But then I sigh and, with a piece of scripture,
Tell them that God bids us do good for evil;
And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stolen out of Holy Writ,
And seem a saint when most I play the devil.
~ Richard III
This post is part of my False Prophet Deathwatch List. It serves as an explanation for how I have identified certain persons as false prophets, and, I think a helpful guide for recognizing them in our current culture.
Here is my methodology, and my opinion about what constitutes a false prophet. I think it can be useful in identifying and avoiding them.
Who is a “Prophet”?
I think there are a few prongs to this one.
First, a person must claim to speak for God. Having a wrong or evil opinion is one thing - likely all of us have fallen into error regarding something. In some cases, we may never even realize it - but later generations will. (See: slavery, or the subordination of women) But one does not become a prophet until one claims to speak for God.
Second, a person must have some degree of leadership, influence, or other form of power. I could stand on a street corner with a sign, and nobody would care. I’m just some middle-aged white guy with a sign.
In this context, false prophets are sometimes pastors or church leaders, but more often, they are leaders of para-church organizations - the infrastructure that enables them to promulgate their ideas they claim come from God. In this respect, they are in the tradition of the evangelist sorts of the 19th Century - they get the money and the platform, without the burden of caring for their converts like a local pastor would have.
Along with this, I consider the reach of a person’s influence to be relevant. A pastor of a small church who leads his congregation astray has done damage, but will never have the power to harm millions that the leader of a nationwide or worldwide organization will have. Thus, the more visible and influential the leader, the more important it is to identify that person as a false prophet and to call them out.
A note here regarding my blog: my reach and influence is fairly low - less than the average small church pastor. But more importantly, I want to be clear that I do not speak for God. I will argue for why I believe my interpretations of scripture are more in line with truth than those of Evangelicals, for example, but I do not believe I have any particular connection with God that others do not. I’m just using the brain and conscience God gave me to try to find a faith that isn’t toxic and harmful.
What makes a prophet a false prophet?
The heart of being a false prophet is the violation of the Third Commandment: taking the Lord’s name in vain. Claiming to speak for God when you are actually speaking your own lies.
As I see it, there are a number of indications that a prophet is false. I draw these from the Bible, of course, and also from my own experience and study of history. The greatest of all prophets, of course, was Jesus Christ, so a good question to ask is “does this prophet look like Jesus, or like His opposite?” By their fruit you shall know them.
Indication #1: A false prophet is loved by those with power and wealth.
False prophets will tell the rich and powerful that they deserve what they have, that God is on their side.
In contrast, true prophets tend to be hated by those with money and power. Many of them got killed for their trouble - Christ included.
Indication #2: A false prophet promises money and power and success.
Sure, Ahab, go into battle - you’ll win. See, I even made some horns to prove my point.
Sure, just follow this formula and send me money and God will bless you.
Sure, if you join my group and use my scripture meditation formula, God will make you a success in everything.
Sure, if you use my childrearing formula, your kids will obey you their entire lives.
If someone is promising you these things, he or she is very likely a false prophet.
Indication #3: A false prophet excuses you from responsibility for your fellow humans.
Hey, “those people” deserve what they get. You have more than them because you made God happy so he blessed you. They clearly didn’t make God happy.
Indication #4: A false prophet punches down.
Anytime you hear someone blaming vulnerable people for a nation’s problems, you know they are a false prophet. “It’s the fault of LGBTQ people.” “We let too many immigrants in.” “Black people have lousy culture.” “Kids are just too disrespectful and lazy these days.” “If women would stop having sex and abortions, God would bless us again.”
A true prophet puts the responsibility on the rich and powerful - he or she always punches up. “The plunder of the poor is in your houses.” “You brood of vipers!”
Indication #5: A false prophet teaches hierarchy
They claim that only males are capable of spiritual leadership, thus excluding women from the pulpit. They claim that children must be beaten into unquestioning obedience to adults. They claim that there is a natural hierarchy among humans - it is rarer today to hear about the superiority of white people over others stated openly, but it is cloaked in euphemisms about culture and parenting and other dog whistles. They also claim that wealth is a sign of superior morality - people are poor because they are inferior.
Anytime someone starts talking about hierarchies, they are likely a false prophet. Helpful here is to compare Christ, who consistently preached blessed to the poor and downtrodden, and woe to the wealthy and powerful. And also taught that in the Kingdom of Heaven, there are no hierarchies.
Indication #6: False prophets sell you fear of others.
Rather than love and a sound mind, false prophets keep you in fear of people different from you. “The world” is to be feared, instead of loved. (For God so LOVED the world…) If a person is making you more afraid of people outside of your tribe, that is a good indication they are a false prophet. Particularly if the “others” you are told to fear are vulnerable minorities.
Indication #7: False prophets are obsessed with “purity.”
This can take on many forms, but the core idea is the same. It is a fear of “contamination” from the outside. False prophets will tell you to avoid “worldly” activities. In the past, this was dancing, card playing, alcohol. During my childhood, it was movies, secular music, secular books, normal clothing for women, and so on. And, always, the “nine Saxon physiological monosyllables.”
But you also see it in the sense of a fear of contamination from people outside the tribe. “Don’t have friends who aren’t Christians.” “Gay people are sexual predators.” Or, like notorious sodomite James Dobson, “Immigrants have diseases.”
And, of course, the perennial favorite: sex. Particularly female sexual purity - it really is an obsession for false prophets.
If you hear someone preaching about the need to be pure and separate, particularly from marginalized people, you are probably hearing a false prophet.
Indication #8: False prophets want your money.
This one is self-explanatory.
Indication #9: False prophets preach theocracy, rather than persuasion.
This is particularly the case for the false prophets of my lifetime. They have given up on persuading people to do things their way, so they now focus on using the power of government to force those they cannot persuade. This is, of course, connected to #5 above - a belief in hierarchy that they are at the top of, able to dictate to those lesser humans they consider beneath them.
Indication #10: False prophets sell formulas rather than mutual care - self-focused rather than other-focused.
Do this, and you will succeed, be blessed, and so on. In reality, life is messy, complicated, and unpredictable.
In contrast, true prophets preach mutual aid and responsibility. The true prophets tell you to care for the widows, the orphans, the poor, the immigrants - the marginalized in society.
False prophets get this backwards. They focus on how to get what you want for yourself, while controlling others. A true prophet teaches you to do for others while controlling yourself.
Indication #11: False prophets protect sexual predators - or are sexual predators themselves
Yeah, this has become ever more apparent, hasn’t it?
Indication #12: False prophets teach idolatry of a mostly mythological past.
This is, again, related to several of the above: the longing for a time when people like them (usually white, male, and wealthy) had all the political, economic, and social power.
You can recognize a false prophet when he or she claims that people were better way back when, that society was more moral, and so on. A good technique is to ask when we were great, godly, or whatever. It usually turns out to be at least during the Jim Crow days, and often during slavery. Likewise, when women couldn’t vote or leave abusive marriages. Or when poverty meant starvation.
Related to this is that false prophets support the political policies to return to those past injustices.
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I’m sure there are more - and I may add to this list as time goes on.
In our times, it is as important as ever that we correctly identify the false prophets - the anti-Christs who seek to lead us astray. And take our money for their trouble.
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