Test the spirits!
We live in a world full of
deception. If anyone of us is so naive
to believe otherwise, then we are living proof of being deceived
ourselves. I'm about to show you a very
shocking statement from the scriptures.
Revelation 12:9 "And the great dragon was
cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the
whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out
with him."
So Satan the devil deceives the
whole world. Now are we to believe the Bible
as the Truth? If so, we cannot refute
what this is saying. The devil deceives
the whole world. Not part of the world,
but the entire world. So everyone has
been deceived and that included you and I if and until
the Lord called us and once we responded, we became the chosen ones and remain
chosen as long as we remain faithful.
But nevertheless, the world as a
whole, according to this scripture is deceived.
They have been seduced into believing a false way and into error. There is an invisible spirit world working
behind the scene, some for good and some for bad. There are scriptures that show great
spiritual wars and battles going on in the invisible world.
You and I are continually
bombarded with thoughts. They are either
our own thoughts, they could come from God’s spirit, from one of God’s
ministering spirits, or from one of God’s human agents. But they could also be coming from the enemy,
Satan the devil or from one of his unclean demonic spirits dropping thoughts
into our minds. Our thoughts could also
be affected by someone under the influence of the devil or one of his demonic
spirits. One way or another, there is a
battle going on within our minds of what we are going to believe.
This message will be filled with
some pretty hard words today as I feel led to do so by the Spirit of Truth.
Not everyone can hear hard
words. But those who have an ear to hear
what the Spirit is saying to the Church are then enabled to hear hard sayings.
I have never considered myself
much of a speaker, nor will I boast of any great knowledge, but if God can
speak through the mouth of a jack ass as He once did so in the scriptures, then
He can surely speak through someone like me or you! But sometimes and actually most of the time,
this ministry speaks some pretty hard words.
I realize that presently, that makes this ministry unpopular to say the
least.
Most do not want to hear tough
words, but only soft, fluffy sayings that does not
make them uncomfortable or brings conviction upon them. They often even say that this ministry is
unloving and judgmental for speaking so harshly against sin. If that is so, then they are also going to
have to say the same thing about Jesus, about the apostles and about the great prophets
of old. For they spoke words against sin
and lawlessness much stronger than does this ministry.
But as long as I'm still allowed
of God to speak, I will speak whatever it is upon my heart and whether anyone
else would believe that I'm speaking "thus saith
the Lord" or not, it doesn't matter.
At least I’m released from my burden when I speak the Word. For this ministry, no matter how judgmental
you may think us to be, we do love mankind.
And so much that we would rather be hated by them than to remain silent
of speaking the truth of their condition.
(Ezekiel 3:16-21) I would rather obey God than obey man. (Acts
Much of the Church has lost it's ability to take a stand. There was an old saying that stated “if a man
does not stand for something, he will eventually fall for anything.” The Church has not taken a strong stand for
the Truth and against error and this condition has caused them to lose
focus. We have become a bunch of
spiritual wimps who run from the battle instead of engaging and confronting
wickedness and unrighteousness.
Due to the lack of spiritual
strength to take a stand we have become compromisers. We begin to give in and things that at one
time we considered as the stink of sin, no longer smells so bad. Things that at one time we wouldn't come
close to allowing, are now present within our lives,
within our homes, within our thoughts, within our actions and yes even within
the Church. We’ve become soft on sin,
soft on unrighteousness, soft on erroneous doctrines, soft on falsehoods, soft
on ungodliness, soft on wickedness, soft on repentance, soft on obedience.
Sometimes, when I see the Church
listening to the ministers of unrighteousness, I begin to wonder if our ears
have become uncircumcised to the truth to where we no longer have that ear to
hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
I am so afraid for the
Luke 18:8b ".........when the Son of
man comes, shall He find faith on the earth?"
Now if Christ Himself was asking
this question, how much more should we ask it, considering that He was probably
speaking of the lack of faith during our very own generation? What He was really saying was that at the
time of His return, true believers would be few and far between.
So to lay this all out together
now, if Satan has deceived the whole world, and at the time of Christ's return
He would be hard put to find true and faithful believers upon the earth, the
scenario that we are left with then is that there are very few individuals in
the world that we can actually trust concerning spiritual matters.
So we are then left with a great
dilemma. How can we tell who it is then
that we can trust? How can we know for
sure who we should be listening to, whether on the radio, the television or in
person, what we should be reading, or who we should fellowship with? Is there some way to test an individual or a
group or a Church? We just cannot go up
and ask a person if they are deceived.
If a person knew that they were being deceived, they would not be
deceived! After all that is what the
Lord does when He brings an individual out of deception. He begins to show them wherein they are being
deceived so that they would no longer be deceived.
So by the very fact that we have
read from the scriptures already today that the whole world is deceived, it
doesn't take a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist to help us to understand
then that we are not going to find very many who are truly and honestly
preaching and or believing the Truth.
I'm not tooting my own horn either.
I will always tell you to prove all things, just as the Apostle Paul
told us. You have got to prove it for
yourself. You have got to study to show
yourselves approved unto God. (1st
Thess. 5:21;
2nd Timothy
There are other preachers of
righteousness out there, but I would have to be honest in saying there are very
few. I could listen all day to the
“Christian” radio and television and not tune in one of God's true ministers.
But I have found that the
worldly Church would rather hear soft messages, messages that do not include
doctrine. I like to hear a soft message
every once in a while, but most soft messages only serve to bring upon us an
emotional high, but once the emotions wears off, we are no better than before.
Messages filled with doctrine
serve to strengthen a person in the knowledge of God. With that knowledge we gain understanding and
with understanding we get wisdom. Deep
messages fill us up with spiritual nutrition and enable us to desire then to
take a stand for what we believe and not become so passive and full of
compromise.
Amos 8:11,12 "Behold, the days come, says the Lord God, that I will send a
famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of
hearing the words of the Lord: And they
shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they
shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."
Now if there is this famine
coming or I believe it is already here in some degree, and due to this famine,
it says that we would have to go from sea to sea, from one end of the country
to the other and not find the true preaching of God's Word, wouldn't that be
proof enough then that every voice we hear preaching out there cannot be of
God?
You and I just cannot take it
for granted that every Church organization out there, every radio and
television ministry we could tune in, every piece of literature that could be
read, just because they call themselves Christian, does not mean that they are
truly of God, otherwise where is the famine?
I'm sorry if that offends
anyone, but if you believe otherwise, you are being deceived. The Word of God is very explicit on this
subject and your Bibles are full of scriptures pertaining to it. I'm sorry for having to say it, but I do not
apologize. For somebody has got to begin
taking a stand against these things.
These things has caused the Church to become soft and full of compromise. Not just the worldly Church, but it has even
crept into the true Church of the living God.
I realize that taking a stand is not going to make me popular. I do not expect to have a big audience of
listeners or readers of such teachings unless the Lord begins calling many out
of false Christianity’s Babylonish religious
confusion of our day. (Revelation 18:4)
God is not looking for quantity
right now in this time period. Right now
He is looking for quality! He is
searching out who would be the best leaders in the Kingdom. He just keeps weeding out His garden,
fertilizing and watering His garden, sometimes pruning His garden, in hopes of
having the very best of the best of the best.
Not just the Elect, but the very Elect. He will find faithful believers when He
returns!
We need to set a standard as to
who we can trust. Let's hear what Jesus
Christ had to say about these things.
When you are done with this teaching, you will be left with a decision
to make. Who are you going to
believe? And brethren, I'm not proposing
that you believe me. I'm proposing that
you test the spirits to know whether they be of God and if they pass the test
then you believe the message being delivered through those individuals. I’m proposing that you prove it for
yourselves. If the Lord of Hosts is
calling and choosing you, He will enable you by His Spirit to come into the
knowledge of His ways and of the saving grace of the Messiah.
Matthew 24:4,5 "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man
deceive you. For many shall come in my
name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."
Brethren we are to take heed, we
are to beware and watch out that nobody would deceive us. Now this is speaking to followers of Jesus
Christ. This is not speaking of the
world and those of the world. Those of
the world are already deceived. Christ
is speaking to the Church that they would not become deceived.
So Church, you had better watch
out that nobody would deceive you. And
Christ would not have given this warning if He didn't mean it. Proving that there is a
chance that you and I and the Church living down into our time, could be
deceived.
Why did Christ warn us of
this? He says for MANY would come in His
Name. Now it states here that they would
say that "I am Christ!" There
are many false Christs who have come on the scene,
still more to come, but this verse has a deeper meaning than many have yet to
grasp. MANY will be deceived by these
who come in His name. To come in His name, also means to come in His authority
or in His power.
Matthew 7:22,23 "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast
out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity."
Here we have examples of
individuals who are doing great works in the name of Jesus. They were using His name to do miracles and other
wonderful works. They were coming in the
name of Jesus Christ. Many would be
doing this. Many! Yet Christ calls them workers of
iniquity. That word means to be without
law. In other words they would not keep
the commandments of God.
And yet in the verse before
this, you can read that the MANY would call Jesus their Lord. They actually believe that they are
Christians. This is not talking about
the heathen world, this is talking about people who believe that they are
believers, believe that they are Christian.
They believed that they are
followers of Christ and in His name did miracles and good works, yet Jesus says
He never knew them and calls them workers of lawlessness. Just because a person, calls themselves a
follower of Christ, they may call themselves a Christian, just because they
could possibly perform miracles and healings and can prophecy, this is not
proof that they are of God.
Although the scriptures shows us
that there will be MANY who will do these things and Christ told us in Matthew 24, that we are to take
heed that no man would deceive us, because MANY would be coming in His name and
that they would then deceive MANY.
Matthew 24:11 "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many."
Now this is in response to the
disciples question about the end of the age.
So at the time of the end, Jesus says there will be MANY false prophets
or preachers and these false preachers would deceive MANY.
Notice how often Jesus uses the
term MANY? He is making sure that we
understand that not just a few out there are deceiving and being deceived. No, it is the MANY. This shows us that at the time of the end,
deception would be rampant and common place!
Now even among small groups there is deception, but when we speak of the
MANY, we are speaking of the majority, the mainline thought, large
numbers when added all up together.
Now there are Sabbath keepers
who are deceived as well, but if a preacher does not keep the 7th
day Sabbath, I will not give them the time of day. Doesn't mean that they are
ungodly and evil so to speak.
They may be good hearted and caring persons, yet blinded to the
truth. They may know and understand some
truth, but if they are yet still being deceived on the keeping of the Sabbath
day, I know then that they are deceived on a great many other things as well.
So I will not listen to them,
even if they may be great speakers, they may have a charisma about them that is
appealing to us, they may be able to perform miracles and prophecy events in
advance, they may praise the name of Jesus with every
other word. But none of this is proof
that they are a Christian. We have just
read wherein Jesus essentially says the same thing. You and I had better beware and take heed
that we not allow such individuals to deceive us.
Satan has deceived the entire
world. His main method of deception is
through religion, and before we are done, we'll see straight from our Bibles
that He has his own ministers in the Churches right now deceiving MANY.
This really concerns me. Maybe it doesn't concern you, but I know that
the scriptures teach plainly that at the time of the end there shall come a
great falling away from the faith and into apostasy. The Church has become soft and shallow, listens
to anybody and anyone no matter what they believe. And again I’m not just talking about the
worldly Church, I’m talking about God’s true Church!
Instead we should be taking a
stand for the standard of God's Word and to not be unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. (1st Corinthians
6:15-20; 2nd Corinthians 6:14-18) Why? Because you will become an unbeliever
eventually if you listen to those who do not believe as we do. You will become
an unbeliever if you fellowship with those who are deceived. Now we are in the world but not of the world. We cannot help but be around unbelievers. But we must beware of how close our
relationship becomes with them. We can
be friendly with unbelievers, but it is very difficult and risky to be their
friends. (1st John 4:5,6)
I have seen a great shift in the
beliefs of the
We are going to examine a few
scriptures now that will help you and I find a way to test the spirit behind
the ministries as well as from false brethren.
Before you get wrapped up listening to certain individuals or
ministries, you must try and test their spirits. Now it is obvious that we do have to give
them a chance. But as we have seen
already, the majority of these people are deceivers
and therefore would not pass the test anyhow.
Isaiah
You can look it up on your own,
but in Acts 11:26, you will find the first time that disciples are called
Christians. The testimony and the law
are to be preserved by the disciples or the Christians.
Verse 19 ..............And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto
them that have familiar spirits, and unto
wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?.................................
God's people, His Church are to
avoid those with familiar spirits involved in witchcraft, wizardry and
such. God's people are not to find
answers by trying to talk to the dead, but rather we are to seek the living God
for our answers. That word
"peep" in this verse in the Hebrew means to whisper. And what do we have come out in the movies
and television, but what they call ghost whisperers. There is so much talk these days about
communicating with the dead. This is demonic, let us not get caught up in such things. The dead are dead and not haunting the
living. Demons are masquerading as
ghosts of the deceased.
Verse 20 ........To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to
this word, it is because there is no light in them."
Brethren, these things are to be
sealed up, bound up, stored up and preserved by the disciples or Christians
according to verse 16. But if we listen to a preacher, a prophet,
an evangelist or anyone as far as I'm concerned who is claiming to be a
representative of Christ, and yet if they do not speak according to the law and
to the testimony, verse 20
says there is no light in them.
It says that the reason that
they don't speak according to the law and the testimony is because there is no
light in them. Didn't say that there was
a little light in them, it says there is no light in them. But now all of these individuals speak some
truth, some speak a lot of truth. How
can that be if there is no light in them?
They could have just figured some things out on their own. Even without God's Spirit, a person can
develop and come forth with some truth.
They could also have at one time known the truth,
they kept the commandments of God and so forth, yet fell away from the truth
and yet retained some of what they had fallen away from. They could also steal away the words of
others. They may have some truth due to
hearing someone who is one of God's ministers and they are just repeating what
they have heard.
They could also be getting their
information from Demons. Demonic
entities can give a person just enough truth to deceive them. All error and false doctrine is mixed
somewhere with some truth. Truth is
always used to deceive, but it is always mixed with error. But just enough truth to make the error seem
creditable to the listener, and thus they fall for the deception.
But if we listen and observe an
individual and we come to the conclusion that they are not speaking according
to the law and the testimony, then we had better avoid them at all cost, for
there is no light in them.
We know what the law is, and
sometimes in the scriptures the law is called the testimony. But the testimony has a deeper meaning that
we are about to see. I spoke a message
many years ago entitled "Two Swords" proving that we must have faith
in Christ, but that we must also be obedient unto the commandments of God. It requires both to be a complete Christian. That is what this law and the testimony is
all about, I believe.
Revelation
Bang! Right there it is! Commandment keeping and to
have the testimony or witness or faith of Christ.
Revelation
Very similar words. We see that a characteristic of
a saint would be that they keep God's commandments and have the faith of
Jesus. Brethren you and I must see both
of these characteristics in the literature we read, the radio and television
ministries that we listen to and watch or any preacher that we would sit under or
any person that we would choose to fellowship with.
If they don't have both of these
characteristics, then there is no light in them, they are not one of God's
saints, they are not one of His disciples who are to have the law and the
testimony seal that they are to be preserving.
I know many who keep the law,
are staunch Sabbath keepers, yet they don't believe in Jesus as the Messiah. Many orthodox Jews would fall into that category. I know
of a great many who say they have a faith in Jesus, perform miracles, cast out
devils and show forth such great works, yet they don't keep the commandments
and Jesus said, as we saw earlier that He didn't know them and that they were
workers of iniquity or without law!
Jude verses 3,4 "Beloved,
when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was
needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares,
who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the
grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our
Lord Jesus Christ."
We are told to earnestly contend
for the faith. We are to fight and
struggle to maintain the faith. Not to
give up, to compromise and begin looking and acting and worshiping as do the
Churches of the world.
But we are warned in advance of
a time when there would be individuals who would creep into the Church and they
would turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.
The term
"lasciviousness" among other things is akin to another big word
"licentiousness," which has as it's root the
word "license." To have a
license is as having a permit, a pass to do something that otherwise would be
unlawful.
These ungodly men who would
creep into the Church would turn God's grace into a license to commit sin or
break the commandments of God. You hear
it all the time and by most every one of the big time ministries of the world
as well as in most local Sunday keeping Churches. We are under grace,
we no longer keep the law. And thus they
abuse the grace of God and make it a permit to continue in sin.
All along these verses here
tells us that when we do such things we are denying Christ. Any minister who would teach you that under
the guise of grace, you no longer have to keep the law of God,
they are one of these characters who have crept into the Churches and are
perverting the grace of God and telling you then that it is ok to sin.
Now they won’t come out and use
such words as “it is ok to sin.” But if
they are telling you that a New Testament Christian has no obligation to the
law while under grace, then deceptively, they are in actuality telling you it
is ok to sin, for sin is the transgression of the law according to 1st
John 3:4. God’s Spirit is a Holy Spirit
and He will never, never, ever guide you into breaking His
laws. That would make God’s Holy
Spirit a minister of sin. The Holy
Spirit will guide a person into the truth.
(Psalms 119:142; John 17:17; John 14:6; John 16:13)
We have to contend for the
faith. You cannot contend for the faith
if you are involved with groups or ministries or ministers who teach that you
have no obligation under grace to God’s law.
No you will continue to fall away and you will continue to compromise. If anyone of us would begin down that path
and begin to compromise and if we begin fellowshipping with the Churches of the
world or begin listening to her ministers, we will not want to hear the truth
any longer, but only easy messages that do not confront our backslidden ways.
Isaiah 30:8-10 "Now go, write it before
them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for
ever and ever: That this is a rebellious
people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the
prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things,
prophesy deceits..."
If we get to that point wherein
we have completely compromised and have turned back to
We won’t want to hear the deep
doctrinal messages any longer, but only desire the smooth messages. Messages that are soft, non
offensive, messages that do not convict us of our wrongs. Instead we can get to where we only want to
hear the deceitful messages that are coming out of the worldly churches.
Satan has a counterfeit for the
ways of God. Just about anything that
you can think of, Satan has a counterfeit for it. Don't you think for a moment that Satan
doesn't have a major presence among the Churches of the world. He has his own church hierarchy, with his own
ministers, his own gospel, his own spirit, why he even
has his own Jesus. And if you are not
aware of these things, if you are not aware of his tactics, you will eventually
be caught off guard if you haven't already, and you will be deceived.
2nd Corinthians 11:4 "...if he that comes
preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another
spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might
well bear with him."
So the Apostle Paul was warning
us. If someone were to come along and
begin preaching another Jesus, you had better beware. Another Jesus who does not
require obedience. Another Jesus,
who has done away with the Sabbath and replaced it with Sunday, you had better
beware. Another Jesus who gives you
permission to sin through grace, you had better beware.
If someone comes along and we
hear them preaching a Jesus or a gospel or a spirit that would allow you to
disregard the commandments of God, to eat unclean meats, to observe the pagan
holidays and so forth, you had better take heed and beware, for MANY deceivers
have gone out into the world and they are deceiving MANY.
This verse ends up kind of
confusing by saying that you might well bear with him. The "him" is in italics, meaning
that it was added and was not understood what word was being used. In verse one of this chapter
you will see Paul saying to bear with me meaning "him." Paul was saying when you come across these
false preachers who are preaching another Jesus, another gospel and another spirit, you had better stick with what he, the apostle Paul
had taught previously so that they wouldn't fall for the deception.
2nd Corinthians 11:13-15 "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as
the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their
works."
These three verses are among the
scariest verses of our Bibles. There are
false apostles. We can be naïve if we
want to about these things, but Paul comes right out and tells us that there
are false apostles.
There are deceitful
workers. There purpose, their job, their
work is to deceive. Whether they are
aware of it or not, but they deceive by the things they teach, preach and the
way they live.
We have seen earlier on in this
message that there are MANY of these deceitful workers. And they have been successful in deceiving
MANY. But they are transformed into the
apostles of Christ. In other words they
are undercover agents of Satan. They
look like a Christian, but they are counterfeits. But Paul says don't be surprised, because
Satan is also transformed into an angel of light.
We have all heard these horror
stories of the ugliness of Satan. We
have seen the pictures depicting him with horns and a long pointed tail and
hooves for feet. But if he were to
appear, he might very well instead be a beautiful being. In fact there are scriptures that speak of
his beauty.
But Paul says since Satan
himself is transformed into an angel of light, then we
shouldn't be surprised to find out that his ministers also look like ministers
of righteousness. Satan has his
ministers. They are the deceitful
workers. They are preaching another
Jesus and another gospel and another spirit.
They are deceiving the MANY and
there are MANY of them. They are the
ones who have crept into the Churches and are turning the grace of God into
lasciviousness. They are the ones who
will not speak according to the law and the testimony. They will be coming in the name of Christ. They will call themselves Christian. Some of them can perform miracles, they could
have the power to heal, why they could even cast out devils, yet they are
workers of iniquity. They are deceitful
workers. We are to take heed of them,
beware of them, be not unequally yoked up with them
and their followers.
This world is full of
deceivers. I would greatly advise you to
stick with a minister or a Church who will speak the truth. If not this ministry, then you adhere to a
Church or organization where the truth is being preached without apology. But you beware of these false prophets, for
there are many of them.
Matthew 7:13-20 "Enter
you in at the strait gate: for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto
life, and few there be that find
it. Beware of false prophets, which come
to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You
shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of
thistles? Even so every good tree brings
forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good
tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into
the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them."
Here again we see the MANY being
categorized as those who are deceived, who take the broad way, the easy way the
way of destruction, and yet only the few in number will find the gate that will
grant them entrance into the way of life.
(Revelation 22:14)
But Jesus tells us here to
beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. He
calls them false prophets, they are false preachers and ministers and
teachers. They look like the sheep. They are in sheep's clothing.
This means that they look like they
are one of God’s people. They have such
wonderful prayers, they do great works, they are very charitable, they could
boast of miracles. They speak our same
lingo. They seem to know so much of
God's Word. But they have crept in among
God's people dressed up like one of the saints, but in actuality they are a
wolf.
They are our enemy and they are
out to devour and destroy and to deceive you and I. But Christ said that you shall know them by
their fruit. This could be speaking of
the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit, mentioned in the book of
Galatians. This is speaking about their
lives, their conduct, their actions. The works of the flesh is a fruit being
produced from a sinfull, lawless lifestyle. God’s people should be producing the fruit of
the Spirit. (Galatians 5:19-23) God’s people are to be led of His Spirit and
not to be living after the flesh. If we
live after the flesh, we will be sinning and breaking His law. If our lifestyle is to sin, then we are under
the law, or under the penalty of the law, which is death. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of
God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
We have seen examples in this
message of fruit. If a man speaks to the
law and the testimony, that is and example of his fruit that he is producing. There is good and bad fruit. It is the outgrowth or produce of a person’s
lifestyle.
If an individual or a group is
preaching another Jesus and another gospel that is contrary to the scriptures
and he preaches that under grace you don't have to keep those old commandments, that is a fruit that he or they are producing. Church you and I must take heed to the fruit
being produced by those that we listen to.
We must test and try the spirits that we are listening to or watching or
reading from, to know if they be of God or not.
1st John 4:1
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits whether they are of God:
because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
The Apostle John warns us not to
believe every spirit. As was said at the
near beginning of this message, there are many spirits affecting our thoughts
good or for the bad. John is teaching us
not to believe every thought entering our minds, not to believe every teaching,
not to believe every minister or anyone who might attempt at changing your mind
about what you believe.
Instead, the true Spirit of God
commands us through John to try the spirits to know if they are of God or
not. Why? Because he says that there are MANY false
prophets gone out into the world. There
is that word “MANY” being used again.
Just cannot get away from it and it’s deep and
profound ramifications.
That word “MANY” as it is being
used in this text, from the original Greek word one of it’s
meanings is “most.” We could literally
substitute the word “mostly” for the word “many” and get a clearer picture of
what is being said.
1st John 4:1
“Beloved, believe not
every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because MOSTLY
false prophets are gone out into the world.”
So we are commanded to try the
spirits because most prophets, most preachers, most teachers, most ministers,
etc., are false and are being seduced and deceived by evil spirits. These are Satan’s ministers that we have
already read about in this teaching who are counterfeits and are disguised as
the ministers of righteousness but are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Therefore, the majority of the
time, when you pick up a piece of literature, hear a religious radio program,
audio CD, television or DVD recording of a religious programming, you are
probably listening to a false teacher.
Most of the time when you sit in a Church service, you are listening to
a false teacher.
How scary is that? Now I don’t for a second believe that most of
these individuals and ministries know that they are being used of Satan to
deceive. Most of these individuals and
groups are very good, wonderful, friendly people with much love and big hearts
full of charity and kindness. And in
many ways they are actually doing good things and with the exception of their
lack of sound doctrine, they do have wonderful uplifting messages. Unless they know the real truth and are
actively engaged in deception, the Lord will one day give these individuals
their opportunity for salvation, but possibly not in their present lifetime but
after their resurrection. Right now they
are just serving their purpose in the plan of God.
1st John 4:2,3 “Hereby know you the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of
God: And every spirit that confesses not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist,
whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the
world”
So now John is going to show us
how to know if a spirit is of the Spirit of God or of the spirit of
antichrist. This is a way you can try or
test the spirits. Once we are done with
these two verses, you are going to see a confirmation of what the previous
portions of this message has been trying to portray all along.
Almost every commentary on these
verses and almost every teacher that I have ever heard on these verses all have
the same interpretation. They are saying
that if anyone believes that God became a man, came in the form of a man, lived
in the human flesh, then that person or that prophet, teacher, preacher,
ministry, is of the Spirit of God. They
then say that if anyone does not believe that God ever came in the form of a
man and lived in the human flesh then that person is not of God but has the
spirit of antichrist.
I’m here to tell you with all
the boldness that I can bring up from within me that this is not what these two
verses are saying at all! Now I will
admit that on the surface it surely looks like that is what is being said by
John, but we must learn to discern the truth.
The Lord does not give every man
and woman a hearing ear or a seeing eye spiritually speaking. In other words He is not revealing the truth
to everyone at this time. Jesus said it
in Luke 8:8a-10, that only those who have ears to hear
will be able to hear. He said that unto
His true people will He give them the knowledge of the deep things of God but
everyone else in riddles so that even though they say they see, that cannot
see, and even though they hear, they cannot understand. So those who are given or are being given
such an understanding, can spiritually read between the lines so to speak and
get a better understanding of what is actually being taught.
But to say that all one must do
is believe that God became a man and lived in the human flesh puts us in the
category of those who are of the Spirit of God is just plain to easy and
actually turns clear statements of scripture upside down.
Now this is very important,
because understanding this point is the reasoning behind knowing how to try the
spirits to know whether they are of God or not.
Have you ever heard that actions speak louder than words? We are going to get real deep now in the
Word. Can you wade out in the deep with
me? Are you able to understand the
mysteries of the Kingdom?
I realize that John was writing
these words in the form of a letter. But
if he was speaking them to an audience of people, I believe that he would have
been pounding upon his chest when he said that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh. In other words, Jesus Christ had
come in his (John’s) flesh! Has Jesus
Christ, the great Messiah come in your flesh? If He has come in your flesh, then you are of
the Spirit of God. How can we know if
Christ has set up his abode within a person?
Well, let us take a journey in
the scriptures for a bit. Remember, “actions speak
louder than words.”
We can confess something about
us by not saying a single word, but by the life we are living. We can confess that Jesus Christ has come in
our flesh by the lifestyle we live.
Titus
Here we see the Apostle Paul
stating that people can say that know God, but their lifestyle denies that they
really know Him. We can speak wonderful
words of praise to God all day long, but if we are disobedient unto Him, that
rebellious attitude makes void the words of our praise. Remember, our actions speak louder than our
words.
2nd Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
Some people may just have a form
of godliness. They may go to Church 3
times a week, call themselves Christian, give to the poor, show forth wonderful
works, are very charitable, etc. And
there is nothing wrong obviously with any of that, but it may only be an
outward form of godliness. The Apostle
Paul says that even though they have this outward form of godliness, they turn
right around and deny the power of godliness.
They deny the power that God has of changing them from a sinner to one
who keeps the commandments.
But most today will say that we
cannot keep the commandments and the law.
We just cannot they say. But God
can repair our brokenness and we can by His Spirit be obedient. But they deny his power of being able to fix
us. When the true Spirit of God gets a
hold of you and you willingly submit, you will change. You will have a deep and sincere desire to
obey God and keep His ways.
But most do not keep His
ways. They may have had some kind of an
emotional confrontation at an alter of prayer. They may have stopped their indulgent use of
drugs and alcohol, maybe stopped gambling.
They may show an outward change, but inwardly they will not go the rest
of the way with God and begin keeping His ways. Paul says to turn away from people like
that. Why? Because they will entice
you to fall away from the truth and begin sinning again.
Mark 7:6b “…………..This people honors
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
Jesus speaking here and openly
says that some will honor Him with their lips but their heart is far from
Him. Some will have great words of
praise about Christ. There are some Church
services that have nothing but a bunch of praise and worship. Again, not a thing wrong with that at
all. The Lord inhabits the praises of
His people. But many will honor Christ
with their mouths, with their words from their lips, but He says that their
hearts are far from Him.
You can read on there in Mark
chapter 7 and you will find that these same people are trying to worship God
through the customs and traditions of man, rather than obeying the commandments
of God. Christ says that such worship is
in vain. It don’t
mean a plug nickel to Him. He wants our
obedience. Our obedience means more to
Him than all of our praises. If we are
praising Him and then at the same time we are not obeying Him, that type of
adoration is pretentious and fake to Him.
Remember, “actions speak louder than
words.”
Ezekiel 33:31 “…they
come unto you as the people comes, and they sit before you as my people, and
they hear your words, but they will not do them; for with their mouth they show
much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness.”
Here the Spirit of God speaks
through Ezekiel the prophet about people who might come into the presence of a
congregation of God’s people. He says
that they may sit before a true minister of God “AS” one of God’s people. In
other words not really one of God’s people, but as though they are one of His
people.
He says that they will hear the
words spoken from a true minister of God, but these people will not do those
words. They will hear the truth, but
will not obey the truth. The Lord says
that with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts go after their
covetous, sinful ways.
These are people that open their
mouth with praises for God, they speak such beautiful and loving words, but all
of that is and outward show, for within their hearts they are still in love
with sin, the breaking of God’s law.
They have yet to repent.
Remember, “actions speak louder than words.”
James
We must not just hear the words
of God, we must do the words of God. If we are only hearers of the words of God
and not doers then we have deceived our own selves. We don’t need help from Satan and his demons. We don’t need help from false ministers or
false brethren. We can deceive our own
selves by not being a doer of the Word of God.
You must put your faith into action!
Don’t just call yourself a Christian, BE a Christian!
Matthew 7: 21-23 “Not
every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven……..
Do you not yet see a theme to
these texts of scriptures? Jesus says
that people will call Him their Lord, they honestly believe that they are
Christians, but Christ says that doing so will not grant you entrance into the
Kingdom of heaven. What will get us
in? He says that those who do the will
of God.
Verse 22 ….MANY will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name?
and in your name have cast out devils? And in your name done many wonderful works?.........
Notice that Jesus never denies
that these people have done these things.
He doesn’t deny that they call Him their Lord, showing that they believe
they are Christians. But all of these
things, as important as they may be, they were still missing what it meant to
do the will of the Father.
Verse 23 ……And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.”
Even though these people thought
that they were Christians, Christ says that He never knew them. Does Jesus know you? But why is it that He never knew them? What was the will of the Father that these
people were missing? Jesus says that
these people were workers of iniquity.
But didn’t we just read that
these people had done such wonderful works.
They had performed miracles, cast out devils, preached in His name. But Jesus calls them workers of iniquity. You can look it up on your own if you have
access to a good Strong’s concordance.
The term “iniquity” means breakers of the law.
Remember, “actions
speak louder than words.” Christ did not
deny that these people were speaking to Him about all of the great works that
they had performed in His name, but the will of the Father was that they would
just stop sinning, quick breaking His laws obey Him. Jesus said in Luke
But they just have a form of
godliness, but deny the power that God has of enabling us to obey. What does all of this mean? If people will not obey God, if they do not
have an intense desire to obey God, it shows that Christ is not in them……. yet. He has not come in their flesh. It is the spirit of antichrist that is
rebellious and will not submit unto God and obey Him.
Those that are willingly and
lovingly obeying God are the ones in which Christ by His Spirit has come into
their flesh. Doesn’t mean that they will
never mess up and sin, but it will be an uncommon episode once they become
indwelt by the Spirit of God and as they begin to grow in the grace and
knowledge of Jesus the Christ and of His ways.
We all begin our spiritual
journey much like a little baby. A baby
cannot get up and run a marathon as soon as it pops out of the womb! They have to grow and they have to be
fed. We must find a Church or a minister
to teach and feed us of the ways of God.
But a baby cannot eat a big junk of meat, why it doesn’t even have teeth
yet! It would get choked trying to eat
meat. It must begin on milk. We also must begin with the milk of the Word
and eventually we can eat the strong meat of doctrine. We must desire the Holy Spirit to guide us
into all truth. Eventually we can begin
to crawl around on our own, one day we finally stand up and we begin walking
and running as we grow and mature in God’s ways. Our Lord is very patience. He will give us all the time to learn and
repent as He reveals truth to us. But as
He reveals truth He then requires us to begin walking in that truth. That is a sign of true repentance.
2nd Timothy
Remember in Matthew 7:23 we read
that Christ did not know these people who were workers of iniquity? Here in this text in 2nd Timothy,
we see that Christ knows the people that are His and if we are to call our
selves Christian (name the name of Christ) we are to depart from iniquity or
lawlessness.
Iniquity and lawlessness = the
spirit of antichrist. Obedience =
Spirit of God
Are you beginning to understand
now how to test and try the spirits? You
shall know them by their fruit.
1st John 4:2,3 “Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh is of God: And
every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not
of God: and this is that spirit of
antichrist,…….
So as actions speak louder than
words, we confess by our actions whether or not Christ has come in our flesh
and thereby we can determine and test the spirits.
Now back to how some are viewing
this text. Again some are teaching that
if we just believe that God came down in the form of a man, lived in the flesh,
then we are of the Spirit of God if we believe this. If we don’t believe that, then we are of the
spirit of antichrist. Can this be
so? Let me ask you a question. Do you believe that Demons and unclean evil
spirits are of the Spirit of God or the spirit of antichrist? I would think that we are all on the same
page concerning that question. We would
all affirm that evil spirits are not of God but are kin to the spirit of
antichrist.
Matthew 8:28-32 “And
when He (Jesus) was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming
out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with you, Jesus, you Son of God? Are you come hither to torment us before
the time?.........
We will stop there,
you can read the rest of the text on your own.
But what I want you to see here is that these devils (demons) knew who
Jesus was. They confessed with the
mouths of their possessed, that Jesus, the Son of God was standing there in the
flesh. They believed that God had come
in the flesh, which is one of the conditions that many believe shows us if a
person is of the Spirit of God or of the spirit of antichrist according to our
text out of 1st John. So does
that mean then that these demons or the individuals that they were possessing
are of the Spirit of God?
Nonsense!!
Mark
You can read the remainder of
the text on your own, but what must be seen here is that this unclean spirit
openly confesses with the possessed mouth that He knew who Jesus was. He knew and believed that God had come in the
flesh!
Does that mean that this evil
spirit or the man that he was possessing is then of the Spirit of God according
to how some are interpreting our text out of 1st John? Again I say, Nonsense!! We know that this evil unclean spirit gets
it’s authority from Satan which is the spirit of antichrist.
In the book of Act there is a
story of individuals who were trying to cast out evil spirits. We will break into the story in Acts
Here we have another example of
an evil spirit confessing that it knew who Jesus was. In other words it knew that God had come in
the flesh in the person known as Jesus.
Just another example of many others I could give that shows us that evil
spirits believed and confessed that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. They also knew who Paul was, who had the Spirit
of Christ within him. The Spirit of God
had come in Paul’s flesh and these demons knew who Paul was.
Again most believe that all we
have to do is confess that Jesus has come in the flesh and that means then that
we have the Spirit of God and not the spirit of antichrist. I say that these texts of scriptures
depicting demons believing that Jesus had come in the flesh destroys that
concept, since we all agree that demons and unclean spirits are most assuredly
of the spirit of antichrist.
James 2:19,20 “You believe that there is one God; you do well: the devils also
believe, and tremble. But will you know,
O vain man, that faith without works is dead?”
Demons even have faith. They believe in God! And we all must admit that a demon is not
going to be saved and inherit the
You can see a light on the
ceiling of a room in your home. You see
a switch on the wall. You can believe
and believe and have great faith that these objects can produce light. But until you actually walk over and flip the
switch, nothing is going to happen.
Similarly, we must put our faith into action. Actions speak louder than words.
We can say we believe in
God. We can call ourselves
Christian. We can say that Jesus is our
Lord. We can perform miracles, even cast
out demons. We can praise the Lord till
the cows come home. We can have such
great faith. But if we are not obedient
to God, then our faith is dead, it counts as nothing.
To shift gears here a little
now, some will say that a way to test the spirits is whether a word spoken by a
prophet or preacher actually comes to pass.
Well this is partially true. But
it is not the complete requirement. For
I can show you that even false prophets can foretell the future and what if
what they say actually comes to pass?
Are you going to believe that they are a true man of God?
Deuteronomy 13:1-4 “If
there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign
or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto
you, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us
serve them; You shall not hearken unto
the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proves you, to know
whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul. You shall walk after the Lord your
God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and you shall
serve Him, and cleave unto Him.”
This shows us that the sign of a
false prophet is that they will not obey the commandments of God, but will
entice people to break God’s laws. Even
though what they prophesied or predicted actually came to pass, we are not to
follow them if they teach disobedience to the commandments of God.
That is what we see all of the
time on much of today’s religious television programming. We see all these guys showing sign and
wonders and miracles, and then they will turn right around and tell their
followers to be in Church on Sunday, to observe Christmas and Easter, to eat
meats that the Word of God has declared as unclean, to disregard the law of God
and on and on we could go.
They are in essence saying, see these miracles that have been performed through me and
our ministry. Come follow after other
gods! Now they will not say to go after
other gods, but if they are not teaching obedience to the commandments of God,
that is what they are saying, if you have ears to hear and eyes to see. Can you read between their lines? If you are not obeying the one true God, then
you are obeying someone else, even yourself.
You can become your own god if you follow your own ways and reject the
ways of God. Just as in Deut. 13, even
if a minister was to perform miracles, great healings, prophecy and so forth
and then tell you that you don’t have to obey the law of God, then you are then
following some other god. Who or what is
your master? Who or what is your god? Remember Jesus said why do you call me Lord
and will not obey Me?
(Luke 6:46) If not Jesus, then
who is your lord?
But I have seen with my own eyes
and have heard with my own ears many brethren, who seem to put no difference
between the ways of God as is revealed in the scriptures and that of the false
teachings of the world.
For that, I am very fearful for
the well-being of the
John
John
If you have His commandments, you are a hearer of His Words. If you keep His commandments, you are a doer
of His Words. God will reveal Himself to
those who keep His commandments.
John
One of the signs that we love Jesus is that we will keep His Words
(commandments). If we love God and keep
His commandments, by the Spirit of God, the Father and Jesus will come in us
and make their abode in us. Has Jesus
come in your flesh? Has He made His
abode within you, His dwelling place within you?
The Spirit of God or the spirit of
antichrist. You must
test and try the spirits. You must prove
whether they are of God or not. We are to guard our minds and our thoughts. That is where the real battle is going on
anyhow, in our minds.
I have said all of that to say
this: When examining a spirit or the
spirit of an individual or the spirit of a group, organization or Church, there
are three criteria that I believe must be met.
1. They should have the faith and testimony of Jesus the Christ.
2. They should be keeping the commandments of God contained within His
righteous law.
3. They should be producing the fruit of the Spirit.
Living within the realm of these
three criteria, one would be confessing by their actions that Jesus has come
within their flesh and thereby we can know that they are of the Spirit of
God. These three make up the legs of a spiritual
three legged stool. And we all know that
if a three legged stool is missing just one leg, it cannot stand. If anyone or any group is missing even one
leg of the stool, then they could very well be of the spirit of
antichrist. I cannot add a fourth leg
pertaining to miracles, healings and gifts of the spirit. For such can be easily counterfeited by the
enemy of our faith.
If the reader of this teaching
sees themselves missing one or more of these legs, fret not. For the Lord our God can salvage your
life. He is in the business of saving
and restoring people. If He is calling
you, you will know that He is due to the fact that suddenly you will have a
deep and overwhelming desire to do whatever it takes to be right with your
Creator. You will want to do what is
pleasing unto Him and you feel incredibly remorseful for your sins and desire
to stop breaking the law of God. This is
Godly repentance coming upon you. He
might very well be calling you, opening up blind eyes and giving you a hearing
ear. But beware! If this is so of you, then you are leaving
the enemy’s camp and he will declare war against you. He will not let you go so easily. All of God’s true believers are constantly
engaged in spiritual warfare with Satan and his demonic hordes as well as with
individuals and organizations who are still under his
control.
Brethren, take a stand for the
Word of God. Take a stand for the
Truth. Take a stand for the law of
righteousness. Take a stand for the testimony. Take a stand for the real Jesus, the real
gospel, for the real spirit. Take a
stand for righteousness, for godliness, for uprightness, for honesty, for
goodness, for God's ways. Take a stand
against those things that are contrary to the truth of God's Word. Contend for the faith. For if we do not take a
stand, if we will not contend, then we will find ourselves among the majority
of mankind and be deceived.
If you see yourself in need of
God’s ways, then trust in Jesus, for His sacrifice paid the price for your sins
of the past. Repent of your sinful
lifestyle and trust that His Spirit will indwell your flesh to enable you to
keep the commandments, then begin walking in His
ways. Be baptized in the Name of Jesus
that your sins would go into remission and you will be given the gift of the
Holy Spirit of God that he might make His abode within you. Endure unto the very end and you shall be
saved!
I warned the reader early in
this message that this would be a hard teaching for some to endure and
hear. My hope is that you have been fed
and nourished from this message. Maybe
you have been wounded by some of the words, but wounds will heal. I’m sorry for the wounding, but the Word of
God cuts deep in order to perform the needed surgery upon the inner man. But now it is time for you to take some godly
advice from someone who truly cares about your physical and spiritual
well-being.
You had better test the spirits!
If you feel as though the Lord
may be calling you out of spiritual blindness and is beginning to reveal the
truth to you, do let us here at the Old Paths Restoration Ministry know. We would like to encourage you on the new
path you are embarking upon.
The Old Paths Restoration Ministry
Marengo, IN 47140
www.theoldpaths.net