Posted by Jeffery M. Schwehm [JefferyMSchwehm] on March 30, 1999 at 09:40:44 {.Oe37V.qjQ7mGcjg8rgIMdud7girzQ}:
In Reply to: *What is a Prophet? posted by Friend on March 29, 1999 at 20:59:19:
Hi Friend-
I read your post on false prophecy and I am totally confused by your take on it. What exactly do you consider false prophecy to be? In one of AF's posts he quotes from the May 15, 1930 Watchtower pages 153-5:
"A
prophet is a person who professes to proclaim a message from Jehovah God. The Bible reveals the fact that there are both true and false prophets. The true prophet is one who always speaks as God's mouthpiece. His message is the truth, and
is designed to be a blessing to his hearers. He is never boastful, and always gives God the credit for the message which he proclaims, and therefore always has the divine approval. A false prophet is a person who claims to be a
representative of Jehovah and to speak in his name and to proclaim his message but is in fact the
mouthpiece of Satan. A false prophet never has
Jehovah's approval, and his message is always intended to deceive the people and to draw
them away from God and a study of his Word.
A false prophet speaks that which is contrary to God's will; he sneers at, contradicts and denies the message of God's true prophets. It matters not whether he proclaims his message with deliberate, willful and malicious intent to deceive, or whether he is the blinded and deluded dupe of Satan and hence unwittingly used of him. In either case he is a false prophet....
Since the Bible was completed, and "inspiration"
is no longer necessary, a true prophet is one who is faithfully proclaiming what is written in the Bible.... But it may be asked, How are we to know whether one is a true or a false prophet? There are at least three ways by which we can
positively decide:
(1) If he is a true prophet, his message will come to pass exactly as prophesied. If he is a false prophet, his prophecy will fail to come to pass.... The difference between a true and a false prophet is that the
one is speaking the word of the Lord and the other is speaking his own dreams and guesses.... The true prophet of God today will be telling forth what the Bible teaches, and those things that the Bible tells us are soon to come to pass. He
will not be sounding forth man-made theories or guesses, either his own or those of others.... In the New Testament, and in our day, the word "prophet" has a thought similar to that of our word "teacher," in the sense of a public
expounder. Hence when the term "false prophet" is used, we shall get the correct thought if we think of a false teacher."
Do you agree with the information in this quotation or not?
Jeff S.