Prophecy ~ 2 - False Prophets ~ A

Prophecy ~ 2
False Prophets ~ A

We are living in the time frame that Joel, and Peter said “…in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. ...And they shall prophesy.” (Acts 2:17-18)
Paul told us: “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” (1Co.14:1, 39)

When you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, you receive Him. As a result, you can operate in any of the “gifts of the Spirit” because He is the source of those gifts.
Paul said to desire to prophesy. You don’t just get access to one of the gifts of the Spirit, but to all of them. Otherwise, why would he say to desire a gift you didn’t have access to it? Prophsy is for today! Prophsy is for Everyone!

Today I want to talk about false prophets, and false prophetic words.
Text: 1John.4:1-8, Acts 21:8-15, Matthew 7:15-23

How many understand that if there are “false prophets” then there are real prophets? Counterfeiters only counterfeit the real thing.
And anytime there is a move of God, you can also expect a move of flesh, and a move of the devil.
But you don’t shut down a move of God just because there can be, might be, will probably be counterfeit moves as well.

There are many places in scripture that instructs us how to know the counterfeit, and what to do about it.

There is a major difference between OT & NT prophecy.
You can’t use the OT model of a prophet to judge a NT prophet.
OT prophets were to enforce God’s Covenant, kind of like police officer.
Their role was to judge the people.

In the NT the role of prophecy had changed dramatically.
The role of one giving a prophetic word is for edification, exhortation and comfort.
Heb.8:6 says we have a “better covenant”… “better promise.”

In the OT, if a prophet didn’t get a word right, the law said to stone them to death.
Not in the NT. Let’s look at an example of a NT prophetic word that wasn’t 100% accurate.

Acts 21:8-15
Agabus prophesies about Paul and said the Jews would bind Paul and hand him over to the Gentiles.

What actually happened was the Gentiles bound Paul and turned him over to the Jews. Acts 21:32-22:1-30

Agabus, and others, (ver.14 we) interpreted this word from God to mean Paul should NOT go to Jerusalem.
Agabus got the main point correct, but I believe some of the details were his own interpretation of what he thought the word from God meant.
God had already spoken to Paul that he was to go to Jerusalem.

There is a BIG difference between a missed prophetic word and a false prophet.
You can get the word wrong and not be a false prophet.
If you give a word that isn’t completely accurate, it doesn’t make you a false prophet, it just means you are human.
And sometimes in my desire to help, I interpret wrongly the simple word God impressed me with originally.

Back in our text in Mat.7:21-23
Just because people do signs and wonders doesn’t mean they are from God.

In Acts 16:16-18 Paul encountered a slave girl with a “spirit of divination,” that was saying the right words, but something was wrong.
Sometimes psychics get the word right – because their boss is making things happen.
Just because someone has an accurate prophetic word doesn’t mean it’s coming from God.
Remember it was the evil spirits who knew who Jesus was.
Sometimes the devil will tell you some truth to lead you into bondage.

One of the functions of the Holy Spirit gift of “discerning of spirits” is to understand if a sign, wonder, prophetic message is from: God, flesh, or the devil. (1Cor.12:10)

How did Jesus tell us we can know the difference? Mt.7:20 “by their fruits.”

1Jn.4:1-8

For Next Week, read: 1 Jn.4, 2 Pet.2, 1 Thes.5:19-22