False prophets claiming to speak in the name of the Lord ought to be held accountable for their misguided predictions. When their prophecy “does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Dt. 18:22). But, what if the prophecy comes true? What then? If the prophet is counseling rebellion against the Lord, he must be rejected. Moses explains: “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom 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 find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Dt. 13:1–3).
Correcting the mistaken belief that the Lord had already come, Paul writes the Christians at Thessalonica, telling them that certain things must happen first, including the appearance of the lawless one who would deceive those who had not received “the love of the truth so as to be saved” (2 Th. 2:10). These are further described as those who “did not believe the truth” but chose, instead, to “believe what is false” (vss. 11-12). Ultimately, our protection from deception consists of loving and believing the truth.
Most anyone can make general, non-specific predictions about the future. Dark clouds and a clap of thunder motivates us to seek shelter even before it begins raining. Business ventures are precipitated by anticipating a need and providing a desired product to meet that need. These are not prophecies but educated guesses. “Ten Predictions for the Year Ahead” might be an attention-catching headline, but it hardly passes muster as a word from the Lord. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law” (Dt. 29:29). For any reliable glimpse into the future we are dependent upon divine revelation. “Secret things” suggests that there is much we will never know, at least in this present life. But, we have all that we need – “everything pertaining to life and godliness…” (2 Pet. 1:3).
–Glen Elliott–