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The First Epistle of John Chapter 4 (1Jn 4:1) Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. John warns against naivety among Christians. It may well be that you would listen to any Bible teacher who calls himself a Christian and sounds plausible. It may be that you would listen to whatever any professing Christian tells you is right for your life and think this message has come from God. John means for us to be more discerning about listening to spiritual teaching, because the human spirit of the teacher might be influenced either by the Holy Spirit or by the spirit which is of the world. Demons are teachers of religious ‘truth’ ( 1 Tim 4:1), the devil tried unsuccessfully to mislead Jesus in this way (Matt. 4:6) and many so called teachers are influenced by demon spirits, not by God. To speak anything in the name of the Lord which is outside of the scope of His Word is to be a false prophet. (1Jn 4:2-3) By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world. What follows is not a test of infallibility of the teacher, but a test of the source of their teaching. If you really want to know if you can trust what any religious leader or teacher says, then you must examine their Christology. Nothing less than an exalted Christology, the belief and confession that Jesus is fully man yet fully God manifest in the flesh is a basic requirement. If they are wrong here, they will be wrong everywhere –and they are influenced by the spirit of rebellion, which is manifest in the hearts of men, but which finds its origin in the first rebel – Satan, who makes it his business to lead people astray from truth and blind them to it (2 Cor. 4:4). (1Jn 4:4) You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. John is certain of the conversion of his readers; he is confident that they are born of God and share his nature; and therefore he is able to assert that they have perfect victory over all the world and all