THE FALLACY OF MAKING PREDICTIONS ABOUT FUTURE EVENTS (Part 1)

By Rabbi (Dr) Johnson Idowu

Let us pray: Our Father and our God, we are here again with Your Word which gives life. As many souls as are reached by this broadcast, please let it give them life more abundant in this world and eternal life here after in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Today, we shall shift our focus unto prophets and other men and women of God who make predictions about future events and the ridicule they bring to themselves and Christendom by their pronouncements.

Many prophets and ministers of God in modern times, who claim to receive direct messages from God, make divine predictions on various future events, like the outcome of elections, football matches, other sporting tournaments, apart from the events in the lives of individuals, institutions and nations etc.

Some of these men and women of God were usually so confident of their predictions that they staked their call on the veracity of their predictions by saying that if what they predicted did not come to pass, then they were not called by God.

However, not all such predictions came to pass. While some did, others did not. This calls to question the genuineness of such predictions and the status of the prophets who made them. Are they true prophets of God or not?

This question is germaine because God Himself said to us in Deut. 18:22 that: “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken, the prophet has spoken presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. ”
God said the same thing in a different manner in Jeremiah 28:9 when He said: “As for the prophet or prophetess who prophesies peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent.”

There are countless examples of true prophecies pronounced by true prophets of God in the Bible. In the same vein, we have records in the Bible of fake prophets who were not sent but who pronounced false prophecies, either to please the king or the nobles or even the generality of the people.
In Jeremiah 14:14, Prophet Jeremiah reported as follows: “The Lord said to me, ‘The prophets prophesy lies in My name when I have not sent them, commanded them nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, or worthless thing and the deceit of their heart. ”

In the same way, nowadays, many so-called prophets and men and women of God deliberately prophesy lies in the name of God in order to please eminent people for financial rewards or for self projection and self aggrandizement, thereby misleading the people. +++ A lot of homes and families have been broken and torn apart by the false prophecies of fake prophets and prophetesses. A lot of people have been misled to make wrong choices in life and business partners as a result of false prophecies given to them, while a lot of people have been led into ruin in business and in economical and political propositions as a result of false prophecies given to them by fake prophets and prophetesses.

God has decreed severe punishment for false prophets in Deut. 18:20: as follows: “But the prophet who presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, shall die.”

God also declared His punishment of fake prophets when He told Prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 13:1-3, 8-9 as follows: “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying (2) ‘Son of man, prophesy against the prophets who prophesy out of their own heart. Hear the word of the Lord! (3) Thus says the Lord, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. (8) Therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, therefore, I am indeed against you, ‘ says the Lord God. (9) My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies, they shall not be in the assembly of My people (the saints) nor be written in the record of the house of Israel (the book of life) nor shall they enter into the land of Israel (the kingdom of God). Then you shall know that I am the Lord God. ”

However, the people themselves need to take care not to fall into the snare of these false prophets and prophetesses who have not been called by God but have been called by their belly and selfish interests.

How can the people take care? In the first place, when you go to a prophet or prophetess, in your anxiety and eagerness, don’t first give him or her all the details of your life and circumstances, so that he or she will not use the information to give you concocted visions. Just state the problem you have and let him or her pray for you first, and whatever vision he or she sees will indicate if he or she is a true prophet or not.( TO BE CONCLUDED NEXT SATURDAY).

*This is the WORD OF LIFE by Rabbi (Dr) Johnson Idowu of THE RAPTURE ASSEMBLY aka The Assembly of Saints. Whatsapp number – 08138890935 or email: rapture.assembly@gmail.com