How to identify false prophets

In this week’s message a comprehensive answer will be given to the question:  But how does one test the genuineness of today’s prophets and prophecies?  According to Neil Anderson there are five basic ways of indentifying today’s false prophets and teachers.
Righteous lifestyle
One way of finding out if a prophet or a teacher is a false one is to check if he or she is living a balanced and righteous lifestyle. This fruit test was suggested to us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself when He warned us of false prophets and teachers that would come as wolves in sheep’s clothing.
In Matthew 7:20 Jesus said, “You shall know them by their fruits.” Fruits in this case refer to the character or moral lifestyle of a person.
False prophets and teachers who operate from within the church are not easy to identify but the fruit test will expose them. The false prophets and teachers may operate in secret for a long time deceiving and fooling almost everyone but their sins will eventually find them out. Their immoral deeds will surface for all to see because there is nothing hidden that shall not be made manifest. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 reveal that these false prophets and teachers may disguise themselves as angels of light and true bearers of God’s message but their lifestyle will betray their mask.
Building God’s kingdom      
Another sure way of determining whether one is a false prophet or not is to study and scrutinise their “building”. Is what they are building part of God’s kingdom or it is their own kingdom they are building?
False prophets and teachers say and do things that bring glory to themselves and not to God. Self-aggrandisement is their hidden agenda. Like Judas Iscariot, they condemn those who minister to Jesus’ needs and argue that the resources should be used elsewhere, in which case elsewhere refers to themselves. Check if Christ is being lifted up or a human being is the one being exalted in words and in ac-tions.
The major pr-ophet Jeremiah warned us: Sho-uld you then seek great things for yourself? Seek th-em not (Jer. 45:5).
The standard is to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33) but when we reverse this divine order and seek great things for ourselves first we are in error.
Confidence in God and His word  
Carefully examine if the prophetic utterance establishes confidence in God’s word and if it is consistent with a balanced presentation of it. A true prophet should always lead people to a greater dependency on God’s word and not on man’s inspiration. When a teacher or prophet clearly declares that you do not need to personally study God’s word and to depend only on prophetic utterances then you need to be careful. God Himself has placed His word above His name (Psalms 138:2) and so for anyone to teach or prophesy anything contrary is questionable.
Unity and peace 
The rule of the thumb in the operation of gifts in the church is that everything should be done decently and in order and love should be regarded as the greatest of all gifts. If the exercise of prophetic gifts bring more harm than good in terms of divisions, que-nching of the Spirit and promotion of strife and chaos then it is better to do without them.
All spiritual gifts have the primary function of edifying or building up the people of God. Please note that wh-en the church splits because of things other than the operation of prophecy or teaching then this is different.
By-passing the mind
We should alw-ays be on guard against any teaching or prophetic utterance that promotes spiritual manifestations that bypass the mind. God operates through the mind and Satan bypasses it.
The Bible teaches us to renew our minds through the word of God so we can have spiritual minds that that can judge all things well. Nothing is too spiritual to warrant bypassing of the mind in its operations or manifestations. The Bible does not teach mindlessness but spiritually-mindedness.
Warning 
These ways of determining false prophets and teachers are not exhaustive and neither are they to be used by novices.
Please do not run around on a witch-hunt. The Bible teaches us not to judge unrighteously or according to appearance.
There are well-meaning brothers and sisters out there who are struggling with certain habitual sins but who are not false prophets or teachers because they are teaching no-one to live in sin. They need your encouragement and not your condemnation.
The opening verse commands us to examine everything carefully.
The word examine means to close scrutinise something in order to see if it tallies with a well-known standard and this takes much effort, time and concentration.

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