"If a prophet, one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or a wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, 'Let us follow other gods' (gods you have not known) 'and let us worship them,' you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer." (Deuteronomy 13:1-3a) If a man stands up in the congregation and claims he's been given the gift of prophecy and that he's dreamed a certain thing is going to turn out in a certain way, and the thing does turn out in a certain way, this doesn't prove he's a prophet of the Lord. In fact it can prove he's not a prophet if, after the thing comes true, he uses his newfound influence to try to lead anyone away from the Lord. A person who appears to have a gift of prophecy but who does not point worship toward the one true God or who attempts to point worship away from the one true God is not of God. If he is not a prophet called by the Lord but makes an accurate prediction anyway, he is either operating on human intuition alone (he has sized up a situation and made an accurate prediction based on his "gut feeling" about it) or he is operating under demonic influence.
An incident occurs in Acts 16 which proves to us that not all prophetic powers are from the Lord, for Paul and Silas encountered a female slave in Philippi who was inhabited by a demonic entity which gave her predictive powers that were being exploited by her owners. She started following the men around the city and Paul commanded the evil spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. This resulted in the beating and arrest of Paul and Silas after the slave's owners, infuriated over their financial loss, dragged them into the city center before the magistrates and falsely accused them of all manner of things. Not all accurate predictions are from the Lord, for this slave girl had made her masters a lot of money by making accurate predictions for those who came to her to have their fortunes read, yet she was making these predictions through the powers of darkness. She was a heathen woman living in a heathen city where false gods were worshiped and somehow she had come to be possessed by an evil spirit, likely due to occult practices she engaged in, perhaps even because she deliberately invited a spirit to take up residence within her. But her story proves that just because a person can make an accurate prediction does not mean the Lord gave them the message. It does not mean we are to accept them as a prophet and obey their instructions without consulting the Lord first.
Whenever someone claims to be passing along a message they received from the Lord, we must consider whether or not this person is even living for the Lord. Do they display the fruits of the Spirit? Do they point all worship toward the Lord and lift His name up high? Do they live in a way that honors the Lord? If the answer to any of these questions is "no", why would the Lord send His people a message by them? Would He choose an ungodly messenger to advise us how to live?
Even if the person appears to be sincerely living for the Lord, it's possible for them to make an error when attempting to give godly advice, so we still must make an effort to discern whether or not their advice lines up with the word of God. If in any point it diverges from what the Lord has said, it cannot be from Him. God will not contradict Himself. We must consult the Scriptures and we must consult the Lord in prayer to see whether the Holy Spirit is indeed directing us to go in a particular way or whether the Holy Spirit is warning us not to do it.
Have you ever had a fellow believer claim they have a word from the Lord for you and then when you hear it you immediately feel the Holy Spirit warning your spirit that this is bad advice? The person may mean well, and they may really think they know the best way for you to handle a situation, but on the inside you'll feel that their advice doesn't fit you. It just doesn't sit right with you. Something about it doesn't ring true. That's an indication not to move forward without first getting alone with the Lord and seeking His will. Even if the person giving the advice is someone you highly respect due to them holding a position of spiritual authority, you still have a responsibility to seek the Lord on your own behalf to make certain the message is from Him. As the Apostle John said, "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1) A person may not intend to lead us astray, but they may be allowing themselves to be influenced by their own personal experience or by wrong attitudes when giving us advice. They may not be speaking by the authority of the Holy Spirit when they try to direct our path. We are responsible for testing their words by shining the light of the Scriptures on them and by seeking the Lord's will for our lives.
Why does the Lord allow false prophets (or people with good intentions but bad advice) to come into our lives? Moses says it's because this reveals to us whether or not we are loving and serving the Lord. "The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and Him you must revere. Keep His commands and obey Him; serve Him and hold fast to Him." (Deuteronomy 13:3b-4) Moses refers to this as "testing", and as we've said before, tests are for the students and not for the teacher. The Lord knows how a person is going to react when given advice that doesn't line up with His word; the purpose of the test is to show us whether or not we'll follow His word instead of giving in to the authority of someone else or giving in to peer pressure. He wants us to learn how to react appropriately when someone tells us they know what we ought to do with our lives. He wants to train us to test the spirits so we'll learn to easily recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit and not fall for lies. He wants to teach us to seek His will before making big decisions so we won't be weak believers who just automatically and unthinkingly follow the advice of our fellow man without consulting Him.
I've received ungodly advice from both unbelievers and believers. I've given bad advice myself. Human beings are not perfect and are capable of giving terrible advice even when they don't intend to do so. It's vital that we take time to see what the Lord has to say, no matter how highly we value the opinion of the person who is telling us to take a particular course of action. If we value person's opinion of us more than the Lord's opinion of us, we'll fall into trouble. We'll make poor choices we'll regret making. Moses is telling the congregation of Israel that when someone claims to have a word from the Lord for them, this is a test. It's a spiritual checkup, in other words. A person who loves the Lord with all his heart and soul, who reveres the Lord and has a desire to obey Him, will seek Him to find out whether or not a path is the correct one to take.
There are people who accidentally give bad advice but then there are those who deliberately try to deceive others in order to lead them away from the Lord. Moses knew false prophets would arise in Israel. A false prophet is a dangerous person and Moses warns the congregation that they are not to tolerate such persons. "The prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you." (Deuteronomy 13:5) In our day we wouldn't seize a person and put them to death for speaking against the Lord and encouraging us to stop following Him. But we can certainly refuse to listen to their lies. We don't have to put up with false teaching from our pastors or Sunday school teachers either or any church official. If their teaching doesn't line up with God's word then we should not allow them to hold positions of authority in the church where they can influence people into wickedness. We don't have to watch false teachers on TV or listen to them on the radio or read their books. As the Apostle John wisely said, we have to test the spirits. We have to shine the light of holy Scripture on all human advice. We have to go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him what we should do. We have to be guided by the Holy Spirit, and when He tells us something is wrong for us, we'd better listen to Him. I've ignored that strong sense of warning before and I've heartily regretted it.
We'll close with the words of King Solomon who urges us not to depend on human understanding (whether our own or someone else's) so that we don't make decisions we'll regret. Instead we are to seek the Lord's wisdom in all things. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6)
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