How to spot a FALSE prophet !!!

I want to be bold here and tell you a little truth. Any person who stands up to you and says “I am a prophet” is actually not a prophet. It does not take much to find such people, even a simple search on the internet will give you a long list of people who call themselves prophets. I know that some say that a prophet is tested by the fulfillment of the prophecies that are provided. But not all prophecy is given to be fulfilled, sometimes it is given as a warning to stop a disaster, therefore the aim would be to avoid the fulfillment of the prophecy. So I would like to think that we can identify prophets as a man or woman who gives prophecies, but refuses to be given a title of 'prophet'.

I have spent time researching ancient documents and studying the lives of prophets, and in all of those documents I did not find one of the most famous prophets mention that they were a prophet. I was amazed that I had never noticed it before, actually in cases where it is suggested to them that they are a prophet, they actually deny it! But this denial has led skeptics to claim that they were indeed not prophets, I say on the other hand, that it proves that they were a prophet. The secrets are within the personality of prophets, which can reveal to us about their denials.

“I was no prophet” Amos

“I am no more than a man” Mohammad

“I do not wish to attribute to myself such a loftly title” Nostradamus

The clue about why a prophet denies his ability is all there in the ancient scripts, and it can simply be put as humility. All prophets maintain a deep spiritual relationship with God, and to maintain and keep that relationship there must be humility. This is because the prophet understands that the prophecies being uttered, are merely being passed on, in a way a prophet can be seen as God's mailman. Quite often the life of a prophet has been a humble life, but if it has been the opposite of humble, God brings him into humility. This journey into humility is oft littered with disasters or grief, in a sense breaking a person down so that God can build him back up.

But if a broken person is humble, then why would God feel the need to re-build him? It is because a prophet must have confidence. Imagine a prophet going around and saying “it is the end of the world tomorrow” and facing people who challenge the prophecy to his face or question it, a broken man would crumble in such a situation, yet a man re-built into confidence will not waiver.

I will openly admit that it is a strange combination of personality traits to be brought together, but a prophet must be confident and humble simultaneously. Dispite the fact that prophets refuse to admit openly that they are prophets, within their own private relationship that exists in-between them and God, the prophet will know that he is a prophet.

I believe that this is the last challenge that prophets learn to overcome, how to remain humble whilst walking the path of a prophet. He knows that he is a prophet, or why else would he provide prophecies? He has confidence in what God tells him because of the strength that exists in their relationship, a relationship maintained by humility. Yet this humble relationship will give him strength to stand against the odds if it is needed.

Prophet Zephaniah (est640-609BC)

Prophet Name:

Zephaniah, related to the Royal line, meaning ‘The Lord protects’, according to the Book of the Bee he was of the tribe of Simeon and died in peace in his own land

Mission/Message:

Zephaniah’s mission was to disclose God’s coming judgement and to speak about ‘the day of the Lord’.

Documentation:

Due to Zephaniah’s social position he would have been very knowledgeable of the political issues of the time, and was probably familiar with the writings of Isaiah and Amos. The book itself is believed to have been written after 640 but before 627.

Occupation:

Not known for sure but we know he was related to the royal line.

Best known for:

-Prediction of the Day of the Lord

Attributes of his personality:

He was of ruling class, in his twenties when he began to prophesy

Supernatural Aspects:

It says that the ‘word of God came to him’. His prophecies come across as if God revealed things to him first and then he spoke about it to others. This is slightly different to others who said directly as if God was speaking to them in present tense.

Examples of prophecies:

-The Day of the Lord

-The destruction of the world

End Times Prophecies:

This book is full of end time prophecies; death of men and birds and fish, destruction of the economy, houses and land not liveable (maybe nuclear contamination), a day of darkness, a time when wealth is worth nothing, the whole world consumed, streets deserted, cities destroyed

Prophet Amos (est760-750BC)

Prophet Information:

Amos from the land of Tekoa, according to the Book of the Bee a priest of Bethel tortured him and afterwards killed him.

Mission/Message:

His overall mission was a call for social justice, emphasizing God’s forgiveness on the repentant and judgement on the unfaithful.  He traveled through the Northern Kingdom of Israel, in particular visited the cities of Samaria and Bethel.

Documentation:

The book of Amos was written at a time of prosperity of the Northern and Southern kingdoms and before the Assyrian captivity, and therefore it is believed that Amos’s years of ministry were from 760 to 750 B.C. during the reign of Uzziah (792-740 B.C.)

Occupation:

Amos was a shepherd of Tekoa; it is unclear if he was just a hired hand, or the owner of the herds. However it is clear that he was knowledgeable with words and with history and therefore he was probably not a peasant.

Best known for:

-Travelling to the Northern Kingdom (Israel) to give a message in a time of prosperity that the immorality and corruption had not gone unnoticed by God

Attributes of his personality:

A simple and humble man, in Chapter eight he is confronted by people telling him to go back to where he had come from, and he replies that he is not a prophet just a shepherd that has been sent by God to give a message. In another version he says "I am not a prophet nor a son of a prophet".

Supernatural Aspects:

In his verses of prophecies, he talks as if God speaks directly to him revealing things in imagery and words.

Examples of prophecies:

-Prediction of the invasion of the Northern kingdom by the Assyrians (722-721 B.C.)

-Prediction that the people of Israel will be exiled to all nations but they will be planted in a land of their own

-Prediction of the coming Messiah

End Times Prophecies:

-The Day of the Lord will come

-A day of darkness not light, pitch black without a ray of sunshine