There’s often debate among Christians about modern-day prophets. The guidelines of today suggest ways to “identify” a real prophet and who is false. Basically, what I’ve been told is that a real prophet will always give an encouraging word that “edifies” and the prophecy must also come true. Well, a look at the Bible might give us another perspective about true and false prophets. Think about the great prophets of the Bible and you will see that their prophecies were not always immediately edifying nor did they come true for hundreds of years. One thing for certain, they were the voice of God. Let’s look at a very famous false “prophet” and how he is viewed by New Testament writers.
In Numbers 22:2-25:9, Balak, the king of Moab, sought to curse the Israelites by hiring Bilam the “prophet,” who had a reputation for being able to bless or curse a people—for money, of course. Bilam rode his donkey to meet \ Balak, and the Angel of the LORD stood with a sword to stop him. However, Bilam doesn’t see the angel, but his donkey does and refuses to continue. After three beatings the donkey speaks to Bilam and his eyes are then opened to see the angel–some prophet, right? Bilam is told to go to Balak, but not curse the Israelites. Numbers 22:38 says that when Balak tells Bilam to curse the Israelites, he says,”…I have no power of my own to say anything. The word God tells me to say I will say.” Bilam told Balak, however, a way to curse the Israelites was to get them to sin against God and Balak then sent Midianite women into their camp and caused the Israelite men to follow the women into idolatry.
According to tradition, Bilam had been given the gift of prophesy, but he used it for evil and personal gain. Jude likens false teachers as following the “error of Bilam,” (Jude 1:11), and Peter also speaks of the “way of Bilam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing” (2 Peter 2:5), and Revelation 2;15, the “teaching of Bilam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel.” Very serious offenses according to scripture, unfortunately, we increasingly see this in the contemporary church, even more as the Day of the Lord approaches. The truth of scripture ultimately defines prophecy. And often the devil is in the details of the discerning.
Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Some translations say for the “building up” of the body of Christ. Obviously, in the false prophet example of Bilam, there was profit motive and it ultimately it did not build up the people of God. Just because it’s an encouraging or edifying word, it does not necessarily result in the edifying of the body of Christ. Christ himself said to beware of false prophets, meaning there are those who are not what they appear to be. As we approach the Day of the Lord, we must be vigilant and discerning of those who would use the position of prophet and always measure them from the truth in the word of God.
