Can a false prophet prophesy accurately?

Answer 1

Matthew, Mark and Luke warn of "false prophets", while Paul made mention of "false apostles" and seems to have been in constant opposition to those who taught a Christ in some way different to the one of whom Paul taught. What is not clear is just what a false apostle was, presumably other than a Christian missionary who disagreed with the particular author.

Matthew 24:11 says, "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." Presumably, this acknowledges that Matthew's opponents could indeed prophesy accurately. After all, if enough prophets, false or otherwise, publish prophecies, some of them will come true. Especially if we follow the practice of interpreting prophecies as liberally as possible.

One prophecy that was stated most unambiguously, and yet came true, was made by a man who made no claim that we know of to being a prophet. The Jewish priest and military leader, Josephus, was captured by Vespasian shortly after the appearance in the year 66 of Halley's comet, a "star that stood over Jerusalem". He said that this was an omen that his conqueror, Vespasian, was the Jewish Messiah and would become Emperor of Rome. Vespasian became Roman emperor several years later, just as Josephus had said.

Answer 2

A:

Yes. There are examples in The Bible of prophets being wrong, at least some of the time, as well as examples of what appear to have been prophecies never coming to pass.

Some Old Testament prophecies that came true within a very short period tend to reflect two things - successful prophets are the ones whose writings were kept for posterity, and if the supposed outcome occurred before the prophet completed his book, then the prediction and its outcome are recorded, otherwise not.

Mordechai Cogan (The Oxford History of the Biblical World, Into Exile: From the Assyrian Conquest of Israel to the Fall of Babylon) gives an example of a Jewish prophet who was wrong. Jeremiah had warned that Jerusalem could fall to the Babylonians unless the Jews submitted. He placed a yoke around his neck as he spoke to the people to make the point (Jeremiah 27:8): "And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand." So far, this is only wise advice, not prophecy. Jeremiah even went on to tell the people not to listen to prophets, for they prophesy a lie. Jeremiah 28:10:11 then has one of these very prophets, Hananiah, say that the LORD had said to him that Nebuchadnezzar would be defeated within two years: "Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and brake it. And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way." The prophet Hananiah was wrong, and is therefore not celebrated in the same way as is Jeremiah today.