IDENTIFYING THE RIGHT KIND OF MESSENGER

Jehovah Exposes False Prophets

Ezekiel, while in Babylon, was given a vision of what was going on in Jerusalem's temple. At the entrance of its eastern gate were 25 men. Among them were two princes, Jaazniah and Pelatiah. How did Jehovah view them? Ezekiel 11:2, 3 answers: "Son of man, these are the men that are scheming hurtfulness and advising bad counsel against this city; that are saying, 'Is not the building of houses close at hand?' " These presumptuous peace messengers were saying, 'There is no danger to Jerusalem. Why, soon we are going to build more houses in her!" So God told Ezekiel to counter prophesy against these lying prophets. In verse 13 of chapter 11, Ezekiel tells us what happened to one of them: "It came about that as soon as I prophesied Pelatiah the son of Benaiah himself died." This probably happened because Pelatiah was the most prominent and influential prince and the foremost idolater. His sudden death proved that he was a false prophet!

Jehovah's execution of Pelatiah did not stop the other false prophets from lying in God's name. These deceivers continued in their mad course of predicting things against God's will. So Jehovah God told Ezekiel: "Woe to the stupid prophets, who are walking after their own spirit, when there is nothing that they have seen!" Like Pelatiah, they would be "no more" for defiantly visioning for Jerusalem "a vision of peace, when there is no peace." -Ezekiel 13:3, 15, 16.

As for Isaiah, all his divine messages about Jerusalem came true. In the summer of 607 B.C. E., the Babylonians destroyed the city and took a Jewish remnant back to Babylon as captives. (2 Chronicles 36:15-21; Ezekiel 22:28; Daniel 9:2) Did these calamities stop the false prophets from bombarding God's people with vain babblings? No, those lying messengers kept at it!

As if this were not enough, Israelite exiles were also exposed to Babylon's boastful fortune-tellers, diviner and astrologers. However, Jehovah proved all these false messengers to be frustrated fools, having things backward. In time he showed that Ezekiel was his true messenger, as was Isaiah. Jehovah fulfilled all the words that he spoke through them, just as he had promised: "I am frustrating the signs of the empty talkers, and I am the One that makes diviners themselves act crazily; the One turning wise men backwards, and the One that turns even their knowledge into foolishness; the One making the word of his servant come true, and the One that carries out completely the counsel of his own messengers." -Isaiah 44:25, 26.

Next time: Startling Messages About Babylon and Jerusalem

Watchtower, 1997