True or False

DEVOTION 1 JOHN TRUE OR FALSE 1 John 4:1-3 4:1 Dear 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. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but 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. NIV How many believers have been hooked into listening to every electronic preacher or are drawn to their teaching by the charismatic presentation of their message. Should not we be testing every word against the truth of God instead of being so accepting of their words? Sure many of them profess Jesus Christ as the Son of God and that salvation is only through him. Yes it is true many of them may have good things to say and have insights into the truth of God. The question which drives the question as to their motives has to be answered. Testing the spirit of every preacher is a most if we are going to stand fast in the truth of God. He has given us the Spirit who has brought gifts, one being of discernment. We can discernment those who teach and preach other than the truth. It may not be as clear as simple saying their believe Jesus came in the flesh from God. That is easy to say, but then teach falsely for self-gratification, motives that are driving by personal gain, rather than a gain for the Kingdom of God. Many may use his name, but do not belong to him. We must test, and after testing, trust the test. It is not difficult with the Spirit to know who is and who isn’t within the truth. Yet, deception is one of the great attempts by the evil one and we must be very vigilant to that scheme, allowing the Spirit to show us those falsehoods. Many antichrists have already been here, but there are many here now and it would make sense many more are on the way. The devil will never give up trying to deceive the believers. He will never stop rising up more false teachers to led believers astray. He will give them great powers of persuasion, good speaking voices, nice looks, great smiles, and words as smooth as silk, but it will be nothing more than flaming arrows in an effort to destroy the very fabric of our faith. Not only should we be on guard against such efforts, we should be actively engaged in testing everything we hear. Test the spirit of man; test it with the Spirit of God. This is not a multiply choice test either; it is a true or false answer.