What are the signs and characteristics of a false prophet? - False Prophets & Teachers - TouchPoints

Deuteronomy 13:1-4“Suppose there are prophets among you or those who dream dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles occur. If they then say, ‘Come, let us worship other gods’—gods you have not known before—do not listen to them. The Lord your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him.”

A false prophet will ultimately try to get us to worship “other gods.” A “god” is whatever takes the greatest priority in our lives. A false god or “idol” can be a person, an object, a hobby, a career, or a certain kind of lifestyle. A false prophet will talk more about himself or about other issues than about God. Some false prophets have a great deal of spiritual power. We should be careful to not be deceived by that, for Satan also has spiritual power and gives it to those who serve him. We must make sure that any spiritual power or uncanny vision from our leaders points us to God and doesn’t contradict anything from God’s Word.

Jeremiah 23:9-14My heart is broken because of the false prophets, and my bones tremble. . . . For they all do evil and abuse what power they have. . . . They commit adultery and love dishonesty. They encourage those who are doing evil so that no one turns away from their sins.

False prophets have evil motives, abuse power, engage in sinful lifestyles, and don’t confront others when they sin. They say what people want to hear, rather than what people need to hear.

2 Peter 2:1-3There were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. . . . Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money.

False prophets teach heresy, which is any message that contradicts the truth taught in the Bible. Heresy can appear small and harmless—perhaps it may be a half-truth—but it creates an opportunity for Satan to twist our understanding and manipulate our behavior.

2 Peter 2:14They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed.

False prophets lead their people into sin before they can realize what is happening. They also ignore wrongdoings among the people of their congregation, unless the people are violating their own teachings. Then they become very upset.

Colossians 2:9In Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.

1 John 4:1-3Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

A false prophet often denies that Jesus was fully God and fully human when he came to earth. Jesus’ identity as the God-man is an essential doctrine of the Christian faith. Jesus had to be fully human in order to experience our human life on earth. He also had to be fully God, sinless so that he could take our sins on himself, die for us, and rise from the dead to show his power over death. That is the basis for our hope and confidence that we, too, will be given this same power over death. Many false prophets or teachers will say that God was either just a good man or that he was divine and never truly became human. This undermines the entire gospel.

John 10:10“My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

John 16:33“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Hebrews 11:35-38Others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

False prophets twist Scripture or take passages out of context. Some, for example, quote the end of John 10:10 and other verses about God’s blessings to teach that God will reward people who have faith with health and wealth. That may be true for some in this life, but the Bible is filled with example of believers who suffered greatly, as we see in the passage from Hebrews 11. We should believe in Jesus because he is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), not for the hope of any earthly rewards.

Matthew 7:15-17“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. . . . A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.”

1 John 1:6So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.

False prophets are motivated by the wrong things. What they say and how they live their lives are usually not consistent.

2 Corinthians 2:17You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us.

2 Peter 2:3In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.

False prophets are often greedy and come up with all kinds of schemes to get people’s money. They often don’t reveal how the money is spent and refuse to give accurate accounting.

Luke 6:26“What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets.”

Acts 20:29-30“I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.”

2 Corinthians 5:12Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart.

Galatians 4:17Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but their intentions are not good.

False prophets always try to gain a following because they are more concerned about popularity than accurately teaching the Scriptures. They seem obsessed with winning our favor. Usually they distort the truth of Scripture to convince us that they have some secret or special knowledge from God.

Ezekiel 13:10“This will happen because these evil prophets deceive my people by saying, ‘All is peaceful’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to reinforce it by covering it with whitewash!”

False prophets try to convince people that all is well with their souls and lives, lulling them into a false sense of security. True prophets will show us how things really are, revealing our sins so we can take the necessary actions to be restored to peace with God.

Matthew 23:23-24“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!”

Colossians 2:20-23You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.

1 Timothy 4:1-3Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead. They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth.

False teachers can appear very religious and self-disciplined by abstaining from certain activities and foods and urging us to do the same. These kinds of practices do not take away sin nor do they necessarily make anyone more godly. We should not allow a leader’s style or credentials to overly impress us. We must be careful when a leader adds rules to Scripture and tells us that God wants us to follow them. The Pharisees were famous for their rigorous additions to God’s law, but all their pride and rule-keeping only hardened their hearts to Jesus. Spiritual discipline and the study of God’s Word are valuable, but their purpose is to humble us and open the soil of our hearts, not to harden us with pride.

Micah 2:11Suppose a prophet full of lies would say to you, “I’ll preach to you the joys of wine and alcohol!” That’s just the kind of prophet you would like!

False prophets and false teachers often encourage people to use what is good to excess, causing them to sin. False teachers often only point to the passages in the Bible that talk about freedom and ignore the passages that talk about self-discipline.

2 Corinthians 10:12Oh, don’t worry; we wouldn’t dare say that we are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant!

False teachers compare themselves to others rather than God, lowering the spiritual standards they should strive to achieve. They care more about public opinion than God’s opinion.

1 Corinthians 2:14People who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.

False prophets and teachers don’t have the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in them, which means they don’t have the wisdom of God to discern spiritual matters. False teachers, therefore, will often not understand the work of the Holy Spirit in a group of believers. False teachers cannot feel the confirmation of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, so they will either look for some logical explanation or make up their own special revelations from God.