The Spirit of prophecy is from God.
"For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" ( 2 Peter 1:21).
However, today I learned that there can also be false prophecies. My verses are in Jeremiah, Chapters 28 to 32.
These are just my learnings, starting from number 1:
Learning # 1: False Prophecies sound like true ones.
But if a teaching, prophecy, exhortation is from God, it's from God. You just have to obey.
Learning # 5: Hearing from God is one thing; obeying is another.
1 John 4:1, "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."
Learning # 7. To say, "God said..." when He has not given it is not a light issue and accuracy of doctrine is the responsibility of God's messengers.
"But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death" (Deuteronomy 18:20, Emphasis on Old Testament).
Learning # 1: False Prophecies sound like true ones.
One thing we have to learn about false teachings is that they sound like the truth but they're not. The prophet Hananiah's false prophecy: "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. I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,' declares the Lord, 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon." (Jeremiah 28:1-4)
Hananiah was one of the prophets. The problem was he prophesied that Israel will be freed from the Babylonians when the instruction of God from the prophet Jeremiah was for Israel to surrender to the Babylonians for their sake. It sounded like the "salvation plan" of our "Loving and Just" God but it's not. Had not the verse implied that Hananiah was a false prophet I would not have known that this was a false prophecy.
Learning # 2: True prophecies are accurate to the timing.
God planned for Israel to be restored again (Jeremiah 30-31) but it would take the generation of Ezekiel and Nehemiah, not the generation of Jeremiah, before they can come back to Israel from their exile in Babylon. It did not come true within two years just like Hananiah prophesied.
However, Jeremiah prophesied that Hananiah will die in the same year and he did two months after (Jeremiah 28:16-17).
Learning # 3: The best measure of the genuineness of a prophecy is God's hand to make it happen.
Jeremiah said to Hananiah (Jeremiah 28:9), "But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true.”
Learning # 4: True prophecies have God's agenda not man's.
Hananiah can be a well-intentioned prophet who wanted to encourage the people. The problem was God did not send him.
Some messages from God don't necessarily appease to our comfort.
Israel's officials said this of Jeremiah, "Sir, this man must die! That kind of talk will undermine the morale of the few fighting men we have left, as well as that of all the people" (Jeremiah 38:4).
But if a teaching, prophecy, exhortation is from God, it's from God. You just have to obey.
Learning # 5: Hearing from God is one thing; obeying is another.
A prophecy can be of a blessing, but if we don't obey the condition, it does not necessarily come true. Once we hear God' word, we are responsible to apply it (Jeremiah 42:20-21).
Learning # 6: Prophecies are not to be taken lightly but they also have to be tested.
1 Thessalonians 5:20-21, "Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good,"1 John 4:1, "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."
Learning # 7. To say, "God said..." when He has not given it is not a light issue and accuracy of doctrine is the responsibility of God's messengers.
"But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death" (Deuteronomy 18:20, Emphasis on Old Testament).
God uses the gift of prophecy to speak to His Church and even for others (1 Corinthians 14:24-25) so that they may believe. God spoke to King Nebuchadnezzar and even Alexander the Great. The bearer of the gift has a purpose for the gift and a specific assigned audience. But its main purpose is for our strengthening, encouragement and comfort (1 Corinthians 14:3).
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