discerning of spirits

When the Holy Spirit came He brought with Him nine gifts that belong to the church. Sometimes people debate over which is the most important gift. Allow me to put an end to all the debates, the most important gift of all is the Holy Ghost. Not one of the nine gifts is more important than the others. If we were to say tongues is the most important gift, then the other eight would have no importance. The best gift is the one the Holy Spirit ministers to at the time. We are at a time in the church age where one particular gift is very much needed!
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1 Corinthians 12:10 ...to one is given by the Holy Spirit the gift of discerning spirits.

Jesus told His disciples that in the last days the greatest threat to the church would be deception. Despite His warning and despite that He sent the Holy Spirit and the nine gifts, the church in general is operating in a high level of deception. Many denominations are performing same-sex marriages and some have ordained homosexual ministers. Those folks have become masters at twisting the Scriptures to say what they want them to say. "God is love and love could never condemn a man to hell"! The Apostle Paul warned the church about the coming of the "doctrine of devils", but many churches didn't get the memo.

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when (Christians) will not tolerate sound doctrine; but they shall gather to themselves teachers, having itching ears.

It's a sad state of affairs, but many churches have adopted the doctrine of devils to be their doctrine. Deception, just like ignorance, is a choice. People choose to believe what they believe and they never question the source. Just like a fantasy, some people want to believe what they hear and see, they are easy marks for the devil. The members of these organizations will never find the truth in their church because the leaders are deceived. I know what I'm talking about because I was a member of one of these deceived groups. The pastor taught us out of a book called "deception 101", he was very convincing because he believed in the lies he taught to us.

1 John 4:1 Believe not every spirit (human), but try the spirits (humans) whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Let me show you a little trick I learned about dealing with people who hold to false doctrine. If you question them and press them on the issue they will end up getting upset. They cannot defend their false doctrine in light of the truth. They have reimagined the Scriptures and they cannot tolerate a challenge of what they believe. How do we try the spirit (human)? Jesus told us that by their fruits we would know them. Observing one's fruit takes time and some Christians don't take the time they need in order to know who is teaching them.

If a spirit-filled believer is walking in the Spirit(truth) they are very difficult to deceive. The Lord is on the side of the righteous, He will expose deception to you supernaturally. When you are dedicated to the truth, the false stuff is very easy to discern. I went to listen to a popular speaker one night and I never heard him say one thing wrong. But as I sat there the Lord gave me three words: phony, phony, phony. I didn't say anything right away but I knew in my spirit not to connect with this man. A short time later he came out with some "phony" doctrine and he lost his following, thank God. I have been deceived and I hate deception. I thank God He has given me a discerning spirit to know the truth.