Since two weeks ago we talked about teachers, and last week we talked about false teachers, I thought maybe this week it would be a natural progression to talk about false prophets.
False prophets are usually much more obvious to the Christian than the false teachers we spoke of last week, but even Christians can be drawn into their deception.
One of my favorite false prophets is Jean Dixon who rose to prominence in 1963 when it was shown that seven years earlier she had apparently predicted the assassination of President Kennedy. She had publicly said the 1960 election would be “dominated by labor and won by a Democrat” who would go on to “be assassinated or die in office though not necessarily in his first term.” Of course, on November 22, 1963, John Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. The psychic world went nuts. Jean Dixon had “The Gift of Prophecy,” they cried. A biography by that title was released in 1965 and sold more than three million copies.
Ms. Dixon was a devout Catholic and claimed her “gift of prophecy” was given by God. This is important that she claimed to be God’s prophet as we will see.
Of course, most of Ms Dixon’s followers ignore the vast majority of her predictions which did not come to pass. After her 1956 prediction of a Democrat president being elected in 1960, for instance, she changed to predicting Nixon would win. She was correct in her final prediction, though. On her death bed, she said “I knew this would happen.”
The Bible tells us how to identify a false prophet. They need to claim to be God’s prophet and predict something which does not come to pass:
20 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.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 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. (Deut. 18:20-22)
That’s pretty harsh stuff, but God is serious about protecting His people from those who falsely claim to speak for Him.
A more recent example appeared in the April 1, 1972 edition of the Watchtower Magazine of Jehovah’s Witnesses, an article claimed Jehovah’s Witnesses were God’s prophet and had been since its inception. Looking at the history of the Watchtower, we see they have falsely predicted dates for the end of the world including 1914, 1925, and 1975 among others. By the Bible’s definition, these predictions make the Watchtower a false prophet.
To a Christian who knows his faith, these people and organizations should be easily identified, but sadly they aren’t. The largest sector of converts to Jehovah’s Witnesses is Catholics, but the second is Baptists. How can this be? False prophets are not just deceived people but people who are prompted by another power. They have help.
Ed Decker, a Christian evangelist and ex-Jehovah’s Witness, was once asked if he really thought such a vast and intricate organization as the Watchtower could have been simply man made. He said no, that it was founded by the devil himself.
Why is this important?
Christians often ignore the realm Jesus said was so real. He cast out demons, spoke of the devil as powerful and as a person to be reckoned with, yet many of us seem to think all spiritual power comes from God. It doesn’t. Satan has a third of the angels of heaven at his command to draw us away, and he is very clever – more clever than we.
A medium tells a Christian the name of his neighbor’s dog, and the Christian is amazed. “This medium must have something,” they think. “Maybe I should listen to them.” God takes a dim view of mediums and those who would listen:
27 “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.” (Lev. 20:27)
Satan doesn’t show himself as the guy in the red long johns holding a pitchfork. He appears as an angel of light:
14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Cor 11:14)
Dr. Walter Martin once said of Satan’s plan, “The next best thing to a lost soul is a sterile Christian.” Playing with fire distracts us and can even draw us away from the Truth. Either way, we are not in God’s will dabbling in places we shouldn’t go. God does say we are to test all things (1 Thess. 5:19-20), but He does not tell us to allow ourselves to be deceived by them.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 