How to Spot a False Prophet: The Bible's 10 Tests

How to spot a false prophet is a question the Bible actually answers in detail — and Dr. Barry Wright walks through all of it in this message. Starting from Amos 3:7 ("the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets"), he traces the prophetic gift from Enoch, the first recorded prophet, through Moses, women prophets like Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah, and into the New Testament church, where prophecy is listed second only to apostleship among the gifts of the Spirit. Wright then covers what happened when the prophetic gift seemed to fall silent for centuries after roughly 300 AD, and how a wave of spiritual revival — and counterfeit spiritualism, beginning with the notorious "Fox sisters" hoax in 1848 — both emerged in the 1800s. He contrasts psychic Jeane Dixon, who claimed prophetic ability but failed the biblical tests for a true prophet, against Seventh-day Adventist co-founder Ellen G. White, walking through all ten scriptural tests for a genuine prophet — including that a true prophet doesn't lie, doesn't self-interpret prophecy, points people to their sins, and is measured against Scripture itself (Isaiah 8:20; 1 John 4:1-3; Matthew 7:16-20). He closes with secular newspaper tributes written at Ellen White's death in 1915, and an endorsement from a leading 20th-century archaeologist who independently investigated her writings. This is a Bible-based framework for discerning any prophetic claim — not a call to blindly trust or blindly dismiss, but to test everything against Scripture. Presented by Dr. Barry Wright at Dora Creek Seventh-day Adventist Church, Australia. Listen to the Full Series: Catch every message in the Go Teach All Nations collection: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL65y7saKkuQ1OhnYa142gWoTlMc4NBguh Discover More Christian Content: Explore more sermons, Bible teaching, and faith-building programs from 3ABN Australia Radio: https://www.youtube.com/@3abnaustraliaradio885/featured Timecodes 0:00 Introduction: Why We Need Certainty From God 3:00 Enoch to Moses: The First Prophets in Scripture 8:00 Women Prophets and the Gift in the New Testament 13:00 Why the Prophetic Gift Seemed to Go Silent 20:00 1848: The Rise of Counterfeit Spiritualism 25:00 Jeane Dixon: A Case Study in a False Prophet 29:00 The Bible's 10 Tests for a True Prophet 38:00 Applying the Tests to Ellen G. White 43:00 Closing: Secular Tributes and a Special Gift for the Church This message was made available by the Dora Creek Seventh-day Adventist church. For more resources like this, visit doracreek.church #HowToSpotAFalseProphet #BiblicalDiscernment #ChristianSermon