The Judgments of God

True prophesy is where you say only what God is saying, and you only say it when He is saying it. If you share something as a "thus sayeth the Lord" when He hasn't actually said it, then it is false prophesy. And that is something we definitely don't want to do.

We have to be careful not to put words into God's mouth based on what we wish He would say. Likewise, we can't guess at God's opinion is on something, and then prophesy that guess as through God actually said it. Even when we are pretty sure that we know what His opinion is, we still must not present that as a word from God unless He tells us to. Otherwise, it become a false prophecy.

Besides, we might have guessed wrong about what He thinks about that thing. Even when we know Him well and have a pretty good idea of how He thinks, we can still make wrong assumptions. He thinks differently than we do. His ways are higher than our ways, and He has information that we are not privy to. That is why we must never presume to speak for God unless He has actually given us something to say.

The Temptation To Prophesy Falsely

There are times when it can be very tempting to speak our own opinion as though it were a word from God. This is especially true when we feel strongly about something. But the instant we saying something that God is not saying as through He were saying it, we have entered the realm of false prophesy. That is something we must not do. The temptation will come at us from time to time, but we must never give into it.

Some of you haven't experienced this temptation yet, and you can't imagine how putting words in God's mouth might be tempting. I am going to give you an example from my own experience, so that you can understand why it can, at times, this can be tempting. (I am happy to report that I did not give into the temptation, but it was not easy for me to resist it).

I have to give you a little background to explain why this was so tempting for me, so please bare with me as I seem to "switch gears" and talk about sports...it is very relevant to my example.

My husband and I are season ticket holders for the local hockey team, the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks are one of those teams that generally does "good" but never does "great." Year after year, we make it into the four-round playoffs, and we are usually eliminated in the second round. But this last season that we just had was supposed to be different. It was supposed to be the year we went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals and won the cup. The general manager did some amazing trades to acquire some really good players and we all thought we were set to win. In fact, the team had the most incredible regular season we've ever had, and set several records. They were the number 1 ranked team in the NHL at the end of the regular season, and won the "President's Trophy."

But when playoffs started, the Sharks seemed to fall apart. They played the lowest ranked team in the first round, and that lower ranked team dominated them. That first game was on home ice, which should have given the Sharks an advantage, but they still lost. We all left the arena puzzled, confused and disappointed. We all told ourselves, "that was a fluke" and expected the team to do better.

The second game of the series was also a home game, and I attended that one as well. I was personally convinced that this game would be different--that the Sharks would come alive and really win. My husband and I usually sit in the front row during the pre-game warm-ups to watch the team. But the day of this second playoff game, they all looked really worried during the warm-ups. Their facial expressions and body language made it clear that they were "psyched out" and that they had completely lost their confidence. We could tell that unless they had a mental change of attitude, they already lost the game before they even started to play.

I am a fan and I really wanted my team to win. In fact, I thought that God told me they would win this second playoff game. But my personal hearing on hockey scores is not all that accurate, because I am emotionally involved. I want Him to say that my team will win so badly that my heart can easily imitate God's voice to me on that subject.

Then this truly amazing thing happened. I had been sitting directly behind the spot where a photographer shoots. There is a little window that the photographers open to put the lens of their camera through, so that they don't have to shoot through glass. The photographer got up and left, and he forgot to close the window. Then Patrick Marlow, the team captain, came and stood right in front of me. He stayed there for a really long time...several minutes. (It is very unusual for hockey players to stay in any one position along the boards for more than a few seconds, but he stayed there minutes.)

I knew that if I spoke to him through the open photographer's window, he would be able to hear me. He (and the rest of the team) looked so dejected and defeated. Something rose up in me and I really wanted to prophesy to him that God's favor would be on the team for this game, that everything would click and they would win.

I wanted to say that so bad that I literally had to bite my tongue to keep those words from coming out. I knew God had not actually said that, so I should not say it either. But A part of me thought that if I spoke those words in His name, then it would come to pass anyhow. Besides, it seemed like a divine setup that God was allowing me an opportunity to speak to a player just before the game, since that type of thing NEVER happens. I had about three minutes where I could have done that.

Three minutes can seem like an eternity when you have a "word" busting to come out of you. I can't tell you how bad I wanted to speak that false word, to manipulate things so that my team would win. But as much as I wanted my team to win, I wanted to remain a true and faithful spokesperson to God even more. So I did not allow those words of false prophesy to come out of my mouth. But the point is that I was really tempted to say them because I really wanted our team to win.

(I should mention that our team lost that game very badly. In fact they lost the entire series, winning only two games out of six, and they were eliminated in the first round. That is one round earlier than they are usually eliminated.)

Now you might laugh at my example of really wanting my sporting team to win, but it was a real temptation for me. The truth is that every one of us will at some time in our life have something that we really want, or something we feel very strongly about. And if you are a prophetic person, you may very well end up facing the temptation to "prophesy" your feelings/desires when God hasn't said anything about it.

The truth is that people face this temptation from time to time--the temptation to say something they feel strongly about as though God had said it. If they are not mature in their gifting (or in their walk with God), then they might give into the temptation and enter into the realm of false prophesy.

Credibility and Temptation

Just about every prophetic person will face a situation in his or her life. They will be in a position where they will be tempted to present their own idea or opinion as a "thus sayeth the Lord." The devil will bring that temptation to almost every one of God's messengers.

Fortunately, that that type of temptation is not something you will face every day. It is a rare thing, and most of us will only face it a few times during our life/ministry.

However, there is an interesting dynamic between our self image and how likely we are to be tempted that way. This is how it works: The lower a person perceives their own credibility to be, the more likely they are to be tempted to express their opinion as a false prophetic word. In other words, the more credibility you have, the less you likely you will feel the need to pull out the "big guns" (e.g., God) to back up what you want to say.

Let me explain that a bit further. If you are a person who has a lot of credibility, that means you know that people are likely to listen to what you have to say, and they are likely to respect your opinion. You don't feel a need to find other things to support what you are saying, because you already have confidence that people will be willing to hear what you want to say.

But if you don't think that have credibility in a given circle, you believe it will be hard to get people to listen you. Even if you can get them to listen, you are not sure that they will take what you have to say seriously.

Now this is where the temptation arises: If you don't think that people will listen to you when you have something important to say, you might be tempted to pretend that what you want to say is a word from God. You know that people love God and want to listen to Him, so it becomes tempting to present what you want to say as though it were a prophetic word.

Of course, we understand that it is a sin to do that, and prophesying falsely will get God really angry at you. But sometimes when something is burning inside of you, you might try to talk yourself into believing that God will look the other way "just this once."

Please let me emphasize that I am not condoning false prophecy under any circumstances. It is wrong and God hates it. I am merely explaining why some people fall into that temptation more than others do.

I should also mention that being tempted to prophesy falsely is not a sin--it is only a sin if you give in to that temptation. So, if you get tempted that way, you must resist it. It is never ok to say "thus sayeth the Lord" when God is not actually saying it.