Nine Biblical Principles for Judging ProphecySample

If we stoned false prophets in America, we wouldn’t have so many people walking around saying, “Thus saith the Lord.” When you presumed to speak as a prophet in Israel and the thing did not come to pass, they killed you. That’s one way to reduce the volume of false prophecy.

Look at verses 21–22: “And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (KJV). Simply stated, if someone prophesies in the name of the Lord and it does not come to pass, he or she is not a prophet. You are ordered not to fear that person. They do not represent God the Father.

Romans 12:6 says, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith” (NKJV). Paul states that we are to prophesy according to the measure of our faith.

Faith allows us to go further and do more than we could in our own strength. A dynamic faith will produce a dynamic prophecy saturated with power and anointing. Likewise, limited faith will produce a limited level of prophecy. Don’t be satisfied to live in ankle-deep faith when oceans of God’s power and revelation are available.

The apostle Paul urged New Testament believers saying, “We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you” (1 Thessalonians 5:12, KJV).

All prophecy is to be submitted to judgment. If there is no one to judge the prophecy, you should not have the prophecy. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:29, “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge” (KJV). And 1 John 4:1 states, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (KJV).