6 Signs of a False Prophet: How to Test a Prophecy

This is Part Two of our False Prophecy series. If you haven’t yet, start with Part One: Is a Vision from God? Discernment of Spirits & What Comes First, which lays the foundation for everything below.

In our last piece, we talked about why knowing your Bible and Catechism has to come before trusting any private revelation. In this post we offer practical advice about characteristics to look for in a false prophet. We are going to start with a warning from Jesus in the Bible. 

The Sign of Jonah: Why Jesus Refused to Give One

Before we look at the six signs of a false prophet, it’s worth sitting with something Jesus himself said about sign-seeking. When the scribes and Pharisees asked Him for a sign, He didn’t oblige them. 

Instead He said, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah… and indeed a greater than Jonah is here”

Matthew 12:39, 41

That’s a striking rebuke, and it’s worth understanding what He actually meant. Jonah’s “sign” wasn’t a spectacle. It was a prophet who preached repentance, plainly, and a whole city that listened and turned back to God. Jesus is saying something similar and greater is already standing in front of them: Himself, His teaching, His coming death and resurrection. They didn’t need a new sign. They needed to actually listen to the One already speaking.

That’s the same temptation this whole series is spotlighting. We are often tempted to embrace fresh vision, a new locution, a dramatic confirmation, when what we actually need is already in front of us: Christ Himself. He is given to us fully in Scripture, the Sacraments, and through the ordinary teaching of the Church. Seeking after new signs while neglecting what’s already been given is exactly the pattern Jesus named as belonging to “an evil and adulterous generation.” That’s a hard word, but it’s an honest one, and it’s worth taking seriously before chasing the next extraordinary claim of a contemporary prophet.

With that in mind, here are six signs the saints have given us for testing whether a prophecy is genuinely of God, or something else masquerading as His voice.

1. Signs of Pride in a Prophet

St. John of the Cross warned about this centuries ago in The Dark Night of the Soul. He described beginners in the spiritual life who grow “very fervent and diligent” and, through their own imperfections, develop “a certain kind of secret pride.” They become satisfied with their own progress, boast of it, and start teaching others. When a spiritual director doesn’t approve of their behavior, they assume the director simply doesn’t understand them, and go looking for someone new who will praise them instead.

This is one of the clearest signs of pride in a prophet: watch for it first, because as we’ll see, it’s the root the other five warning signs of spiritual deception tend to grow from.

Ask: Does the prophet boast of secret knowledge? Do they seem to elevate themselves? Is money involved in any way?

2. Is the Vice of Vainglory Evident?

Vainglory is pride’s twin: the need to be known, talked of, and praised. St. Thomas Aquinas connects it directly to disobedience: “Vainglory desires display of excellence. And since it seems to point to a certain excellence that one be not subject to another’s command, it follows that disobedience arises from vainglory.”

Ask: Does the prophet love the limelight? Do they seek notoriety? Do they spend real energy defending themselves publicly against critics?

3. Is a Weak and Inexperienced Mind Evident?

Demons know our weaknesses better than we do, and they know how to counterfeit God. St. John of the Cross wrote that the devil can offer “images of saints and most beautiful lights… fragrant odors… sweetness… delight,” all to entice a soul toward evil through what feels like holy consolation. St. Teresa of Avila added a practical caution: souls prone to melancholy or overactive imagination should be gently discouraged from too much reliance on these experiences, “until it is certain from what spirit these things proceed.”

This isn’t about doubting every consolation in prayer. It’s about recognizing that an inexperienced or unformed mind is more easily deceived, not less.

4. Is the Presence of Reckless Zeal Evident?

Zeal is good. It’s a fire for God. But zeal without knowledge becomes reckless, and reckless zeal divides rather than builds. St. Paul is the perfect study in both. Before his conversion, his zeal made him a persecutor of the Church (Galatians 1:14). After it, that same fire, now joined to knowledge and humility, made him the greatest missionary in Church history (Romans 10:2-3).

The difference wasn’t the intensity of his zeal. It was whether it was submitted to truth. To proclaim Christ rightly, we have to know Scripture and our faith first. Ignorance is not an excuse, and reckless zeal always has its roots in pride.

5. Is Disobedience to Authority Evident?

“He who resists those powers resists God’s ordination” (Romans 13:2). Obedience to legitimate Church authority isn’t optional for a genuine mystic; it’s the proof of the pudding. St. John Henry Newman put it simply: “To those who are perplexed in any way, for those who seek the light but cannot find it, one precept must be given: obey. It is obedience which brings a man into the right path.” If God truly gives someone a mission, He also gives the grace to submit that mission to legitimate spiritual authority for testing. 

A prophet who resists correction has already told you something important. This is one of the most reliable ways to test a prophecy: not by how convincing it feels, but by how the prophet responds when someone in legitimate authority says no.

6. Is There a Lack of Knowledge of Self and Sacred Scripture?

This is the sign that ties every other one together, and it’s the same thesis from Part One, applied here directly. A prophet who doesn’t know Scripture and the Catechism well can be easily deceived, and can easily deceive others without meaning to. St. Teresa of Avila’s warning in The Interior Castle is direct: “Take no more notice of any speeches you hear which disagree with the Holy Scriptures than if you heard them from Satan himself… look upon them as a temptation against the faith.”

A prophet’s own ignorance of the faith isn’t a small gap to overlook. It’s often the very door deception walks through.

Why This Matters

None of these six signs of a false prophet require a theology degree to notice. They require attention, prayer, and a willingness to test any prophecy against what the Church already teaches. Jesus Himself pointed His generation back to the resources they already had rather than the mystical supernatural signs they were chasing. If you notice just one warning sign clearly present, that’s reason enough to pause. Just continue focusing on what’s already been given to you as an ordinary Catholic, before going any further in following a new devotion or seer that has not been formally approved by the Church. Allow patience as the authorities discern the source of the locutions and remain obedient to the Church.

In Part Three, we’ll look at why pride sits underneath all six of these warning signs, and what St. Hildegard of Bingen reveals about how pride quietly leads us toward spiritual deception and darkness.