1 Jn 4:1  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.

  

The first thing this verse does is challenge naïve Christians! There are those who think the world is simple and straight forward. They aren't quite materialists, but are not far from it. John pushes us to the forefront of spiritual warfare. It's like he says, wake up and realise that not everyone and everything is from God. There are demons and spirits and people who are against God and against His people. Not everyone who comes into your life can be trusted!

 

Some people may seem ‘nice' people, clever people, ‘good' people, but that outward appearance may disguise an important truth – they are against God. How do we know that? It is incredibly simple: see what they think about Jesus. John went on, “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”. So whatever the religion or cult that does not accept that Jesus came from God, is operating under a different motivation.

 

It sounds so obvious, but it is, that the person who rejects Jesus is not of God because the evidence is so strong and obvious that he is. The question arises therefore, to whom do we listen? Are we aware from where people come, where their starting point is?