SPIRITUAL GIFTS | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 10, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 45.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS.

False Prophets and True.

The gift of prophecy is one of the gifts of the Spirit, a gift which God has “set in the church.” From the time of “Enoch the seventh from Adam” to the time when John wrote his holy visions on barren, sea-girt Patmos—fruitful of revelations of divine glory—God has had His messengers, the prophets. At intervals, as the people of God rejected His message, the voice of the prophet was not heard; there was no more open vision.

The false prophets have existed contemporaneously with the true. Their existence demonstrates the existence of the true. There would never be a counterfeit were there no genuine. Satan never counterfeits that which is not worth counterfeiting.

Characteristics of the False.

A prominent characteristic of the false prophet is his proclamation of peace, his soothing to ease and quietness when God would “sound an alarm.” His message ever tends to lull to sleep those who are “at ease in Zion,” and so prevent the message of God from reaching their hearts and the hearts of sinners.

Another characteristic of the false prophet is to call men’s attention to himself and to men, and away from God. The glory of God is hidden, while the glory of human might and merit and learning is exalted. Men’s minds are turned from the Book of God’s revelation to the opinions of men, and His counsel is darkened by words without knowledge.

All through the Biblical centuries these characteristics of the always-more-numerous false prophets have been manifest, as the following Scripture passages will show:—

“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.” Deut. 18:22.

“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. 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.” Deut. 13:1–4.

“For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Matt. 24:24.

“The working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” 2 Thess. 2:9, 10.

“Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me; ye that work iniquity [lawlessness].” Matt. 7:22, 23.

“For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” Jer. 6:13, 14.

“Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.” Jer. 14:13.

“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you; they make you vain; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise Me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.” Jer. 23:16, 17.

“O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith; and the Lord hath not sent them; and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken?” Eze. 13:4–7.

“Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.” Verse 10.

“Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life.” Verse 22.

“There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” Eze. 22:25, 26.

“Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies; because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.” Hosea 10:13.

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. . . . Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 7:15–21.

“For I know this, that after My departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20:29, 30.

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you.” 2 Peter 1:1–3.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Tim. 4:3, 4.

“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” 1 Thess. 5:3.

“Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever: that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord; which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits; get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” Isa. 30:8–11.

Here are characteristics of false prophets. Read the above carefully. Read the context. Note the actuating motives of deceivers and deceived. You will find in the messages of these prophets, who were nearly always in the majority, that while great signs and wonders were at times wrought, and miracles counterfeited, while predictions of future events were at times fulfilled, yet these prophets drew away from God, and obedience to His law; they lulled people in sin to sleep with the cry of assurance and peace when the true prophet warned of danger and exhorted to repentance; they sought to build up themselves, to add to their own power, prestige, and wealth; they healed but slightly and superficially the wounds made by sin; they exalted corrupted imaginations above the Word of God; they did not present unpopular, trodden-down, but eternal truth; they substituted their own teachings for the Word of God; they put pagan lies for the truth; they destroyed the people by leading them to put their trust in man and the multitude; they cried, “Peace and safety,” right on the eve of destruction; and all these did they do because of rebellion against God, because of the carnal mind’s opposition to the law of God. These are vitally solemn truths, which find their application in our time; and God has recorded them as merciful warnings to the people of this generation, “upon whom the ends of the world have come.”

The Test of the True.

And here are a few passages which present the test of the true:—

“Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.” 2 Tim. 4:2.

“The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath My Word, Let him speak My Word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. Is not My Word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” Jer. 23:28, 29.

“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” Jer. 6:16.

“For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:27, 28.

“To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20.

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.” Isa. 58:13.

“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem.” Joel 3:1.

Note these lessons which the Lord would teach us in these scriptures. The true prophets of God will regard His Word; they will reprove, rebuke, exhort in harmony with that Word; they will defend, not on their own feeble logic or eloquence, but on the Word and Spirit; they will call men back to the “old paths where is the good way” of God; they will declare “the whole counsel of God;” they will feed His flock on His Word; they will cry aloud against popular sins; they will proclaim the coming judgments of God and the day of His coming; in all things will they “fear God, and give glory to Him.”

But the great test, the one in which all others are summed up, is loyalty to God, unswerving fidelity to His law. “To the law and to the testimony,” is the supreme test.

One Voice has spoken to the world from heaven. It declared from the glory-capped peaks of Sinai the great constitution of the moral code, the Decalogue. That is God’s Voice, eternal, unchangeable, by which all other voices must be tested. Every prophet who in all things speaks in harmony with that Voice, who leads men to obedience to that law, is the messenger of God and the co-worker of Jesus Christ. By their fruits, according to “the law and the testimony,” shall ye know them.