True Prophets vs. False Prophets

Every Television Evangelist is preaching Christ. Every pastor and father in every Christian Church is preaching Christ. Every false prophet is preaching Christ. Yet, when you get right down to it, none of them are preaching the same thing. Even the version of Jesus that they preach is different from one denomination to another. It creates a great deal of confusion.

Is Christ divided, or is there some kind of order in His house that we simply cannot see? How can we tell the true prophets from the false prophets? Or are all the prophets false prophets?

Ephesians 4: 5: One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

This scripture tells us that there is only One Jesus, not custom made Jesuses for each Christian denomination.

This scripture tells us that there is only one faith, or one true religion, or only one Church of Jesus Christ that is Christ's Own Church.

This scripture tells us that there is only one baptism that God the Father will recognize. There is only one Church of Jesus Christ that we can be baptized into and have that baptism accepted by the Father. There is only one baptism that is efficacious.

During much confusion, pondering, and prayer, I came to a realization. Since every prophet, true or false, preaches Christ and tries to lead us to Christ, there must be found some other way to distinguish the true prophets from the false prophets.

Do you know what I came up with?

First of all, a true prophet of God will lead you to the Church of Jesus Christ, and a false prophet will not. It's a very simple, but a very powerful concept. A true prophet of God, no matter how imperfect the individual might be, will be striving to lead every one of us to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A true prophet of God will be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whether formally called as such or not.

Second of all, a true prophet of God will point you to Christ's Apostles and tell you to listen to Christ's Living Apostles. A false prophet will not. Why is this important? It's because the Apostles of God will point you to baptism and confirmation in the Church of Jesus Christ. The Apostles of God will point you to Temple Ordinances and Temple Covenants. The Apostles of God will have the Keys of the Priesthood and will have received a commission to administer the Covenants and Ordinances of the Gospel. What the Apostles of God do is binding on the Lord, because they are His authorized representatives here on this earth.

Third, a true prophet of God will preach of Christ and point us to Christ, which is something that all the prophets try to do, whether they are true prophets or false prophets.

Ephesians 4: 11-14:

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 

14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

So that we could avoid being deceived by the cunning craftiness of men, Jesus Christ gave us Apostles.

Jesus Christ sees Himself and His Church as being one and the same thing. He calls His Church the Body of Christ.

The purpose of Christ's Apostles is to bring us to a unity of the faith, to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, and to a completeness or Gospel Fulness. The purpose of the Apostles is to keep the Doctrine of Christ pure and unpolluted.

So, a true prophet of God will not only lead us to Jesus Christ but he will also lead us to Christ's Apostles and to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If a prophet is not doing these three things, then the prophet is not a true prophet of God, no matter how appealing his message might be.

Now that I have posted this, let me ask:

Is your favorite prophet pointing us to Jesus Christ?

Is your favorite prophet pointing us to Christ's Apostles?

Is your favorite prophet pointing us to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

If you can answer yes to these three questions and keep answering in the affirmative, then chances are good that your favorite prophet is indeed serving in the role of a prophet of God right now. However, if he or she starts to point us away from one of these three things, and starts pointing us to himself and his books instead, then beware. Whenever they shift focus away from one of these three things, then that's when they fall and cease to be prophets of God.


Mark My Words