I don't fully remember where I heard this statement, but it's one I've kept with me for a very long time. Someone once said "a prophet never claims to be a prophet".
I actually do believe that there have been those who, over the course of the history of the Church, have acted in a prophetic capacity, not as bearers of divine truth but as preachers bearing the truth already given.
I have on many occasions said that I think, in modern times, that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is an example of what the prophetic looks like.
Dr. King didn't found a church, he didn't begin some special "prophetic ministry", he didn't claim to have revelation--nor did he have some kind of "revelation". Instead King spoke to the powers of this world and dared to speak the truth that has already been written and declared so long ago: That God is not on the side of injustice, but God is the God of justice who stands with the oppressed.
Real prophets don't pretend to be prophets through cleverness of words, or trying to assert their authority, they don't come out saying "Verily thus saith the Lord" and then seek followers for themselves. Those are the tactics of grifters, hucksters, and charlatans.
Why do people fall for the grifters? Why did Simon Magus manage to make a following for himself in the days of the Apostles? They say things wrapped up in a semblence of religiosity, as being spiritual, and convince others that they are the mouthpiece of God. If you can also convince people that "these are the end times", it helps--fear is a powerful motivator. It shouldn't be suprising then that, over hundreds of years so many of those who have amassed followings like this did so by declaring the end is nigh. Did not old Montanus of Phrygia claim a new age was dawning and the end was near? Even Joseph Smith do the same thing. While Mormons today don't seem to focus on that as much, the apocalyptic-fever of the 19th century and the claims by Smith that Jesus was about to return and the end was coming along with the attack on all mainstream churches became a powerful factor in building a following. William Miller predicted the end, and those who came out of the Millerites would become the various branches of Adventism--it's right there in their name. Out of Adventism came Charles T. Russel and the Jehovah's Witnesses, who have been saying Armageddon is coming any day now and have had to change their mind on so many things so often.
So when men say they are a prophet, and that they bear new truth or the "real" truth from God. When they say every church was wrong before them, and they want to receive the praises of men. They want followers to serve under them. They want to be treated as the mouthpiece of God, that what they are doing is to prepare for the end of days. Do not believe them. Jesus gave us clear warnings in the Olivet Discourse--warnings we are often quick to forget or ignore.
But false teachers come, just as the Apostle said, with teachings that tickle itching ears. We hear what we want to hear, and believe what we want to believe--even when it goes against everything we have received from the beginning. We are not merely pushing against corrupt power, but against the word of God, becoming that very corrupt power that we should speak against.
That is why, I suspect, the Apostle calls this the doctrines of demons. Not because the devil himself is literally whispering in everyone's ear; but because the devil is a crafter of lies, and all lies which pervert the truth and drive men away from Christ and hope in Christ have the devil's seal of approval.
So "beware of false prophets" is as important today as ever. Because false teaching is, perhaps, even more pervasive today than it ever has been. There is a cacophony of heresy, noisy and loud. And it can make it hard to hear the simple truth of Christ.
-CryptoLutheran
