“My dear friends, don't believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.” I John 4:1 Message Bible
Frequently, the words a prophet spoke on God’s behalf were, in fact, foretelling what would happen later. However, the prophet’s essential role was to speak for God, regardless of whether he predicted the future or not.
A prophet expresses the will of God in words and sometimes he/she uses signs to back up what he/she says and to demonstrate God’s power behind it.
In a similar way, a false prophet also may not be in the business of foretelling the future. A false prophet is simply someone who speaks for another but falsely.
False prophets either speak for the wrong god or they claim to have heard from the true God but do not accurately represent Him or His words. At the very least, they speak out of their own fleshly heart, but more likely, the “god” they are speaking for is really Satan.
The real issue about prophets is whether or not one who claims to be representing God and speaking for Him is doing so accurately or falsely. A prophet may accurately predict an event or demonstrate supernatural power, but if he/she is leading people away from the true worship of God, he/she is a false prophet.
The prophet is called to see future events in the light of the righteousness or wickedness of the people to whom God made everlasting covenants. Their main work is to urge people to live righteously and godly according to biblical principles.
The prophet’s secondary work was to warn of events to come in view of the attitude of the people concerning the will of God, and to pray and make supplication for the people and for God to be merciful.
Do you see why we need true prophets and why we are called to pray?
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7 Amp. Bible
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