False Prophets and How to Detect Them
By Editor
A SUBSCRIBER asks an explanation of Matt. 24:11: "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." The text seems so plain as scarcely to need any explanation. The time when it applies is undoubtedly near the end; for the Saviour is speaking of the end, in the immediate connection. False prophets have existed in all ages of the world (2 Pet. 2:1), but we have reason to believe that they will be more numerous, and do more wonderful works, near the end than at any other period. This is expressly stated in Matt. 24:23, 24. But that which troubled our correspondent the most, was to know how false prophets might be known, and their false utterances detected. The Bible gives an infallible rule, by following which no one need be deceived. In Deut. 13:1-4 we read:— "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." By this we learn that false prophets are those whose teaching contradicts the Bible. That book is the standard by which all teachers are to be judged. "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. No matter how many miracles a man performs, nor how flowery and sublime his teaching may be, if he in any degree contradicts the word of God, he is not to be listened to. This will also answer those who wonder why the Lord allows the devil to deceive men by personating their dead friends, leaving them a prey to false doctrines. The truth is, he has provided his people with ample safeguards against all deceptions. If they throw away the shield which he has given them, they offer themselves as a prey to the enemy. Let it be remembered that the word of God is absolute truth, that everything which contradicts it is falsehood, and that no number of miracles can make falsehood become truth, and you are fortified against the delusions of false prophets.