TESTING THE SPIRITS.

TESTING THE SPIRITS Once upon a time in the Kingdom of God (Heaven), war broke up. A creature lost his moral compass and overshadowed with pride and greed, stood against his Creator. When he defiled the majesty of God, rejected authority and spoke evil against the heavenly Dignitaries, he lost his authority and power as the archangel. He (Satan) did not prevail as Michael and His angels fought with him nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer (Revelation 12:7-9). The conception of evil defiled his image as the morning star, and all his prowess and pathos were overshadowed by deceit fraudulence, and diabolism. Instead of honouring his Creator, he wanted to be honoured. Instead of condescending before his Maker, he wanted to ascend above the heights of the clouds and be like the Most High. With all his efforts, he knew that he can never be God so his only accomplishment is to create a counterfeit God (thus to be like God). As his efforts were impeded by his unprecedented failure in the war in heaven, he carried his dreams down this earth; and human beings became his next target. Can he overtake man in genuineness? NEVER! To succeed demands a careful ploy and dissimulation. In the Garden of Eden, Satan transformed himself as a harmless serpent deceiving our first parents with his fallacies. The first ever false prophecy given on earth was in his first sermon "you will not surely die". Man responded to his alter call, and was baptized into destruction. Since that time, Satan has been roaming like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. As the serpent became his ambassador in Eden, so has he many apostles today who are sent by him, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. Like their master, their only means of captivating human mind is to prophecy falsely. As God speak faithfully through His holy prophets, Satan has sent many who professes to be of God but serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their belly; and by signs and wonders, miracles and words of prophecy, good words and fair speeches, deceive the heart of the simple (Romans 16:18; Philippians 3:19, Emphasis Mine). On this note, Christ's admonishing is that; "many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many; take heed that no man deceives you" (Matthew 24:4-11). In this case, it beholds on every child of God to test every faith or spiritual leader he/she aliens with. In testing, our blueprint is the Bible. The Bible provides us with some guidelines for testing the spirits: (a) A genuine prophet accepts Jesus as the only savior and professes that he has come in flesh and will come the second time to end sin and redeem the faithful (1 John 4:1-3). (b) The predictions or prophecies of a true prophet should be life transforming and must come into fulfillment (Deuteronomy 18:21, 22). With the exception of conditional prophecies (e.g.Jonah 3:3, 4), every prophecy of the prophet must come to pass, if not he is not of God. Also, the prophecy should not be on trivial issues including fake politics, football, gambling, etc. (c) Genuine prophets are to be known by the way they live their lives and by the outcome of their ministry - "therefore by their fruits ye shall know them" (Matthew 7:20). A prophet cannot speak for God who hates sin and still wallow in sin. That will surely misrepresent God, the one he speaks for. (e) Anyone who claims to be a prophet must speak what does not contradict God’s word - to the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isaiah 8:20). If someone claims to be a prophet or lead a ministry of God, total obedience to God’s law including the 7th day Sabbath should be the hall mark. As we near the end of this world's history, deceptions will multiply but man ought to test the spirits and take heed that he is not deceived. l