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If you’re on IG, you may or may not have seen the drama unfolding as one brave girl exposes a fake prophet. The details are gruesome. The stories are not just “church gossip”—they’re people’s actual lives, torn apart in the name of God. It’s one of those situations that makes you think, How did it get this far? How did so many intelligent, prayerful people get deceived?
And before we judge from the sidelines, let’s be honest: deception often doesn’t arrive wearing a red suit with a pitchfork. It comes packaged in charisma, sprinkled with “Thus says the Lord” and backed up with enough truth to make the lies believable. That’s how people get hooked.
If someone told you, “I know what’s going to happen to you tomorrow,” what would be your first reaction? Me? I thought I didn’t like gossip—until I spent (I’m even ashamed to admit this) about two hours reading through IG highlights as a man explained why his family had disintegrated.
To be fair, I was home alone. I had tried looking for something to watch on Netflix, which was like searching for truth in a politician, and I gave up. Then I stumbled upon this man’s vent, and there I was, scrolling through post after post, fully invested in someone else’s drama.
What baffled me the most was a screenshot. It showed that the now-estranged wife had been told by a certain prophet that her husband was going to meet his soulmate—and it would be in her best interest to leave the marriage. Imagine that. A stranger walks into your life, claims divine authority, and tells you your marriage is over because “God said so.”
Needless to say, the reason all this linen was now hanging in the public clothesline is because they had eventually separated. The internet was eating it up, but all I could think was—how many people have made life-altering decisions based solely on someone else’s “word from God”?
Your Future Is Already Known—By God
Here’s the truth: no one has better access to your life than God Himself. No pastor, no prophet, no dream interpreter, no “man of God” knows your future better than the One who wrote it.
Psalm 139:16 says it beautifully:
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
That means before you ever saw the light of day, God had already written every single one of your days. He is not discovering your future along with you—He authored it. So why would we hand that knowledge over to someone who is just as human, flawed, and limited as we are?
God Does Not Outsource Your Guidance
Sometimes we think maybe God will speak to someone else about us because we’re “too small” for Him to speak to directly. But that’s not who God is. Isaiah 30:21 says:
“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”
That’s God talking to you. Not your neighbor, not your pastor on your behalf—you. He’s capable of guiding you in a way that is personal and unmistakable.
And if that wasn’t clear enough, Psalm 32:8 says:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
Notice the I will. God doesn’t need a middleman to deliver His most important instructions for your life. Yes, He can use people to confirm what He’s already told you, but He will never make them your only source of truth.
Stop Surviving on Forwarded Devotionals
Let me step on a few toes here: reading a daily devotional someone forwarded you on WhatsApp is not the same as reading your Bible. Those little snippets can be encouraging, yes—but they are someone else’s reflection on Scripture, not God speaking directly to you through His Word.
Imagine only eating leftovers your whole life and never tasting a fresh, hot meal. That’s what happens when you live on second-hand faith. You end up with bits and pieces, but you miss the full picture.
When you read your Bible for yourself, you start recognizing God’s voice. You begin to see patterns in how He speaks, how He leads, and how He warns. So when a “prophet” comes along and says something that doesn’t match God’s character or Word, something in your spirit will say, Wait, that doesn’t sound right.
Test Everything You Hear
Here’s the thing—God Himself told us to be discerning. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says, “Test everything; hold on to what is good.” That means don’t just swallow everything labeled “prophecy” or “vision” without checking if it lines up with Scripture.
If it contradicts the Bible, it’s not from God—no matter how convincing the messenger is. And if it causes confusion, division, or fear, you can be sure it’s not the voice of the Good Shepherd, because Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
God’s Voice Will Never Lead You Away From Him
Here’s something I’ve noticed: real direction from God always draws you closer to Him. It doesn’t make you more dependent on another human being to hear Him for you.
When God leads, there’s peace—even when the path is hard. There’s clarity—even if you don’t have all the details. And there’s confirmation—through His Word, through prayer, and sometimes through wise counsel that aligns with Scripture.
What there isn’t? Urgency that pressures you into drastic life decisions in the moment. What there isn’t? A dependency on “this one person” to keep hearing from God on your behalf. That’s not God’s way.
Protect yourself from deception. We live in a time when spiritual scams are everywhere. Some are blatant; others are wrapped in enough truth to look legitimate. The best way to protect yourself? Know God’s Word for yourself. Pray regularly. Keep your relationship with Him personal and active.
Because here’s the reality: when you know God’s voice, you can spot a counterfeit a mile away. And when you know His promises, you don’t panic when someone claims to have “inside information” about your life. You already know the Author, so you don’t need a fake narrator.
If you’ve been leaning too heavily on human voices to hear God, let this be your gentle nudge to go straight to the Source. Read your Bible—not just the verse of the day in an app, but whole chapters, whole stories. Pray—not just before meals or when you’re in trouble, but in the ordinary, quiet moments of your day.
God already promised to guide you. He already knows your future. And He has no intention of keeping it a mystery that only someone else can unlock. Your Shepherd knows your name, your story, and your path. Let Him be the one who leads you.
