“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)
Now, this is one of those Scriptures which must be studied in the context of the whole book in which it was written, plus in the context of the whole of the New Testament Scriptures, particularly beginning with Romans, which is where we have many of the doctrinal teachings of the Scriptures, and continuing to read up to and through the book of Revelation. For it is not by a verbal confession of Jesus Christ alone that we are able to determine if someone is or is not from God. We must test them by their fruits.
Take for example that the Scriptures warn us much against false teachers and prophets and preachers who give the outward appearance of righteousness but who deny the Lord by their actions. They are “wolves in sheep’s clothing” who profess faith in the Lord Jesus but who are out to destroy the church. For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and his servants masquerade themselves as servants of righteousness. So don’t be fooled by verbal professions of faith without evidence of faith in practice.
The situation we are being faced with today here in America is that “the church” at large has adopted and accepted a false gospel message and a false church in place of the biblical gospel and the biblical church. And they have done this without testing the spirits to see whether or not they are of God. Their pastors have largely presented to them the “new way” of doing things in order to “draw in large crowds of people from the world,” and so they have gotten on board without “reading the fine print,” so to speak.
So the church is largely not operating as the biblical body of Christ with each part doing its work, i.e. its individual assignments from the Lord. And it is largely not operating under the headship of Christ and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Instead, it is largely being led by the flesh of humans who are following after marketing schemes and tricks and gimmicks on how to draw in those large crowds from the world into their gatherings. And so many of their gatherings are more like stage productions to “win the world.”
And, in order to “win the world” to their gatherings they also alter and dilute the gospel of Jesus Christ, which he taught and which his New Testament apostles taught, and they turn it into a “friendlier” version in order to not offend the people of the world with the truth, and in order to pacify people in their sins and to not confront them, because they want them coming back to their gatherings. And it appears that not many people are testing what is going on in the name of “church” to see if it lines up with God or not.
But the Lord is not silent on these matters. His Word speaks to these issues, and he does have servants and messengers who are also speaking to these issues and who are attempting to “clean house” and to get the church going in the right direction, which is the way of the Lord as taught in the Scriptures (IN CONTEXT). Nonetheless, many people are believing the lies because they are not studying the Scriptures for themselves, and because they are not studying them in their appropriate context.
And let me give you a practical example of what this might look like. Imagine with me for a moment that you move into an apartment which was previously occupied by someone who did not take care of the place. They did not finish out their contract, so you took over their contract, but without reading what the contract actually required. You did not “test” what was in the contract before you signed it. You did not read the conditions of the contract nor did you consider what it would cost you to live in that situation.
This is what is taking place in much of what is called “church” today, but which is not operating as the biblical body of Christ, but more like businesses of human origin which are being marketed to the people of the world. So you end up accepting a false concept of “church,” and then you end up buying into a diluted and altered gospel message because that is what they are teaching, and so you assume it must be correct, but without you really testing it to see if it is, in fact, the gospel that Jesus taught (in context).
So, what is the solution? We need to read the Scriptures for ourselves, but we need to read them in context, comparing Scripture with Scripture. And if you read the whole of 1 John, you will read that if we say we are in fellowship with God but while we still live in sin, we are liars. And if we claim that we know God, but while obeying him is not what we practice, we are liars. So if we make sin our practice, we don’t know God, we are of the devil, and we do not have eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips profess.
[1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
So, we cannot just read in 1 John 4 that a mere verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ is enough to assure us that this person is of God, for it does not agree with the bulk of what is taught in the whole book of 1 John and in the whole of the New Testament writings. So there must be another explanation for what it means. There is. The word “confess” means more than a verbal profession of faith, but it means to agree with God and to align with what his word teaches us regarding Jesus and who he was/is and what he taught.
And just because someone says that he is of God and that what he is teaching is of God, it does not necessitate that what he says is of God is, in fact, in line with the teachings of the New Covenant Scriptures and the gospel message taught by Jesus and by his New Testament apostles. So this is why we must test everything that we hear to make certain that it agrees with what the Scriptures teach in their appropriate context, not out of context. And then we will see clearly what God’s word really teaches us.
[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]
I Can See Clearly Now
(a secular song which can be applied in a spiritual way)
By Johnny Nash
I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshinin' day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FscIgtDJFXg
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Do Not Believe Everyone
An Original Work / February 15, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
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