Testing the spirits-

 King Ahab and Queen Jezebel are two historical monarchs who appear in the narratives of the Old Testament. Ahab is best known for his failure to lead and his open endorsement of idolatry. Jezebel is best known for her bad behavior unbecoming of a queen, so much so that calling a woman a “Jezebel” is equivalent to using profanity in Christian circles. Yet Jezebel’s reputation is well earned because, throughout I and II Kings, she constantly exhibited an attitude of control that defied God and openly embraced evil to trample upon others.

Now, why is it important for us to study Bible characters who have been dead for thousands of years? Because the spirits of Ahab and Jezebel are alive and well today whenever we see power acting with an arrogant, presumptuous security in which in which it treads beneath its feet all divine and human rights. Notably, the roles of Ahab and Jezebel do not necessarily have to be gendered, although they generally are: that is, a man can be taken with a Jezebel spirit, and a woman can be taken with an Ahab spirit.

Let us remember that Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab, and there’s a reason for that. You see, Jezebel was permitted to thrive in her wickedness only because Ahab refused to lead. This is the crucial point: you can’t have an active, control-hungry Jezebel without a passive, weak-willed Ahab. Hence, the real problem wasn’t the woman; it was her husband. And the spirit of Ahab is alive and well today in those who refuse to take responsibility and stand for what is true. They see evil, know it’s evil, and have the power to say, “Stop it!” but fail to act. They rationalize to themselves, “I am good by not doing bad,” when in reality they are enabling evil by inaction. Ironically, you can have a room full of Ahabs with only one Jezebel, and because she will not be restrained, she can do all the evil she desires and thus cause more damage than all the Ahabs combined. Ahab is dangerous because he does not act; Jezebel is dangerous because she acts. Let us not be distracted here: thinking biblically does not persuade anyone to pit men against women. Thinking biblically enables a person to discern the interplay between the two spirits.

For an example of how Jezebel and Ahab interact, let us go to the Scriptures. Our text comes from I Kings 21:1-10:

Now it came about after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab, the king of Samaria. And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is close beside my house, and I will give you a better vineyard in place of it; if you prefer, I will give you what it is worth in money.” But Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid me that I would give you the inheritance of my fathers!” So Ahab entered his house sullen and furious because of the answer that Naboth the Jezreelite had given to him, since he said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And he lay down on his bed and turned his face away, and ate no food.

But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, “How is it that your spirit is so sullen that you are not eating food?” So he said to her, “It is because I was speaking to Naboth the Jezreelite and saying to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you a vineyard in place of it.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now reign over Israel? Arise, eat bread, and let your heart be joyful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were living with Naboth in his city. Now she had written in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people; and seat two worthless men opposite him, and have them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”

So, Ahab covets something that is not his: Naboth’s vineyard. He can’t get what he wants, so he sulks like a child. His wife then steps in and develops her own diabolical scheme to fulfill the sinful desires of her husband. She even encourages him to be joyful that she is about to falsely accuse an innocent man and have him murdered. Ahab and Jezebel are godless and immoral, so they have no conflict of conscience in sacrificing people for things.

And what happens next? In I Kings 21:11-16, the text tells us that the elders and nobles—that is, more spiritual Ahabs—living in Naboth’s city do exactly as Jezebel instructs them in the letters she sent. They proclaim a fast, two false witnesses accuse Naboth, and he is stoned to death outside the city. Once Jezebel gets word that Naboth is dead, she commands her husband to arise and take possession of the vineyard that he covets. Also note that Ahab only takes action when his perceived impediment no longer exists. This is how weak men operate: they don’t work to clear a path, they only move when the path is clear. Cowards are always victims and want other people to solve their problems for them.

The crucial insight in this narrative is to recognize that Ahab enables the Jezebel spirit rather than commanding authority over it. As a husband, Ahab bears responsibility for leading his household to do what is right. Instead, he literally lays down and watches as his wife not only devises evil, but pulls others into her web of darkness. Ahab represents the man who is expected to take responsibility for a situation but fails to do so. This gross lack of male headship is further highlighted by the fact that Ahab was the king of Israel. He was therefore not only the head of his house but, legally, the natural head of the nation of Israel. He had the God-ordained responsibility of carefully following God’s Law (Deuteronomy 17:14-20) and being a mediatorial instrument of justice so that no one would turn away from the commandments either to the right or to the left. Ahab failed first as a husband, and then as a king. Accordingly, the queen would not have been able to have such power and persuasion without her husband. The Jezebel spirit thrives in the presence of say-nothings and do-nothings. Of course, this is understandable because nature abhors a vacuum: if there is an empty space, something rushes to fill it. In the case of Jezebel and Ahab, evil control rushes to fill a gap where righteous responsibility is absent.

Let us go even deeper still. The problem of Jezebel-Ahab does not begin in I Kings. It begins with the genesis of humanity. That is, the real problem in the Garden of Eden was not that Eve was tempted by the serpent; the real problem was that Adam was standing right next to her and did nothing (see Genesis 3:1-6, and note that in verse 6, Adam was “with her” the whole time). Hence, the Jezebel-Ahab dynamic began with the Eve-Adam dynamic, which has played out through human history. For the majority, social evil happens by means of omission, not commission. In not confronting evil, the Ahab spirit thereby allows and accommodates it. This principle is exactly what the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., alluded to when he said that evil triumphs not when bad men act badly but rather when good men see evil and do nothing.

Like the era of societal decay in which Jezebel and Ahab lived, our contemporary era is also one in which those two spirits thrive: the Jezebel spirit (a spirit of control) and the Ahab spirit (a spirit of weakness). The reason why the prominence of these two spirits coincides with societal decay is that they are synonymous with the degradation of the family and the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. These spirits are also synonymous with the decay of religion, which fades into a mere form, losing touch with life, and thus losing power to guide people.

So, what does the text tell us happens to Jezebel? She dies violently after being thrown down from the top of her own home. This comes to pass because a prophet by the name of Jehu takes responsibility and refuses to budge from saying “Stop!” to Jezebel’s wickedness. Jezebel’s body is trampled by horses and then eaten by dogs. Ahab dies after being struck by an arrow in battle and bleeding out. Dogs lick up his blood.

As stated before, it is crucial not to miss that the Jezebel spirit can only thrive in the presence of an Ahab spirit. Unfortunately, the Jezebel spirit is what happens when the flesh takes action, so no sinner needs help to act like a Jezebel: “I will do what I want, when I want, how I want, and if getting what I want requires others to be destroyed, then so be it.” The Ahab spirit can only thrive when Jezebels are around, because if she is doing all the work, then why should he lift a finger?

Now that we have established the dynamic of Ahab and Jezebel, it’s important to apply our understanding to three separate areas: in the family, in the world, and in the church.

In the family. The family is the core social unit upon which all of society is built. In a family, the husband is called to be a faithful protector, and the wife is called to be the supportive nurturer. The mutual love and respect between the husband and the wife serves as the model by which to raise up children, who are to be raised up in things of the Lord (Ephesians 5:22-6:4). Men are called to act like men, and women are called to act like women. There is no allowance for swapping roles in God’s economy. Furthermore, there are many relationships within the family that are primary, outside of a person’s relationship to Christ. Jezebel will try to usurp control and tell parents that she wants to parent for them, or she’ll try to redefine the roles of husband and wife in her eyes. Don’t be an Ahab and simply roll over. So, for example, your children are not their school’s ultimate responsibility, nor are they even your church’s ultimate responsibility. The government certainty is not a co-parent with you. Parents, take responsibility for your children, because God has made them your responsibility.

In the world. This point relates to the first. In the West in the last two years, what we have seen is an explosion of the Jezebel spirit: secular authorities have used crises to tell citizens what they should do with their own health and their children’s health, how they should work, and how they should travel, just to give a few examples. Unfortunately, secular authority often grows out of the soil of a Jezebel spirit, because when you give the flesh an opportunity to control others, it will gladly take it. But according to God’s Word, secular authority—just like parental and church authority—is limited in its jurisdiction. Government’s power is defined by a sphere of control, and the government has no authority outside of that sphere: it doesn’t, for example, intrude on either the family or the church. This is an often-missed point of Christ’s words in Luke 20:25. There, the Lord says:

Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.

 In other words, there are some things that do not belong to Caesar. It’s no surprise, then, that the language of Luke 20:25 is echoed in Romans 13:6-7, the chapter in the New Testament that gives Christians the clearest instructions on how to interact with the State. The point is that secular authority must be disobeyed when it instructs us to sin or when it seeks to impose its power outside its assigned sphere. When Jezebel tries to call the shots in your home or your church, the answer is a firm, resolute “No!”

In the church. It should not surprise us that in His messages to seven churches in Revelation, Christ specifically mentions the woman Jezebel and all that she has done to lead the people astray. Of course, Jesus is not speaking of a literal woman but of the spirit of Jezebel that also seeks to overrun the Church of God. This is what Jesus says to the church in Thyatira in Revelation 2:19-23:

I know your deeds, and your love and faith, and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with plague, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. (italics mine)

The simple lesson here is that because all the Ahabs in the church tolerated Jezebel, she led many to their destruction. Jezebel acts against God and does not want to repent, because hatred of God is in her nature. She draws people in with false doctrine (e.g., that God wants everyone to be prosperous and healthy in this earthly life or that you are saved by your works) and things that superficially seem to be virtuous but in reality go against the gospel (e.g., the social gospel). Jezebel also disguises herself as an angel of light in order to draw many into darkness. Jezebel is dangerous in the world because she can hurt people. She is particularly dangerous in the church because she can hurt people in the name of God. Whenever anyone or anything suggests something that goes against God’s inerrant and infallible Word, the simple response is a firm, resolute “No!” If you choose not to act, consider the consequences that Jesus warns about in Revelation 2.

Anyone with a sense of authority in his life, and who demands responsibility for what is taking place around himself, will never let a Jezebel spirit thrive. It is the job of the upright, mighty man of valor and the upright, virtuous woman to say “No!” to these spirits. The question everyone must ask themselves is simple: Who will you be? Ahab? Jezebel? Or will you be a true prophet who stands for God’s Word, speaks the truth in love, and refuses to compromise with evil when all it requires is for you to keep silent and do nothing?

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”  (1 John 4:1-3, KJV)

The YLT says “prove the spirits.”  The Greek word for test, or prove is Strong’s Gr. “dokimazo“, and it means to put to the test, to prove or to examine; by implication to approve; I put to the test, I distinguish by testing, approve after testing; I am fit.  (Source: https://biblehub.com/greek/1381.htm)

What spirits are we to test?

John was fighting against those false teachers of the 1st century AD who were teaching that Jesus was only a man, or only had the appearance of a man, and was not actually from God.  So John was speaking of men who taught error, the spirits and minds of men.

The word “spirit” is the Strong’s Gr. 4151, “pneuma” and means wind, or breath.  Thayer’s Greek Lexicon has the meaning at 1b as the breath of the nostrils, or mouth, poetically the breath of life; and at 2, the vital principal by which the body is animated, the rational spirit, the power by which a human being feels, thinks, wills, decides; the soul.  (Source: https://biblehub.com/greek/4151.htm)

The souls of men, the breath and word of men, the mind of men as opposed to the breath and word of God.  The context of the 1 John 4 contrasts the spirits of false prophets with the Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit.  False prophets are people who speak falsely, spreading untruths.

John goes on in vs. 3 to describe those people who do not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh as having the spirit (breath, or wind) of “antichrist”.  This is an adjective applied to those who deny Christ.  In 1 John 4:1-3 there are the spirits of false prophets, or men who were denying Christ, and the Holy Spirit of God. 

In other words, people and their words are the spirits we are to test.

We are to test, prove and examine the words (the breath) of people against the words (breath) of God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit.  Whenever people speak differently from the Holy Spirit, then they are false prophets, and false teachers of which there have been many throughout all time.

God scorned and condemned those false teachers and shepherds of the Israelite who led His people astray, prophesying lies in His name (Jer. 14:14).

“ Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Ye do not hearken unto the words Of the prophets who are prophesying to you, They are making you vain things, A vision of their own heart they speak, Not from the mouth of Jehovah.”  (Jer. 23:16, YLT)

The words of men vs the words of God.  The spirits of men vs. the Spirit of God.

Jesus said they come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves (Matt. 7:15).  Peter said they were already among them in the 1st century AD (2 Pet. 2:1). Paul called Elymas the sorcerer a child of the devil, full of deceit and trickery, perverting the right ways of the Lord (Acts 13:6-10).

We cannot rely only upon what men say.  Especially as the false teachers and prophets will use God’s name to lend an air of truth to their words, stealing God’s words (Jer. 23:30).  And, that is what John was telling them almost 2,000 years ago, that there were men who were not speaking the same words, the same mind, the same truth as the Holy Spirit. 

So  we have to test and prove what men say against what God says.  There is only one way to do that, which is exactly what the Bereans were doing when they heard Paul speak to them, “every day examining the Writings whether those things were so;” (Acts. 17:11).

The Bereans were testing and examining and proving Paul’s spirit, Paul’s words against the “Writings” of the Old Testament books, the word of God.  That is how we test the “spirits.”

And, as so many institutional churches today are teaching so many different doctrines, and different creeds, and different beliefs then how are we to test them?  Our only method is to go to God’s word; to test them against God’s word, which takes time and effort to study God’s word.

There are too many people who are content to let other “spirits” tell them what to believe, and what to think.  They are not showing themselves to be approved of God (2 Tim. 2:15). They are lazy and unprofitable servants (Matt. 25:26-30).  They are following the broad way leading to destruction (Matt. 7:13-14).  They are so married to their belief systems, so indoctrinated in their own creeds that when shown what the word of God actually says they will deny it – deny Christ – antichrist.

We are to speak as the Oracles of God, the words and utterances of God (1 Pet. 4:11).  We can only do that by learning the word of God, by going directly to the source to see what God’s word says.  And, that means that we have to be willing to clear our minds of every other thought we might have or we might believe and focus solely upon what God’s word says.

We have to be willing to rely only upon God’s word, only upon what the scriptures, the Writings say. We have to be willing to let go, and to trust God completely.

When His scriptures say one thing, and they contradict what we think or what we believe, then we have to stop and mentally wipe clean the false beliefs we have entertained for so long.  Stop, Look, and Listen to Him, to His word, to the Holy Spirit.  We are to put our full, complete faith and dependence upon Him, to submit to Him (Isa. 66:2; John 15:5; Deu. 8:3; Matt. 6:30-34; James 4:6-8).

“… that in us ye may learn not to think above that which hath been written…”  (1 Cor. 4:6, YLT)

Paul was addressing the issue of the exaltation of different factions, different teachers – those of Apollos, or those of Paul, or those of Peter – above the word of God.  They were not to be puffed up one against another, but to rely upon the foundation of the word which the apostles were teaching… the word of God.

First, test the spirits. How often is this principle neglected! Someone comes along and they sound pious, and what they do looks impressive. Perhaps they are intelligent and rhetorically compelling. Well, now everyone jumps on the bandwagon! This is a wonderful thing, this new idea that is being preached. Surely it is of God! But, hold on, we must test the spirits. Christians are neither to be hyper-critical nor naively gullible. It is wrong to adopt a critical spirit about the style or method of a certain person’s ministry. But it is not wrong to test the spirits. Jesus himself said that we are not to throw our pearls before swine, which at least requires being discerning enough to know what are pearls and what are swine!

Second, apply the doctrinal test. John says, “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, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.” John is counteracting a teaching sometimes called Docetism, that is that Christ only seemed to be God in the flesh, but was actually not really human in the sense that we would understand it in normal ways. The teaching of Docetism was one component of the early church heresy called Gnosticism – and this passage is one reason why some people think that John was counteracting a form of early or proto-Gnosticism when he was writing this letter. But the point that John is making, and the tool that he is using, has wider application than merely counteracting an ancient heresy. That ancient heresy rears its ugly head around us anew in different clothes. And there are other more recent heresies too. For each “false spirit” or “false teaching,” we may “test the spirits” by applying the doctrinal test. Does this teaching line up with the faith once delivered to the saints? Is this teaching in line with the doctrinal statement of the evangelical church? Is this teaching in accord with the core doctrines that the Bible teaches? Does this teaching affirm the incarnation of Christ? Does it affirm the substitutionary atonement of the cross? Does it affirm the bodily resurrection of Jesus? Does it affirm that we are justified by faith alone? Does it teach the coming return of Jesus? Does it affirm that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God in three persons? If these, or other similar core doctrines, are denied, then however winsome, however exciting, however powerful or even miraculous the ministry, then we can test the spirit and judge the teaching false and the spirit behind it as not from God.

Third, observe how they treat the Bible. Someone might give lip service to the authority, but how is the Bible actually used in that ministry? Do they accept in practice the authority of the Bible? Is the Bible the functional center of that ministry? This is a critically important test today with many ministries marginalizing the Scriptures in practice. John puts it like this, “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” What John means by “we” here is the “apostolic we.” The apostles, as they teach authoritatively, and we as we read the apostolic teaching and the teaching confirmed by apostolic authority – the Bible – are to listen to what God says in the Bible. Test the spirits by the teaching’s, or the individual’s, or the movement’s attitude to the Bible. Is the Bible central? Do they listen to the Bible? Or is the Bible on the shelf, but not taught from, used, or given rightful place as authoritative?

There are several verses in Scriptures that advise us to test the spirits.  One common verse used is,  “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” found in 1 John 4:1.  The purpose for testing the Scriptures is to make sure we are receiving the proper teaching from the Word of God, the Bible.  This is because there are many false teachers, masquerading as servants of God and deceiving many (2 Cor. 11:13-15).  A Christian can test the spirits by carefully measuring the teaching of the false prophet against the Word of God, which was inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16; Acts 17:11).

Simply this: Ask every spirit to confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.

If that spirit is from God, it will confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.

If it’s not from God, it will not.

1 John 4:2-3 King James Version (KJV)

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

 

This one test will save you a lot of pain and suffering because satan appears to people as an angel of light:

2 Corinthians 11:13-14 King James Version (KJV)

13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

 

Case Study 1

Young girl aged 19 was speaking a voice in her head that called itself “The Father”.  When I told her to test the voice, the spirit immediately said do not test him because he is God.  The spirit was also able to push her into a rage, which she could not control.  As a result the spirit was able to stay inside her and possess her from time to time.  The spirit misquoted the passage about do not tempt God:

Matthew 4:7 King James Version (KJV)

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

Yes, we do not tempt God by doing something silly like self harm and expect God to save us but we must definitely test every spirit that appears or are speaking to us in our heads.

 

Case Study 2

An older lady had a spirit appear to her as Jesus Christ and instruct her to start fasting.  The spirit made her fast for 6 and a half months on juice and water.  It almost destroyed her intestines, marriage, family and her life itself.  The spirit finally revealed itself but by then she was already very ill.  God took pity on her and healed her body.  The failure to apply the test in 1 John 4:2 can have devastating consequences.

 

Related scriptures

We are commanded to do every word of God:

Matthew 4:4 King James Version (KJV)

4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

 

People are destroyed not because they don’t love God.  People can love God and still be destroyed because they don’t have knowledge:

Hosea 4:6 King James Version (KJV)

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

 

The word of God protects against spiritual attacks.  Always defend yourself against spiritual attacks by using scripture.  This is what Jesus did and this is what we must do also:

Hebrews 4:12 King James Version (KJV)

12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

 

What does John mean here by "spirits"? The Greek word here is pneuma which has a broad range of meanings. Strong’s says of pneuma: "a current of air, that is, breath (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively a spirit, that is, (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, daemon, or (divine) God." In this text John refers to the Spirit of God and the spirit of antichrist. By "spirits" he is referring to utterances or persons that are inspired either by God or antichrist. John’s readers are called on to test all utterances or persons to see if they are of God or of antichrist.

John characterizes the "false prophets" as the mouthpieces of the spirit that inspired them. The plural here indicates a reference to demonic or evil spirits behind the human prophets which inspire them. John believes that individual persons are inspired or led to confess or deny Christ by spirits--some reality beyond the human individual. What John is referring to here is "spiritual warfare." By "spiritual warfare" I mean battling with "spirit beings" who are non-physical, non-humans. They are supernatural beings.

Paul put it this way:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:10-12

Paul is saying that their struggle is not with humanity, in other words, it is not with mere human power. So what is the struggle with? Paul says it is "against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." We know what he is saying here. The question is what does he mean? The word "rulers" is from the Greek arche, which has a wide range of meanings: "chief (in various applications of order, time, place or rank): —beginning." The word "authorities" is from exousia, which means: "power, ability, privilege." These titles are used of human and spiritual powers. But notice the rest of the verse: "against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." "Cosmic powers" comes from the Greek kosmokrator, which, according to Strong’s Concordance means: "a world ruler, an epithet of Satan." Thayer's says it means: "lord of the world, prince of this age, the devil and his demons." This is its only use in the New Testament, but it is used of spiritual beings in the Testament of Solomon, a pseudepigraphal work attributed to Solomon. In the Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, kosmokrator means: "lord of the world, world ruler." It occurs in pagan literature as an epithet for gods, rulers, and heavenly bodies. Why would Paul use this word that is used only here in the Bible but was used in other literature for spirit beings if he did not mean spirit beings?

Paul goes on to say, "against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places"—these forces are "spiritual," they are not human, and they are in "heavenly places," which denotes the spiritual realm, the place where Yahweh dwells.

This is speaking about a battle with spiritual forces that are not flesh and blood. When it comes to spirit beings such as Satan, the devil, demons, and unclean spirits there are basically three positions.

(1) Some don't believe in a personal devil or demons; to them there is not, nor ever was, such thing.

(2) Some believe that Satan, demons, and unclean spirits are real beings that are still very active today.

(3) Some believe that Satan, demons, and unclean spirits are real beings, they but were all defeated and destroyed in AD 70 at the return of Christ when judgment took place.

We see the reality of the spirit world in the Gospels.

And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Yeshua of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God." But Yeshua rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. Mark 1:23-26

"But test the spirits to see whether they are from God"—"test the spirits" is a present active imperative. This is a necessity for every believer. But during the first century this was also a spiritual gift:

to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:10 ESV

It was a spiritual gift, but it was also the responsibility of every believer. It is my contention that all spiritual gifts ended in A.D. 70 with the coming of Christ and the close of the Jewish age. According to the teaching found in Acts 2:16-20, the charismatic gifts of the Spirit were for the last days. The last days began at Pentecost and ended in A.D. 70. The gifts were to continue until the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. When the Lord returned in judgment upon Jerusalem in A.D. 70, the gifts ended.

There is a lot of confusion today about Spiritual gifts. Why is that? It is because they were for the last days. When the last days ended, so did the gifts. This is why so many believers have no clue as to what their gifts are. They don't have one.

"Test the spirits"—the word "test" here is dokimazō. According to the third edition of the Bauer lexicon, the verb means "to make a critical examination of something, to determine genuineness, put to the test, examine." This word was used in metallurgy where metal was assayed as to its value, silver and gold, or metal was tested as to its strength, put through fire for such evaluation. Dokimazō was also used in a metaphoric sense for testing people before they were assigned to very prominent tasks or put into positions of rulership and responsible leadership.

How were they to test the spirits? They were to test everything by the teaching of the Apostolic circle. We are to test them by the Word of God. The most important thing that a church can do is proclaim the truth. That is its calling:

if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. 1 Timothy 3:15 ESV

The idea is that the Church's mission is to hold up the truth of God for all men to see. The Church is to support and display the truth of God. We are not the source of truth— the Bible is. But we are to support and display it. The Bible is God's Word, and the Church is to support and display that truth. I don't believe that the Church's mission has changed. We are always to be the pillar and support of the truth. This is done through faithfully expounding the truth of God's Word.

The Church’s job is to support and display that truth. As a believer, your job is to be like the noble Bereans and search the Scriptures to see if what is being taught is so. R.B. Theme, a preacher out of Texas, said, "The Bereans were jackasses, they had no business checking up on the preacher." Why would he say that? Were the Bereans out of line to go to the Scripture to check up on the message that Paul was preaching? No, they were not. Why did Theme say this about the Bereans? He said it because he wanted his people to blindly believe whatever he said. It was a form of psychological manipulation. False teachers do not want you checking up on them.

"For many false prophets have gone out into the world"— John especially had in mind the false teachers who had left the church and were drawing others after them:

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. 1 John 2:18-19 NASB

The false prophets are described as having "gone out into the world." This appears to be a direct reference to the secession of the opponents in 2:19 since the same verb exerchomai, "to go out, to depart," is used in both places. Additionally, the same verb also occurs in John 13:30 as a description of the departure of Judas Iscariot.

Warnings about false prophets operating within the Christian community are found in several places in the New Testament. Yeshua warned of false prophets:

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15 ESV

In this text, "sheep's clothing" is not talking about a wolf with a sheepskin over him so that he looks like a sheep. That picture comes from Aesop's Fable where a hungry wolf came upon a sheep's fleece lying on the ground in a field. The wolf realized that if it wore the fleece, it would look like a sheep from a distance. When the shepherd watched the flocks on the hillside, his garment was a sheepskin, worn with the skin outside and the fleece inside. This sheepskin mantle became the uniform of the prophets, just as the Greek philosophers had worn the philosopher's robe. It was by that mantle that the prophet could be distinguished from other men. But sometimes that clothing was worn by those who had no right to wear it. There were those who were not prophets of God, but they wore the prophet's clothing. They were false prophets.

Like Yeshua and John, Paul emphasized the demonic aspect of false teachers:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 1 Timothy 4:1 ESV

Paul warned that these men disguised themselves as apostles of Christ and servants of righteousness. Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, not darkness:

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 ESV

Paul warned the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Acts 20:29-30 ESV

Peter also warned of false prophets:

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 Peter 2:1 ESV

To understand John's instruction to test the spirits, we need to place it in the context of Johannine church life. People met in houses for worship and fellowship:

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 2 John 1:10 ESV

These scattered communities did not have immediate access to authoritative figures such as John or the Apostles. Communication with them was not always easy. Apparently John sent emissaries to communicate with the churches (3 John 5-8) who would sometimes carry letters such as these epistles. These congregations had been glad to welcome John’s traveling ambassadors. But there were also "false prophets" who, like the emissaries of John, claimed to speak the truth under the inspiration of the Spirit.

Ray Stedman has an interesting comment here: "It is significant that this warning comes in the midst of John’s discourse about love, because false spirits tend to make a great deal of the subject of love. Every cult, every deviant group, every false movement makes its appeal in the name of love." [Expository Studies in 1 John (Word), p. 296]

Believers, we need to test the spirits because there is a lot false teaching out there from the New Age Movement to the Masons and the Mormons—often under the umbrella of Christendom. Within the church there is a great variety of opinions. There are the liberals who deny the supernatural and the miracles. There are the ecumenists that want us all to join together even though we have grave and fundamental differences. There are also the Charismatics who want to add to the Bible their new revelations. Who is right? How can we find know? How do you go about establishing who is right and who is wrong? Is there a test? Yes, there is. John gives it to us in the next verse:

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Yeshua the Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Yeshua is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 1 John 4:2-3 

What does John give his readers as the test? The test which he gives to his readers relates to what the secessionists taught. It is a doctrinal test. Notice that John did not say that we can tell false spirits by their works. He said we can identify them as false spirits by their message. This was the acid test of a false prophet under the Old Covenant as well (Deut. 13:1-5).

According to the Lord Yeshua, false prophets were to be tested "by their fruits":

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Matthew 7:15-20 

Contrary to popular interpretation, this does not mean that they were to be tested by their works. Notice what Yeshua says about fruit later in this Gospel:

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:33-37 

This text proves that their fruits are their words. In other words, it is not what they do but what they say! Their behavior does not set them apart from the sheep, but their message does!

"Every spirit that confesses that Yeshua the Christ has come in the flesh is from God"—"every spirit that confesses" is a present active indicative which points to a continuing profession and not a past affirmation of faith. The Greek term "confess" is homologeō, which is a compound from "the same" and "to speak," meaning "to say the same thing." The "same thing" under consideration is that Yeshua the Christ is God in the flesh. This was the teaching of the Apostolic circle which later made its way into the written Word of God. Therefore, everyone who claims the same thing about this Apostolic and biblical truth, is, therefore, confessing a truth that is taught by the Holy Spirit.

This is the essential doctrinal test for the false teachers whom John was combating in this book. What do you think of Yeshua the Christ? That is a criterion that eliminates a host of heresies. When John states "Yeshua the Christ has come in the flesh," he is referring not only to His true deity but also to His true humanity. The Docetists taught that matter is evil; thus Yeshua was only a spirit-being who seemed to be a real man. The Cerinthian Gnostics, whom John was probably combating, taught that Yeshua was a mere man. "The Christ" was a divine emanation that came upon Him at His baptism and left just before His crucifixion. Yeshua was not literally the Christ and the Son of God. They believed that it was a sort of "phantom" affair. He only appeared to be God's Son in the flesh, but He was not literally so. But right away we see that this eradicates the truth that Christ came in the flesh. John is clear that anyone who does not believe this truth is not of God.

"Yeshua the Christ has come in the flesh"—the perfect tense affirms that Yeshua’s humanity was not temporary; it was permanent. This was not a minor issue. Yeshua is truly one with humanity and one with God. "Has come" implies His preexistence as the eternal Son of God. Yeshua stated His own preexistence when He told the Jews,

Yeshua said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." John 8:58 

Or, as John begins his gospel:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

So, the first test that you want to have for any teacher is their Christology—their doctrine of Christ which presupposes the doctrine of the Trinity. Anyone who denies the Trinity has a serious problem because Yeshua cannot be God come in the flesh and the second person of the Trinity in the fullness of what the New Testament teaches about Him if in fact there is not a Trinity. Notice what John says in his second epistle:

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Yeshua the Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. 2 John 1:3 

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Yeshua the Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 2 John 1:7 

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 2 John 1:9 

To believe in the wrong Christ is to perish!  Denying that the man Yeshua was also the Christ, that He came from the Father and was the pre-existent Son, that He took upon Himself human flesh apart from sin, and that He died on the cross is to deny the faith because in so doing, one denies Incarnation. By denying the incarnation, one denies the atonement because it had to be flesh and blood that died and atoned for our sin. You deny the resurrection which gives us new life, because it was not a physical resurrection if Christ did not come in the flesh.

To deny that Yeshua is true God and at the same time true man is to deny the Christian faith. To deny either Yeshua’s deity or His humanity is to deny that He is our Savior. If He were not God, He would have been a sinner and His death on the cross could not have atoned for anything beyond His own sins. If He were not man, He could not have assumed our sins on the cross (Heb 2:14-17). Thus, faith in Him to save from sin would be worthless. Thus, any teaching that denies that Yeshua is true God and true man, that as the second person of the trinity, Yeshua took on human flesh in the incarnation, is a doctrine of antichrist.

Any system that denies the deity of Christ, anything from Christian Science to Islam, denies the true nature of Yeshua the Christ and is the spirit of error. Many of the cults deny that the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in the Lord Yeshua in all of His deity. For example, the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Oneness group all deny some aspect of the personality of the Godhead—either an aspect in Yeshua’s personality, or the Godhead's three personalities. Then there are the liberals, many of which are saying in theological circles and seminaries and even in Bible colleges, that Christ was not God and did not even claim to be God or act as God—nor was He the one mediator between God and men. They teach that there are other ways that can bring us to God.

and every spirit that does not confess Yeshua is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 1 John 4:3 

John clearly taught that every spirit that denied the true nature of Yeshua was not from God. But he also taught that every spirit that did not "confess" Yeshua was not from God. Often a heretical teaching masks its deviations from the truth by simply failing to affirm important biblical truth. Rather than proclaiming, "Yeshua is not the Christ," they fail to affirm that He is the Christ.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

 

"Overcome" is from the Greek nikaō which according to Strong’s means "to subdue (literally or figuratively): - conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory." He uses nikaō 6 times in 1 John (cf. 2:13,14; 4:4; 5:4,5), 11 times in the Revelation, and once in the Gospel (cf. 16:33). By "overcome them," John means that his hearers have resisted the false teaching.

The Spirit protects us through God’s Word, be it oral to them or written to us, which reveals the truth about the person and work of Christ. The Word is the measure by which we test the spirits. We need to diligently study God’s Word in dependence on the Holy Spirit for understanding. Then we will be able to overcome false teachers.

"For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world"—this is an emphasis on indwelling Deity. The phrase "he who is in the world" refers to Satan (cf. John 12:31; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2) and his followers.

Since John issues warnings to his readers against being taken in by the false teachers (2:24; 2 Jn. 7-11), he appears to have believed that it was possible for true believers to go astray.

They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 1 John 4:5

Those who are from the world will be heard and accepted by others who likewise dwell within the sphere of the world. But those who are from God are heard by those who know God. These verses echo the sentiments of John 15:18-23, that is, the response of the world to Yeshua’s disciples mirrors its response to Yeshua. In the final analysis, it reflects the world’s response to God.

While the secessionists are from the world and are listened to by the world, the author and his community are from God. Those who truly know God will listen to them and not to the secessionists.

We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:6 

Most English translations reflect the Greek text which begins verses 4, 5, and 6 with emphatic pronouns: You—They—We. Three distinct groups are intended. "You" refers to the readers, "They" refers to the secessionists, and "We" refers to the same group designated as "we" in the Prologue. Some understand the "we" of verse 6 to refer to all believers. But it stands in antithesis to the "they" of verse 5, and so it is better to interpret it as referring to the apostolic circle. "We [the apostolic circle] are from God; the one who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us."

Now when John speaks of "us" collectively in verse 6, he is representing the apostolic circle. What he means is this: all who "know God" will accept the teaching of the apostolic circle found in the New Testament, and those who are not of God will reject and refuse the testimony of the apostles and the apostles' doctrine in the New Testament scriptures.

John Stott (p. 158) points out that John’s claim, "whoever knows God listens to us," would be the height of arrogance if he were speaking as an individual. But the apostles were entrusted with the special authority to lay the foundation of the church through their witness and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 16:16-18; John 14:26; Eph. 2:22; 2 Cor. 10:8). We have the apostolic teaching preserved in the New Testament. Thus the standard by which to judge anyone’s (including our own) spiritual discernment is: ‘What is the person’s response to the apostolic teaching about Jesus Christ as found in the New Testament?’"

"By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error"—this reference to the two spirits is reminiscent of teaching about "the spirits of truth and falsehood" in the Qumran literature (1QS 3:18–19, 25), indicating that the author was using a well-known concept here.

Believers understand this. None of us will listen to the message of Christ unless the Holy Spirit overcomes our resistance and gives us ears to hear:

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. Acts 16:14 

Every believer owes his orthodoxy to the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. If we stand with Christ, listening receptively and confessing loyally, it is because the Holy Spirit is greater than all other forces in the world and has made us to conquer the blindness and hardness of our own hearts and the deception of false prophets.

So, how do we believers living today test the spirits? We test everything by the Word of God. Believers, get familiar with your Bible—read it, study it, and be at home in it.

 In the Apostle Paul’s time, just as today, there are many who possess the Scriptures, but they are turned away to a different gospel, to a gospel and belief system that is far different than the written word contained in the Scriptures that they possess. Many are turned to a perverted gospel salvation message through the false teachings of many false prophets. 

Paul instructs us to not listen to the preaching from an angel of heaven, or even himself* if what is preached is a message that goes against the Scriptures. *Many ministers twist Paul’s words to overturn the laws of Scripture (2 Peter 3:16). ISAIAH 30:9-10: Children who will not hear the law of YHWH (the Lord); Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” MATTHEW 7:15: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” 

There are many false prophets, who like extremely hungry wolves, make a living catering to Christian children who will not hear the law of YHWH (the Lord) or are misleading the ignorant, lost, and naïve who are genuinely searching for the truth. Mainstream Christianity has, to a greater or lesser extent - depending on the denomination, rejected God’s laws. A believer seeking God’s true ways are not likely to learn about them in most mainstream Christian congregations today. 

Test today’s end time ministers through the Scriptures to see whether they are of God, because many of them are false prophets. BEING LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF GOD ROMANS 8:14: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. FRIVOLOUSLY BEING LED There are many today who proclaim that the Spirit is leading them in just about all activities during the course of their daily lives. “God told me to order this for lunch,” or “The Spirit led me to ask you this question…” are not uncommon statements by people claiming to be led by the Spirit. The problem with this type of being ‘Spirit-led’ is that people seem to be turning off their God-given brains, of which God gave us free will to make choices and decisions in our lives, and they claim to be completely submitting to the will of the Holy Spirit. The truth is, God doesn’t really want to control every aspect of our life, as long as we live within His commandments. 

Many Christians, who believe that God’s commandments have been abolished as a burdensome yoke, take on a much more extreme form of bondage, a mindless servitude mentality, losing all sense of identity, independence, and individuality, believing that the Holy Spirit commands and guides their every activity throughout the course and routine of their daily lives. When believers constantly talk by saying, “God told me to do this,” or “The Spirit led me to ask you this,” what they may actually be doing is speaking with empty words and / or breaking the third commandment, to not take God’s name in vain (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11; Ephesians 5:6).