Word and Spirit

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True and False Prophets: Discerning the Difference

Published:  at 04:33 PM

Jesus protecting sheep

Table of contents

  1. Introduction
    1. My Heart Behind This Article
  2. Some Potential Root Causes of False Prophecy
    1. Bad Teaching on the Nature of Discernment
      1. 2 Kinds of Discernment, or “Distinguishing”
      2. How Bad Teaching on Discernment Impacts People
    2. A Rejection of the Spiritual Gift of Teaching
      1. Pentecostal/Charismatic Tradition Has Worn Anti-Intellectualism as a Badge of Honor
      2. Danny Silk’s Demeaning Teaching on Teachers
      3. How Danny Silk’s Teaching on Teachers Negatively Impacts People
      4. It Is Not Just Intellectual Knowledge of Scripture that Puffs Up, But All Kinds of Knowledge
  3. Distinguishing True vs. False Prophets/Teachers
    1. Jesus’ Teaching Is The Foundation
    2. Fruit of Ministry or Character?
    3. Case Study: How Paul Identified True vs. False Apostles
      1. A Brief Word On Prophets, Teachers, and Apostles
      2. Examples of “False Apostles”
      3. How Paul Defended Himself
      4. A True Apostle is Relationally Vulnerable
      5. What A True Leader Looks Like
    4. Old Testament Examples of False and True Prophets
      1. False Prophets
      2. True Prophets
      3. A True and False Spectrum
  4. Some Final Pastoral Thoughts
    1. Scripture Shows us that Prophecy Cannot Always be Perfect
    2. When Is Public Exposure The Right Way Forward?
      1. If An Online Ministry Leader is Clearly Exposed and Unrepentant, The Biblical Principle Requires Exposing Them Online
    3. Don’t Trust Prophets You Don’t Personally Know
    4. Be Scientific With Words You Receive
    5. Be Humble With Words You Give
    6. Giving Credit where Credit Is Due
  5. Recommended Resources For Responsible Prophecy and Interpretation of Scripture
  6. Notes

Introduction

Buckle up folks, we’re going to go on a wild ride here!

There are quite a few places in Scripture where we are explicitly warned about false teachers, false prophets, and false apostles. The recent exposures of the major charismatic Christian “prophets” Shawn Bolz and Mike Bickle have caused no small amount of controversy. Unfortunately, no charismatic “prophets” have even publicly marked these men false prophets and warned people to avoid their ministries, despite the fact that evidence against these two in particular has proven, beyond any doubt, that they are sexually manipulative men, who have used the prophetic gifts to abuse God’s people. In case you aren’t aware, Shawn Bolz and Mike Bickle have blasphemed the name of God, wickedly using the Lord’s name for personal gain. They are false prophets, and you should avoid them. If you have ever received any form of prophetic ministry or words from them, you must call those words into question. In fact, anything they’ve ever said should be called into question.

Other major charismatic voices that have been exposed or are in legal battles regarding spiritual or sexual abuse:

Thankfully, Kris Vallotton and Bill Johnson have publicly repented for allowing Shawn Bolz to minister at their church, and refusing to speak up with full knowledge of allegations against Bolz. While their repentance was truly remarkable, perhaps even unprecedented, we will see if that repentance is followed by real fruit and uncovering root causes.

My Heart Behind This Article

Now I want to say at the outset, the majority of my spiritual walk has been in the charismatic movement, which I absolutely love. I’ve been a missionary overseas before and been involved in multiple sub streams of the charismatic church. My goal is not to unrighteously “tear down” people in this article, but to build up so that we can learn about the absolute mess we are in and how to move forward. I love the charismatic church! Sometimes we need to “tear down” strongholds that raise itself up against the knowledge of God. Now is the time to search our hearts and figure out how we got here. For us in the charismatic movement, we need to realize that the global charismatic movement does in fact have its own set of cultural norms, theology, lingo, and practices. Bethel may have been exposed for allowing a false prophet to continue ministering, but that does not mean we are all immune from the same problem. We all share the same root system, and that root system is infected. God is exposing that infection.

And I also want to say too, that the presence of the false can never delegitimize the presence and call for the true gifts of the Spirit; in fact, if we find false prophets, that should actually strengthen our conviction that God gives true ones. So rather than letting these false prophets malign the gift of prophecy, we should remember that Scripture cannot be broken. God hasn’t changed His mind about His gifts. The gifts of the Spirit have been, and will always be, continued to be poured out to the church. 1 Corinthians 14:1 remains an immovable and unbroken command that we are not only meant to obey, but get excited about. So if people online or anyone becomes cynical about prophecy and spiritual gifts, we must remember that we are called to follow the Lord and listen to whatever He has said, despite our environment and what is going on in our world.

The question that the charismatic church at large needs to ask is: why and how did men like Mike Bickle and Shawn Bolz maintain their positions for so long? Where does this cover-up culture (as Mike Winger as coined it) come from? How is it currently present in my church, or even in me as an individual? Like any denomination, the charismatic church has its own subculture. It has its own lingo, teaching styles, unspoken norms, implicit theology, and values that contribute to an organizational culture. That culture has given rise to many false prophets, and if you belong to a charismatic church, you are influenced by this Christian subculture.

Some Potential Root Causes of False Prophecy

A full diagnosis of the organizational culture that gives rise to these predators would take an entire book, but I can offer a few core components:

  1. An overemphasis on the supernatural gifts of the Spirit and a rejection of the teacher gift, resulting in a lack of critical thinking and tough conversations that bring purity.
  2. Unsound biblical teaching on the nature of apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists, and their role in the body of Christ, resulting in unaccountable and domineering leaders.
  3. An overemphasis on “honor culture” that is hyper-sensitive to accusation, resulting in a fear of confrontation.

In my opinion, the above 3 bullets are major plumb lines that form the root system of unhealthy charismatic culture. They are deeply intertwined. For example, downplaying the teacher gift will tend to create bad teaching on the APEST ministries. Bad teaching on APEST ministries overemphasizes “honor culture” that creates a fear in God’s people in confronting leaders (think “don’t touch the Lord’s anointed” teaching). The scope of this article will be limited to point #1 as best as I can, although there will inevitably be overlap with the other points.

Bad Teaching on the Nature of Discernment

One popular teaching I’ve heard propagated by many charismatic leaders, either implicitly or explicitly, is that “discernment” is a supernatural spiritual gift, and discernment is not about critical thinking and judging people’s actions. I believe that this is a reaction to some popular “discernment” ministries. These ministries have been labeled by many Christians as modern day “heresy hunters” who harshly judge charismatic Christians on doctrinal issues. No doubt, there has been no shortage of slanderous gossip coming out of these ministries, and the label has some truth in it. Examples of these ministries are the late John Macarthur’s ministry, and someone like Justin Peters. While these teaching ministries have certainly not delivered their message in a godly way, recent events have proved them to have been somewhat right about false prophets in the charismatic movement.

2 Kinds of Discernment, or “Distinguishing”

I have one prophetic friend who has explicitly taught that discernment is only about supernatural discernment. But the Scriptures teach the exact opposite.

Yes, Paul did teach about supernatural “distinguishing”:

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom…to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits…
(1 Cor. 12:7-10)

I want to give credit to Michael Miller from the Remnant Radio podcast for pointing this out: the author of Hebrews also taught about “distinguishing”:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
(Hebrews 5:11-14)

In both of these passages of Scripture, the Greek word diakrisis is used. It is translated as “distinguish” by most translations, and “discern” in the KJV, which is why “discernment” is the more pervasive word used in church. Most other translations, however, use “distinguishing”.

While the same act of distinguishing is used, both these passages are from authors teaching their congregation about something completely different. In 1 Corinthians, Paul is teaching people about the discernment of spirits, which means that the type of discernment he is talking about is more about discerning evil spirits, but can include any type of spirit: human, angelic, demonic, the Holy Spirit.

But the author of Hebrews is not teaching people about supernatural gifts of the Spirit at all. In fact, he is complaining that the congregation is not more advanced in their understanding of Scripture; they should be teachers of God’s word by now, eating solid food. And what tool did this author say people should be using to train themselves to “distinguish good from evil”? It is the “solid food”, and he defined solid food as God’s word!

So we are to eagerly desire the supernatural gifts of discerning spirits, but we are also commanded to constantly use God’s word to distinguish good from evil, and Scripture associates this with spiritual maturity, while Paul did not associate distinguishing spirits with spiritual maturity. The Corinthian church had all the gifts in operation (1 Cor. 1:7), but were very immature in character. Charismatic culture tends to get wowed by someone with a lot of supernatural gifting in their life, but gifting itself is not reliable evidence of someone’s true character. When Paul listed the qualifications for an elder, who were the highest authority in church, he didn’t list any special spiritual gifts required, except for one: teaching/preaching, and correcting people on doctrine. In fact, if someone hasn’t healed the sick, cast out demons, spoke in tongues, but they have true Christ-like character, they are more qualified than the most gifted person who has sub-par character.

Discernment, therefore, has never been only about a supernatural gift.

How Bad Teaching on Discernment Impacts People

If most people are being taught by their leaders that discernment is primarily supernatural and not about using Scripture to discern good and evil, people will be less likely to think critically. When you stop thinking critically, you let things slide. And, generally speaking, charismatic Christian culture tends to frown upon critical thinking. Todd White recently taught that logic and reason are enemies of faith, and that we should throw our medicine down the toilet and apologize to the toilet.7

This is an extreme example, but in practice, most charismatic Churches tend to downplay more intellectual pursuits, such as apologetics and deep study of the Scriptures, and classify them as sub-par spiritual activities.

A Rejection of the Spiritual Gift of Teaching

Pentecostal/Charismatic Tradition Has Worn Anti-Intellectualism as a Badge of Honor

Credit goes to Michael Rowntree from the Remnant Radio podcast for pointing this out to me at a recent conference. When he said it, suddenly so much clicked for me. He pointed out that the Azusa Street revival that gave birth to the Pentecostal movement in the early 1900s began amongst the poor and uneducated class, and new believers and teachers in this movement saw God moving powerfully amongst the lower classes of society. They began to balk at the upper class’s focus on education and formality as spiritual dryness.

It’s true that God doesn’t need every believer to get a seminary degree, this culture of “we don’t need education, just the Spirit” is actually a full-force rejection of Paul’s teaching on the gifts of the Spirit in the body of Christ. He said, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’” (1 Cor. 12:21-22). The pentecostal/charismatic movement has historically said “I don’t need you” to the educational institutions, and educational institutions have historically said “I don’t need you” to the pentecostal/charismatic movement. This attitude is present today and is something that I personally believe has contributed to the rise of false prophets like Shawn Bolz and Mike Bickle.

Educational institutions like seminaries are not devoid of the Spirit; they are works of the Spirit. Christians can be quick to write off an entire Christian ministry structure based on abuses or ineffectiveness. Many “dry” spiritual structures today were once inflamed by the Spirit of God.

I have a church planter friend who ministered in Asia to unreached, non-Western groups of believers part of a church planting movement. Without any outside influence, leaders in these movements began being unsatisifed with not knowing the original languages of the Bible, and wanted to train believers and leaders to read Scripture well. And what did they do? They created a specialized program for the study of the Scriptures: aka, a seminary.

C.S. Lewis didn’t come to faith through a miraculous healing or prophecy; he came to faith through logic and reason. Many of the most prominent scientific and philosophical minds of our day are coming to faith through logic and reason. Why? Because the Spirit is not limited to signs and wonders. Jesus didn’t call the Spirit the Spirit of “power”, but the Spirit of truth. Miracles reveal the truth of who God is (in my opinion more effectively than logical arguments!); but they are only examples of truth demonstrated.

Another church planter friend I know came to faith and witnessed many miracles and supernatural encounters, but then encountered a faith crisis. His faith was actually not rescued by more miracles, but by an apologetics and teaching ministry. He is now being used by God powerfully. As the body of Christ, we can’t afford to only dish up half our plate. We need the Word, and we need the Spirit, everything in between! Let’s eat from the entire buffet, and not be picky eaters.

Danny Silk’s Demeaning Teaching on Teachers

Danny Silk’s “Culture of Honor” book has been extremely popular in the charismatic world. In case you don’t know who he is, he was #3 at Bethel church for a long time. He was next in line after Kris Vallotton.

While there are some great things in that book, Danny’s extremely influential book presents a problematic theology of apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, and evangelists, because he completely disparages and demeans the role of teachers in the body of Christ:

Next we have teachers. As I mentioned, the teacher is generally accepted as the highest anointing level in the American church. But the truth is that it is not the highest anointing, but only the third level of anointing. It is a “C” in a grade scale, and it is what keeps the Church only average in its effects and influence. Our need and opportunity to upgrade the anointing to an “A” is growing.8

For Danny, the A is the apostle, and the B is the prophet. He goes on to call all “teachers” modern day Pharisees:

But when the Church insists on having a logical culture, we demand a logical gospel, and therefore, we turn to the teachers. Most teachers today are fixated on the written Word of God. They believe that the Word of God is the source of life and truth on the earth. Their value for the Word is much higher than their need for the supernatural. These are the lawyers, scribes, and Pharisees of our day. They can wield the “Sword” with the best. The teacher has a deep, driving need to be right, and predominantly sees the world in terms of “scriptural” and “non-scriptural.”…when the teachers disagree, and many do, there is division.9

Remember, this book has gone all over the world. Bethel has exported this teaching across the entire globe. There should be no doubt that this is the way charismatic churches understand “teachers”. I’ve been all over the world and seen it.

For Danny, it seems like logical culture is something to be feared, and he believes that anyone with a teacher gifting are the lawyers, scribes, and Pharisees of our day, and just have a driving need to be right. This is a gross, sweeping judgement on the motives of an entire gift in the body of Christ! We are supposed to allow any and all gifts of the Spirit to flourish. Danny falls into a slippery slope of thinking that teachers = division, not understanding that it is bad character, not bad gifting, that creates division. In fact, it is actually bad teaching itself that causes division! Good teachers will teach people to respectfully disagree with each other, and keep their eyes on what’s important.

It is also important to note that Danny consistently pits “the supernatural” against “God’s Word” or Scripture. That is unbiblical; God’s word has always been supernatural, and it always will be. Deeply engaging with Scripture is just as supernatural as seeing the sick healed. When God speaks, that is supernatural. The biblical worldview does not separate natural and supernatural, secular vs. sacred, seen and unseen.

Danny’s book rightly emphasizes the importance of apostles and prophets and their foundational role in churches, and that we really need these gifts. But the description of teachers as “C grade Pharisees” is disappointing, and is a reaction to extreme examples of teachers with character issues. We don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. With all the recent exposures in the prophetic movement, is it really any surprise that our conservative brothers and sisters are so suspicious and angry about the charismatic church, who not only allows these predators to keep going, are often afraid to say anything publicly about it?

True prophets will call out false prophets publicly when necessary, yet I haven’t heard a single major charismatic “apostle” or “prophet” call Mike Bickle or Shawn Bolz a false prophet, even though the evidence is incontrovertible. To my knowledge, the only people from within the charismatic movement who are actually calling them out are teachers, like the Remnant Radio hosts (who are also pastors), and Dr. Sam Storms. It took a teacher outside the charismatic movement, Mike Winger, to put out a thorough video to create enough noise for Bethel to respond.

How Danny Silk’s Teaching on Teachers Negatively Impacts People

There are a lot of problems with Danny’s teaching I cited, because it makes believers overly dependent on apostles and prophets, whom he believes are the most supernatural gifts and are the most heavenly minded. If they are the “most heavenly minded” among us, people can actually develop a cult-like dependency on them. Danny believes that a teacher cannot be a teacher unless they are “supernatural”, which for him, means demonstrating signs and wonders. I guess if you don’t have any supernatural gifts, you’re not a real teacher. They’ll only ever just be a bunch of Pharisees without apostles and prophets to come and rescue them.

While I don’t think Danny is intending to do this, the result of this teaching creates a co-dependency on a specific type of leaders (which is something that wolves do, see Acts 20:30), rather than creating dependence on Christ. It also inflames celebrity-based Christianity. If apostles and prophets are the only ones who can help us become heavenly minded, well, you better believe I need to listen to everything they say, and I can’t be who I’m called to be without them! So when someone speaks up and says that the prophet or special apostle is abusing people, people feel like their spiritual destiny is being threatened, because their destiny is bound up in a special anointed leader. I’ll be the first to admit that I have had this mindset, and am learning to renew my mind and repent for trusting in people and not the Spirit.

Remember, the people of Israel were once rebuked by the Lord for preferring to have prophets lead their religious life (Jer. 5:30).

And if teachers are just Pharisees, we will tend to judge people in our communities as having a “religious spirit” if they want to go deeper in Scripture or talk about harder things and be more “logical”. This will block the flow of God’s grace in our communities. It is true that many Christians can get caught up in a desire for intellectual knowledge and forget to obey the simple commands of Scripture. But just because people do this doesn’t eliminate the commands the Lord gave us to be growing in knowledge and discernment through the Scriptures.

It Is Not Just Intellectual Knowledge of Scripture that Puffs Up, But All Kinds of Knowledge

And we must remember that it is not only intellectual knowledge that can “puff up” people. Any spiritual gift, be it apostle, prophet, or teacher, requires specialized knowledge in order to use that gift. Each of these gifts is even meant to equip others to do what they do, and we need that specialized knowledge. An apostle or prophet’s knowledge also puffs them up. You can get “puffed up” through personal knowledge about your hair, your shoes, your nose, your clothes, and even your pomeranian! 🐶

Everybody has their own knowledge vices that can puff them up, but in the charismatic world, it is usually only the teacher gifting that gets associated with “knowledge that puffs up” (1 Cor. 8:1).

Pride often attempts to over-inflate something good from God. But are we able to recognize the difference between an inflated balloon, and a normal one? We don’t need to pop the balloon; we just need to deflate it a little to make it the right size.

If we don’t receive the grace that teachers can provide, people will be less equipped to discern good and evil through God’s word. When you are equipped, you are able to spot evil and call it out. God’s word teaches us that open rebuke is better than hidden love (Prov. 27:5). Wise people will love you when you rebuke them (Prov. 9:8). Paul called on everyone to admonish each other (Col. 3:16) and to warn those who are both idle and disruptive (1 Thess. 5:14). It was not just the leader’s job to be able to teach and instruct, but Paul wanted his congregation to be able to do it with each other (Rom. 15:14). The Lord Himself commanded us to rebuke someone if they sin against us (Luke 17:3). That includes a leader, no matter what position they have over you.

Of course, Paul also taught that correcting/admonishing each other must be done in wisdom (Col. 3:16) and in gentleness (2 Tim. 2:24-25) as well as patience (2 Tim. 4:2). True ministry leaders will correct you with these characteristics.

But when we are less able to discern good and evil via the Scriptures, we are less likely to be able to spot evil in our midst, which allows false prophets to arise. This is what is happening in the charismatic movement.

Distinguishing True vs. False Prophets/Teachers

Jesus’ Teaching Is The Foundation

Jesus taught us to beware of false prophets:

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
(Matt. 7:15-23)

Jesus teaches us to “watch out”, which implies an active process, not a passive one. They appear to be sheep just like everyone else. They might walk, talk, pray, and worship like everyone else. But the core characteristic is their fruit. Some people believe that this “fruit” is ministry results and supernatural activity flowing through their lives. But this cannot be the case; the Lord immediately clarified that many would come to him claiming supernatural activity, but were evildoers and never even knew Him.

Fruit of Ministry or Character?

We in the charismatic movement tend to throw around the word “fruit” to mean ministry results like people getting saved, healed, delivered, sozoed, churches planted, heavens opened, # angels appearing, # of people slain in the Spirit, # of incense bowls poured out, # principalities smacked down (WWE style), and # of nations saved in a day. We might say, “hey brother, you have a lot of fruit!”

But what type of “fruit” was Jesus talking about when warning about false prophets? It is not the fruit of ministry, but the fruit of character, the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). Jesus connected being “clean” with fruit and pruning (John 15:2-3), and also tied obeying the command to love others as what it means to be a true disciple. There is a condition Jesus places: we remain in Him and His love if we keep His commands (John 15:9-10).

So the type of fruit that will be visible from a false prophet or teacher is their character and obedience to God. Is this person manipulative? When confronted with sin, do they respond humbly, or do they deflect or defend? If someone has allegations against them, will they allow a 3rd party investigation, or will they try to cover it up? True love rejoices with the truth, wherever it leads.

People can use manipulative tactics to try and deflect blame and get people to do what they want. And we must be aware of these tactics that predators and offenders often employ. They can try to make themselves appear to be the victim, and try to get their listeners to be skeptical of any “accusation” or criticism. Right before he was exposed, Mike Bickle’s last sermon was about how accusation is the #1 tactic from the devil; a convenient way to try and get the world to make him out to be a victim, even though he is an evil victimizer.

Does the person in question consistently bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control? They might on the outside, but what about behind closed doors? Perhaps more importantly, do they even allow access to their proverbial “closed doors”?

The core characteristic to be aware of is consistency and visibility, because no one is perfect, and if merely bearing bad fruit a few times is the criteria Jesus was thinking of here, then anyone in ministry would be considered false. But he’s talking about a tree who continually and consistently bears bad fruit, season after season, never changing, never letting the Vinedresser cut off bad branches.

And note that Jesus places more emphasis on character than he does actual teaching/prophecy. While false teaching or false prophecies must be given the proper attention they deserve, we must remember that every single one of us has given false teaching and false prophecies. If you’ve ever said “The Lord will lead you” or “It’ll all work out” and it didn’t happen, you gave a false prophecy!

A lot of online “discernment” ministries often accuse people of being a false teacher or prophet simply because they gave a prophecy that didn’t happen, or gave a teaching they disagree with. They seem to forget that Jesus said false prophets/teachers are to be recognized by their fruit, not whether or not their prophecies don’t come to pass. Paul assumed that not all prophecy will be perfect and needs to be continually tested (1 Thess. 5:20).

This is not to say that false prophecies are not evidence of a false prophet. They can be, especially if they never repent of it, and refuse to be evaluated by others. We will talk more below about how Scripture gives room for prophecy not being 100% perfect.

Case Study: How Paul Identified True vs. False Apostles

A Brief Word On Prophets, Teachers, and Apostles

Popular charismatic teaching tends to strictly separate an apostle, a prophet, and a teacher. It’s basically a copy-paste of an American business: the apostle is like the CEO/founder, prophet is like the COO/co-founder, and the teacher is like a top manager. Teaching about these gifts often equates them to an identity if you have one of these gifts. Scripture, however, presents these titles primarily as fluid gifts, not identities. They are hats you wear, not the core of your identity.

Paul once said that he was appointed as an “apostle” and a “teacher” (1 Tim. 2:7). Luke listed Paul and Barnabas in a group of prophets and teachers (Acts 13:1-3), only to call them “apostles” after the Spirit sent them out (Acts 14:14). The apostles Peter and John once called themselves an elder, which was a different role than apostle (2 John 1, 1 Pet. 5:1). Paul considered Timothy an apostle in one place (1 Thess. 1:1), but an evangelist in another (2 Timothy 4:5). Paul also assumed that prophets would be present in every local church (1 Cor. 14:29-33). The charismatic world tends to define a prophet as someone who is extremely gifted with visions/dreams and the gift of prophecy. But this picture doesn’t seem to fit Paul’s thinking, since he assumed that 2 or three prophets would be present in church gatherings of 60 people or less. There were no such things as huge churches when Paul wrote; the primary church expression was house churches. This is not to say that there are not people with extraordinary gifts. It just means that someone’s gift doesn’t determine whether or not they are a “true” prophet/apostle/teacher; their gift and their character does.

If you don’t know their character, sorry, you don’t know whether or not they are a true apostle/prophet/teacher.

I wanted to clarify these distinctions between gifts because some people may think that Jesus’ teaching on false prophets applies only to prophets. But because the various ministry roles are not that cut and dry, when we see examples of teaching on a false prophet, it also applies to looking for false teachers or apostles or evangelists; in other words, any form of leader. And we’ll see that Paul identified false apostles using the exact same criteria that Jesus taught: character.

Examples of “False Apostles”

Paul encountered a situation where people whom he called “false apostles” were harassing the Corinthian church (2 Cor. 11:3), and the way he responded to these people reveals how he discerned the true from the false. Paul pointed out first that these false apostles were preaching a different gospel than he did (2 Cor. 11:4) - they were teaching false doctrine, the total opposite of what God gave Paul and the Twelve apostles (this is one of the unique roles of the Twelve apostles and Paul that modern day apostles do not have).

Beyond that, Paul exposed their terrible moral character. They mocked Paul’s preaching style and said that he’s not good at it (2 Cor. 10:10, 2 Cor. 11:5-6). They said that Paul’s appearance is unimpressive and he’s not good at speaking (2 Cor. 10:10). They boasted about their Jewish ethnicity (2 Cor. 11:22-23). They took credit for Paul’s work in Corinth (2 Cor. 10:15-16). They bragged about their own letters of recommendation (2 Cor. 3:1-3) and financially exploited people (2 Cor. 11:14-18, 2 Cor. 11:7-12).

How Paul Defended Himself

Paul went out of his way to let the Corinthians know that he refused to exploit people financially, and preached his gospel free of charge (2 Cor. 11:7) even though he had the right to receive money from people (1 Cor. 9:18). He didn’t want to be a financial burden to anyone (2 Cor. 12:14-16). Paul thought boasting in your own self and comparison was complete stupidity and madness (2 Cor. 10:12, 2 Cor. 11:23, ESV), and Paul respected the territorial domain of other ministers of the gospel (2 Cor. 10:15-17). Paul boasted of his weakness, and contrasted his weakness with God’s power flowing through him as evidence of the genuineness of his ministry (1 Cor. 2:4-5, 2 Cor. 13:3-4). In other words, Paul pointed to the grace of God flowing through his life rather than his own natural abilities. When accused of not being a good speaker, he didn’t care because he was never meant to be an eloquent speaker, and so rob the cross of Christ of its power (1 Cor. 1:17).

He knew he was supposed to just be a willing vessel, focusing on demonstrating the Spirit’s power, and none of his own (1 Cor. 3:1-5). False ministers will get caught up in who seems to be the most gifted and begin to compare themselves with one another.

A True Apostle is Relationally Vulnerable

When writing to the Corinthians, he considered them as his “dear children” (1 Cor. 4:14-15). When he had to correct them harshly, he complained that “…if I cause you grief, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I grieved?” (2 Cor. 2:2). In other words, when Paul’s correction made people grieved, he was so sensitive that he also became sad. A good leader has emotional depth and sensitivity.

When writing 1 Corinthians, Paul had to correct the church harshly. Rather than just being ok with this, he says that “I wrote to you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you grief but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” (2 Cor. 2:4). How many church leaders correct their people harshly “with many tears” and “abundant love”?

Paul was also relationally vulnerable. He made sure to express his desire for the hearts of the Corinthians, because he opened his heart wide to them first (2 Cor. 6:11-13). As if Paul cannot express his deep love for the Corinthians any more, he once reminded them that “you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you.” (2 Cor. 7:3).

Paul was able to admit that the Corinthians could embarrass him (2 Cor. 7:14), was deeply encouraged by their concern for him (2 Cor. 7:7), experienced regret at his correction of them (2 Cor. 7:8), but “joy greater than ever” because they listened to him (2 Cor. 7:7). In short, Paul never hid his heart from his congregations. He made enough room in his heart for them that they were able to influence his heart and emotions. False leaders will hide.

His parental love was so deep that it went beyond masculine language into more feminine language. He “longed” for the Philippians with the “tender affection of Christ” (Phil. 1:8). Paul called the Galatian churches his “dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!” (Gal. 4:19). Paul had such strong self-awareness skills that he was even aware of the limits of textual communication, and wished he could speak in person.

Another time he even went out of his way to communicate his awareness of the fact that he had not met some members of the Colossian church personally and that he was still “contending for” them (Col. 2:1). He told the Thessalonian believers that he was gentle like a nursing mother with them, because they had become so dear to him (1 Thess. 2:7-8), and dealt with them just like a father deals with his children (1 Thess. 2:11-12). One time Paul was in prison with a slave named Onesimus, and he led him to faith in Christ. Paul loved Onesimus so much that he referred to him as “my very heart” (Philemon 1:12).

Paul went out of his way to communicate parental love, prayerful support, emotional depth, personal sacrifice, and vulnerable affection in every single one of his letters. He was very reluctant to point to any of his own qualifications and accomplishments, considering it stupid. He instead was a man who boasted of his weaknesses. While he did point to the fact that true apostolic ministry involves signs and wonders (2 Cor. 12:12), he felt forced into it (see v. 11).

No “true” ministry leader will take credit for the power of the Spirit, or draw others to become dependent on them, but will glorify God, and have a realistic picture of who they are: weak, just like everybody else. They have a vulnerable and authentic relationship with those they minister to. If you don’t even have an real relationship with your spiritual leader, you cannot judge their character from the stage, and you therefore cannot know if they are a true prophet/apostle/teacher.

Many leaders of large ministries often care more about their mission and goals than people. Paul here demonstrates the heart of a true shepherd, caring for every single person, and being sensitive to their hearts. Paul was not a man who filled an institutional role on a board of advisors, but actually lived, felt, and functioned like a real father does, with a rich relational history with his churches.

What A True Leader Looks Like

Imagine for a second, what it would be like to be one of the members of Paul’s churches who was led to faith. You are living your life in the streets of Corinth, and a guy comes to your city, performed signs and wonders so that your faith would rest not on Paul or human wisdom but the Spirit’s power (1 Cor. 2:4), and this guy insisted that he wouldn’t receive support from you because he didn’t want to be a burden (1 Cor. 9:12, 2 Cor. 12:13-16), and was a vulnerable and persecuted man (1 Cor. 2:3). You hear from his letter that he was extremely reluctant to brag about himself (2 Cor. 11:16-17), but was the kind of guy who would rather boast in his sufferings (2 Cor. 12:9-10) and admit his own weakness (2 Cor. 11:29) rather than point to himself. More than that, Paul’s letter being read to you would show you that he was a guy who preferred to frame tough conversations in terms of parental love instead of obligation (2 Cor. 12:14-15), was hesitant to speak boldly in order to correct people (2 Cor. 10:2), and would clarify his intentions as not to shame (1 Cor. 4:14-15) or condemn people (2 Cor. 7:3), and when giving love and opening his heart, he asked that you would reciprocate and give him love too (2 Cor. 6:11-13). Can it be any more obvious? This the exact opposite of being a domineering, rule-focused, bureaucratic, insecure, prideful, and a relationally hidden leader. He even went out of his way for a guy caught in a terrible sin, and made sure that everybody at the church would forgive and comfort him so that he wouldn’t be overwhelmed (2 Cor. 2:7) and that they would all reaffirm their love for him (2 Cor. 2:8). He even said that he felt “jealous” for them (2 Cor. 11:2) because he was afraid that people were leading them astray (2 Cor. 11:3-4). True shepherds are jealous for those they lead.

This is what a true prophet, apostle, teacher, pastor, or evangelist looks like. If they have spiritual authority over you, they will not “lord it over” you by appealing to their authority on the basis of their position, but on the basis of their relationship with you and their love. Do they really love you, beyond just words? Is a concern dismissed and lost in a massive bureaucratic process?

True leaders will correct you gently, love you deeply, prevent co-dependency, foster relational vulnerability, defend the truth, and maintain high standards of integrity.

Old Testament Examples of False and True Prophets

False Prophets

The exposures of prophets like Mike Bickle, Shawn Bolz, Paul Cain, Jeremiah Johnson, and others, shows that they ticked a lot of these boxes.

I am deeply concerned about modern day prophets who continually, and repeatedly, pump out pro-Republican prophetic words, year after year, yet never say anything negative about Republicans. On social media, it seems like every famous charismatic preacher supports Donald Trump, yet refuses to say anything publicly negative about him when he does something stupid. This is strangely similar to false prophets who align themselves with political power whom God has judged, as well as declaring prosperous words about Republican presidents. More than that, their predictions are almost always wrong! This is why I don’t trust any online prophets anymore.

It should be noted that false prophets/apostles/teachers are not always aware that they are false! That should be expected in people who are deceived. They don’t know they are deceived and what they are doing.

True Prophets

The sad state of the charismatic “prophetic” movement has recently proven that there seem to be little to no true prophets who are well known and minister publicly. Because not a single “prophet” was willing to call out Shawn Bolz publicly, God had to use someone from outside the charismatic movement, Mike Winger to prophetically call out Shawn Bolz. This is a shame and embarassment for the charismatic church and should serve as a painful indicator about the maturity of modern day prophetic ministry.

A True and False Spectrum

While we must be clear on true/false, we must also remember that there is actually a spectrum of true/false. What if someone really was called by God, fought for the Lord for a time, but ended up going off the rails? That is certainly a possibility. God has raised up people who were evil men, like Samson. He disobeyed God’s law at times, and was a man of murderous revenge and sexual immorality.

But Scripture nonetheless requires us to be able to discern the true from the false. I submit that, since the Scripture was written in a world with no technology and broadcasts, that means that our judgement cannot take place apart from real relationships. If you don’t actually know any of these “prophets”, it is impossible for you to know that they are true prophets, unless they demonstrate their character in some verifiable way, such as public repentance.

But because we are required to distinguish between the true/false, having an actual relationship in a community with a “prophet” will allow you to easily discern it. It was never meant to be a guessing game when you can actually observe how someone treats their kids or their wife, how they actually prophesy to people, and the way they live their lives. Some people new to faith might start with many characteristics of a false prophet, but if they are shepherded, will they learn from their mistakes and grow? The true doesn’t mean the perfect or fully mature. As Jesus taught, it is the fruit of the Spirit being visible in their lives. Peter and John both had some big character issues, but when the Lord rebuked them, they learned and grew from it.

Some Final Pastoral Thoughts

Scripture Shows us that Prophecy Cannot Always be Perfect

Some Christians think that if a prophecy is given by someone, it must be either 100% accurate, or 100% false. Paul says,

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.
(1 Thess. 5:19-20)

There is an important implication here. Paul doesn’t want people to treat prophecies with contempt but to test them. That implies that it was probably normal in the early church for people to actually give some prophecies that were not from God and contained a mix of their own interpretation and God’s revelation.

In fact, there is an example in the book of Acts where the prophet Agabus prophesied events around Paul’s persecution in Rome, but the details ended up not happening as he prophesied:

After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'"
(Acts 21:10-11)

So, according to Agabus, Paul would have (1) both his hands and his feet tied up by the Jewish leaders using a belt, and (2) he would be handed over to the Gentiles by the Jews. As we continue reading in Acts, the main idea Agabus prophesied happened, but the exact details didn’t happen as Agabus said.

Luke’s report of Paul’s persecution (Acts 21:27-35) shows that:

Some people may have never heard this before, but even in the OT, we have an account of Ezekiel giving a prophecy that didn’t come to pass exactly as he said it would. Ezekiel prophesied about a future attack by king Nebuchadnezzar against the city Tyre:

For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon...He will ravage your [Tyre's] settlements on the mainland with the sword…They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise...
(Ezekiel 26:7-14)

Take note that Ezekiel says that Nebuchadnezzar would specifically raze the city of Tyre to the ground, and plunder the wealth of Tyre. But only 3 chapters later, we find this:

Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon drove his army in a hard campaign against Tyre; every head was rubbed bare and every shoulder made raw. Yet he and his army got no reward from the campaign he led against Tyre.
(Ezekiel 29:18)

Similar to Agabus’ prophecy, Ezekiel genuinely saw something the Lord was showing him, but it did not happen exactly as he said it would, even though Ezekiel said “Thus says the LORD”.

Inaccurate prophecy is not something that catches God off-guard or expects believers to have perfection in. God allowed these examples to be breathed into His word so that we’d understand that we need to test these words in community, and that we all need each other to hear the Lord properly.

But in light of all the exposure going on about false prophets, I do want to warn against cynicism and becoming jaded with prophecy. I encourage you not to reject prophecy because of these false prophets, and the state of the prophecy in the charismatic church. I encourage you to receive prophecy from people you know and trust, who give it to you in a humble way. Prophecy is the gift we are meant to desire the most, out of all the spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14:1). We don’t need to stop obeying Scripture because some people have abused prophecy, even though we need to re-evaluate and purify our own practice of it.

When Is Public Exposure The Right Way Forward?

Jesus gave us a process for addressing sin against us:

If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
(Matt. 18:15-17)

This is the process we follow. We don’t immediately expose. We go to the person first. And we find that Paul taught a similar process to Timothy:

Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning. I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.
(1 Tim. 5:19-20)

But what do we do today, when sometimes an elder is out of our reach because we are in a megachurch? Ideally, you should take 2-3 witnesses like this passage says and begin the process. If it goes nowhere after repeated good faith attempts, you need to find a wise way to expose them and call them to account. Talk to a lawyer if necessary for a path forward.

Unrepentant leaders who have multiple allegations against them must be investigated, without any favoritism. If they are found to be guilty and unrepentant, we must expose them in front of the entire church and warn the body of Christ so that no one else will be victimized by a cancerous leader. It is love to protect the vulnerable.

If An Online Ministry Leader is Clearly Exposed and Unrepentant, The Biblical Principle Requires Exposing Them Online

Some might say that Jesus and Paul’s commands only apply to a local church, since that’s who it was written to. But in the case where a ministry leader’s reach extends beyond a single church and has a media platform that anyone in the world can access, the only responsible thing for leaders everywhere to do is to call them out in public and warn the body of Christ. If you have platformed someone who ministered prophetically and was later found out to be a false prophet, your responsibility to call them out only increases.

One way way to ensure that no “favoritism” is involved is through a third-party investigative organization. If they are found guilty, yes, we are commanded to expose them in front of everybody. Recall that the Lord didn’t mind preserving a record of the sin of David, Moses, Aaron, Peter, and many others in His word.

As a brief aside about a “record of wrongs”: there is a difference between keeping a record of wrongs to remain wise, and keeping a record of wrongs by constantly mulling over a the wrongs done against you. Forgiveness doesn’t allow mulling it over in your mind, replaying it over and over. That is unforgiveness. Jesus commanded us to forgive an unlimited number of times if someone repents (Luke 17:3). Even if they don’t repent, we need to forgive them for our own sake.

But that doesn’t mean we ignore reality. God always is ready to forgive, but he gave people consequences for their past actions, such as Moses not being able to enter the promised land, and David not being able to build the temple, because David killed too many people (1 Chronicles 22:8). Even though these famous prophets were forgiven by God, God still gave them a consequence for their sin, which means that God did not literally forget that their sin ever happened. When God says that he remembers our sin no more, it is not that he literally has no memory of our sins. It is a powerful figure of speech to convey the incredible depth and absolute finality of His forgiveness towards us; His forgiveness is an unshakeable reality. Even so, Revelation 1-2 gives us clear examples of Jesus exposing sins of the 7 churches, which proves that His memory of our sins is not literally erased.

But the entire approach changes when someone is repentant:

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.
(Gal. 6:1)

If someone is repentant, we must forgive and restore them. Note that Paul doesn’t say “restore back to a leadership position”. That must all be worked out in the community. But men who have lied and blasphemed God’s name for years and years, like Mike Bickle and Shawn Bolz, should never be in ministry again. Their flagrant deception should make any reasonable person never trust them again.

Their sin is so egregious that it requires more time to rebuild trust than they have years left in their life. They can be forgiven and restored back to the body of Christ, but not in any leadership capacity. Would you be ok with your sons or daughters in the same ministry room as these guys, knowing they have covered up their vicious sins for years and years? No. Never again.

Don’t Trust Prophets You Don’t Personally Know

It’s time to stop trusting online “prophets” you don’t personally know. Unsubscribing from their mailing lists if you are subscribed. If you choose to stay on, take it with a grain of salt. You don’t need their prophecies, that are often generic and can apply to anyone, especially if they are always selling something in their emails. The more they sell you things, the more suspicious you should be of them, because you don’t know them! Moreover, Scripture’s pattern for prophecy in the New Testament is for you to receive prophetic ministry in the context of your local church community, not online. If your church doesn’t have prophetic ministry, find a good, bible-based church that practices prophecy responsibly.

The YouTube channel “The Remnant Radio” has been the only charismatic Christian platform to actually weigh prophetic words from people like Cindy Jacobs, James Goll, and other “prophets”. They have consistently found that they all have failed to give accurate prophecies, without repenting for it.

This is not to say that every single one of these people don’t have a prophetic gift. But often their gift functions much more effectively in a local church, not on a global stage, giving vague, grandiose visions, often couched in pro-Republican and anti-Democrat language. But for some reason, they still keep pumping out words year after year, with no evaluation process. I suggest watching the Remnant Radio’s prophecy testing videos for a healthy example of testing prophecies from online prophets who give words for the entire body of Christ.

Be Scientific With Words You Receive

We are called to “test” prophecies (1 Tim. 5:19), which involves a vetting process. That means if someone gives you a word, even if it’s your good friend, you are totally free to reject it if you feel like it’s not from God. God will make sure you need to know what you need to know, provided that you are following Him and seeking Him. He’s a good shepherd.

Some people hold on to words because they think that it demonstrates faith to accept a word from someone. While childlike faith is important, blindly accepting any prophetic word, and blindly giving them, is naive. I’ve done this before, and I’m re-considering words I’ve received over the years and searching my heart.

But if you receive a prophetic word that vastly impacts your life (for example, moving overseas, planting a church, going back to school, adopting a child, etc.), you need to make sure that God confirms it multiple times. My own personal way of judging a life calling word or gifting is to make sure that I’ve received that word beyond my own community, and from other churches or ministries where someone I don’t know supernaturally repeats/confirms the word I’m “testing”. I’m not going to move overseas somewhere based off a hunch. I need to know that God is calling me. Moreover, make sure that whatever word or direction you are testing is private knowledge, as we should all know by now, since Shawn Bolz and other prophets have mined online data before, lying in the name of God.

I’ve been a part of a church planting movement where sharing the gospel and planting churches is stressed and taught a lot on Sunday services, conferences, mission trips, etc. Even if multiple people in my community might have said, “I believe God is calling you to be a church planter”, I should take that with a grain of salt, because that vision is always on the forefront of everyone’s mind. But if I hear that word confirmed by churches who have no vision for planting churches, the strength of that word increases for me. Even if I’ve reached that point, I also need to hear from the Spirit myself in a way that fits into my own relational journey with God. I’ve developed my own personal checks for knowing when something I’m personally hearing or experiencing is from God or not.

It is actually not unbelief to be scientific about prophetic words, asking God for signs. Sometimes we tend to associate unbelief with particular actions, like wanting God to give us confirmation. But unbelief is not an action, it’s a debilitated condition of the heart.

Be Humble With Words You Give

Finally, when giving a prophetic word, just be a polite person!

Ask permission to share it with the person. Share it, and then ask for feedback. Ask questions like “Do you think that might be from God, or maybe just from me? I want you to be honest.” Say something like, “If you feel like it’s not from God, go ahead and discard it.” Most Christians don’t have a nuanced view of prophecy; they tend to expect 100% accuracy, and this can confuse people and cause harm if they aren’t equipped to test prophecies. I remember speaking with one conservative brother who received a prophecy from a traveling “prophet” that didn’t come to pass, and he was hurt by it. To avoid this situation, sometimes you need to give a quick 2 minute teaching on testing prophecy to someone.

If they give you negative feedback, you need to search your heart and pray about it. Remember, we are attempting to serve God’s precious sheep, and we need to give them double honor. They are our brother or sister, precious in God’s sight. Be scientific about your journey of hearing God, asking God to refine you and give you better ways of knowing His voice, and don’t stop until you develop a strong, evidence-based history with God. You can ask for that, and you can receive it.

I believe that prophecy can become all it’s called to be, and far more than we’ve experienced, if we follow biblical principles. We are still commanded to boldly go after the gifts of the Spirit, but our humility and love for others must eclipse that boldness. The more we test prophecy in our local communities, the more it will become pure, and the less people will despise it!

Giving Credit where Credit Is Due

I want to give credit to “The Remnant Radio” YouTube channel for helping me along in my journey of processing things in the charismatic church, particularly in identifying theological roots of “honor culture”. I recommend their videos reviewing Danny Silk’s book, “A Culture of Honor”. I also want to honor Mike Winger for exposing false prophets in a very thorough way, using only good and hard evidence, and controlling his anger well while doing it. I don’t agree with all of Mike’s theology, and don’t think the Remnant Radio’s podcasts are all perfect. But these two ministries are really helping the charismatic church, and we need their ministry during “such a time as this” 😆 (just kidding, I’m not going to use that lingo). We need their ministry to help the charismatic church rebuild true prophecy and the practice of spiritual gifts 👍🏼.

Recommended Resources For Responsible Prophecy and Interpretation of Scripture

Notes

Footnotes

  1. https://julieroys.com/chris-reed-church-revolution-weeks-admitting-sexual-misconduct/ ↩

  2. See this article posted by the law firm handling the case: https://www.mcgowanhood.com/2024/12/20/morningstar-ministries-faces-sex-abuse-lawsuits-following-shocking-allegations/ ↩

  3. https://julieroys.com/rick-joyner-says-mike-bickle-restored-ministry/ ↩

  4. https://youtu.be/Ql5DMYJuJBg?t=1261 ↩

  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU2ZNTRSTHI ↩

  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXLzhK5yiZI, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r1PV9buNzM ↩

  7. https://youtu.be/FyoR5HQjI6w?t=9630 ↩

  8. Silk, Danny. Culture of Honor: Sustaining a Supernatural Environment: Sustaining a Supernatural Environment (p. 67). (Function). Kindle Edition. ↩

  9. Silk, Danny. Culture of Honor: Sustaining a Supernatural Environment (p. 68). Kindle Edition. ↩

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