FALSE TEACHING
Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 9)
APPEAL TO TRADITION
When it comes to a proper understanding of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit is all the believer needs (1 John 2:27). The believer does not need the ';church fathers'; (who were Catholic, see The Early Church Fathers), or the supposed great men of God in the past, or church history, or commentaries, or Bible scholars, or some particular man (like Darwin Fish), etc.. Any appeal otherwise is an appeal to the tradition of men. In Colossians 2:8 Paul warned,
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
WORLDLY WISDOM
Akin to the above, in 1 Corinthians 2:2 Paul wrote,
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified
LEWDNESS
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness . . . (Jude 3-4)
A common identifying mark of a false teacher is someone who turns the grace of our God into lewdness.
Lewdness (';lasciviousness'; - King James Version) primarily means ';shamelessness.'; ';The prominent idea is shameless conduct'; (Vine. 2:310). Lewd people feel no shame for shameful conduct.
SILENCE
John 10:11-13 states,
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
The hireling (the one who is there to make money, the wage earner) does nothing about the wolves. Wolves are those that propagate falsehood (e.g. Matthew 7:15; Acts 20:29). The hireling does nothing about other false teachers.
COVETOUSNESS
2 Peter 2:3 states, speaking of false teachers, ';by covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words.'; In the second part of verse fourteen of 2 Peter 2 it says, ';They have a heart trained in covetous practices . . . .';
WELL SPOKEN OF
Jesus said, Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. (Luke 6:26)Christians; a minor question: Distinguishing true and false prophets, how would you know the difference?
1. The prophet leads people to follow a different God than the true God revealed in the Bible.
2. The prophet makes a specific prediction that doesn't come to pass.
3. The prophet makes general statements that could be later have said to come to pass through a bizarre interpretation of what what said and you can see that the person who calls them self a prophet is really in it for the money and their own glory and is not a humble spokesman who is passing along divine revelations of truth from God.Christians; a minor question: Distinguishing true and false prophets, how would you know the difference?
Matthew 7:15 A false prophet often has smooth, appealing words, but may be known because of thorns in his life (killing people, having illicit sexual relations etc, intimidation of others and the like), where there should be fruit (kindness, love, self-control, peace etc)
1 John - an antichrist denies aspects of Jesus identity such as his divinity.
A false prophet teaches contrary to the salvation provided by God through Christ - Galatians 1 etc
How does one tell the difference between true and false prophets? Well, here is some verses and examples of what the Bible talks about distinguishing false prophets to true prophets of God;
It is good to look at a Bible topic such as this in order to realize how little we can say about it. The Old Testament highlights the constant conflict between false prophets and the prophets of the Lord. Distinguishing between them in the past was difficult, but it had to be done. The Israelites asked the Lord, ';How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?'; (Deut. 18:21). John wrote to the church, ';Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world'; (1 John 4:1). Since this topic is very important, the Lord gave His people some guidance.
1. FULFILLED PROPHECIES: Moses told the Israelites: ';When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken'; (Deut. 18:22; cf. Jer. 28:8, 9). At first glance this is a good test, yet it is often difficult to apply. In order to know whether someone is a true prophet, we have to wait for the fulfillment of the prophecy he or she spoke about. In order to help their hearers, prophets sometimes gave within their long-term prophecies a short-term one that was quickly fulfilled (Jer. 28:16, 17). Yet the predictions of a false prophet could also be fulfilled (Deut. 13:1, 2). This suggests that this test is not sufficient, in itself, to know whether a prophet is from God.
2. CORRECT THEOLOGY: This test assumes that people had already received messages from the Lord and that they were able to use them to grade new revelations. For example, since God's law prohibits worshiping idols, a prophet who led others to worship other gods would be a false prophet (Deut. 13:2). The message from a new prophet had to agree with God's former revelations (Isa. 30:8). The people hearing the new revelation had to have a deep personal knowledge of God's Word. This allowed them to use that knowledge to test the truthfulness of the new revelation. In the New Testament God's revelation through Jesus became the central test, with the written Word, to show whether a prophet was true (1 John 4:2, 3; John 17:17). Although this test is more difficult to falsify, it can be falsified. The apostle Paul wrote about ';false apostles . . . transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light'; (2 Cor. 11:13, 14). Yet those who know the truth as it is in Jesus will not be deceived.
3. ETHICAL TEST: False prophets do not live up to the God's laws and do not clearly speak out against sin. The prophet Ezekiel accused false prophets, ';You have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that he does not turn from his wicked way to save his life'; (Eze. 13:22). False prophets were also arrogant (2 Peter. 2:18), deceitful (Acts 13:6-10), and often preached only for pay (2 Peter. 2:3, 13). Their lives were not in line with God's revealed word. People can give the impression of being holy, even saying all the right things, yet Jesus said they are like wolves dressed in sheep's clothing (Matt. 7:15).
4. BY THEIR FRUIT(S): Jesus Himself established this test. He said: ';You will know them by their fruits. . . . Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit'; (Matt. 7:16, 17). It is close to the third test, but it goes beyond it by asking, What are the results of the ministry of a person who claims to be a prophet? Does his or her ministry build up the church? This test requires time, but lies and deception are sooner or later revealed.
We have to be open to the possibility that God still speaks to us through His prophets. But in order to identify a true prophet we should know and understand the Scriptures. We should use God's inspired Word to test the teachings and the lifestyle of the person who claims to be a true prophet. Finally, we should not hastily accept somebody's claims. We must allow time for the actions of the new prophet to show what kind of person he or she is. Testing the spirits takes time, prayer, and knowledge of what God has already revealed to us.
By their fruits the bible says you will know them. The friuit of the spirit is love, joy peace patience gentleness, goodness meekness, temperance. So if you have the Holy Spirit, the fruit of that life will be all those things. Cant fake it, they should be the fruit of the way Jesus told us to walk this spirit filled life.
Revelation of Scripture, not new doctrine, always existed in Scripture, to change the message even an infinitesimal amount corrupts the message, declares the prophet a heretic, and said person should be put to death, as is proper in the Bible.
Distinguishing between true and false teaching is
based on whether they adhere to bible teachings
or manmade or pagan doctrines.
Question is actually major.
False doctrines such as the trinity and hellfire
are not supported by scripture.
If even ONE of their prophesies didn't come true, then they are NOT of God!
Not to mention, if their prophesies go against what the Bible teaches-they are false prophets!
We read the bible and see if they're doing anything contradictory
OR we use common sense
if they say that you have to do good works to get into heaven, then thats a false prophet
Deuteronomy is clear on how a prophet is to be tested.
If their prophecy doesn't come to pass, they are to be disregarded.
Cant be immediately misproven by Science = Prophet to at least some branch or church
Can be disproved = Prophet/ Miracle untill the $ stops rolling in
At some point there will be silence.
鈥燡acob W鈥?gave you the best answer and the best way to identify a true prophet.
Many words spoken re: Priests Rape Boys! (Kennedy = Catholic). Ted Kennedy is in Hell this day, will be forever %26amp; there's no changing that.
Check to see if they're a card carrying member of the International Prophets Association.
Since there is no such person as a ';true prophet';, there is no difference.
Teddy Kennedy and Barack Obama are both false profits.
Since there are no prophets needed in this time, there are only false prophets now.
By the way they think and the way they act. Do they have a clear confession and testimony of Christ? Do they live by His principles?
You look at what they say and see what the Bible says about
the topic. And if their lives glorify God and not themselves.
Just remember, GOD spelled backwards is DOG
false Prophets will tell you anything but the truth and show you...a true prophet will give you faith
Know the Lord personally
know his word fully
What God has to say is in the Bible.
Anything but the Son lamb of God Jesus the Christ , blood shedder the Third is false .
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