They are From the World

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 

“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” (1 John 4:1-6 ESV)

A spirit can be a demonic spirit or it can be the Holy Spirit or the spirit of human beings. In this case, I believe it is speaking of the human spirit, which is the human soul, life, heart, inner self, nature, temperament, attitude, and/or character. It is the essence of who we are as individuals, i.e. what we are made of, and what we are about. It is who we are when no one else is looking and no matter who we are with. And it is what we believe, in truth, and it is what we practice, in truth. For it is the REAL us.

Now there are many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ who do not believe in Jesus in truth and in righteousness. They give lip service to the Lord, but by their actions they deny him. They still live for self and for self-pleasure, and they are still lord of their own lives, determining their own course. And they are still making sin their practice, and not godliness and righteousness and moral purity and honesty and faithfulness to God. And some of them are pastors of church congregations, leading the people.

So, we are not to take everyone at face value and just assume that they are who they say they are, for then we might be ripe for being deceived. Especially in our day and age, liars and deceivers and those who trick and manipulate others to get what they want are everywhere – in the governments, in the media, and within the gatherings of the church, etc. So we must be those who test the spirits to see whether they are from God, and we do this by comparing their words and actions to the Scriptures.

Now, when this says that “every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,” we have to compare that to the teachings in the Scriptures which talk about “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and the servants of Satan who disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. For there are a whole lot of people who are confessing Jesus Christ with their lips but whose actions are far from him. They put on a show of righteousness, but while they continue in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord, lying, tricking, manipulating, and deceiving others to believe their lies.

So, we can’t always go by what people profess, for what they do shows what they really believe. And many profess faith in Jesus Christ for the sole purpose to deceive others, sadly so. But we can go by what they talk about and what they teach and how they present the message of the gospel and by what is important to them and by what they talk about the most. And we should then compare that to the Scriptures to see whether or not their words and actions and lifestyles agree with what God requires of us.

Now, not one of us is going to be absolutely perfect in everything that we do and say, so we must be very careful that we don’t make quick judgments and that we don’t judge people by one or two incidents in which they might not have been having their best day. But we can observe patterns of behaviors and of messages given and we can test those against what the Scriptures teach, and they will give us a pretty good indication as to whether or not this is someone who is to be trusted. But please read the Scriptures in context! For many lies come from Scriptures taught outside of context.

And this is not written to encourage us to just go around judging everyone. But we do need to pay close attention to what we hear and read and think we see, for liars and lies abound, and much is being photoshopped and altered and manipulated today to appear the opposite of what it really is. So we do need to be those who exercise godly wisdom and discernment. But be careful that you don’t judge others falsely by your own selves or by your culture or by your own religious practices, for that is false judging.

Now, if what you are teaching is faithful to the Scriptures, as taught in their appropriate context, then others who are genuine followers of Christ should have no argument with what you are teaching. But we all must make certain, to the best of our understanding, that what we are teaching or sharing with others, with regard to the Scriptures, is really what the Scriptures teach, and not something we might have been taught erroneously. So we should even be testing our own teachings.

[Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; Romans 16:17-19; 2 Corinthians 11:3,13-15; Ephesians 4:11-16; Philippians 3:2; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:1-25]

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

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