You walk along a busy city street and you see a man holding up a sign that says, ‘The end is near.’ Is he a prophet? If you didn’t know any better, in terms of prophesying how is he any different than Jesus, who prophesied in Matthew 24? Both predict something that may not come to pass in our lifetime. Some may think that the man is a disciple of Jesus, since both have basically predicted the end to the world as we know it. Without knowledge of the Bible, can you argue that the man is a false prophet?
Was Jesus a prophet while on earth? Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, BUT in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…” What to make of that? Aren’t we all sons and daughters of God? Is Jesus not a prophet because he is God’s exalted son?
Holding for the moment that Jesus is Jesus as the Bible describes him, the question is Who is a prophet, at least someone whom we can listen to? Deuteronomy 18:20-22 says, “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. 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.”
Well, it seems that anyone who predicts something happening hundreds or thousands of years from now can call themselves a prophet, simply because it will be a long time before anyone can know whether his predictions come to pass. Does that mean he is to be regarded as a prophet in the meantime?
Let’s presume for the moment that anyone who predicts something happening a long time from now can be regarded as a prophet, as someone who, according to 2 Peter 1:21 speaks from God. What would it take for us to conclusively say, ‘The man doesn’t speak from God”? Deuteronomy 13:1-3 says, “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘LET US GO AFTER OTHER GODS…and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.”
If we take the whole Bible into consideration in accordance with 2 Timothy 3:16, the prophet need not expressly say ‘Let us go after other Gods.’ He may also implore us to do things that are contrary to what God wants, as far as our understanding of the Bible is concerned. If he says to you ‘You must sacrifice a pig in order to show your faith in God,’ and we do so, we would be in essence following a god that approves of this practice.
What if the so-called prophet says, ‘You must give me money to show your faith in God’? Well, why would God need money? And does the Bible tells us that you either worship God or you worship money, but you can’t worship both?
What if a clergyman, supposedly a man of God tells you that your son died in childbirth because you sinned? (This is what a clergyman told one of my friends.) Well, there are a number of reasons that can be taken from the Bible, to show that God doesn’t sacrifice a person for the wrong another person has done. First off, every conception is an act of God. Secondly, God commanded us to multiply, so for Him to indiscriminately stop a childbirth is a non-starter. Third, did God not say that the sins of the father shall not be visited on the son? Given all that, would this clergyman truly be a man of God, whether or not he may say he’s a prophet? Does this clergyman not seem to go after other gods, those who believe that the child should be made to suffer for the sins of the parent?
As far as God goes, we must always be on guard as to whom we should listen to. If a man holds up a sign saying ‘The end is near,’ should we take him seriously? Are we not told that there are angels in our midst? Well, if we ask him about his sign, and he says something like, ‘You must sacrifice a child to forestall the end,’ well, we can just walk on by.
Was Jesus a prophet while on earth? Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, BUT in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…” What to make of that? Aren’t we all sons and daughters of God? Is Jesus not a prophet because he is God’s exalted son?
Holding for the moment that Jesus is Jesus as the Bible describes him, the question is Who is a prophet, at least someone whom we can listen to? Deuteronomy 18:20-22 says, “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. 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.”
Well, it seems that anyone who predicts something happening hundreds or thousands of years from now can call themselves a prophet, simply because it will be a long time before anyone can know whether his predictions come to pass. Does that mean he is to be regarded as a prophet in the meantime?
Let’s presume for the moment that anyone who predicts something happening a long time from now can be regarded as a prophet, as someone who, according to 2 Peter 1:21 speaks from God. What would it take for us to conclusively say, ‘The man doesn’t speak from God”? Deuteronomy 13:1-3 says, “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘LET US GO AFTER OTHER GODS…and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.”
If we take the whole Bible into consideration in accordance with 2 Timothy 3:16, the prophet need not expressly say ‘Let us go after other Gods.’ He may also implore us to do things that are contrary to what God wants, as far as our understanding of the Bible is concerned. If he says to you ‘You must sacrifice a pig in order to show your faith in God,’ and we do so, we would be in essence following a god that approves of this practice.
What if the so-called prophet says, ‘You must give me money to show your faith in God’? Well, why would God need money? And does the Bible tells us that you either worship God or you worship money, but you can’t worship both?
What if a clergyman, supposedly a man of God tells you that your son died in childbirth because you sinned? (This is what a clergyman told one of my friends.) Well, there are a number of reasons that can be taken from the Bible, to show that God doesn’t sacrifice a person for the wrong another person has done. First off, every conception is an act of God. Secondly, God commanded us to multiply, so for Him to indiscriminately stop a childbirth is a non-starter. Third, did God not say that the sins of the father shall not be visited on the son? Given all that, would this clergyman truly be a man of God, whether or not he may say he’s a prophet? Does this clergyman not seem to go after other gods, those who believe that the child should be made to suffer for the sins of the parent?
As far as God goes, we must always be on guard as to whom we should listen to. If a man holds up a sign saying ‘The end is near,’ should we take him seriously? Are we not told that there are angels in our midst? Well, if we ask him about his sign, and he says something like, ‘You must sacrifice a child to forestall the end,’ well, we can just walk on by.
