Testing the Spirits: Part One

Chapter Forty-four:

A. W. Tozer warns us, "Strange as it seems, the danger today is greater for the fervent Christian than for the lukewarm and the self-satisfied. The seeker after God's best things is eager to hear anyone who offers a way by which he can obtain them.  He longs for some new experience, some elevated view of truth, some operation of the Spirit that will raise him above the dead level of religious mediocrity he sees all around him, and for this reason he is ready to give a sympathetic ear to the new and the wonderful in religion, particularly if it is presented by someone with an attractive personality and a reputation for superior godliness."

For many years, believers have thought they were living in what the Bible calls "the end times".  Every generation, due to the decreased morality they saw going on about them and the increase in sin and pride, felt that their generation would be the one to see the second coming of Christ. Our current generation is no different.  I cannot say if we will be the generation that does see Christ's return, but I can say that we have declined even more morally and sin abounds.  

Fortunately we do have a resource that tells us what the signs will be for the "end times", and that source is the Holy Bible.  The Bible tells of events that will happen so that no one can say they were not warned and were not given time to repent and get right with God.  Mathew 24:4 is where Jesus tells us that deceit (deception) will be the first sign..."For many will come in my name, claiming 'I am the Christ' and will deceive many."  He goes on to talk about wars and rumors of wars, famines etc.  What I want to focus on is the deception that He forewarns where believers will succumb to these false prophets if they are not prepared and know what to look out for (Matthew 24:23,24).

Christ is strongly warning us that Satan will come as an angel of light and will be so believable that he will convince people that he is sent from God. Second Corinthians 11:13-14 warns us when it says, "For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." What will be offered to us by the enemy's trying to deceive us will be so beautiful and enticing that it will be difficult to say no and walk away from it. 

Imagine yourself going to the market to get food for your family one day.  You notice a group of excited people, gathered around a man.  Out of curiosity, you go over to see what is happening.  As you approach, you start hearing things like, "He made that blind man see!", and "Look, that woman no longer has to use her wheelchair...she's walking again!".  As you get closer, you hear a man telling people that he has been sent by God and is doing miracles as proof he has been sent by God and that you should follow him and listen to his preaching.  How would you know he was being truthful?  How would you know he was really from God and was not doing miracles and preaching by the power of Satan?  

In the banking business, they are taught to distinguish counterfeit money from real money by studying real money and being so familiar with it that they can spot counterfeit as soon as they see it.  They are not taught to learn all the differences of counterfeit money.  They focus on studying the real thing. It is the same way with believers.  We need to be so close to God, and so in tune with the Holy Spirit that as soon as we see or hear a "counterfeit" we can tell it for what it is.

Second Thessalonians 2:9 warns us that there will be "...all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders".  Satan is the master counterfeiter and it will be extremely difficult to tell if the miracles one sees are actually from God or if they are being produced by the enemy.  You may think that it sounds unlikely that one can be deceived so easily, but let us look at the Scriptures for proof. The Apostle Paul warned of these days in 2 Timothy 4:3: “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."

We find an example of  Satan counterfeiting God's actions in Exodus 7:10.  During this time, God was using Moses as His instrument to help the Israelites get released from the tyranny of Pharaoh. He sent Moses and Aaron to see Pharaoh and instructed Aaron to throw down his staff in order that it would be turned into a snake, thus proving the one and only Living God was not only true, but was serious about His wanting His people released. But read on and you see that after Aaron's rod turned into a snake, Pharaoh had his sorcerers come in and they turned their rods into snakes also.  These men were not drawing on God's power to do this but were drawing on Satan's power to do this.  Thus, we see that Satan can counterfeit God's miracles. In the end, Aaron's staff swallowed up the other snakes, but not after we are shown that Satan does have the ability to counterfeit and copy God's miracles.

 John Newton said, "But, let him look and talk as he desires--he is Satan still; and those who are experienced and watchful may discern his cloven foot hanging below his fine garment of light! He is never more a devil--than when he looks most like an angel. Let us beware of him; for many wise have been deceived, and many strong have been cast down by him. Let us continually apply to him who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us spotless in the end."

Unfortunately, many Christians have watered down the seriousness of Deuteronomy 18: 9-14 where God is commanding us that we are not to become involved in such things as fortune telling, sorcery, enchantments, divinations, Ouija boards, tarot cards, palm reading, reading your horoscope etc., as all this power comes directly from Satan and is NOT harmless entertainment as many of you may have come to believe.  This is another reason believers need to learn how to test the spirits because many dabble in these activities, and when something happens they believe it is from God, but it is not! If you have been involved in any of these activities, you need to immediately renounce them, ask the Lord's forgiveness and run, not walk, away from them.

I personally believe that we are seeing a massive shift in our culture even now, and that shift is towards the one world government that is prophesied in the Scriptures. And the start of that will be having a one world religion.  We, here in the U.S.A., are being encouraged to unite with other religions and those who simply believe differently than we do,  in order to bring about positive social changes. It may sound good for all to unite, but it is being presented to us under the guise of patriotism, equality, justice and unity. 

As followers of Christ, we have to be very careful whom we align ourselves with as many will claim to know Him, but do not follow the same Biblical teachings that we adhere to. First Titus 1:16 describes these individuals when it says, "They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him." God warns us in Second Corinthians 6:17 that if Bible believing Christians unite with false teachers (of any other religion or even a Bible professing church that has gotten off track), regardless of their good  intentions, He will not and cannot accept it.  God commands us in Second Corinthians 6:17, "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord...".  God is well aware of how intermixing ideas and beliefs can have very negative consequences.

In Parts Two and Three, we will look at how one actually tests the spirits to see if something is really from God and is safe for you to incorporate into your walk with Christ.