The problem of recognizing a divine communication
was treated at some length in Deuteronomy 18, which provides criteria for
recognizing a communication from Yahweh. The fact that violence and
disagreements about who has the correct divine communication is most clearly in
Deuteronomy 18:20: “But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or
who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet
to speak—that prophet shall die.” Divine communication is a scare resource, and
violence must be used to maintain access to what is perceived to be the right
conduit.
The main criteria for knowing if a word came
from Yahweh is whether it is fulfilled (Deut. 18:22). Of course, this criterion
was of only limited value, and could result in contradictory conclusions. For
example, let us suppose that a prophet of Baal predicted that it would rain in
the next few days, and that a prophet of Yahweh also predicted the same thing.
If rain comes, then the criterion of fulfillment would not be sufficient to
distinguish a false prophecy from a true prophecy. (Hector Avalos, Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious
Violence [Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Boos, 2005], 118)
Further Reading:
Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies
