Check To See If The Message Is From God

Before Gideon accepted the angels assurance that God was going to use him to deliver Israel, he wanted a sign to make sure the messenger was in fact from God, as Judges 6:17-21 describes.  “And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me.  Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.  And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.

And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.  Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.” 

People often assume that they have been called of God to a particular ministry or action, and especially if some pastor or church leader tells them to.  God sometimes uses other people to direct us, but Satan sometimes uses people or angels to mislead.  It is important we learn to distinguish whether the messenger is from God or not.  Deuteronomy 18:18-22 made it clear they were to obey the prophet if he was from God, and not to follow those who were not.   “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.  But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.”

God gave two things to look for to see if a prophet was from God.  Deuteronomy 18:21-22 tells us that if the prophecy or sign the prophet gives doesn’t happen, he is not a prophet from God.  “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.”  Using this test alone, a great many evangelists and prophecy teachers can safely be described as false prophets. 

Sometimes even a false prophet guesses right or is able to do something that seems miraculous, because Satan is very powerful.  Deuteronomy 13;1-3 warns, “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”  If he directs our attention away from What God has said to other beliefs and practices, he is not from God.  The Angel miraculously burned the sacrifice demonstrating supernatural power, but he did not accept the sacrifice as am offering to himself or otherwise call attention to himself.  As a result, Gideon dared to destroy the altar to Baal and build an altar to God when instructed to do so.   

As Christians, we are instructed to take a similar approach to determining whether something is of God or not, in I John 4:1-8.  “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. “

We start by checking out what they say about Jesus Christ.  If that appear to be sound, we can look to see whether they are controlled by fleshly lusts.  We can look to see who they are following and or associate with, and how they feel about scriptural teachings, and finally, we can examine their attitude toward other people.  If these things are not right, we have reason for doubting they are from God despite their claims of spiritual gifts or recommendations by other churches or people.