TEST THE SPIRITS
We have talked much lately about all the ‘voices’ in the world that are proclaiming their messages as being the ‘truth’ everyone is to follow after. One of the greatest blessings of our time is also one of the greatest curses we all partake of: the Internet. By the Internet we can partake of information of any kind from any part of the planet – which can be a good thing, and it can be a bad thing. The same instrument that avails inspirational teachings, like this one, also allows one to access pornography by just a few clicks and using a search engine.
I’m going to make an extremely important statement here: everything we can partake of is a sort of food we ingest into our spirits (the inner man), and those seeds will grow into what they were designed to produce. When I say ‘partake of’ I’m talking about things we give our attention to and even those things going on around us that we unintentionally allow in: conversations, television programming (break that one down: tell – a – vision programming; or, being programmed by the vision we are being told!), billboards alongside the road we travel (if you look at it the image on it and the message it portrays gets in there and lodges itself in our hearts like a seed). Now, don’t get all frustrated and fearful thinking you can’t even walk out the door of your home; seeds will only produce and grow to maturity when they are watered and nurtured.
Jesus gave us this illustration in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-9, Mark 4:3-20, Luke 8:4-10), click this link to read my combined rendition of that parable. The point I wanted to bring out regarding that parable is the Word of God is the Superior Seed, yet Satan can steal it out of our hearts by just a few tactics we all are acquainted with: cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, desires for other things, tribulation, and persecution. This is a pretty fair description of each and every one of our daily lives! These ‘Seed stealers’ surround each and every one of us! – And that’s talking about the Superior Seed! Keep reading! If the Superior Seed can be aborted from producing and growing in our hearts, then the ‘seeds’ that come from the other camp can be prevented from growing in our lives as well!
ATTENTION!
One might disparagingly say “Brother Mike, how can I prevent the wrong ‘seeds’ from growing in my life?” I alluded to it earlier when I said “things we give our attention to.” These are the kinds of things we give ourselves to, on purpose: books we read, movies we watch, T. V. shows we watch, meetings we attend, and the like. I know there are certain situations we simply cannot avoid, like if our job requires us to attend a certain meeting; the content of that meeting, and the people we are sitting around – the conversations they have – this stuff has the potential to get into us and produce attitudes and mind-sets. You and I still have the choice to take in those things, or reject them (I’m talking about thought patterns and views of life being projected from those around us).
So, how do we safeguard against such attributes getting into our hearts and minds that they won’t produce a harvest we really do not want in our lives? God has placed within the human psyche the ability to partake of what we truly want produced in our lives: Life or Death; Good or Bad; Blessing or Curses – then He even gives us the cheat: “choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Fast forwarding to the present day Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, wrote “while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2Corinthians 4:18).
The choice is ours; we can dwell on the circumstances around us (the things that are temporary – subject to change), or we can continue in His Word (which is eternal) and partake of His precious promises, which will result in participating in His divine nature (the answer to our troubles). It’s what we give our attention to that will grow into the harvest those implanted seeds will produce! The ‘bad seeds’ of life can be purged with “the washing of the water of the Word” (Ephesians 5:26) – the Superior Seed.
FALSE TEACHINGS
I said all that about seeds and the harvest they will produce to get our thinking to go along the lines of the direction our lives will take, and the ‘fruit’ we will partake of. The Lord has been dealing with me regarding the conditions our hearts are in, and the needed cooperation for this Last Day Harvest He so desires to reap. Scripture teaches “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5:7-8). There are a few things I’d like to bring out regarding these verses:
- The coming of the Lord (which is so very near!)
- The Farmer waiting for the precious fruit of the earth (souls)
- The former and latter rain (outpourings of God’s Spirit to reap those souls!)
I have it ringing in my heart — louder than ever! — that the return of the Lord is so close it could be any day now (read my Encouraging Word “Last Week” by clicking this link). This is the reason I write so many of these teachings, stirring the Body of Christ unto this work of working together with the Lord. God has designed it that we work together with Him; He has limited Himself to relying on our cooperation with Him to get the job done! And, He’s the Farmer Who is waiting for the precious fruit of the earth–souls! The former and latter rain that enables this harvest of souls has begun, and we need to ‘put our hands to the plow’ to get this job done so the Lord can receive us to Himself (rapture!!).
The devil is fully aware that his time is extremely short, so he’s pulling out every stop he can imagine to thwart the work of God. How does he accomplish this? False doctrines (teachings). He knows the laws of God and how they work. The two ‘laws’ in particular that pertain to this teaching are: the words we truly believe in our heart, and say with our mouth will come to pass; plus, the image we have of ourselves will manifest (be evidenced) in our lives! This is why the Bible talks about renewing our minds with the Word of God so we can be transformed from the conforming images of the world!
- “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).
- “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2Corinthians 3:18).
Satan knows that if he can propagate his imagery enough he can cause anyone to be conformed to it – ultimately imitating it, thereby ‘choosing death’, which is what he wants. Jesus said of him (Satan) that he is a thief who only comes to steal, kill and destroy, but He (Jesus) came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10)! This deadly ‘conforming’ comes to those who give their attention to these ‘false teachings’ – which comes through the spirit of antichrist. The Apostle John wrote extensively of this:
- “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour” (1John 2:18).
- “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son” (1John 2:22).
- “and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world” (1John 4:3).
- “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2John 1:7).
Paul also addressed this issue in his letter to the Corinthian church when he wrote about the gifts of the Spirit and their manifestations. He said, “no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1Corinthians 12:3). These Scriptures are plain; a Mike Leach paraphrase could say ‘unless the message someone is speaking points to the Lordship of Jesus and talks about the things He accomplished by going to the cross, they are NOT speaking by inspiration of God, and are false _______ (prophets, teachers, or whatever type of ‘ministry-gift’ they say they are)’. “Of such, turn away” (the Holy Ghost just said that in me).
ALIGNMENT
I know it seems like I’m beating a dead horse (I apologize to our readers who aren’t from the U. S. – that is an American colloquialism that means to keep repeating something over and over in seeming redundancy), but I strongly feel the Holy Spirit wants to get these ideas across to the Body of Christ, so we can rise up strong in Him and defeat the giants of falsehood trying to wipe-out the Churche’s effectiveness against the devil and his crowd! In order to arise in this hour, we have to awaken to these things (tactics) and purposefully wield our Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God – spoken from a heart fully persuaded of God’s mightiness! To do so we have to align our thinking with God’s thinking – exchanging our thoughts for His; “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8). This is what renewing the mind will do – exchange our way of thinking to align (line-up) with God’s thinking. We could go on and on about that. This entire website is designed to help us along these lines.
Getting back to false teachings; I’m not going to name names, or spell-out any groups that are to be blamed for such propagation. I’m simply going to present the truth – God’s Word is truth – and anything that does not line up with it is false!
WHAT IS TRUTH?
There are far too many references to list here (when I typed ‘truth’ in the search section of my Bible program I use I found there are 100 verses in the New Testament alone!), but for the purpose of this teaching I will mention a few:
- “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Truth came through Jesus!
- “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (John 4:23). – You want God the Father to seek you out? Worship Him in the Spirit and Truth!
- “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6). Jesus said He is the Truth!
- “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me” (John 15:26). Here Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of Truth.”
Did you notice Jesus said “He (the Spirit of Truth) will testify of Me”? That corresponds with what we said earlier – and what this teaching is all about – testing the spirits. In brief, are the messages coming into your life testifying of Jesus, or are they trying to present ‘another gospel’? Paul addressed this in his letter to the church at Galatia by saying “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). The next verse is the key here, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). God used Paul mightily to establish the foundation for the Church to be build upon, Christ, the Chief cornerstone (see Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 28:16, Matthew 21:42, Acts 4:11, and 1Peter 2:6-7).
SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT
Spiritual discernment is the practical purpose of this, and all of my teachings! This ‘discernment’ is acquired by feeding on (and exposure to) the Word of God – which Jesus Himself testified “Thy Word is Truth” (John 17:17, KJV) when He was praying to the Father just before going to the cross. We are not to simply gobble up everything that comes along just because someone says it’s coming from God! We are to ‘test the spirits, whether they are from God.’ “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1John 4:1).
Even when there is a spiritual manifestation, Paul admonishes “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1Thessalonians 5:21). Why did he write such a thing?; because, not every ‘spiritual manifestation’ comes by the Spirit of God. Here’s the plain truth: is the experience (manifestation) promoting the Lordship of Jesus, or some fleshly (carnal) thing? One will know by the inward-witness. There will be a ‘scratching’ – like “this just doesn’t feel right”; or, there will be a peace and comfort about it. Isn’t one of the descriptive terms for the Holy Spirit “Comforter”? Isn’t one of the ‘fruits’ of the Spirit “peace”? Jesus said we would know…by the fruit. Spiritual discernment will come by ‘fruit inspection’.
The Holy Spirit within each of us will bear witness if something is from God the Father: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). The Apostle John wrote about this witness in his first epistle:
- “it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth” (5:6).
- “there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit” (5:7).
- “there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood” (5:8).
- “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son” (5:9).
- “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son” (5:10).
That last one sums up the entirety of this teaching! If anyone believes in the Son of God (has asked Jesus into their heart – been born again), they have the witness of the Spirit in themselves! John also wrote, “Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us” (1John 3:24). That’s as plain as it gets! We can know if anything is coming to us by God because of the Spirit Whom He has given us! The two primary ways we can test the spirits trying to influence our lives is by 1) the Word of God, and 2) the witness of the Spirit of God that every believer has!