MONDAY March 13th
1 John 4:1
‘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.’
Notice as we come to this new chapter, that John calls his readers ‘Beloved’ again (ESV, KJV, NKJV, ASV), it is a cry from his heart that is full of love for those whom he loves in Christ, that they are careful when it comes to those who say that they are from God. The love he has for them is such that he wants to protect them from error.
When we were going through 2 Peter, you will remember that Peter touched on this important subject that false prophets, false teachers would rise among the people exploiting the Church with false words (2 Peter 2:1-3), and John writes to his audience to remind them also that many false prophets have gone out into the world. His advice to them is to be cautious, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.
Too often, I have heard when this kind of testing is being done, those who quickly throw up the Scripture from the Psalms that says ‘Touch not my anointed ones’, (Psalm 105:14), using it to defend anyone and everyone who claims to be from God as being anointed, rather than realising that many who claim to be from God are actually those who both John and Peter are talking about, false prophets, false teachers speaking false words, they ARE NOT God’s anointed ones and sadly many, in fact thousands are being led astray by their enticing words and verbose messages which are literally put together just to scratch the itching ears of those who follow them and often to promote themselves and the empires they are building around them.
It is very necessary that we do test, we do examine and we seek to discern not only what is from God but those who are from God and separate them from those who are not from God and who speak that which is not from God, and in doing the testing not to have anything whatsoever to do with those who are not from God. It is important that as I prepare the devotions and ministry that I bring to the fellowship that all who read or hear it tests what I say that it is in accordance to what the Word of God actually says. It is good practise, proper and right to follow John’s instruction, for in so doing we are protecting ourselves from the many spirits that have gone out and are going out in the world around us today.