Jeremiah was a prophet who took a lot of abuse. The people of Israel didn’t like the message he was proclaiming, that they would be carried off to Babylon because of their disobedience to God. They didn’t like the message, so they took it out on Jeremiah, the messenger. Along comes this fellow named Hananiah who brings a different message:

Jeremiah 28:2-4  “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.  Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the LORD’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon.

Two prophets – conflicting messages. How do you know which one is telling the truth? In response to Hananiah’s prophecy, Jeremiah said, “I hope you are right. But time will tell, won’t it? Soon enough the people will know which of us is speaking God’s message.” In fact, just a few verses later we read:

Jeremiah 28:15-17 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.’” In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had definitive answers like that today about whether or not someone was a false prophet? Wouldn’t it be nice if all those prophesying lies in God’s name would be struck down? Yes, it would make it a lot easier to know who was telling the truth, but since it does not appear that God is using that approach these days, we need to be discerning. We need to figure out who is telling the truth and who is not.

I guess it helps to know what makes someone a “prophet.” We normally think of someone who predicts the future when we hear that word, don’t we? But the way the Bible uses the term, what it actually means is “spokesman” or “spokesperson.” A prophet in the Bible is someone who speaks God’s Word. Sometimes that includes revealing events that will happen in the future, but the primary task of a prophet is to speak the message God gives him to speak.

A false prophet, then, is someone who says “this is what God says” but says things that did not come from God. Instead of pointing people to the God who condemns sin and sent His Son to take the punishment for the sins of the world, false prophets lead people away from the love and mercy and grace and forgiveness that is found only in Jesus Christ.

False prophets are an ongoing problem, and will be until our Lord returns. I’ll share some more of my musings on this topic in the days ahead.