There is a crisis of false prophecies that are being allowed by nationally recognized apostles and prophets. Any leader who the Lord has given a national platform has a responsibility to steward what the Lord has given them in all righteousness. Leaders are responsible for addressing destructive teachings and prophecies that are destroying the church. Leaders will be judged by the Lord for what they did or did not do. To whom much is given, much is required.
The charismatic church has been mostly silent regarding false prophecies from its leaders. Just as teaching poisons and defiles the temple of God, so does false prophecy.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (I Corinthians 3:16-17 NKJV)
The above scripture was written in the context of teaching; however, prophecy should be applied to this as well. If prophets are giving revelation in the name of the Lord, and the Lord is not actually saying that, then they are defiling the temple. Believers will embrace false prophetic words and that false voice will sink into their souls. When someone embraces a false voice of God, it causes deception and we know that deception is from the evil one.
Some believers are completely deconstructing their faith in the supernatural when they see false prophecies manifesting in the church. When national prophets release prophetic words that fall to the ground, some believers are then rejecting prophets, apostles, prophecy, the gifts of the Spirit, and the power of God. If living stones do not believe God and His word, they will not go on to maturity and be properly built into the temple of God. The enemy is seeking to promote false prophecies and prevent the Lord’s temple from being properly constructed.
Testing the Spirits
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (I John 4:1 NKJV)
Does the Holy Spirit give false prophecies? Does the Spirit of the Lord not know what is going to take place? False prophecies sow confusion into the body of Christ and our God is not a God of confusion.
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (I Thessalonians 5:19-22 NKJV)
If we despise prophecy we will quench the Spirit, but if we tolerate false prophecies, we will grieve the Spirit. We are told to test and judge prophecy and only hold on to that which is pure and good. If we embrace fabricated prophetic words then we are not abstaining from evil but embracing it.
If we attempt to rationalize and justify false prophecies, deception is setting in and we are departing from the word of God. How many prophets have stated that something would surely come to pass and then, when it didn’t, came up with a clever excuse? “Well, that prophecy was conditional and God changed His mind,” some might say. I would then ask, “Did you say it was conditional from the beginning or did you only switch to that perspective after the prophetic word failed to come to pass?”
A Word to Those Who Prophecy Futility
“AND THE word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own mind and heart, Hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit [and things they have not seen] and have seen nothing! O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins and in waste places. You have not gone up into the gaps or breeches, nor built up the wall for the house of Israel that it might stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. They have seen falsehood and lying divination, saying, The Lord says; but the Lord has not sent them. Yet they have hoped and made men to hope for the confirmation of their word. Have you not seen a false vision and have you not spoken a lying divination when you say, The Lord says, although I have not spoken? Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have spoken empty, false, and delusive words and have seen lies, therefore behold, I am against you, says the Lord God. And My hand shall be against the prophets who see empty, false, and delusive visions and who give lying prophecies. They shall not be in the secret council of My people, nor shall they be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord God. Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace, when there is no peace, and because when one builds a [flimsy] wall, behold, [these prophets] daub it over with whitewash,” (Ezekiel 13:1-10 AMPC)
Examples of False Prophecy
One woman who is considered a prophet in the U.S. stated that Trump would be president in 2020 and that Mike Pence would be president in 2024 and 2028. She then said (after the 2020 election) that fraud would be exposed and that Trump would be in the White House for that term (2020 —not 2024). These prophecies failed and never came to pass.
Another female prophet prophesied in 2022 that Trump would be installed as president that year. That prophecy failed terribly as well.
A different woman prophet who has a massive social media following prophesied that Trump would be killed and not re-elected (in 2024). She also prophesied that Kamala would be the next president and that Biden would be removed. She stated these as a matter of fact and never said anything was conditional. All of these prophecies proved to be delusions.
A well-known male prophet in the Charismatic church prophesied in December of 2022 the following (regarding the 2024 election):
(Referencing the Hunter Biden laptop scandal and Joe Biden), “Last year the Lord showed me this would hurt his father (Joe Biden) to the point where he would lose power and be out of office before the 2024 election. I’m standing on it. This is not guesswork. These are things that I have seen.”
The prophet also said, “He (Joe Biden) will attempt to redeem his failed presidency by making a woman president for the first time. I have seen Kamala Harris at the helm, but only for a short time, weeks or months.”
Again the prophet stated, “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will not be leading the Democratic ticket in the next election cycle. I saw a man winning the Democratic nomination, but it was not Joe Biden.”
Was Joe Biden out of the presidential office before the 2024 election? Did Kamala officially take over as president for weeks or months? Was a different man the leader of the democratic ticket and nominee for president in the 2024 election? These couldn’t have been more wrong, as Joe Biden was never removed, Kamala never took over as president, and the person leading the Democratic ticket was a woman (Kamala Harris), not a man other than Joe Biden.
These are just a few examples of prophets who are prophesying out of their own hearts and minds as is explained in Ezekiel 13. They truly did not see anything from the Lord but followed their own spirit. Their souls fabricated prophetic revelation and they believed it was revelation from the Lord. They prophesied falsehood and “hoped” that the Lord would confirm their words. However, the Lord has shown us that He has not sent these prophets because their words were not confirmed.
These false visions and lying divinations are damaging the church and the Lord is not alright with it. It’s one thing when a believer growing in the prophetic misses a prophetic word in their local church. It’s another thing when “mature” national leaders give false prophecies without any true godly sorrow and repentance.
If we are actually going to take God at His word (which we clearly should), then He is actually against the prophets who are prophesying empty, false, delusive words and have seen lies. Let that sink in: the Lord is against them. Now we can ignore the truth in the scriptures if we want, but when we ignore the truth about who God is, we become spiritually blind and deaf. So the choice is ours.
Bad Partnerships
What really grieves my spirit is to see trusted apostolic and prophetic leaders partnering with prophets who have been releasing false prophecies. When trusted leaders do this, they discredit their own ministries. Did Jeremiah partner with the prophets who gave words of falsehood in his day? We certainly know the answer to that question. Why have the standards of the modern church sunk so low that some ministers will partner with prophets who continually prophesy falsely?
When trusted apostolic and prophetic leaders embrace these ungodly partnerships, they start to justify the false prophetic predictions and make excuses for why they didn’t come to pass. They also use a tactic called “defection.” Leaders will say things like, “False teaching is far worse than a missed prophetic word. Teachers are judged more harshly.” When the reality is that both false teaching and false prophecies are equally damaging.
“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.” (James 3:1-2 NKJV)
If we actually take this above scripture in context, James is not even addressing false teaching. He is addressing the character of the teacher. He is stating that the Lord holds teachers to a higher moral standard and will judge them accordingly. So if the teacher is teaching the word of God yet living contrary to the word of God, they will be judged as a hypocrite. Teachers should be above reproach, and when they are secretly stumbling in unrepentant sin or not seeking to control their tongues, they will be judged in a greater way than the average believer for their hypocrisy.
Conclusion
Making false prophetic predictions does not lay a foundation of Jesus Christ in the hearts of believers. These false predictions only prevent the foundation of Christ from being laid, which in turn prevents the Lord’s temple from being constructed. These unrepentant prophets are actually opposing the will of God by their false prophetic insights.
My heart for releasing this warning is because the Lord’s sheep are being damaged and confused with false prophecies like these. The Lord wants His young lambs to know Him and believe His word. However, failed prophecies are causing believers to turn away from the pure word of truth and reject the ministry of prophets. If believers do not receive the ministry of true prophets, they will not come to the unity of the faith and fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ. All five leadership gifts of Christ are necessary to bring the church to full maturity, as Ephesians chapter 4 explains. The Lord desires prophetic purity to be restored in His house.
-Ty Unruh (April 2025)
