For more than twenty years, LearnTheBible.org has consistently provided free content from a Bible-believing perspective to our thousands of annual visitors. We do not run ads or charge for access to this wealth of Bible study materials, outlines, preaching, teaching, and so much more! Expenses to maintain our hosting, servers, etc. are provided by the generous donations of God's people. If you have been helped and blessed by LTB through the years, would you help us continue to maintain and support this growing ministry by partnering with us with a onetime or monthly gift?
To those who read, listen, and share our content, we are extremely grateful! Please continue to pray for us and "Thank You!" for 20 great years!
How to Know if a Person is a True Prophet
How you know if a person is a real prophet?
I do not believe we should be looking for prophets today. However, for the sake of discussion, I will give three biblical tests of a true prophet. They are a good way to test prophets for any age or time.
A true prophet never turns people away from the true God, even if their signs and wonders come true. This kind of a prophet is sent to see how much people really love the Lord.Deuteronomy 13:1-3 [1] 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.A true prophet never prophesies something that does not happen. What he says always comes to pass. Otherwise, he is a false prophet. Anybody can be right part of the time. A prophet is always right when he gives a prophesy from God.
See All... If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 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; 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.
Deuteronomy 18:20But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.The prophesy of a true prophet always agrees with the written word of God. If their words are not according to God's word, then it is because there is no light in them.
See All... But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. 21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
Isaiah 8:18Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
See All... Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. 19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? 20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
There may be other requirements of a true prophet. However, these three requirements will single out the false prophets in almost every case.
Proverbs 30:11
There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.