Testing Spirits

[talktojesus]

size=10pt]When you think you`ve heard from God how do you test the Spirits?[/size

[kje123]

1 Thess 5:19-22 and 2 Timothy 3:16 would be good starting points. We are called to test the spirit of what we've heard, and line it up against God's Word. If the Word contradicts what you believe you've been led to do, then, DON'T DO IT! Make sure that when you test it against God's Word, that you are not just trying to find a prooftext to support what you want to do or believe. Make sure the verses are taken in correct context. This is where most theological and doctrinal errors occur. After that, I would consult brothers or sisters in the Lord, and seek sound advice. (Proverbs).

Great questions!

In His service,
Brian

[CanuckLynn]

Brian is 'bang on' Debbie!

Here is an excerpt from one of John McArthur's sermons to further explain how cautious we must be.

"Now as we come to the fourth chapter, the opening of the fourth chapter of John's gospel,{John means epistle} the subject in the opening six verses is to test the spirits.  You see that in verse 1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits."  John understands how important it is to realize that you can't believe everything you hear, you can't believe everything that is purported to come from God, you can't believe everything that is supposedly biblical.  Cannot believe all teachers of religion, you cannot believe all Christian preachers, or Christian evangelists or teachers.  You cannot believe all who came...who claim to speak for God and claim to have a prophetic voice there is set loose in the world.  You'll notice at the end of verse 6 the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  Religious information is not benign.  It either comes from the Spirit of truth, who is the Holy Spirit, so called by our Lord Himself several times in the upper room discourse in the gospel of John.  There is the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, and there is the spirit of error who would be Satan and his demons.  Nothing is benign.  All spiritual truth either comes from a divine source or a demonic source.  And we know that God speaks truth and reveals truth and Satan speaks a lie and is a deceiver and so it is critical that we be able to discern the difference.  God's truth must be guarded very, very carefully.  It is always under attack.  It is relentlessly under attack."

love,
Georgie 

[Ljclaire]

I John 4: Test the Spirits
 1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

 4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.