Is it necessary to write about false prophecy? Is this not miles away from our experience? A description. With this article I do not aim to offer a study of what prophecy is today.¹ Given the lack of space and time, my intention is a modest one. On a number of occasions I have recently been confronted with the phenomenon of false prophecy. My interest was aroused by the way in which false prophecy comes about and to be honest: it shocked me and made me evaluate my own preaching again.

The question is: how does somebody become a false prophet? What is a false prophet in the first place? I think that few people intend to become one.

My concern is not with people who surrender to the power of other religions and, as a result, proclaim a message which opposes the Gospel. Unfortunately this happens, but it is easy to recognise. There is no pretence in this. It is pretence that makes the difference. Pretence exposes a messenger of the Lord as a ‘false prophet’. Words are spoken in the name of the Lord, which in actual fact are not from the Lord. They are not prophecy but deceit, meant to mislead. How does this come about? Why does somebody do this?

Neither is my concern with preachers in the Netherlands who have openly departed from the Bible as the reliable Word of God, which immediately makes their prophecy unreliable and powerless. This too can be discerned, though not always very easily.

But what if someone accepts the Scriptures as God’s reliable, inspired revelation? Can he still fall into the trap of false prophecy? You would think this to be almost impossible. But if it is not, the falseness of the prophecy is bound to be very subtle, not obvious, barely recognizable. Which believer would want to do something like that? Nobody, I suspect. But does that mean that it does not occur?

The Trap⤒🔗

Let us be clear about this. The trap of false prophesy is always present, everywhere, even if we are full of the best intentions. After all, the cause mentioned in Scripture is often a very simple one: preachers are sensitive to what people want to hear.

Take the history of Michaiah, son of Imla, in Ahab’s time (1 Kings 22). Ahab had 400 prophets who all said that it was okay for him to go to battle against Ramoth and Gilead. “The Lord will give the city into your hands”, they prophesied, for that was what Ahab wanted to hear. Only Michaiah really spoke God’s words: “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd”. He also said that there was a lying spirit in the other prophets, for which he was promptly hit in the face. False prophets are anxious to save their own skin. There was none of this with Michaiah.

Take another example, that of Jeremiah. He was completely overruled and captured by the Word of God. It was stronger than himself and brought him into great trouble in an aggressive environment. But Jeremiah had to speak God’s Words. Nothing could stop him from doing so. God’s Word burnt like a fire within him. In one of the commentaries I read the statement that it is not possible to study Jeremiah’s prophecies and doubt their genuineness. God so clearly visited his people through the words of this prophet.

At the same time Jeremiah had much to say about the false prophets of his time, who kept telling the people that they had nothing to fear and that Jerusalem would be spared even though the Chaldeans lay in siege around the city. Why did these lying prophets say this? Because they allowed themselves to be guided by the thoughts and desires of the people. At the same time, what they said was undoubtedly based on their own convictions and perceptions: “Israel will never be lost!” Had it not always been like that? Had this not been the message of God’s Word throughout the centuries? (see Jeremiah 23:16-17; 23:22).

The Other Side of the Coin←⤒🔗

The other side of the coin is that false prophets leave many important things unsaid. They may call for cosmetic change of behaviour, but they do not call for repentance, for a real and deep change of heart.

God once addressed this false attitude sharply through his servant Ezekiel. If Ezekiel did not warn the wicked for their approaching death, God would hold him accountable for their blood. Likewise, if a righteous man slipped into a sinful life and Ezekiel did not warn him, the prophet would have to answer before God (Ezekiel 3:16-21). Such is the measure of God’s wrath, if the prophet should remain silent when he should have spoken.

Centuries later we hear Paul speaking in the same vein, when he says goodbye to the elders in Ephesus. He declares that he has said everything that had to be said and has concealed nothing. He has proclaimed the full council of God. We read, “I am innocent of the blood of all men” (Acts 20:25-31) and he calls the elders to do the same. “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers”. Note the order: first watch yourself, not out of egoism but out of awe for God. Do not just say anything, but also: do not leave things out, because the consequences can be eternal.

In Practice←⤒🔗

If I let this sink in, thoughts come to my mind which I would like to share with anyone who reads this. How is our preaching and speaking? What do we say and what do we leave unsaid? If I am honest, I have to admit that I want to be tuned into my audience. It matters to me in which pulpit I preach. I cannot say everything everywhere, I think. Why not? Because I know in advance that it will not go down well. In my own congregation this bothers me the least, because we know each other. But even there, going against people you know well and value, is not an easy thing. Saying exactly what needs to be said, in the name of the Lord, do I do that?

Yes, I do admonish people freely about money and sex and the like, even though I’m treading on toes. But this is widely accepted. People even ask me to say these things, for the sake of others of course.

But now for the real problem: the inward-looking church, for example. Is it not the great sin of the people of God in all centuries? People sang with enthusiasm about the Philistines, Tyrians and Mores who would all be grafted into the city of God (Psalm 87), but at the same time they forgot to open the gates for them. What is even worse, is that when the apostles turned to these gentiles, they received the most violent opposition from their own Jewish people. Later on the gentiles were accepted, but only on the condition that they would take over all the (outdated) Jewish customs. This caused enormous tension. Paul squarely opposed these demands in the name of the Lord, without respect of persons. In Antioch, for instance, he opposed Peter to his face in front of all present (Galatians 2:11-14). That was clear prophecy in accordance with God’s will, not out of man, nor according to man. It was prophecy meant to bring people to God.

Can I speak similar words from the pulpit today? When I see how many Christians cherish church life as an internal business, sacrosanct from change? When I see so many churches where precious energy is wasted on all sorts of internal issues of secondary importance? The Holy Spirit wants to renew people, day by day. He wants to transform them into the image of God. But it sometimes looks as if we have been renewed already and do not want be bothered. It is this attitude in people who are unwilling to open themselves up that causes issues to become sensitive and barely discussable.

As a minister you do not want to cause any accidents in addressing these issues. But at the same time, it is the essential features of the church that are at stake here: her dedication to God in all things and her open doors and low thresholds to bring people in. May I say out loud that in my opinion this dedication to God and willingness to reach out to the lost are sometimes very far to seek? Prophecy is, after all, without respect of persons, straight from the Word of God.

The Necessity←⤒🔗

This morning (Tuesday 6th June 2006) I read in the Nederlands Dagblad the following headline: ‘Every month 400 teenagers leave the church’. Is this not terrible? As I read on, I breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, in our churches the situation is not as bad as in the big Protestant Church of the Netherlands (PKN), where at the age of nineteen, only 32 out of 100 young people have stayed in the church. In our churches it is still 52 out of 100. What? 52? That is only just half! What a disaster! (Can I say this from the pulpit?) Recently, during a church meeting, I saw some people shaking their heads in dismay at ‘those teenagers’. But shouldn’t we really feel dismay at ‘that church’, which is not prepared to reach out to its teenagers in a way that makes them think “We feel at home here before the Lord in the way we worship and serve Him”. (If I point that out honestly, how does that go down?)

Every year in September I meet many young people from all over the country, who come and do their studies here. They frankly talk to me about what they have learnt in their home churches. Some do so with enthusiasm, as they have been brought close to God. Others, however, are desperate, frustrated and confused about all the contradictions of hearing about God, but never experiencing Him in church life, of being expected to do all sorts of things, but not finding any love, so that they do not have an idea of what believing in God really means. This may sound unbelievable, but – really – I am not exaggerating.

Will these young people invite their friends to church? I do not think so. They do not know why.

They feel ashamed of all the difficult language, the ancient and rigid customs, and especially the aloofness in it all. Do you see the domino effect of this? It is not only that our own teenagers leave church, but also their non-believing age peers will not be reached. Meanwhile, synods convene in order to decide whether singing choruses is allowed in the service. Choruses that are understood, loved and sung by the vast majority of our young people! While we are discussing the legitimacy of choruses, young people are dropping out of church. What should a true prophet say about this? If you say nothing at all, in order to please the traditionalists among us, how close has false prophecy come? I merely ask the question, for this is what bothers me.

The Hearer←⤒🔗

Not so long ago, there was a fierce discussion in our churches about the hearer and the sermon. The central question was: how do you successfully reach the hearer with the Word of God? Some said: this is only possible if you tune into the hearer and approach him in the right way. This aroused a lot of protest, in various ways, most of which came down to the view that the preacher should not take the hearer into account, as this could influence the message of the preaching text. In my opinion, many of these protests did not do justice to the intention of drawing attention to the hearer in the homiletic process.

Ironically enough, in the reality which I have been describing, the hearer is even more prominent. That is to say, he is prominent in a disruptive way, because his predictable response (irritation, anger, walking out, not joining in etc.) often determines what is said or not said from the pulpit.

All in all, this leads to a remarkable situation where, on the one hand, believers are afraid of not fully honouring the Word of God (they are able to smell Bible criticism miles away – for instance in our Theological University in Kampen – and will react immediately), while on the other hand they are sometimes the same people who react to sermons in an overcritical manner, who are listening for what they want to hear and are more interested in confirmation of their views than in repentance. At least, this is how I see it and what I should say aloud. How will that go down?

The Atmosphere←⤒🔗

If I want to be innocent of the blood of others, I must speak as the Spirit of God leads me, without holding anything back. This means I should have the freedom to speak honestly from the Word of God. It also means that my preaching should be received out of awe for God and not with feelings of irritation.

This not only applies to me, but also to the elders and deacons. In fact, this applies to all communication among Christians as well as between Christians and non-believers. True prophecy means that you do not hold your tongue when you should have spoken, that you speak as one speaking the very words of God (1 Peter 4:11) and that in doing so you say what you mean. Only in this way do you enable someone else to bear responsibility before God and before man, as well as make choices or readjust them.

May I state that much is still left to be desired? Of course, finding the right words is not always easy, but we now seem to have created an atmosphere of “If you say nothing about my sins, I’ll say nothing about yours”, with the result that if I talk to someone about his sins, he can reply by saying:

Yes, but don’t they all do it?
Who exactly do you mean by ‘all’?
Well, plenty of them.
Do you really know about this?
Of course!
But why then don’t you talk about it?
Because we’re not used to.

This happens among young and old alike. It is unbelievable. Being able to talk about everything while keeping silent about the most important things, even when you see each other slip into a life of sin without any fear of God. In such an atmosphere, sin and temptation are given full play.

Are we not all prophets? Should we not all prophesy in good conscience? Is this not an essential characteristic of being a Christian?

The Prophet←⤒🔗

I want to end with the three points with which I started. The gift of prophecy begins with insight. What does God say and why? What is God doing, what is the price and what is the aim?

Prophecy then leads to deeper discernment. How do I recognise this today? How does the Holy Spirit get me involved in this? How do I speak about this, and what do I do? Or perhaps rather: how I do receive these words and actions from God? Am I open to this? What is the role of the church in this, here and now?

Finally, prophecy should lead to a new perspective. In which direction am I going? How does my path intertwine with that of others? Who else is the Spirit leading us to? How do we take each other along?

In brief: you learn to see what is of God, through God and unto God, in order to embrace it and describe it unabridgedly and unsparingly, so that anything that threatens it is unmasked and opposed. That is prophesying. It does not always win you friends. Every prophet knows that. But you cannot stop it, if you receive it from God. Every prophet knows that too.