EXAMINED by the tests that the word of God proposes, all prophets, all who speak in God’s name, all who claim to possess the gift of prophecy, can be successfully and decisively tried, and proved false or true. GoPH 111.1
If they are from God, they will glorify and exalt Christ as the Saviour of the world, they will speak in accordance with every teaching of His Holy Word, and their predictions will meet an exact fulfillment. GoPH 111.2
Those, therefore, who pretend to receive communications from the dead, such as spirit mediums and clairvoyants, are false prophets, doing the work of Satan. For the dead know not anything, are without consciousness, and God has forbidden pretended consultation with them. GoPH 111.3
“The dead know not anything.” Ecclesiastes 9:5. GoPH 111.4
“There shall not be found among you any one that [is] a consulter with familiar spirits, ... for all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord.” Deuteronomy 18:10-12. GoPH 111.5
All who teach disobedience to God’s law are false prophets. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5.) GoPH 111.6
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20. GoPH 112.1
All who speak against the Sabbath of the Lord are false prophets. GoPH 112.2
“There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, . . . they have devoured souls; . . . and have profaned mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, . . . and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths; and I am profaned among them. . . . And her prophets have daubed them with untampered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.” Ezekiel 22:25-28. GoPH 112.3
All who deny the incarnation of Christ, that He came in the flesh, are most assuredly false prophets. (1 John 4:1-3.) GoPH 112.4
All who claim divine inspiration for them-selves but deny the inspiration of the Bible are false prophets. GoPH 112.5
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16, 17. GoPH 112.6
“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:21. GoPH 113.1
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Revelation 22:18, 19. GoPH 113.2
All who pretend to speak for God and yet whose lives are unholy and impure are false prophets. GoPH 113.3
“Behold, ye trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?” Jeremiah 7:8-10. GoPH 113.4
“I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth turn from his 8 wickedness: they are all of them unto Me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.” Jeremiah 23:14. GoPH 113.5
True prophets, who are really sent of God, and who have the genuine gift of prophecy, will be in harmony in all that they do and say with the teachings of the Bible, with all that the former prophets have taught. GoPH 114.1
True prophets will be in harmony with the law of God. GoPH 114.2
“(Thou] testifiedst against them, that Thou mightest. bring them again unto Thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto Thy commandments, . . . yet many years didst Thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by Thy Spirit in Thy prophets.” Nehemiah 9:29, 30. GoPH 114.3
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word.” Isaiah 8:20. GoPH 114.4
True prophets will be in harmony, as were the ancient prophets, with the Sabbath of Jehovah. GoPH 114.5
“Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.” Isaiah 56:2. GoPH 114.6
The ancient prophets urged the people to observe the Sabbath of the Lord, and rebuked them for its desecration. (Ezekiel 20:12-20; Nehemiah 13:15-21.) GoPH 114.7
True prophets will exalt Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world, and the whole tendency of their lives, their acts, their words, will be to influence men towards Him. (1 John 4:1-3.). GoPH 115.1
True prophets will be in harmony with all the former prophets have written, and will direct men to the writings of the former prophets as the foundation of truth. GoPH 115.2
“Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. . . . If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” Luke 16:29, 31. GoPH 115.3
“Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. . . . And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.” Luke 24:27, 44, 45. GoPH 115.4
That is an example of the attitude of the true gift of prophecy towards the Scriptures. GoPH 115.5
“But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.” Acts 24:14. GoPH 115.6
“Saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: that Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.” Acts 26:22, 23. GoPH 116.1
True prophets will lead holy, upright, consistent lives, which will influence men for good. It was “holy men of God” who were moved by the Holy Ghost to produce the ancient prophecies. The prophet’s life will witness to his having been with God and learned of Him. GoPH 116.2
“Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matthew 7:19, 20. GoPH 116.3