True Prophets vs. False Prophets--How Can You Tell Them Apart?by Shirley Cheng

What is a prophet? A prophet is a person who receives a prophecy, message from God, and then communicates that message to others. A divinely inspired message is always direct, specific, and tells exactly what will happen, to whom, and precisely what people should do. Moreover, a true prophecy from God always comes true in every detail. Predictions that "mostly" come true are not good enough.

Two opposite forces operate in our world: the good force and the evil force. The good force is lead by the one and only true God Almighty, whose personal name is Jehovah; His Son Jesus Christ, our Messiah; and the Holy Spirit, which is God's active force that He uses to perform every and any miraculous sign. Angels also belong to this good group, as they do the will of Jehovah both in the heavens and on Earth.

The evil force is run by Satan, the devil, and his demons, which were originally good angels who chose to rebel against God. Many people laugh at the idea of demons, dismissing them merely as part of children's ghosts stories. But demons are no laughing matter; they're real, and unless we take them seriously, we will fall victim to their schemes. These evil spirits' purpose is to go against God in every way, so it is important to know their tactics lest we are deceived. And one of their tactics is imitating God's prophets and prophecies.

How can you tell a true prophet of God from the false prophet of Satan? The below basic guidelines will assist your discernment:

• True prophets always speak in God's name with the authority given by God. False prophets speak in a name other than Jehovah's. This is the first and foremost test whether a prophet is from God or Satan. If someone cannot pass this test, there's no other reason to go on to the other tests.

• True prophecies, as mentioned, always come true exactly as they are told. False prophecies, on the other hand, do not come true, even if they are spoken in God's name. Some prophecies may appear to be fulfilled when they are told in an ambiguous way. For instance, if I say, "A dog will bark in two hours," and a dog does bark two hours later, does that make me a true prophet? No, because I did not indicate a specific dog. What I predicted could have spoken by anyone. A true message from God would have named a specific dog, giving no doubt to whether the prophecy had come true when it did indeed come true.

• True prophets exhibit godly qualities: true love, peace, joy, longsuffering, faith, goodness, gentleness, meekness, and temperance, which are the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in believers. (Read Galatians 5:22-23 in your Bible.) True prophets do good works and speak good words. False prophets do not possess this good nature. Even though Satan and the demons can perform miracles, they do not imitate God's good qualities, so this is one of the best ways to differentiate the true from the false prophets.

• True prophets glorify God through their words, action, and any supernatural signs they perform. They credit Jehovah for the power they receive. False prophets glorify spirits other than God.

• True prophets lead people to God and His teachings. False prophets do not.

If you would like to learn more about Jehovah and His ways, I strongly advise that you pick up a copy of the Bible. If you need a bit of guidance before and during your Bible study, I'm here to help! So feel free to contact me via my site.


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