Meditation for Monday
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1
A group of children from an elementary school was on a field trip to a hospital. One of the children noticed that the doctors and nurses were frequently washing their hands. She asked one of the nurses, ‘Why does everybody here wash their hands so much?’ The nurse responded, ‘We wash our hands for two reasons, because we love health, and because we hate germs’. Let me suggest that there are two reasons why we as Christians try the spirits: because we love God and we hate sin, because we love the truth and hate error.
By trying the spirits, we refer to those who would teach us, or claim to teach us, about God and His Word. Just as wise parents teach their children to flee from strangers who offer them candy or who invite them to go for a car ride, so we teach young believers to flee from those who would teach doctrines that are contrary to the Word of God or are contrary to what they have learned from godly teachers. It is dangerous for us to fail to test the spirits, because there are many spiritual predators ready to pounce on the unlearned and the gullible (as well as on the learned and experienced). Peter warned of them: ‘But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction’ (2 Peter 2:1). Paul also warned about this danger in his message to the Ephesian elders: ‘For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock’ (Acts 20:29). Remember that a good test of the spirits is not how appealing it is to the listener nor how popular the message is with the young people. There is only one Guide to trying the spirits, and it is the Word of God.
Someone has observed that we don’t need a course in spirit testing to test the spirits. We have the ultimate Expert on the subject dwelling within each of us, the Holy Spirit. He will always guide us into truth, and He will never lead us astray from the Word of God. The most important criterion for testing the spirits is on the Person of Christ. For example, all of the cults deny either His deity or His eternal sonship. Many denominations have relegated Him to the roles of Teacher and Good Example, while denying or ignoring His redemptive work and the truth that ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’ (1 Timothy 1:15). If anyone teaches false doctrines concerning the person of Christ, nothing else that they say will be the truth, either.
With all of the false prophets out there, we need to be careful who we listen to and read. But we can depend on the leading of the Holy Spirit, the teaching of Scriptures, and the guidance of godly teachers who have proven their faithfulness to God. – Jim MacIntosh