Bible prophecy is such a fascinating study. Prophecy makes up nearly 1/3 of the Bible, so it is clearly something that God wants us to read.
When studying Bible prophecy it is important to keep in mind what God says about the subject. In many verses, He warns that there are false prophets that exist. We are to test ALL prophets and prophecies to see if they are from God. Thankfully, God shows us how and it is quite simple: "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." - Deuteronomy 18:22
God says that we are not to fear false prophets, but we are to be aware of them. Some will claim to be Christian, others to be the Messiah, and others to practice divination and lead people away from Christ.
Jesus said in Matthew 24:5 "for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many". History has shown this to be true throughout the centuries.
In the 18th Century, Kondratiy Selivanov started a cult in Russia and claimed to be the son of God. Ann Lee, founder of the Shakers, claimed to be the female reincarnation of Jesus and was called "mother" by her members.
There were many in the 19th Century that made outrageous claims. Jones Very was a Greek tutor at Harvard and proclaimed that he was the second coming of Jesus. William W. Davies of the Latter-Day Saints movement taught his followers that he was the Archangel Michael and had previously lived lives as Abraham and King David. After his son, Arthur, was born, he proclaimed that his son was the reincarnated Jesus Christ. Arnold Potter, also of the LDS, claimed that the spirit of Jesus entered him and started calling himself "Potter Christ" the son of the living God. Potter died jumping off a cliff while trying to ascend into Heaven.
The 20th Century brought about some famous false prophets as well. Krishna Venta in San Francisco founded the WKFL (Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love) Fountain of the World cult and claimed to be the Messiah. Yahweh ben Yahweh created the Nation of Yahweh in Florida and taught that he was the son of God. David Koresh of the infamous Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas claimed to be the son of God and the final prophet.
Our present Century has had its share of false prophets claiming to be Jesus. Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez believed that he was Jesus Christ and was sent by God to kill President Obama. Alan John Miller was a former Jehovah's Witness that started his own cult believing he was Jesus reincarnate.
Documented evidence shows that every single person in the list above gave prophecies, but nothing came to pass. Some of these people had delusions of grandeur while others had legitimate mental health issues and needed professional help. Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-16 to "beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits..."
This is a warning about false Christians claiming to be prophets. These tend to be people that preach from the pulpit and are filled with greed and lust or cult leaders that claim to represent "true" Christianity. Moses David was the founder of the cult, The Children of God. He predicted that a comet would hit the earth in the mid-1970's and destroy all life in the United States. In 1997, Dan Miller and Bob Wadsworth of Canada, claimed that the Antichrist would come to power on April 10th of that year. Edgar Whisenant wrote a book stating that the Rapture of the Church would take place in 1988, called 88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988.
Jesus said that we can know false prophets "by their fruits". We are to test these people and see if what they say and how they act lines up with the Word of God. Do these people teach that there is more than one way to Heaven or that they can take others to Heaven? If so that contradicts Acts 4:12. Do they claim that Jesus isn't God? That contradicts Colossians 2:9. Most easily observable, does the prophecy come to pass?
Acts 16:16-17, gives us an example of a non-Christian false prophet. Through divination, prophecies can come to pass. It will never be anything on a large scale because Satan does not have that power, but is often a simple revelation into a person's life. Fortunetelling is a modern-day example. The small prophecy may come to pass in some form, however, it is demonic in nature. God alone knows the future and only God alone gives true prophecies (Hebrews 1:1-2).
The purpose of this series is to help Christians learn about certain prophecies that may not make sense or may seem odd. You have to keep in mind that thousands of years ago, there were no words for "missile", "car", "airplane", "nuclear bomb", "uranium", etc. The prophets used their modern-day knowledge to describe events thousands of years into the future.