additional verse. This is purely the Word of God. I believe everyone needs to read this article. I am thankful for faithful ministers of the Gospel that help bring attention to this truth. May we all abide in the unchanging Truth.

Robert Turnage – SOC President

 

 

What Does God Say About Prophets?

How does God call a prophet?

“And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches…” Numbers 12:6-8

 

How do we know if a prophet is of God or    merely a presumptuous prophet?

“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. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 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.” Deuteronomy 18:20-22

 

Do signs or wonders prove that someone is a  prophet of God?

“If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 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; 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.”

Deuteronomy 13:1-5

 

What are the signs of a presumptuous prophet?

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come  upon you.” Jeremiah 23:16-17

“They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken? Therefore thus saith  the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD…” Ezekiel 13:6-8

 

Where does a presumptuous prophet get their  prophecy?

“And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith  the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!” Ezekiel 13:1-12

“Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and  do tell them, and cause my people to err by their      lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them:” Jeremiah 23:30-32

Will God entrap a presumptuous prophet?

“And if the prophet be deceived when he hath  spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that  prophet…” Ezekiel 14:9

What judgment awaits a presumptuous               prophet?

“…I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be  even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;” Ezekiel 14:9-10

 

“And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the  idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt  not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.” Zechariah 13:2-3

How can a presumptuous prophet repent?

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman;  for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.” Zechariah 13:1-5