a discerning spirit

The Lord gave His church the Holy Ghost and nine gifts to access the blessings of the Lord.  All of the gifts are very important and one is no better than the other, they’re all from the Holy Spirit.  However, there is one gift that the last days church needs above all the others.  Jesus said that in the last days deceivers would be very prevalent, so the gift we perhaps need the most is discerning of spirits.  When people are misled about God’s Word, which is Spirit, it affects their natural life.  Religion can make the Bible say whatever it wants to, you can see what the doctrine of greasy grace has done to some Christians.
 
1 John 4:1 Believe not every spirit, but try (test, examine, discern) the spirits whether they are of God, for  the world is full of false prophets.
 
The ministry of a false prophet is to challenge your allegiance to the Lord Jesus and to persuade you to follow them.  When they solicit for new recruits they always share two major methods.  At first they will appeal to your emotions in an attempt to get you sympathizing with their cause.  If that doesn’t work they will turn to threats, they conjure up a fabricated consequence for not siding with them.  There is one thing a false prophet just loathes, it is a man who wants to think their proposal over before making a decision.
 
We are instructed to try or to discern the spirit, which is the motivation behind every entity, good or evil.  A demonic spirit at any level hates it when people try them, it destroys their element of surprise.  When you try a spirit you are examining their fruit, past and present, an evil tree cannot produce good fruit.  A false prophet can testify of good fruit but that doesn’t make it true.  A good tree has nothing to hide, they welcome men to investigate them because then they will see Jesus.
 
Galatians 6:3 If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
 
Some men have a very high opinion of themselves and they love to share their façade with whosoever they can get to listen to them.  The devil will never appear as himself when he is out to deceive, he will appear as a serpent if that’s what it takes.  Sometimes he will use a handsome woman and call her Delilah, or he will use an accountant named Judas.  If a believer will take the time they will discern the antics of the devil and spoil his whole plan.  Jesus said His sheep do not know the voice of strangers and they would flee from them.  Well some strangers have learned to disguise their voice to sound like Jesus.  A lot of men can sound like God but there is only one true God and He reveals Himself to whosoever.
 
Mathew 24:4 And Jesus said, take heed (beware) that no man deceive you.
 
The most successful deceiver is the man who himself is already deceived, he can be very convincing because he is convinced.  God gave us His Holy Spirit for a reason, rely on His judgement and let Him reveal what is right and what is wrong.  One of the greatest joys you will ever have is converting a deceived person to the truth.  I was deceived and went to church every Sunday in order to avoid hell.  But folks who loved me read the Bible to me and I could not resist their wisdom.  Thank God.

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