Friday's Musings Try the Spirits

Fridays Musings   June 20, 2014    Meri Ford

In the last few days  I read an article somewhere on the Internet about the deception that the scriptures talk about in the last days. In that article he talked about how those that are coming as deceivers will NOT speak error or false doctrine until they have the confidence of people that are "following them." Then when they have a following, they will begin to sow false doctrine and heresy.

Recently while I was raking up the grass from a field which I had finally gotten cut with the rider mower, the whole thing about being caught by such deceivers came to my thoughts and with it that scripture that says, 

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

 Tests/try according to the Greek is  Strongs    δόκιμος (G1384)  as listed in Blue Letter BIble....

1. to test, examine, prove, scrutinise (to see whether a thing is genuine or not), as metals

As I pondered these things, I thought of how the article said, you cannot tell at the beginning if these are deceivers or true believers.  And I understand from the premise of his article that at the beginning of a man's preaching, it is difficult to discern if a man is a deceiver.  BUT..Holy Spirit brought this scripture up to my attention. No where does the scripture say "test or try the person or the person's teaching."   But instead it says...try the spirits examine....the spirit by which the man operates.  

Long ago Holy Spirit gave me some understanding of this when I would watch people asking people if they confessed Jesus Christ to come in the flesh. Some people had no idea what in the world that meant and I remember a man who told my dad on time, I don't know about all that stuff, I just know He is Lord and He loves me and has come to live in me.

AH HA...while that man doesn't know the "doctrine" of Christ come in the flesh, the spirit of which he was speaking, was "Christ come in his flesh. The power of God by Holy Spirit had come to live in his being...that is the "test of the spirits" not some standard by which we ask someone if they believe such and such.  This man expressed faith in the fact that Jesus Christ had come to live and dwell in his house of flesh.  

So as I raked 4-5 inches of grass into piles so I could later pitch fork them into the wheel barrow to go to the burn pile, Holy Spirit was showing me that only he who believes that Jesus Christ indwells them by Holy Spirit has the power to be saved from the deceiving wiles of wicked men.  And as the grass blew in my face, I saw that he who welcomes the indwelling of Christ, knows that he needs be taught of no man, but he is taught of Holy Spirit, the teacher.  Such a person can sit under any kind of teaching as he knows that His teacher is the Holy Spirit not the man. The person who is dependent upon the Helper, the Counselor, the Indwelling one who reveals Christ, can not be led astray.

So...Father what does this mean? From that inner awareness I understood that  it meant  that if you have teachers who expect you to follow them and their teaching, no matter how good the teacher or "anointed" person is, no matter what signs and wonders,..be aware that there is a spirit in that person that is antichrist or against Christ that could lead people astray.

Being a counselor, I found it is easy to have people become dependent upon me to learn and to grow. That is not the spirit of  Christ Jesus come in the flesh. Understanding this  makes a big difference in the way I counsel both in the secular realm and with my fellow Christians. The only value any teaching is, is found in  what Holy Spirit illuminates or quickens in another's understanding. When I am teaching in the secular realm, I would refer to the "light bulbs" that would go off in THEIR heads.  With the brethren, it is what thoughts Holy Spirit speaks into their understanding about what I might say or teach.    Unless an individual has assumed responsibility for the indwelling presence of God and the role of Holy Spirit as their teacher from the inside out, so to speak, they are vulnerable to deception.  There are a great number of very persuasive preachers, prophets, apostolic men and women  and counselors out there today.  It is necessary that we drink only of our own well, drink only of that spring of living water that rises up within us and invites us to   be renewed in the spirit of our mind (repentance--metanoia). Holy Spirit always gives us a choice. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty...freedom to choose. Yes, and freedom to reject Him.   The worldly teacher will ultimately lay condemnation, guilt and shame upon those who don't follow his teaching which the natural man often finds is safer than having the choice or the responsibility  to hear God for himself.  So what was the dilemma of the Israelites when they faced the result of telling Moses they would just hear God from him, instead of hearing and seeing God for themselves?  They went back to camp and got discouraged, and thought Moses was gone forever on the mountain and began to gather their gold and make an object to worship.  So it is with our old nature, it will quickly get discouraged when a teacher or preacher doesn't feed us, or they don't meet our need in some way and we are already on the idolatrous road.

As we grow in the knowledge of Christ, and I like the way Paul puts it, about "learning Christ", we begin to be comfortable listening to what Holy Spirit says, learning to rest and wait upon and in Him and trusting the Father's great love for us in Christ Jesus, that He would Himself come in the flesh suffer and die so that He could send Holy Spirit to come and dwell in our flesh.   That is the safety that we have from deception.  Yes, we can get the voice of God mixed up with our own understanding and ways, and can mess our own lives up, but that is different than the deception of antichrist which is abounding as we come into the end of the age.   And godly men and women will risk stepping into our lives and speaking forth the Word of Truth in order to "stir up the Spirit" within us so we can once again hear Him and grow in Him.

I think again of what that article I read  which said something like: You cannot tell the difference in the beginning with the preaching/teaching of the deceiver and the real thing. I keep hearing people talk about the wheat and the tares. It isn't our job to discern the difference. It was the angels who would come and do the reaping at the end of the age because it was impossible to tell the difference until they were ready to harvest.  Besides, one never knows if what looked like darnell/tares might become a new creature in Christ Jesus a week or two or three after we meet them.  None of this is really our business. Our business is being conformed to His image, which means being totally dependent upon the anointed one, Christ in me revealed by Holy Spirit.  Those who are so "dependent" upon Himself, may error, but they won't be  following  those who will ultimately deceive.   

Here is one of the neat things about following after Christ, the anointed one in me by Holy Spirit. Such believers also won't follow any other man, woman, preacher, apostle, prophet, evangelist, husband or wife. They will each be dependent upon the Holy Spirit as the source of their life, and understanding, and as such will relate to ALL men increasingly with the wisdom and knowledge that He who is Love is!  As we listen to Holy Spirit, and see those in our lives through the eyes of Himself, we will be increasingly conformed to the image of Christ until a point will come where this body won't hold that Life any longer and we will be joined with Him.  We will see Christ and Him crucified as we look at those men, women, prophets, preachers, children, etc..and not respond to people after their fleshly desires and thinking or image of themselves.

I trust you will wait upon the Lord and seek what He is saying through or about these things that I write.  

Meri

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