Certainly, we are living in interesting times.  As a long-time student of prophecy, I know full-well the significance of many events occurring around the world and particularly in Israel.  Because of the many obviously endtime events, the number of dreams and visions has multiplied in the last couple years, seemingly exponentially.  From emails and youtube videos to fliers in the mailbox, etc.

The Bible speaks directly to this situation and tells us why we are to NOT listen to them because they are FALSE prophets. Big names.  Leaders of huge ‘ministries.’  False.

First, what is a prophet?  Well, that depends on whether you are speaking of the messengers of Yahweh or of the pagan ‘seers.’

The role of the prophet in Scripture is always to speak the Word of Yahweh with the primary focus being on repentance and following Torah.  Signs were only given to the prophet as a means of validating the messenger as speaking the Words of Yahweh.

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. ¹⁶ This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ ¹⁷ The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. ¹⁸ I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹ It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. ²⁰ But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ ²¹ You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ ²² When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

While this passage is particularly about Y’shua, it sets the guidelines for the prophet’s message and validating sign(s).  Another passage does so in greater detail for general prophecy, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Consider the many examples of prophets in the Scriptures.  Nathan, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah and Isaiah….  ALL, primarily, taught repentance and turning back to Torah.  All were continually calling Israel back to the covenant.  Sure, they had a few signs.  Some had visions of near-term or long-term destruction, but their focus was calling people back to the covenant!

Pagan ‘prophets’ were very different.  They were all about ‘seeing’ or foretelling the future, and they were NOT about leading people to the One true Elohim (God).  In fact, here are the verses just before the ones I quoted,

When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

¹⁰ There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.

¹¹ Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

¹² For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

¹³ Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.

¹⁴ For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.  Deuteronomy 18:9-14

It is interesting to note that entire ministries are built on ‘divination,’ ‘observing the times,’ and consulting ‘familiar spirits.’  (I affectionately refer to some of these ‘ministers’ as ‘profits.’  As long as they tell the people what the people want to hear, they stay in business…  LOL!)

So, how can we indeed tell the difference between a TRUE prophet and a FALSE prophet?  Scripture tells us exactly:

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. ⁵ But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.  Deu. 13:1-5

Notice several things:

• Yahweh will allow us to be tested in this manner…  False teachers!
• We are to keep Yahweh’s commands and walk in the way He commanded us to walk.
• NOT walking in the way He commanded is a ‘seductive’ message and is ‘rebellion.’
• We are to love Yahweh our Elohim with ‘all of our heart and soul.’

So, what does it mean to love Yahweh with all of our heart and soul?

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart…. Deu. 6:4-9

Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? Deu. 10:12-13

It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, ¹⁴ that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil….  Deu. 11:13-14

So we see clearly that ‘loving the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul’ is equated with keeping the commandments’…  and, not just the Ten, but ALL of them.  Remember, Y’shua used exactly this phrase when asked what the greatest commandment was?

Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Now, I know, when you read the Deuteronomy 13 passage, your eye may have caught the phrase,

Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’

and you thought, ‘well, those prophets don’t serve other gods, or lead me away.’  And, in that you would be wrong.  There is a huge pile of evidence that the church teaches a false Messiah.  See Jesus.  False Messiah.  or RT: Antisemitism for starters.

Simply, any preacher or teacher that preaches/teaches contrary to Torah…  or that ‘the Law has been done away with’ is a FALSE preacher/teacher.  Period!  Not my words, but the Word pf God.  By teaching doctrines contrary to Scripture, they reveal themselves as ‘counseling rebellion’ and leading people to ‘follow other gods.’

This brings us back to our opening statement about the current crop of ‘prophets’ and their many visions…  If they are not following and teaching Torah, they are walking in falsehood and counseling rebellion.  All of them!  That goes for the preachers and teachers, too!!  If they preach/teach contrary to Torah, then don’t walk away….  RUN!!  They have ZERO authority in the believer’s life.  They are ‘just another false prophet.’

Now, a final note for those who want to say, ‘But, but, but, Paul, Jesus…  didn’t they change the Law?’

Uhm, Nope.  If they had, then they would be FALSE PROPHETS/teachers.  Y’shua said that not one jot or tittle would pass from the Law or Prophets until heaven and earth passed away.  He went on to say, in the same breath, that those who ‘keep and teach the commandments will be great in the kingdom!’

For deeper study, I recommend our Resources page as a starting point for research into who changed the law...

Seek truth and expose the doctrines of men!!

Shalom,  Pete