Quality Control Series

Quality Control

1 John 4:1-6

May 9, 2004

1 John 4:1 (NIV)

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.

Many Spirits at Work

 Not all are good

 Many false spirits in the world

 Not always outwardly evil

 False teaching often comes in a “Christian” wrapper

 May have an appealing message

Is this scriptural?

"Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power, and at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll?"

 Book of Mormon, Mormon 5:23

What Else Do They Say…?

God is not a uniquely eternal being. All spirit is self-existent matter and is eternal (without beginning or end). Such matter (called intelligences) sometimes becomes organized into a spirit being through birth to celestial parents. Then that spirit is born through human parents on earth. Like all people, God took this course and eventually reached Godhood.

Doctrine & Covenants 93:29, 33

In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was a god.

New World Translation, John 1:1

What Else Do They Say…?

“…we are begotten of a divine nature…Jehovah is thus our father…we are divine beings – hence all such are Gods…Now we appear like men, and all die naturally as men, but in the resurrection we will rise in our true character as Gods”

Watchtower, December 1881

Test the Spirits…

 Test for God’s presence and righteousness

 Evidenced by the teachings of Christ

 Humanity

 Deity

1 John 4:2-3 (NIV)

This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Antichrist

 Defined as: Any person, thing, doctrine, system, etc…opposed to Christ, the Holy Spirit and the spread of the gospel

 Coming – the Antichrist of end times – 1 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 13:5-6

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 (NIV)

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

Revelation 13:5-6 (NLT)

Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do what he wanted for forty-two months. [6] And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and all who live in heaven, who are his temple.

Antichrist

 Defined as: Any person, thing, doctrine, system, etc…opposed to Christ, the Holy Spirit and the spread of the gospel

 Coming – the Antichrist of end times – 1 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 13:5-6

 Already here

 Cults

 Gnosticism

 Atheists

1 John 4:4 (NIV)

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

We Are Over Comers

 The spirit of false teaching is overcome by each of us

 God’s presence within us gives us the power

 His power is greater than that of the enemy

1 John 4:5-6 (NIV)

They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Pleasing to the Ear

 False teachers teach what the world wants to hear

 Socially acceptable

 Politically correct

 God’s teaching is recognizable to the believer

 Rejected by the world

**Powerpoint available on request