Testing the spirits

[Hopefully]

13 minutes ago, Your closest friendnt said:

Hope that helps...

Why is this supposed to be helpful to me? I believe what I posted is true. I have never been in the situation you describe and I’m sorry that happened to you.

[Your closest friendnt]

24 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

Why is this supposed to be helpful to me? I believe what I posted is true. I have never been in the situation you describe and I’m sorry that happened to you.

It was relevant to the OP and to an earlier post about some people who did not answer your inquiries to confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh...

They are many reasons why someone may not wanting to answer your question. 

Some they do not want to participate or they thing that this is priviledge or they do not think that they should be asked and discussed these questions...

They believe this is the Pastors business and not theirs. 

If I apply for a sunday school teacher I must answer the questions or an usher....or for membership. 

But if am not and I am a visitor I do not have to answer these questions but rather me making the questions in case I want to know more about them.

God bless

[Hopefully]

5 minutes ago, Your closest friendnt said:

But if am not and I am a visitor I do not have to answer these questions but rather me making the questions in case I want to know more about them.

My reason for asking this question is when someone wants to spiritually guide me. I don’t ask for no reason. When people refused to confess I remembered what I read and left it at that. All I knew was not to receive spiritual guidance from them.

[Your closest friendnt]

2 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

My reason for asking this question is when someone wants to spiritually guide me. I don’t ask for no reason. When people refused to confess I remembered what I read and left it at that. All I knew was not to receive spiritual guidance from them.

Thanks for filing the blanks. Now we understand how and when you that took place..that was very important.  

Thank you 

We do not know thought what was the reason not to answer... and it could be a few...and may have nothing to do with your question...

[David1701]

18 hours ago, JaneLee said:

Does testing the spirits mean to ask a spirit if it confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, and if it confesses that means its a spirit from God? Has anybody tried it? Can an evil spirit or demon ever acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, can they ever say that? Does anyone have any experience?

1 John 4:1-3 "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."

There are several tests for false prophets (i.e. testing the spirit of the prophet).  The one you have quoted is to do with an heretical teaching, which said that Jesus only looked as if he had a human body, but did not really.

Various tests are:

1) Does the prophet acknowledge that Jesus is fully man?

2) Does the prophet acknowledge that Jesus is fully God?

3) Does the prophet acknowledge Jesus' victory on the cross?

4) Does the prophet acknowledge Jesus' bodily resurrection?

5) Does the prophet acknowledge Jesus' bodily ascension into heaven?

6) Do any prophetic predictions come to pass?

7) Even if they do come to pass, does the prophet then lead people into false teaching (e.g. immorality, or the "prosperity gospel", or salvation by works, or that you can be saved without any fruit-bearing evidence, or Roman Catholicism)?

8) What fruit does the prophet bear (a good tree bears good fruit, a bad tree bears bad fruit)?

9) Does the prophet try to get people to believe extra-biblical doctrine (e.g. supposed new revelations by angels)?

10) Does the prophet acknowledge that God is eternally three Persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)?

[Starise]

What does the Christian wrestle against ? The flesh and the invisible enemies of God. The question addresses the spirit world and not the flesh. 

How does the spirit world operate in this world? Often through deception. What sort of deception? Deception that comes in the form of religious teachings, even teachings espoused as Christian teachings. With every religion and teaching there is a spirit or spirits behind it. THESE are the spirits we are to test. How do we test them? By knowing the word. What happens if we don't test the spirits? We might be allowing false teaching into our lives. What is the main way false religions even quasi Christian ones attempt to water down and minimize scripture? They always minimize Jesus in one way or another often calling Him a mere prophet among prophets. They DENY He is the Son Of God. They MINIMIZE the saving power of Christ's death on the cross. How do they do this? Sometimes they do it by adding additional requirements to salvation in the form of works. Sometimes they never mention salvation at all and instead, they replace the blood on the cross with a feel good religion that almost looks like Christianity. Sometimes they emphasize a gospel freak show with people falling on the ground supposedly healed. THIS is supposed to be evidence of God's presence yet nothing is mentioned about salvation.

The devil works in various ways. Through misinformation or attempting to water down the truth by providing many other options so the person who doesn't know is at a loss to decide what is really the true path. Through procrastination, getting people busy at something so they forget Jesus. This could even be people who think they are doing things for God.

The devil is into mocking up, copying, replicating something that looks like Christianity but omits the key things that make Christianity what it is. What does Christianity look like to the world? They think it looks like people doing good things. People who stay out of trouble. Good people. They see it as people doing good things and being rewarded into heaven by God. This is completely backwards. It's God who does all the work on incomplete people through the blood of Christ. The blood was the sacrifice for us. Only Jesus was capable of that sacrifice. He paid the penalty. Anything that attempts to muck this all up is of the enemy. Anything that makes people think their salvation has anything to do with how good they are is of the devil.

[TheBlade]

I find most have never seen a evil spirit/demon. Some tend to focus on this "the power" we have in Christ. By that I mean its like the gifts.. you never seen the gifts. We don't make them happen.. He gives to each gifts yet He is the one that uses us..its always to help others. So with demons I do find the "person" that thinks something or says something, they become the evil spirit. 

So "testing" I find today has turned into testing the person not the spirit. We can say all kind of things that go against the word ..that does not mean we have a evil spirit. Were told by Christ to cast out demons and we will also speak with new tongues.. we'll lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. No picking and choosing what we want to believe. I find to many times its what the person personally believes. Well I can say "Catholics, Mormons, JW, Word of Faith, Baptist" on and on. So many groups are wrong based on a personal gospel. Oh there are "wishy washy" preachers that you know about that get attacked made fun of and were told duh they are not of GOD. Yet I found out of their mouth said "Jesus came in the flesh born by the virgin Mary. Died on the cross for the worlds sin was buried. Rose the 3rd day is the only way to the Father.". For me they are of God but that personal belief gets in the way of truly seeing truth. 

It comes down to ..do you truly believe? Not knowing where the sickness comes from. Not knowing what GODS will is. Not knowing just who you really are and whos you really are. To many times we try to do the running yet.. not fully understanding our Father is GOD and that GOD is in us.  So trying to say "in Jesus name!" the spirit will just laugh. You don't believe what you say. Peter and John said we didn't do this by our own power its faith in that name. That man that was healed was thinking he was going to get something from then yet it was not healing. What I have give I unto you in JESUS Name. They didn't have something you and I don't have. These signs shall follow them that believe. There is no if and buts here. If you believe those signs will always be there.  

Its being prayed up all the time and then He leads you. Those times you walked into some store or someone walked by or is talking to you.. you get this sick feeling..there ya go. Pray and listen..ask Him what is this.. what do you want me to do. Its ALWAYS for the good. Not about US having POWER! This is where you say NO.. I did nothing.. give Him all the praise and glory. Never seek this out.. the evil the spirits so forth. Phil 4 think on these thing.. Its like a ministry.. you don't start it He does. 

You thin will find ..why this or that person does not like you.. or your job..something is stoping you or things in your house start to just go wrong. Its Christ in you.. its that light that darkness does not like. You pray you seek you ask Him about it to show you.. by in His word. Don't just let it happen. Like my wife.. always praying for her company to grow to expand BECAUSE of the righteous that work there. Those not of God to see the light in those that believe.. those in darkness to be up rooted and the righteous to be put in those places. Always praying over them for God to keep His word.. protect the. Satan does not sleep.. He is doing this 24/7

[appy]

1 John 4: 1-3 is also NOT speaking of checking person's to see if they are demon possessed or if they have the Holy Spirit within. Gnostic Heresies had already crept in and infiltrated the church in John's time. Such ideologies and inspirations came from evil spirits.

The world's belief systems of ideologies, theories, viewpoints, belief systems, psychologies, philosophies, religions. Every high idea, every apparently noble idea, intellectual idea, great insight, anything and everything that is raised up as an ideology that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. All these things come from the thought life.

I want to be perfectly clear that things from the thought life do NOT imply that an individual is demon possessed.

Joseph Smith is an example. He was NOT demon possessed. But his ideas and philosophies came from a evil spirit. What did he believe? What did he teach? What were his actions? Where did he get his ideas from? We know from his writings that he claimed to hear from an angel (spirit) and we know that this entity was evil;

This entity Smith listened to, did NOT lead him to the Jesus of the bible, instead it led him away from Jesus of the bible. For it told him that Jesus did not come from heaven or that he is God in the flesh. It told him that Jesus was a man that came from the planet kolob.

We know that what the mormon doctrine of who Jesus is... is false.

What does the bible say who Jesus is?

God speaks truth and reveals truth in His written word. When someone comes and affirms that Jesus Christ is God in flesh, that is divine truth. A person's validity comes from the doctrine of Christ. (1 John 4: 2-3) Every spirit sent from God will glorify God and worship God. A spirit of God always speaks in accordance to God's Word, the Bible. He acknowledges its authority

Evil spirits deny the incarnation, that is, that Jesus was born as a human. They deny that Jesus is Lord. And do not confess Jesus as Lord. Evil spirits will never invite people to accept Jesus in their lives. Nor do they want people to hear the gospel that the Apostles preached.

The bible is the measuring stick we use to measure all thoughts, deeds, actions, philosophy, etc.... against.

The way to know when someone is false is to listen to what they say, and take what they say to the word of God. This is crucial. Compare what the person says and does to what the bible says. Someone who is a false teacher/prophet will always take the emphasis and focus off of Jesus and direct others in the direction of immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed,

You test people by their view of Christ and you test people by how they live. Do they demonstrate the characteristics of being regenerated?

[Your closest friendnt]

On 9/29/2021 at 9:35 AM, Starise said:

What does the Christian wrestle against ? The flesh and the invisible enemies of God. The question addresses the spirit world and not the flesh. 

How does the spirit world operate in this world? Often through deception. What sort of deception? Deception that comes in the form of religious teachings, even teachings espoused as Christian teachings. With every religion and teaching there is a spirit or spirits behind it. THESE are the spirits we are to test. How do we test them? By knowing the word. What happens if we don't test the spirits? We might be allowing false teaching into our lives. What is the main way false religions even quasi Christian ones attempt to water down and minimize scripture?

 

 

John 7:24

Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. 

* everyone is learning to judge according to appearance according to our knowledge and our understanding, and we are instructed to Judge a righteous judgment. 

In 1st John 4:1-3 we are not calling to Judge according to appearance because we are called to judge spiritual matters. 

We are called to Judge believes that question the divinity of Jesus Christ in one matter and whether Jesus Christ died on the Cross or not in a another matter. 

Issues that question whether or not Jesus has come from God or whether or not someone's sins are under the blood of Jesus Christ in related matters.  

John is calling us to Judge  views that questions the divinity of Jesus Christ that are not from God.

In other words that they are not truth, they are not of the Christian faith, what Jesus and what the disciples and the Holy Spirit teach. 

At that time and before that time and there after it was a group called the Agnostics...and another group it was the Jews. 

The Jews were agains that Jesus was the Son of God, and some of the Agnostics accepted that Jesus is from God but he was not a man within the window of understanding that Jesus could die on the Cross just like any other man. 

So they teach that Jesus Christ did not live his body and he continued to be in his body...only it appeared that his body was lifeless when it was not.

In other words they question Jesus death on the Cross.

The Jews question his divinity and the agnostics question his humanity.  

John is teaching the people that both views are wrong. 

That in both those views Jesus is not portrayed as the Lamb of God who died for the forgiveness of our sins.

And everyone who believes in God but denies that Jesus is from God will die in his sins if by the time of his death he has not repented from their denial. 

In 1st John 4:1-3....John is teaching that anyone who is teaching that Jesus was divine and not a human just like anyone else..in that Jesus could not have died on the Cross, but only appeared to be dead will also die in his sins if they did not repent before their death. Alluring that Jesus did not at death descent to the place of the dead for three days and then was raised from the dead. Or that Jesus Christ did not raised from the dead because he never went there in the first place