God’s Test for Teaching
Truth is measured by loyalty and consistency
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In Deuteronomy 13, God warns His people that false teaching will not always look false.
It may involve signs, experiences, or sincerity.
The test is not power or persuasion.
The test is loyalty to the God already revealed.
If a teaching—even a convincing one—leads people away from the true God or introduces a different understanding of Him, it fails the test.
“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams…You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him and keep His commandments.”
— Deuteronomy 13:1–4
Did you know?
Did you know?
It is true that, if a prophet foretells something that fails to come to pass, he is a false prophet, but foretelling the future correctly is not the determining factor when looking at false prophets. The real issue is whether one who claims to be representing God and speaking for him is doing so accurately or falsely. A prophet may accurately predict an event or demonstrate supernatural power, but if he is leading people away from the true worship of the true God, he is a false prophet.
Deuteronomy 13 begins with the assumption that the prophet does foretell the future accurately or perform some other, humanly impossible work. Nevertheless, if that prophet’s central message is to follow after a different god or to take a spiritual path that the true God has not said to take, that person is a false prophet and, as Gal 1:8 states, “but even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”
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