How To Discern False Prophets From True Prophets

Hello Guys,

I was privileged to watch a much needed sermon from a powerful pastor of God (Pastor Tim Atunnise). He was led by the spirit of the Lord to teach the flock on how to discern a false prophet, true prophet and how to know whether God is calling them to be a prophet. A lot of people need to hear this message. I for one have been looking for this type of information for a long time and no pastor has distilled it and broken it down quite as clearly as Pastor Tim does.

You can check out Pastor Tim on Youtube, he has two accounts (I included the links below):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLbXTDwseiR1OYC4sAoWOOg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjSqVObcFDeVc0_nFzT4uyA

(Here are the notes I took from the sermon)

There Are Three Kinds of Prophecy

1. The spirit of Prophecy: When you have the spirit of God in you, you have the spirit of prophecy. If you have this, sometimes God will cause you to speak. Not all prophets will tell you “I see you ate this last night, I see this, I see that”. There is a difference between forthtelling and foretelling. Having a spirit of prophecy and the gift of prophecy does not make you a prophet. You need to operate in the office of the prophet to be a prophet. Not everyone in the office of a prophet is a prophet, some people are not called, but they assume the office.  One question, is the person called into the office of a prophet? You need to ask that, if they are called, then yes, they are prophets.

How will you know if what the prophet is saying is of the Lord? Many of them speak in tongues. You need to test every spirit to see if they are of the Lord.

2. The Gift of Prophecy:

3. The Office Of the Prophet:

 

To Discern Who Is a True Prophet / To Know If You Are A Prophet

1. There must be an encounter with God. If you see a true prophet, they must have had an encounter with God. If the prophet did not have a true encounter with God before becoming a prophet, then they are not a true prophet. Your encounter with God might not be a seriously big encounter. Some people expect God to speak on a burning bush, the same way he did to Moses. However, some people will have an encounter that is so quiet, but nevertheless from the Lord. Question: some people lie about their encounter, how do we know who is being honest?

 

2. God does not call people that are qualified, he calls those that are unqualified and qualifies them. This is because the qualified are prideful and if God uses them, pride will not let them do the work. Because of pride, God brings up the lowly and brings low the highly. None of the prophets in the Bible are qualified to do the job. They cannot say that “I did this”, because they were unqualified for the job.

3. When you are called into the office of the prophet, there must be a need for you. Each prophet that is called is called for a specific purpose, and when the person is called, God would let you know exactly why you are called. You need to know the specific office that God is calling you to. There are five prophetic Offices: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher. You need to know what exact office God is calling you to. You need to know the assignment that God is giving you. You also need to know the destination that God is calling you to. You need to know 1. The Office.  2. The Assignment (Purpose). 3. Destination. If you are called to be a prophet, you need to know these three things. If you do not know these three things, then you need to pray and fast to seek God’s face and wisdom on these things. If you do not like the destination of your appointed place of service, you still need to go there. That is how prophecy works.

4. When you become a prophet, you become a person of God, and you can no longer step outside of the will of God. Some people do not like this and they try to run away from the service of the Lord. God will appear and remind you that he is calling you and that you cannot run from him. When God is calling you and you have confirmed that it is God, do not delay. When you delay, God will punish you. So do not delay. The minute you are called into the office of the prophet, that has become your life and everything you do would be according to God’s approval. However, bear in mind that when God calls you, it is a privilege.

5. If you know that you are being called into the office of the prophet, then keep praying for the grace of God. If God is calling you to the office of the prophet, there are some things you will go through, so that you can have a message. You will go through some hard times, so that you can have a story. If you want to be a counsellor for instance, you have more to say if you have been through some hard stuff. That is the logic that God uses. The assignment that God is giving you, God would take you through it. Some people desire the office of the prophet, but they do not like to go through challenges, if you hate to go through challenges then you cannot become a prophet. If God is calling you to comfort others, you must suffer pain. If you do not go through pain then how would you comfort those who are going through pain. If you ask for the healing anointing, then you will suffer a terrible sickness. What you are going through now might not be the work of the devil but God trying to build you up for something. If you are a prophet, God can allow the enemy to try you and to test you, but he would never allow them to kill you, because you are a part of God’s plan. 

Why Do Many Prophets Fail Today

1. Moses was a failed prophet, Elijah was a failed prophet. But the people that they mentored, Moses mentored Joshua and Elijah mentored Elisha, and both Joshua and Elisha did not fail. Many prophets fail like Moses and Elijah because although they had someone to mentor, they had no one to mentor them. They had no guidance, Many prophets fail because they do not have a mentor. Some prophets say things like, “the holy spirit is my mentor”,  but no, as a prophet, you need a real-life mentor and formal training. No matter the amount of anointing you have from God, you still need formal training. Holy Spirit will remind you of what you know, not what you don’t know. You need to receive the training. Prophets who do not have a formal training can misinterpret the visions they see from God. Prophets who have a formal training also know how to present things to people. When God shows a prophet that something bad will happen to someone, a trained prophet will not go to them and say “this bad thing will happen to you”, a trained prophet will comfort the person and find wise ways to present the issue.

How To Spot A True Prophet 

1. Check to see if he is trained, that is If he has formal training. Even the Bible talks about the schools of the prophets, the sons of the prophets.

2. A trained prophet will comfort the people of God, not bring them messages of doom. Even if he sees something scary, he will present it in comforting ways.

3. Also check for everything else listed above. See if they have had an encounter with God concerning their prophecy, a sense of direction on what, where etc., of the office they are being called to, if they have a story etc.

As a child of God, do not run after prophets and prophecy, instead pray to God directly and ask him what he has for you. Do not fall prey to false prophets.