A The Baptist Deacon

   Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Today I am beginning a study on 1^st John chapter 4.  I believe that there is a lot of information contained in this chapter. I am not sure how may post I will make on this chapter, but I do encourage you to read, study and search out the truth for your selves.  I am also open to comments if you feel lead to post one.

Let us now look at verse one. It begins with the word Beloved. Who is he speaking too?  Answer: he is speaking to believers in general. We are God’s beloved. He was speaking to believers in his time and if we will listen he is speaking to believers today. That is the great thing about the word of God. There isn’t an expiration date. It applies to our lives each and every day. It is our road map in order to remain on our course. The answers to even the hardest of lives questions are contained within the Holy Word of God.

Okay back to our verse. We have already established who he is talking too. Let’s look at what he has to say: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Can it be that there was great evil in that day? Yes. (I wonder how it compares with what we have to deal with today.)  Here he is teaching us that we should not believe every spirit. We are to try the spirits and find out if they are from God.

There are people in our world who claim to be a preacher, pastor, deacon or church member. They come in all shapes, sizes and varieties. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

They come building new churches. They have new plans of salvation.  They say my way is better than your way. Come and check us out. We will be out of here early enough on Sunday that you can make that big game, or get to the lake in time to cookout and watch all those people who barely have any clothes on.

They say come shake my hand and become a member of my church, just don’t forget a copy of last years income taxes, so I can make sure you don’t cheat the church and I can get a raise on my salary.  They want bragging rights of how many people have been saved in their church, so they say if you want to go to Heaven, come repeat this prayer and everything will be okay.

So do you get my point? There are evil people out there. They are allowing themselves to be used of the devil. They are false profits and folks we haven’t seen anything yet.

We are warned to try the spirits and see if they are of God. You know what that means? We “Christian people” have the ability to determine what is right or wrong.  Wait a minute I hear you. You are saying I have been able to tell right from wrong sense I was a child.  Okay, but why are there so many false religions?  You have to dig deeper spiritually, to see whether they are of God or of the devil.

Do not get caught with your spiritual blinders on. If it seems new to you, try it to see if God sent it.  You have heard the saying if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. 

Don’t take these things at face value. Investigate; make sure it is from God. We can discern those who set forth doctrines according to the apostles, and those who contradict them.

False teachers are influenced by demonic spirits (1 Timothy 4:1), and their teachings--even with respect to the Scriptures--should be rejected. ~ KJV Defenders Study Bible

I’ll stop here for today. Next time I’ll start with verse two and see if we can get a little bit farther in the chapter.

God Bless!

I am from Sparta Tennessee. It is a small town in the middle of the state East of Nashville and West of Knoxville.
I have been a Christian for twenty - one years. This does not mean that I am perfect just forgiven, saved by the wonderful grace of God.
I am married to a wonderful woman and we have four kids three boys and a little girl.
I am active in my community as well as in my church. I am currently serving as church clerk and treasurer. I was set aside for the office of Deacon and ordained in May of 2002.

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