Test The Spirits Series

Ninety years ago (1926, 1927, 1929, 1930?), as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were preparing to play the USC Trojans in college football, Notre Dame’s coach Knute Rockne was aware that his USC opponents had a far better team. So he devised a scheme to intimidate the opposing players.

Rockne scoured the city of South Bend, Indiana (Notre Dame's hometown), and hand-picked 100 of the largest men he could find—each at least six-foot-five and 300 pounds (This was in the days when the average college football player weighed 200 pounds or less). He put the men in Fighting Irish uniforms and, at game time, marched them onto the field ahead of the real team. (Obviously, this was before the days of limited rosters and eligibility restrictions.)

As USC watched those giants line up on the sidelines, they forgot about their talent and their undefeated record, and they began mentally preparing themselves for a beating. Though none of the specially recruited men played during the game, their presence on the sidelines was enough to knock USC’s concentration off balance. Knute Rockne's trick had worked; he had intimidated the Trojan players into giving up before the game even started. (Steve May, Sermonnotes.com; www.PreachingToday.com)

Today, the enemy of your soul would do the same thing to you. As a believer in Christ, you are on a far better team, God’s team! But Satan wants to intimidate you into giving up even before you begin. Please, don’t let him. Don’t be fooled by the devil. Don’t fall for his tricks, and don’t let him intimidate you.

You see, since Christ defeated Satan on the cross, the only play he has against believers is deceit and intimidation, and he is very good at it. So how do you recognize Satan’s schemes? How do you keep from being fooled and intimidated? Well, if you have your bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 John 4, 1 John 4, where the Bible tells us how to discern truth from treachery.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (ESV)

Don’t believe everything you hear, because there are a lot of liars in the world. Some of them claim to speak for God, but they only speak for themselves, or worse yet, an evil spirit. So...

TEST THE SPIRITS.

Examine every source of information. Investigate every speaker to see if he or she is genuine.

The Greek word for “test” was used in Bible days to describe the testing of metals, like gold or silver, to prove them genuine. And that’s what you need to do with every source of information you receive – prove it genuine; test it to see if it is pure. You see, good liars are masters at mixing a little bit of error with a whole lot of truth. But like a little bit of rat poison in an otherwise healthy, delicious meal, their words are deadly to your spirit.

In an interview with New York Magazine several years ago, Lady Gaga said: What I've discovered is that in art, as in music, there's a lot of truth—and then there's a lie. The artist is essentially creating his work to make this lie a truth, but then he slides it in amongst all the others. The tiny little lie is the moment I live for, my moment. It's the moment the audience falls in love. (Vanessa Grigoriadis, “Growing Up Gaga,” New York Magazine, 3-28-10; www.PreachingToday.com)

Now, I don’t mean to bash Lada Gaga, but she describes the mastery of Satan to fool many people. He slides a lie into a whole lot of truth, and people fall in love with it. You see it in the media all the time if you care to examine it.

In fact, just a few years ago (2016), The Economist magazine featured an article entitled, “Yes, I'd lie to you: The post-truth world.” The article analyzed the dishonesty that's wreaking havoc in politics, journalism, social media, and many other areas. One expert quoted in the article said, “Right now, it pays to be outrageous, but not to be truthful.”

The article also highlighted one of the most effective ways to tell lies – by hiding the truth in a glut of information. For example, China's authorities do not try to censor everything they do not like on social media, but often flood the networks with distracting information. (“Yes, I'd lie to you,” The Economist, 9-10-16; www. PreachingToday.com)

That not only happens in China; it happens everywhere all the time. The glut of information distracts from the real truth and leads many people astray. Don’t you be one of those people! Instead, test the spirits. Examine every source of information to make sure it is 100% pure and genuine. In other words, listen carefully to every communicator. First...