How to Tell a True Prophet or Prophecy from a False One

Thanks Morguefile.com 

As I mentioned in the very first post for this blog on March 2, 2014, I'm a prophecy geek. I've loved prophecy since I first heard of it, or discovered it, or however you say that. I remember when I was a kid, maybe even before I was a teenager, I heard of prophecies in the Bible and they fascinated me. Someone actually said what was going to happen in the future?! And then…did it come true? (Tweet that!)

Of course we have many people through history and even today saying they can predict the future. But the trick is: do they get it right? (Tweet that!) 

True prophecy comes true. I've learned that true prophecy only comes from God and that any prophecy that comes from the One True God comes true. (Tweet that!)  It has to. God cannot get it wrong. If God gave a prophecy and it did not come true in every detail, that would mean either God cannot see the future or He made a mistake or He lied. God alone can see the future. God cannot make mistakes. And He cannot lie. Prophecies that come from the one true God must come true.

That does not mean all of them have been fulfilled already. Some are in the future and have yet to be fulfilled. But I believe we are very close to seeing them fulfilled. I also believe we are seeing some fulfilled right before our very eyes in these very days. (Tweet that!) 

Exploring all these things is what this blog is about.

So how do we know whether a person is a true prophet speaking truth from the one and only true God? (Tweet that!) Deuteronomy 18:19-22 (New Living Translation) gives us this guidance. This is God speaking through the prophet:

19 "'I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet proclaims on my behalf. 20 But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in my name or who speaks in the name of another god must die.' 

21 "But you may wonder, 'How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?' 22 If the prophet speaks in the Lord's name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared.

That's what God says. Now I don't know about you, but I find that a bit tricky because in order to see if the message is from God, we have to wait to see if it happens!

For some prophecies, we have been waiting for thousands of years. So should we keep waiting? Or declare them false?

Even though many prophecies have not yet happened, we can be sure they will come true because of the track record of the prophets in the Bible. Enough prophecies by the same prophets have been fulfilled to assure us they are true prophets. The rest of the prophecies will come true.

Believing this is called "faith." Seeing the prophecies that have already come true and believing the rest will also be fulfilled based on that is called strengthening our faith. (Tweet that!) How strong is your faith?