When you were LDS, you were taught to follow the prophet. The Bible talks a lot about prophets, but it also warns us that not everyone who claims to be a prophet actually comes from God. God gives us two criteria to determine whether a prophet truly speaks for God or not.
A false prophet will not be able to predict the future with 100% accuracy.
Deuteronomy 18:15 Moses continued, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.
Moses attests that God will speak through prophets, and his people should listen to them. But how do you know if a particular prophet is sent by God or not?
Deuteronomy 18:20-22 “But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in my name or who speaks in the name of another god must die.” But you may wonder, “How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?” If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared.”
If a prophet foretells some future event, any prediction he (or she) makes will either come to pass or it will not. If the prediction does not come true, it proves definitively that the prophet in question is not from God. It doesn’t matter what else the prophet has said. It only takes one failed prophecy to disqualify a prophet from consideration. God is perfect, and what he says will be without error. So even one prophecy that does not come to pass reveals a false prophet who does not speak for God.
Using this test, sometimes the fulfillment of prophecy cannot be discerned until much later, as the prophecy may foretell something far in the future. That’s why a second test is needed as well.
[Related: Was Joseph Smith a False Prophet?]
A false prophet will lead people away from what God has already revealed.
Deuteronomy 13:1-3 Suppose there are prophets among you or those who dream dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles occur. If they then say, “Come, let us worship other gods” – gods you have not known before – do not listen to them….
This passage presents the scenario that a prophet emerges who is able to prophesy the future, and it does come true. Or someone claiming to be prophet of God appears who is able to do amazing, supernatural works. It would seem that such miracles would validate a prophet. But even those kind of phenomena do not necessarily mean the prophet has been sent by God. There is another, more fundamental test – a truth test. What is the nature of the prophet’s message? Do the prophet’s words lead people away from God? In particular, does the prophet suggest to people that there is another god that people should follow – a god they have not known before?
Realistically, a false prophet is not likely to say it so directly: “Hey, I represent a false god. Come worship him with me.” And a false prophet could use the name “God” (or “Jesus”), but describe God (or Jesus) very differently from how God has revealed himself. Regardless of superficial similarities, they would be describing “gods you have not known before.” So the test of a prophet is to compare what that prophet says about God against what God has already revealed about himself in Scripture.
[Related: God – Eternal Deity or Exalted Man?]
[Related: God – Body or Spirit?]
[Related: The Historical Reliability of the Bible]
Not everyone who claims to speak for God actually does. Not every prophet deserves to be followed. It’s up to each individual to develop their own faculty of discernment in order to reject the voices in our culture, and even the religious leaders, who will lead people astray from the true God who has made himself known to us.
