Such a litmus test must, of
course, be somewhat nuanced. It suggests prediction, first of all, and not a
word of a general moral or theological nature. Second, the time frame would
have to be such that the predicted word would come to pass in the prophet’s own
lifetime if his authenticity were to be judged by his contemporaries. A false
prophet could speak of a day in the distant future long after his own decease
and thereby evade detection as false on that basis alone. It would seem likely
that one who spoke only of remote times and never of the near future would be
suspect in any case. The true prophet, then, would have to validate his calling
by inerrantly speaking of events in both the near and distant future. Only at
the end of history could he be fully vindicated, but unfailing fulfillment of
his predictive word where testable would certainly give him the benefit of the
doubt. (Eugene H. Merrill, Deuteronomy
[The New American Commentary; Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994],
274)
