7 Marks of a True Prophet
Anyone who loves to study Bible prophecy should get acquainted with the men and women that the Bible calls prophets and prophetesses. Who are they and how were they identified? Are prophets those strange people, wearing strange clothes, eating strange things, preaching strange sermons, and doing strange things that no one understands?
It was a great and distinct honor to be a prophet of the living God. That’s why there were so many false prophets in Israel. The prophets anointed kings, performed miracles, and predicted the future.
At the same time, a prophet’s assignment could also bring great danger, difficulty, and even death. As God’s mouthpiece and spokesman for predicting and previewing the future, the prophet was called to speak God’s uncompromising message to an often rebellious people, which frequently brought reproach, opposition, criticism, and even execution.
Throughout history, many people have claimed to be a prophet and made several predictions about the future. How do we distinguish between true prophets and false prophets? In this post, we will look at the 7 distinguishing marks of a true prophet
The Test of a Prophet
The true word and way of God have always been plagued by imitation and counterfeiters. For this reason, the Lord established a clear set of test questions a person had to pass to be received as a true spokesman for God.
Four main passages in the Old Testament deal with false prophets.
Deuteronomy 13:1-14
In this passage, Moses warns the people that there may arise from among them prophets or dreamers who could also accurately predict the future or produce a sign or a wonder. So, they must be careful and not believe them right away. Instead, they should allow God to bring confirmation as it would be unusual for God to speak alone through a dream without confirmation.
Deuteronomy 18:15-22
In this passage, Moses makes a distinction between a true and false prophet.
First, Moses tells the nation of Israel that the Lord God will raise up for them a (true) Prophet like him from their midst, from their brethren, and they should listen to Him for God will put His words in His mouth and will speak to them everything that God will command Him (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).
A false prophet on the other hand, who presumes to speak a word in God’s name, but speaks in the name of other gods shall die (Deuteronomy 18:20). How shall the people know he is a false prophet? If the thing that he speaks does not happen or come to pass, it means the Lord has not spoken through him (Deuteronomy 18:20-22).
Jeremiah 23:9-40
This passage describes the pain inflicted on Jeremiah by the false prophets.
True prophets know how serious it is to be called by God to declare His word, and they accept the responsibility with fear and trembling. So, when they see self-styled prophets living like sinners, they grieve.
No wonder Jeremiah had a broken heart and trembled like a drunken man. He realized what the false prophets were doing to the people and the land, and it made him sick. The false prophets were committing adultery and walking in lies.
Ezekiel 12:21-14:11
In Ezekiel 12:21-28, Ezekiel’s messages rang with the certainty and the nearness of God’s judgment on Jerusalem and the land of Judah. But the people were quoting a proverb that may have been devised by the false prophets to humiliate Ezekiel.
Because Ezekiel’s prophecies had not been fulfilled immediately the people started paying more attention to the false prophets than to the Word of God. The visions of the false prophets were false and misleading (Ezekiel 12:23).
In Chapter 13 of Ezekiel, God declared that the false prophets had spoken only lies and explained how He would judge them.
7 Distinguishing Marks of a True Prophet
In the above passages and many others, Scripture presents at least seven key distinguishing marks of a true prophet. These marks were not always present in every case, but certainly, in some cases they were.
However, for any follower of God who really wanted to know, there would have been no question about who was a true prophet and who was false.
1. The true prophet never used divination, sorcery, or astrology.
See Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Ezekiel 12:24; Micah 3:7. The source of the prophet’s message was God Himself.
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).
2. The true prophet never tailored the message to cater to the desires of the people.
See Jeremiah 8:11; 28:8; Ezekiel 13:10.
The false prophets, or “pillow prophets” as some have described them, spoke the message that would bring them popularity and money. They were the “Fortune 500” prophets, the religious opportunists (see Micah 3:5-6, 11).
The true prophet spoke God’s unadulterated message regardless of personal loss, shame, and even physical harm.
3. The true prophet maintained personal integrity and character.
See Isaiah 28:7; Jeremiah 23:11; Hosea 9:7-9; Micah 3:5, 11; Zephaniah 3:4.
Jesus said that true and false prophets will be known by their fruits, that is, by what they do and say (see Matthew 7:15-20).
4. The true prophet was willing to suffer for the sake of the message.
When the prophet Micaiah, son of Imlah, prophesied the defeat of Ahab and Jehoshaphat, he was put in prison and was given nothing but bread and water (1 Kings 22:27-28).
Jeremiah was cast into the dungeon of Malchiah the king’s son when he declared the Word of the Lord saying, “Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but those who surrender to the Babylonians will live” (Jeremiah 38:4-13).
5. The true prophet announced a message that was consistent with the Law and the messages of other true prophets.
See Jeremiah 26:17-19.
The true prophet’s message must neither contradict nor disagree with the previous revelation of truth, but rather should confirm and build upon that body of truth (see Deuteronomy 13:1-3).
6. The true prophet, when predicting future events, had a 100 percent success rate.
See Deuteronomy 18:21-22.
Unlike modern psychics, 25 percent (or even 99 percent) was not good enough! If alleged prophets were not 100 percent accurate, the people were to take them outside the city to stone them to death (see Deuteronomy 18:20).
7. The true prophet sometimes had the message authenticated by a miracle.
See Exodus chapter 5 to 12.
This test was not conclusive evidence, however, because false prophets also produced miracles on occasion (see Exodus 7:10-12; 8:5-7; Mark 13:22; 2 Thessalonians 2:9). Therefore, Moses added further aspects to this test in Deuteronomy 13:1-5.
The true test is the content of the message, not miracles. The true prophet spoke only in the name of the Lord and called people closer to God, not away from God.
Conclusion
As the saying goes, prophets were both foretellers and forth-tellers. Although they are usually thought of as being announcers of the future, they spent most of their time proclaiming God’s words about the age in which they themselves lived.
But as the prophets delivered God’s message about the present, it naturally spilled over into the future as they threatened punishment or promised blessing.
Do prophets exist today?
There may not appear prophets today as in the Old and New Testament periods. However, it must be noted that God can still speak through people in whatever way He chooses to reveal certain information at certain times. And this information will not contradict what God has already revealed about Himself in His written word, the Bible.
Reference: The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days by Mark Hitchcock
The end times have seen a great amount of interest in the last two decades, but there hasn’t been a comprehensive overview of biblical prophecy and eschatology for more than five decades.
Mark Hitchcock’s book is a comprehensive resource for the twenty-first century. The End will do for eschatology what Randy Alcorn’s Heaven did for people’s understanding of heaven. It provides a solid biblical foundation for Christians to explore the essential truths around the topic of the end of the world.
The End lays out Biblical prophecy in a clear and understandable way explaining how to interpret Bible prophecy, pointing out key passages, events, and characters. It also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the different views on the Rapture, the Millennium, and the chronology of end-times events.
17 Replies to “7 Marks of a True Prophet”
It appears that Prophet Muhammad has all 7 of these marks. Allow me to elaborate:
1. It is reiterated repeatedly that he spoke not on his terms, but that God put His words and commands in his mouth to be spoken to the people.
“Nor does he speak from [his own] inclination. It is not but a revelation revealed.” (Quran 53:3-4)
2. He endured persecution, threats, and hardship from his own tribe and others.
Only true prophets have ever been driven out of their own hometown because of what they preached, just as Jesus mentioned in Luke 4:24, “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.”
Despite that, he remained steadfast in conveying the message he was tasked with delivering and eventually returned to Mecca with 10,000 saintly warriors to bloodlessly conquer it back in the name of God, and deliver justice, just as described in Biblical scripture:
Jude 1:14, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
3. He is renowned for maintaining personal integrity and character throughout his life.
Even before his prophethood, he was known as “the Trustworthy” by his community. It is this consistency in character that got many to believe in his message. He upheld the principles of honesty, kindness, and justice, even when faced with extreme adversity.
4. Few, if any in history suffered more to spread the message of God than him. He faced relentless persecution, threats, and immense physical harm, including being stoned, boycotted, and even having assassination attempts against him.
Despite all that, he remained completely steadfast. Never once did his faith waver even a little bit.
5. The message delivered by the Prophet Muhammad is consistent with all other prophets of the Old Testament. Key elements include:
Monotheism: That there is none worthy of worship except God alone, the God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.
Righteous living: Preaching moral and ethical behavior in line with the teachings of all true prophets.
Justice and compassion: Enjoining good and forbidding evil, helping the needy, and being merciful.
Accountability: Highlighting the coming of the Day of Judgement, where every soul will be recompensed for what it did in the world.
6. Records and writings still hold that he has a perfect track record in his prophesies.
This is despite making hundreds of predictions. He foresaw both major things like the defeat of the Persian Empire and the conquest of Constantinople and smaller things like the order of the deaths of his companions and family members.
There is not a single prophecy proven false to this day, even as they are fulfilled in front of our very eyes, such as: “And fornication never becomes prevalent among a people, to the degree that they practice it openly, except that epidemics become rampant among them which had never before existed in their ancestors.”
The link between sexual permissiveness and sexually transmitted diseases is not something any sensible person in our times can deny.
Perhaps the unhinged pursuit of sexual gratification without liability is behind this next prophecy as well; “A woman will one day be taken and have her abdomen cut open, then what is inside her womb will be taken and discarded, out of fear of having children.”
According to an extensive survey published in the Guttmacher Institute Journal, the “fear of dramatic life changes” is by far the most common reason for abortions today, with more than half of those surveyed citing single motherhood as the reason for that fear.
Another remarkable presumption in this narration is that one day, removing a fetus from the womb will be without much risk to the mother.
This has only been possible recently in human history and would have been extremely dangerous in the recent past. For this reason, a Cesarean section was usually not performed in history except on a dead or dying mother.
7. His message was authenticated by several major miracles.
The message in this case also happens to be his biggest miracle. The scripture he came with, the Quran, is considered a living miracle due to its unmatched eloquence, depth, and consistency. You should give it a listen on YouTube, and witness as your heart trembles.
Other reported miracles include the splitting of the moon, the Night Journey (Isra and Mi’raj), and various instances of healing and protection. These miracles are seen as divine validation of his prophethood.
Thanks for taking the time to go through the post; I appreciate your comment.
However, I’m gonna have to disagree with you. First of all, the Jews did not accept Muhammad as a prophet.
Secondly, Jude 1:14 does not allude to Muhammad but to God when He comes back to earth to judge the wicked world.
Thirdly, you said that Muhammad maintained integrity and character throughout his life. Yet, he had several wives and is said to have committed atrocities.
I could mention many other reasons that Muhammad was not a true prophet but these three should be more than enough.
I’m gonna have fun with this.
Job 38:31 KJV “Canst thou bind the ‘sweet influences’ of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?”
That sounds like astrology to me!
Hmmm… you think so?
Have you tried reading this verse in another translation? Maybe you should ☺️.
Here’s the thing, when reading the Bible, we consider the context, the kind of literature, the author, the purpose for writing, and the intended audience.
Shalom!
Rain,
When God was asking this question of Job, He was speaking rhetorically.
The entire chapter is about God asking these questions of Job rhetorically because Job demanded to know where God was in the midst of his suffering.
The answer to them all was: “Of course you can’t; you’re not Me.”
I think when we read about the prophets and prophecies of the Old Testament times, we sometimes get our wires crossed, so to speak!
I am certain that many prophets were men and women who followed and obeyed God in times when the general population from top to bottom were following their own sinful desires and inclinations.
That stands out for me.
America, and to a lesser extent the British Isles, the Anglophone world and Western Europe are nominally Christian. America particularly sees itself as a Christian country particularly protected by God.
I may add that nations are not Christian, only individuals. Christian intent, values, our Judeo Christian heritage count for nothing or very little if we as nations, communities, families and individuals do not follow and obey Christ!
Prophets then, as well as being guided by God, we’re already aware of the hypocrisy and greed and other sins of the general population. We need to be too.
That does not start with judgemental self righteousness but humbly following and obeying God.
Then we will speak the truth in our days to the evil in our times.
I agree, Timbo. What makes one a Christian is receiving Christ as Savior and Lord and humbly submitting to His authority.
I am not sure though, if there are prophets like what they had in the Old Testament times. ☺️
I appreciate your comment, God bless,
I have not heard or know of any prophet now who prophecies in-line with scripture. Not one.
All I see are money hungry people claiming to hear from God on issues that do not encourage or feed the flock spirituality.
If we’re talking about prophets who are just like the ones we read in the Scriptures-then there’s none.
Thanks for your comment, Glenn. Gods bless,
I wonder what the language is of a true prophet.
I have heard prophets (???) speak very vulgar about a vision God gave them in terms of same sex relationships. I couldn’t shake the descriptive language used. I kept asking myself, would our Lord and Savior, who is righteous and holy speak like this?
The person said that God told them, “If I have to see it, so do you.”
Interesting question. ☺️
I believe a true prophet of God speaks in a manner that represents God’s character.
Although God uses each of His people according to their personality and character, one who speaks in a vulgar way to get across God’s message cannot be a true prophet.
Thank you for this well-balanced article!
So many are being deceived in these last days, and many of my friends, who I count as strong, solid Christians, quote and follow TV or other social media “prophets.”
It’s good counsel to measure everything by Scriptures and to pray for discernment as we navigate so much false prophecy.
Hi Patricia,
Unfortunately, many Christians are blinded by the pastors of megachurches that we see on TV. Thi s is why it’s important to read and meditate on the Word of God.
If we know what the Word says, we will not be deceived.
Thanks for your comment, God bless!
Thank you! God Bless!
You are welcome.
God bless you more.
I believe I am a true prophet and seer.
It brings extreme sadness to me to see so many friends following these false tv prophets. I rarely tell anyone that I am a prophet. It has been a hard life. I have suffered much pain and persecution. I certainly never made money for it. This role was something my life was before I had any knowledge of what a prophet was.
Thank you for this article.
Hi Brenda,
Thanks for your comment.
As mentioned in the article, prophets may not exist today like in the New and Old Testaments. Thus, I don’t consider any preacher on TV as a prophet.
Sadly, many people are being deceived into following these big TV personalities.
God bless!