Deuteronomy 13:1-4 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
False prophets:
There were false prophets in Israel’s day and they have continued throughout history into our day. One test that God gave about the validity of a prophet is found in Deut 18:22. The penalty for being a false prophet was death Deut 13:6-10. Knowing if a prophet was true or not did not primarily lay in the performance of miracles or even in the test of accuracy, but with his/her alignment with the total of Scripture Deut 13:1-4.
There were many false prophets in the dark days of Israel’s history of apostasy and they went after other gods thinking they were serving the true God, just as today many worship God falsely thinking they are Christ’s followers (1 Ki 22:24).
Jesus warned of false prophets:
In Matt 24:11 Jesus warned of many false prophets arising in the last days. In the apostolic period two main gifts were those of apostle and prophets which were responsible for the foundation of the church (Eph 2:20). One of the functions of this group was to receive and transmit the revelation of God to His people – verbally and then in written form (Eph 3:5). John says that many are gone out into the world as Jesus warned and they deceive many to follow their pernicious ways (destroying, damnable). One such arose in the 7th century supposedly received revelation while in the desert and now has a following of over one billion adherents to his pernicious way.
There is an unusual emphasis in the NT about false prophets because of their deceiving (2 Ti 3:13). These false prophets will be able to perform miracles and great wonders and seduce many. The Greek word pseudoprophetes is used 11 times in the NT but has no counterpart in the Hebrew. John tells us to try the spirits and gives the test of Jesus as God come in the flesh as the dividing point.
A problem of these false prophets is:
- Come from Christian background or Christianity
- They deny Biblical Jesus
- They become popular using emotionalism or some other hyped up way
- They degrade certain doctrines of the Bible
- They stimulate greed or strong desires in their followers.
A Holy standard:
When warning the people in Deuteronomy, God gave six inward attitudes for serving/following God and not false prophets. It is expressed in the use of six action verbs: Deut 13:4
Walk as or pursue Him
Fear or reverence Him
Obeying Him/His commands
Serve Him – to do His bidding
Cleave or cling unto Him