Test the Spirits

 Test the Spirits 

1 John 4:1-6 (ESV) 

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.2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 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. 4 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. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 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.

If there every was a time to test the spirits, it is now. We have misinformation, malinformation and disinformation. And many of the spirits that are calling out lies are themselves lying. It is most often the “fact checkers”, that are labeling things as misinformation, that are themselves the ones that are miss-informing people. How do you tell who is telling the truth?

The Apostle John says to test the spirits. But how do you do that? He says the first test is whether or not they acknowledge Jesus Christ. These days, most dark spirits are too savvy to outright say anything agains Jesus directly, but if you look at their lifestyle and all of their messaging, it becomes apparent which side of the light/dark divide they represent. If they tell you they love the children, but support killing those unborn ones that are “inconvenient” or don’t say a thing about the thousands of children being trafficked into the sex trade, then they may be representing darkness. If they are continually calling for war by someone else’s children on someone else’s land, then they may represent the forces of darkness. If they say they are for helping the poor, but the cities they run are full of homeless people with no hope, then they may be on the side of darkness. By their fruits you shall know them…

Are you upset that you don’t have a huge number of followers on social media and that your posts have low engagement? John says not to be surprised when the world does not listen to you. He tells us that the world listens to their own. Find those who will listen to you and bring the message of hope and peace to them. There are those out there who are hurting and lost and are just waiting for someone to tell them the good news. They need to hear the truth.

In this day, many ridicule the truth and even deny that there is any truth. They talk about “my truth” and “your truth”. You need to not be afraid to tell them “The truth” and be strong enough to insist that their is objective truth, despite what the world says. You will be reviled for it, but that is nothing new. That’s how the Apostle John got himself exiled to the Isle of Patmos! Even so, he kept writing letters proclaiming the truth, and we benefit from those letters to this day.

So be like John. Speak the truth and test the spirits to know which ones are true and which ones are false. Don’t be distracted by the glitz and glitter of the world’s message, but listen to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth and spend time with those who know and love God. “By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”