Litmus Tests for Prophets and What They Mean for Your Heart

There are two ways I've seen modern folks acting as prophets of God. The first are the ones who proclaim future events that God has uniquely spoken to them about. The second are the ones who interpret the Scriptures and proclaim what is written in them.

There are litmus tests to ensure the validity of both types of prophets.

Does It Come True

If a prophet declares the future and the future is not as the prophet predicted, then the prophet is found to be a false prophet.

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. (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

The death penalty was the punishment due to those who prophesied falsely. I think there would be far fewer modern prophets of the sort who can predict the future if we took the punishment seriously.

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. (Deuteronomy 18:20)

Even If It Comes True

Accuracy of a prophecy is not the only litmus test. It only gets you past the first round. The more important test is if what the prophet declares correlates with the Scriptures.

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," which you have not known, "and let us serve them," you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. (Deuteronomy 13:1-3)

So even if a prophet declares things that come to pass, do not listen to them if the prophet asks you to worship another god. Now, if a prophet is sly, he will not ask you to worship a demon, because everyone knows that demons ought not to be worshiped. The false prophet will do his best to give you a form of Christianity that is not Christianity. He would do his best to give you Jesus -- but not Jesus as he claimed to be. He may present you Jesus as the highest angel, or as a good moral teacher, but not as the always divine Son of God of the Trinity.

Even If It Correlates with the Scriptures

We must be careful even of prophets that accurately declare the future and faithfullly proclaim the Word of God. Paul gives us one more test.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. (2 Timothy 3:1-9)

If a prophet's life does not correlate with love and godliness, then everything else is worthless. Beware of them.

False Prophets Test Us

You may be thinking that God is asking us to test prophets, but in reality, he is testing us. The manner in which we wean out false prophets from true prophets speaks volumes about the conditions of our hearts.

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," which you have not known, "and let us serve them," you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 13:1-3)

If we don't care if a prophet can predict the future, then we don't really care about God's power. If we only care if a prophet can predict the future, then we really only care about demonstrations of power. We are nothing more than wonder seekers.

If we don't care if a prophet's words correlate with the Scriptures, then we don't really care about truth. If we only care if a prophet's words correlate with the Scriptures, then we really only care about truth as irrelevant facts. We are nothing more than dead scholars and trivia junkies.

If we don't care if a prophet's life is filled with holiness, then we don't really care about God's nature. If we only care if a prophet appears holy, then we really only care about appearances. We are nothing more than ascetic kill joys.

We must apply and live out all three tests. Together, they guard our hearts. Ultimately, how we deal with false prophets shows whether we truly love God or not. We are the ones being tested. So apply all three tests to pass your test.