How can you differentiate between a true prophet and a false prophet?

Is there more to it than blind faith and a feeling in your heart that it's right?How can you differentiate between a true prophet and a false prophet?
A true prophet will speak wisdom and truth and will not be motivated by money. A true prophet will be able to easily show the hypocrisy of others and the faults in their logic when they claim to do ill deeds in God's name and for righteousness.





This does not mean the prophet will be perfect and never make a mistake. On the contrary, a prophet is a human being, not God, so an expectation of absolute perfection from a prophet is false. Remember, prophets are still human, they are not God, so perfection is an impossibility. A true prophet is someone who works toward perfection and can lead others also toward the ideal, even if we humans can never reach it (we can get closer).





You might consider too that God realizes that a leader born perfect is of little use to the rest of humanity which is not perfect and needs to be lead away from corruption. How can someone born perfect relate to other humans and teach them how to move away from corruption? Jesus said, ';Just as I have overcome the world, you too must overcome it,'; hence even Jesus made the point that he was not perfect and had to work to overcome corruption and evil's temptations.





You will know a true prophet by words and deeds and the events taking place around them, what they are able to accomplish for the betterment of humanity and with the assistance of God.





A true prophet will not alter God's word, but may very well (in fact, should be expected to) point out how God's word has been misinterpreted and that is where a true prophet would offer correction to man's understanding of God (what other purpose would God have for a prophet in the first place?) and God's laws.





A true prophet will be able to successfully assist great numbers of people in coming to greater understandings about God and God's laws, which again is God's purpose for a prophet, and will be able to do so without glorifying the self as above or equal to God. A true prophet is humble before God.





A true prophet will teach a consistent message of love and peace and reconciliation between humans.





A true prophet will promote reconciliation between religions, as Jesus taught his disciples to respect other religions (it's in his teachings in the New Testament, read it for yourself, focus on the teachings of Jesus and not on the writings of his followers) and as Muhammad taught acceptance of Jewish and Christian prophets.





A true prophet will have some way or ways of communicating with God to receive instruction, wisdom and revelation to guide them and to deliver to others. You will know this person speaks the truth about their communication by the messages they deliver and their actions in accordance with God's laws.





A true prophet may be able to point out corruptions or other problems in the Holy Books, such as for example that the Gospels, the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, provide four accounts of events surrounding the Resurrection that conflict with one another and cannot all possibly be true (it's in the New Testament people, read it for yourself, it's there, four incompatible accounts of events at the empty tomb -- one angel or two? inside the tomb or out? appearing only to Mary Magdalene or she and others? were any of the Apostles there? who first saw the resurrected Jesus? Answers depend upon which Gospel book you are reading, truth, check it out for yourself).





Ultimately, recognizing a true prophet rests as much upon you as the prophet, for you must be open to the idea that some things you thought you knew about your religion, your Holy Book, or God, could be wrong. You must maintain a strict moral line in this, though, so that you will not be lead astray by false prophets (for example, if they want you to murder, rob banks, engage in promiscuity, send them hordes of money, exploit and cause harm and suffering to others, pollute the air, land and sea, or ask you to build temples in their honor, you can assume they are false).





For the most part, a prophet will not tell you they are a prophet, but will let you come to the realization on your own.





Also, Jesus does not prophecize in the Bible of two false prophets to arise before the end days. Revelation in the New Testament gives prophecy of two witnesses of God who become world famous for two years or so, are assasinated, and then three days later with their bodies untouched and the whole world watching -- one can now assume on TV and Internet because of this very prophecy in Revelation -- are resurrected. It's in the New Testament, read it for yourself and do not rely on teachings with no basis in scripture other than a wild extrapolation and misinterpretation from what the scripture actually says.How can you differentiate between a true prophet and a false prophet?
Look at their belly button.





Inny = False Prophet





Outie = True Prophet
A true prophet is right 100% of the time. If their not then they are lying
simple .. and got nothing to do with faith :





if his prophecies are right ( really happened ) ,


then he is a prophet . ( that's why he is called a prophet )





if not , then he is a liar or crazy !
A ';true prophet'; is a fraud you've been culturally conditioned to believe so you give credence without cause, whereas a false prophet is a liar you examine critically and see through. One is the same as the other. The difference is in you and your credulousness.
A true prophet will never tell you anything that isn't Biblical. And if anyone says they know when the world will end, they're a false prophet because no one knows that but God Himself.
It is always in the information they give.


And it is always about the information.





To tell true from false - it is the same for anything else - in this world. The rules remain the same...


True information connects with other information - to the real world.


If you have to rely upon blind faith - that is never enough.





A lot of the world religions today - feed us false myths and false information - and remain unconvincing to the majority of the population.


Religions which make promises for when you die - are false. Because you'll never know if they are being truthful to you.


And what use is that religion anyway? All they are doing are pandering towards one's fear of death - meaning they are taking advantage of that natural fear. In essence they are not being truth to us at all.





There is a great deal of distortion via world religions - if you accept this - then you have a chance of knowing which is true and false in this world.


www.figu.org (English Discussion Board) Use the search engine there.





Sadly the Bible and Koran, etc are merely propaganda, and are not reliable sources of information as such. They are heavily distorted due to the political power of these texts - and are used as such. Unfortunately you have to be aware of the insiduous nature of religions in order to understand what truth there is?
Jesus said he would be back in the lifetime of the people who were attending his speech.


So that tells me he was a false prophet.





You just have to listen and see if you hear something false.
There are 3 crucial tests for a prophet.





1) What they prophesied must come to pass, without exception.





2) What they prophesied can not contradict scripture.





3) The prophet must lead you to God, not away from Him.





There is scriptual basis for this in Deuteronomy 18.
A true prophet will make correct prophecies (prophecies that actually occur). A false prophet will make a statement and if it doesn't happen exactly the way he or she said it would, then he or she is a false prophet. So it can be a waiting game to find out.
There is no way to tell.





You have to go with what you believe and hope it's right.
Based on the probabilities of being true to fact all of them maybe false prophets as no one can prove them to be true anyway based on myths on possible tong and cheek.
Jesus tells us that you will know them by their fruits. John tells us to try the spirits to see if they ar of God. A true prophet will never go against the Word of God and his prophecies will come true. A false prophet cannot side with God and his prophecies will not come true.
Jesus Christ was the final revelation. The bible tells us that many false prophets will come after him. One of the ways we know they are false is that they will change God's word. They will try to discredit the bible. The only flawless human on earth was Jesus and He was that way because He is the Son of God. Anyone who teaches otherwise is a false prophet.
The bible says I know my sheep and they know me and they know it when they hear my voice. Also God would never contradict His own word so if someone is they are not from God. Pray and keep close and you won't be decieved.
Hi there,





There's a lot of answers so far and I think most of them got it right. But I'd like to add one bit to the batch assuming you're Christian and you don't mind Scripture. Here's a couple verses that sum it up well:





And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?





When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).





I hope your question gets answered to your satisfaction,





John.
In my opinion, they are all false. However, some of them understand about ';self-fulfilling prophesy.';
That which is of God brings glory to him
A true prophet will have a flawless book , he will have many enemies and critics who will try to slander and defame him, many will be after him to destroy him and stop his mission however he will eventually have victory because he is supported from the true God who has sent him.





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reynold. Very good answer I couldn't say it better.





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Butterfly , how very interesting that prophet Muhamed also warned us of the false prophets who will come after him , but I've never seen any of them succeeded in his mission simply beacuse they are truely false one.
Jesus Christ warns us about false prophets. Those that are sweet-tongued persons who preach wrong gospels and claim the divinity of the Lord. More to it than that, God has given each one of us a DISCERNING SPIRIT to know from our hearts who is a false prophet and who is not.
The last true prophet to be on earth, was Jesus the Christ. The next prophets to appear will be the two prophets at the Temple wall at the time of the Tribulation. All prophets that come in between Jesus, and the two prophets that come at the time of the Tribulation, ( these two are more than likely Moses and Enoch ) are false prophets.





God be with you,


William, a bond-servant of Jesus


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P.S. False teachers will rise, ( and many already have ) you will know them by their fruit, if they teach exactly what the Bible teaches, they are good teachers, if they teach anything different than what the Bible teaches, they are false teachers, and you must get away from them, don't even eat with them, just leave and pray for them.
A true prophet is someone that you just know is special. A false prophet is just like any other regular guy
a true prophet's prophecies will come to pass-enough said.
True prophet does not change the Word of God, and claim to correct His Word which is perfect.
';you will know them by their fruits';





All talk and no results are what will define a false prophet.
Because a True prophet wont waste have the pages in a Holy book saying how corrupted the 2 previous religions are.
Basically, if they claim to be a prophet, they're lying.





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