False prophets, often called “soothsayers” are people who claim to speak on behalf of God but speak only words that “sooth” those who hear the words.
Jeremiah 14:14
“Then the LORD said to me, ‘The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds’”
There is a test laid out for us on how to test a prophet. The test is twofold, first, if the prophecy does not come true, they are a false prophet that should be killed (Deut 18:20-23). Secondly, that, regardless of signs or wonders, if the prophet speaks against God, he must be put to death (Deut 13:1-5).
Deut 18:20-22
20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
Deut 13:1-5
1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which 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 know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
Jesus talks about false prophets as well, in the Sermon on the Mount, saying that they come in sheep’s clothing but are actually ferocious wolves. He then tells us that we can recognize them by their “fruits” - that is, their actions. A good prophet only speaks truth and does righteous acts. A false prophet will speak arrogantly and feign righteousness, while secretly breeding evil.
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