What is a false prophet?

Question

And why did Jesus say you will know them by their fruits? Matt: 7 verse 16

Answer 1

Someone who speaks falsely in the name of God... Since "prophecy" doesn't mean fortune telling, but delivering a message from God regardless of the content of that message, it does not HAVE TO BE defined by a failed prediction, though ANY failed prediction immediately qualifies one as a false prophet.

ANY teaching which CLAIMS TO BE FROM GOD, but CONTRADICTS the Bible is, by definition, FALSE PROPHECY.

Answer 2

Some one who says they are a follower of Christ but are not.

Because actions speaks louder than words.

Matthew 7:18 ~A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Answer 3

A false prophet teaches things that go against the Word of God, the Scripture. A bad tree does not bear good fruits, meaning a false prophet (evil) could not do God's will. A false prophet may come in the name of God, or even say that they are a Christian, but will never tell the truth of God.  

Answer 4

A prophet is someone who is speaking for God here on earth. A true prophet has received a specific message from God to be delivered to a specific person or a specific group of people. A false prophet is someone who claims to have received such a message but whatever the source of their message is, be it their own imagination or some evil spirit, it isn't from God.

What did Jesus mean? Since the text doesn't give the details one can only take their Biblical best guess. In the OT God's people were told that if a prophet gave a prediction and it didn't come to pass then that person was a false prophet. Or if a prophet gave a prediction which did come to pass but he led people to follow other "gods" then that was a false prophet whom the Lord had sent to test the people.

Since Jesus went on to talk about people who called Him Lord and claimed to have prophesied in His name but they were "workers of iniquity" He most likely meant that you could recognize a false prophet by their lack of sanctification and holiness to God. They made a profession of being a follower of Jesus but their lives were characterized by the works of the flesh and not the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,  20  idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,  21  envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  

22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  23  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  24  And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

2 Peter 2:1  But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.  2  And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.  3  By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber...

...12  But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,  13  and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,  14  having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.

Answer 5

You will know them by their fruits, meaning, check their doctrine.  A false prophet teaches things contrary to what the Bible teaches.

If someone teaches a teaching opposite of what the Bible says about it, then that person is a false prophet, also to be called a false teacher.  

Answer 6

What a man does shows you who he is.  If a man says one thing and does another, or if he preaches God and tortures people...

Answer 7

A false prophet is a tautology.

A true prophet is an oxymoron.

Answer 8

Sylvia Brown

Answer 9

Some people just talk the talk without waking the walk.  You can tell who they are by the car they drive and the house they live in.  If they have megabucks, they are out for the money, honey.

Answer 10

There are no prophets. All are false.  

Answer 11

A false prophet is someone who disguises himself/herself as a shepherd. (pastor, teacher) They lead people away from the truth with their false teaching.

Fruits are our works.  My understanding is that by watching the works of someone, you will know whether or not they are a false prophet. (Do they obey scripture?)

Some of the false teaching that we see today, pertaining to the gospel, is so close to the truth, people are easily deceived by it.  

http://livingwaters.com/go

Answer 12

Because of the way "prophet" is commonly used, there is a misconception that its basic definition is "someone who foretells the future," but this definition is too narrow. Prophet is better defined as "one who speaks for another." A true prophet, then, is a person who speaks for God, delivering a message that God has ordained him to give. In Exodus 7:1, God tells Moses that Aaron, his brother, would be his (Moses') prophet, even as Moses was God's prophet. Because of Moses' unbelief in God's ability to speak through him, God would speak to Moses, who would tell Aaron what to say to others—Pharaoh in particular (verse 2). It is the function of speaking for another, rather than the miracles they performed or their foretelling of what would befall Egypt, which defined Moses and Aaron as prophets.

A false prophet is simply someone who speaks for another but falsely. False prophets either speak for the wrong god, or they claim to have heard from the true God but do not accurately represent Him or His words. At the very least, they speak out of their own human hearts, but more likely, the "god" they are speaking for is really a demon.

If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, "Let us go after other gods"—which you have not known—"and let us serve them," you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)

This passage begins with the assumption that the prophet does foretell the future accurately or perform some other, humanly impossible work. Nevertheless, if that prophet's central message is to follow after a different god or to take a spiritual path that the true God has not said to take, that person is a false prophet. God states unequivocally that misrepresenting Him incurs the death penalty, and Revelation 19:20 says that this is exactly what happens to the False Prophet: He is thrown into the Lake of Fire.

Answer 13

A prophet is someone who speaks for God.

A false prophet would be someone who claims to speak for God, but doesn't.

Jesus was saying that if someone claims to be a prophet, but the things they do and say lead people away from God and/or are not from God, then they are a false prophet.