True
Prophets of God
Paul Wong
The
finest example of a true prophet is our Lord Jesus Christ who was specially
chosen by God to speak for Him. (Heb. 1:1-3)
He utters the actual words that God has given him, without any
modification or interpretation on his part (Jn. 12:49-50). The Bible itself gives an accurate
description of the function of the true prophet: “And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have
spoken is good. I will raise up for
them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His
mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.” (Deut. 18:18) God placed the
words in the prophet’s mouth. They were
revealed to him and then he spoke precisely what God had commanded him.
A True
Prophet is a Holy Man of God
God
speaks “by the mouth of His holy prophets.” (Lk.
1:70) The
apostle Peter wrote: “knowing
this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for
prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet. 1:20-21) A true prophet
is a holy man of God who is Spirit-filled.
God demands holiness of those whom He calls. “But as He who called you is holy, you
also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am
holy.” (1 Pet. 1:15-16)
When
Isaiah saw the vision of “the Lord sitting on a
throne, high and lifted up” he also heard an
angel said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the
whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isa. 6:1-3) Isaiah was frightened and confessed his
inadequacy:
“So
I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the
King, The Lord of hosts." Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in
his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he
touched my mouth with it, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your
iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged." Also I heard the voice
of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.”
(Isa. 6:5-8)
God
sends His servants as prophets when they have become holy (Rom. 12:1; 2 Tim.
2:20-21)
A True Prophet is a Servant of God
A true prophet is a servant
of God (Zec. 1:6). God spoke to Aaron
and Miriam when they discredited the ministry of Moses:
“Then
He said, "Hear now My words: "If there is a prophet among you, I, the
Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so
with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him
face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of
the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?"
(Num. 12:6-8)
God
has acknowledged Moses as a prophet and also as His servant. He has promised to
protect all His faithful servants. “No weapon formed
against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their
righteousness is from Me," Says the Lord.” (Isa. 54:17) God warns all
of us: “Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My
prophets no harm.” (1 Chron. 16:22; Psm 105:15)
A True Prophet is a Messenger of God
When God saw His people
transgressed against His commandments and did wicked things He did not punish
them immediately but sent His prophets to give them warnings because He had
compassion on them.
“And
the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising
up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His
dwelling place. But they mocked the
messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the
wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” (2
Chron. 36:15-16)
God
warned Judah about its sins and continually restored the people to His favor
only to have them turn away. Eventually
the situation is beyond remedy. The
nation that claims to be under God (America); the church denomination,
congregation or ministry that claims to be the only true one (you name it),
needs to examine and humble themselves and heed God’s warnings to repent of
their errors and return to Him before it is too late.
“If
My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek
My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and
will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chron. 7:14)
A True Prophet is a Watchman of God
“Again
the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Son of man, speak to the
children of your people, and say to them: 'When I bring the sword upon a land,
and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their
watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet
and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not
take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his
own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his
blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But
if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the
people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among
them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the
watchman's hand.' "So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the
house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them
for Me.” (Ezek. 33:1-7)
The
prophet of God has a tremendous responsibility of warning God’s people of any
impending danger that would befall on them.
If the prophet did not perform his task God would hold him accountable
for his negligence. He is not a true
prophet.
The Test of True Prophets
“As
for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to
pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the LORD has truly sent.” (Jer.
28:9)
“But the prophet who
presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak,
or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we
know the word which the Lord has not spoken?'-- when a prophet speaks in the
name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the
thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously;
you shall not be afraid of him.” (Deut.
18:20-22)
False prophets do not speak for God. They pretend to be true prophets but they
are only deceiving themselves and others.
When they speak in the name of false gods they will die. One of the tests of a true prophet is in the
fulfillment of the prophecy. There is
zero tolerance in the margin of error in a true prophecy.
"If there arises
among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a
wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you,
saying, "Let us go after other gods 'which you have not known" and
let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that
dreamer of dreams, for the LORD
your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD
your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD
your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall
serve Him and hold fast to Him. But
that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has
spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD
your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the
house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD
your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your
midst.”
True
prophets of God “shall walk after the LORD
your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall
serve Him and hold fast to Him.” They keep “the
commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Rev. 12:17;
14:12;19:10) Those that teach one needs to keep only nine
of the Ten Commandments are false prophets and false teachers (Mt. 5:17-19; 7:21-23;
19:16-19; Jas. 2:8-13). “Blessed
are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of
life, and may enter through the gates into the city.” (Rev.22:14 NKJV)
Are
there True Prophets in the End Time?
Some teach the prophets of God exist only in the
Old Testament time and not in the New Testament. This is an erroneous
teaching. It can be easily proven that the
Early Apostolic Church had prophets. “And
in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and
showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all
the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.” (Acts
11:27-28) Not
only were there prophets but there were also prophetesses. Philip the evangelist had “four
virgin daughters who prophesied.” (Acts 21:8-9)
“And it shall come to
pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all
flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see
visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on
My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall
prophesy.” (Acts 2:17-18)
The last days began when our Lord Jesus Christ
came to this earth (Heb. 1:1-2) We are
indeed living in the last days. The
Bible shows during the End time there will be true prophets who are sent by
God. Our Lord Jesus Christ had given us
a warning there would also be many false prophets during the End Time.
“For
then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning
of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the
elect's sake those days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, 'Look,
here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great
signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.” (Mt.
24:21-25)
Our Lord Jesus had prophesied that in the End Time during the Great
Tribulation false christs and false prophets would “rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible,
even the elect.” If you
believe we are living in the End Time and the Great Tribulation then you know
there are false christs and false prophets in the world today. Our Lord has given us some clues how to
identify the false prophets.
"Beware
of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are
ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes
from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good
fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor
can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut
down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
(Mt. 7:15-20)
There is no need to point
out who are the true and false prophets in the End Time. Just check out whether or not their
prophecies are fulfilled and look at their lifestyles, characters and
behaviors. True prophets are Spirit-filled. They keep God’s Commandments, love the
brethren and will fellowship with them. (1 Jn. 1:7; 2:3-11) “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
May God bless you.
This Article is the response of Paul Wong
to a discussion in the ARK Forum on July 8, 2002
For comments please write first to: arkpw@sbcglobal.net
Updated on 01/18/04
Paul Wong is a Christian minister and the
President of ARK International.
His ministry also serves as an architectural service company in Houston.
The ARK Forum on the Internet is international and non-denominational.
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