Identifying False Prophets
August 19, 2022 12:43 AM
Immanuel Acree
Some false prophets could have been identified early on.
Prophets are not independent of the church nor do they shrug at the preaching of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Prophets are never going to operate 100% free from the organization of pastors or apostolic elders. If you know a prophet who does not keep a local pastor network at the ready of his ministry to which he can always defer in situations of controversy, then treat that prophet as an amateur! There is not going to be a prophet who has no honorable pastors to mention as the alternative witness to his gospel. Even the final Two Witness prophets are going to have an extensive list of good pastors and teachers to recommend even if those teachers are all dead.
If you know a famous or widely trending prophet but you never hear him recommend specific elders or churches, exercise extreme caution. That is not good for the church. John the Baptist deferred to Jesus and the apostles immediately! So should all prophets defer to evangelists and pastors.
And finally, if you hear prophets focus more on physical reality such as politics or the economy or the weather but never repentance and on Jesus, then take warning. Prophets should be absorbed in morality and spiritual purity over everything else. “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Predicting the future is a stunt available to false prophets also as shown in Deuteronomy 13:1. So a false prophet is more easily identified through his disloyalty to Jesus.
Nobody is independent of the apostolic tradition we received.
Immanuel Acree
8/18/22
Photos courtesy Depositphotos
