The Eleventh Mandate, on True and False Prophets

1 He showed me people seated on a couch, and another person seated on a chair. And he said to me, “Do you see those seated on the couch?” “I see them, Sir,” I said. “These,” he said, “are faithful, but the one seated on the chair is a false prophet who destroys the minds of the servants of God—that is, of the double-minded, not of the faithful. 2 These double-minded ones, then, come to him as if to a fortune-teller and ask him what will happen to them. And he, the false prophet, having no power of a divine Spirit in himself, speaks to them according to their questions and the lusts of their wickedness, and fills their souls as they desire. 3 For being empty himself, he gives empty answers to empty questioners; for whatever is asked of him, he answers according to the emptiness of the person. But he does sometimes speak true words, for the devil fills him with his own spirit, to see if he can break down any of the righteous. 4 So all who are strong in the faith of the Lord and clothed in truth do not cling to such spirits, but stay away from them; but all who are doubters and often change their minds practice fortune-telling like the pagans, and heap more sin on themselves through their idolatries. For whoever consults a false prophet on anything is an idolater and devoid of truth and acts senselessly. 5 For no Spirit given by God needs to be consulted; but, having divine power, it speaks all things on its own, because it is from above, from the power of the divine Spirit. 6 But the spirit that is consulted, and speaks according to the desires of people, is earthly and fickle, having no power, and it does not speak at all unless it is consulted.” 7 “Then how, Sir,” I said, “will anyone know who is a prophet and who is a false prophet?” “Listen,” he said, “to what I say about both kinds of prophets, and test the prophet and the false prophet in the way I tell you. Test the person who has the divine Spirit by their life.⁠a 8 First, the one who has the divine Spirit, which is from above, is gentle and calm and humble-minded, refraining from all wickedness and pointless desire of this present world, and considers themself lower than all others, and never answers anyone when asked, and does not speak on their own—for the Holy Spirit does not speak when a person wants Him to speak—but the person speaks only when God wants them to speak. 9 So when the person who has the divine Spirit enters a gathering of righteous people who have faith in a divine Spirit, and they pray to God in that assembly, then the angel of the prophetic spirit, who is assigned to that person, fills them, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, the person speaks to the crowd, as the Lord wills. 10 This, then, is how the Spirit of God is recognized. Such is the great power of the Spirit of God. 11 Now learn,” he said, “about the earthly and empty spirit, which has no power but is foolish. 12 First, the one who seems to have a spirit exalts themself and wants to have the seat of honor, and is immediately bold and shameless and talkative, and indulges in many luxuries and in many other deceits, and takes money for prophesying, and if they do not get paid, they do not prophesy. Now can a divine Spirit take money and prophesy? A prophet of God could never do this; rather, the spirit of such people is earthly. 13 Moreover, it never comes near a gathering of righteous people, but avoids them, and joins with the double-minded and the empty, and prophesies to them in corners, deceiving them, speaking all things in emptiness to please their desires; for the people it answers are empty too. For an empty jar placed among empty jars does not break, but they match each other. 14 But when it comes into an assembly full of righteous people who have a Spirit of God, and they pray, that person is emptied, and the earthly spirit flees from them in fear, and that person is left speechless and completely shattered, being unable to say a word. 15 For if you put wine or oil into a storeroom and place an empty jar among them, and later want to empty the storeroom, you will find the jar you put there empty still empty. So also with the empty prophets—whenever they come in among righteous spirits, they are found as empty as when they arrived. 16 I have described the way of life of both kinds of prophets. So test the person who says they are moved by the Spirit by their life and their deeds.⁠b 17 Trust the Spirit that comes from God and has power; but do not trust at all the earthly and empty spirit, for it has no power, since it comes from the devil. 18 Listen then to the parable I will tell you. Take a stone and throw it up to heaven—see if you can reach it. Or again, take a water squirt and squirt it up to heaven—see if you can pierce heaven.” 19 “How, Sir,” I said, “can these things be? Both the things you said are impossible for us.” “Well then,” he said, “just as these things are impossible, so also the earthly spirits have no power and are feeble. 20 Now take the power that comes from above. Hail is a very small grain, yet when it falls on a person’s head, how much pain it causes! Or again, take a drop that falls from the roof onto the ground, and it pierces stone. 21 You see then that the smallest things from above falling on the earth have great power. So too the divine Spirit coming from above is powerful. Trust this Spirit, but stay away from the other.”