How do you distinguish between true and false prophets today?

Well, first of all, the false “validates” the true!

How?

False prophets “counterfeit” the true! You cannot counterfeit something that is not real, or false! Counterfeit dollar bills are exposed by the real ones! Same in the prophetic! True prophets expose the false prophets!

That’s why the parable of the “wheat and the tares” confirms the principle that the “false” is exposed and removed FIRST, so that the true can be revealed…Have you noticed that true prophets do NOT SPEAK IF THE LORD IS NOT SAYING ANYTHING?

True prophets will not be controlled, manipulated or ‘bought’ with a price… I’m reading and hearing more and more of all the prophets who think they are psychics! A true prophet is neither a fortune teller or a psychic… All of this “buying” a prophecy, $100, $500, or $1000 prophecies IS WRONG and giving of names and addresses can be of the LORD, but does NOT necessarily mean it is from the LORD! (You do know what your name is and where you live, right! LOL)

What is the anitdote?

The prophets I know are founded and strong in the WORD and do not let people or pastors manipulate them for money! They do not have an “Elijah complex” (I’m the only prophet left). They build relationships with apostles and are accountable for what they speak and do! I believe the true prophets are in the “grass roots” and training and equipping the saints to hear from the Lord for themselves…They speak and prophesy THE WORD OF THE LORD and their prophecies/word of knowledge/word of wisdom line up with the WORD AND THE SPIRIT!

(Read Ezekiel 13:1-9)

Probably one of the best known biblical stories in the Old Testament is one most of us know well, in 2 Chron. 20 where Jehoshaphat king of Judah, is given news that enemies are coming against them and surrounding them on all sides! I just want to go through many of the verses in chapter 20 that will help all of us, no matter what we’re going through, to pray and obey and believe what The LORD our God says and trust Him for the victory!! This is good strategy for us to heed today in leading…

2 Chron. 20:3- And Jehoshaphat feared (reverenced), and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

vs. 4- So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

vs. 5,6- Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said: “O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you?

verse 7- “Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever…?

verse 10-12- “And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir–whom You would not let Israel invade when they came up out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them–“here thy are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. “O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no (natural) power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.”

13,14- Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the LORD. Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.

vss. 15-17- And He said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. ‘Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. ‘You will not need to fight in this battle. Set (position) yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.”

(Then, in vss. 18,19, Jehoshaphat and all Judah and Jerusalem bowed before the LORD, worshiping Him and all the Levites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel…)

Then, the powerful verse 20- So they arose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as the went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “HEAR ME, O JUDAH AND YOU INHABITANTS of JERUSALEM: BELIEVE IN THE LORD YOU GOD, AND YOU SHALL BE ESTABLISHED; BELIEVE HIS PROPHETS, AND YOU SHALL PROSPER.”

vs. 21,22- And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:

“PRAISE THE LORD, FOR HIS MERCY ENDURES FOREVER.”

Now when they began to sing and praise, the LORD set AMBUSHES against the people of AMMON, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; AND THEY WERE DEFEATED.

They actually wound up destroying one another and no one escaped! What a lesson for us today… The enemy is already defeated, so let’s SEND JUDAH FIRST, and let’s STAND STILL and SEE THE SALVATION of the LORD, for the battle is not ours, BUT THE LORD’S!!! Blessings…. JB