Failure to test the Spirits

The testing of the Spirits is something that was commanded and practiced in ancient Israel as recorded in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is filled with instances of both the wise and proper testing of a messenger, spirit, or prophet, and the tragedy of failing to test a messenger, spirit, or prophet. 

In Deuteronomy 18:21-22 this is precisely the test that the people of ancient Israel were to use when discerning a message from a leader claiming to speak on behalf of God. 

21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

Here we see that John’s exhortation to test the spirits is one that is rooted in the Old Testament law of God. We can observe several instances when failure to listen to this command leads to destruction, and when adhering to this command leads to blessing. 

One Old Testament example can be seen in the death of King Ahab. The same King Ahab that was reigning during the life and times of Elijah. The same King Ahab who married Jezebel. This King’s death is recounted in 1 Kings 22 as he rejects the true prophet of the Lord. 

Another Old Testament example can be seen in the life of King Saul, the first Monarch of Israel. Saul rejected the Lord’s prophet Samuel, he rejected his commands before battle, and then continually lived without repentance, seeking his own way rather than the Lord’s. In 1 Samuel 16:14 we’re told “Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.”. Eventually we see just how far Saul has fallen in his willingness to submit to false spirits as he consults with a witch, and takes his marching orders from a place of evil fear, rather than a place of faithful observance of God’s word. 

A New Testament example is found in Acts 5: Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. They are not simply accused of being greedy, or with being stingy, or withholding what is rightly God’s. They are not accused with theft, but rather, Peter rebukes Ananias as acting out of a heart filled with the evil one lying to God:

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

Another New Testament example is found in the betrayal of Judas. His betrayal of Jesus is given to us as the outworking of the spirit of the evil one. John 13:2 “During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot”. The evil one is about the business of rebellion against God. Those who are of the family of the evil one, are about the business of rebellion against God. 

Evil spirits deny Christ. They oppose the work of Christ to heal, restore, and unite. They seek the immediate and eventual ruin of those whom they torment. They follow after their father, the father of lies. We get that name for the evil one from Jesus’ teaching in the gospel of John. In John 8 Jesus is teaching regarding the God the Father. 20 times the word Father comes up in that exchange at the Mount of Olives. As Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees, he draws a razor sharp line line between himself and the Pharisees: 

38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” 39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Wow! Jesus’ words are true, cutting, and freeing for those who listen and heed, they are frightening, damning, and troublesome for those who ignore or reject. The father of lies continues to lie as is befitting of his character. In this way there is some truth to the saying by the fictional Captain Jack Sparrow “You can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest”. The children of the evil one are deceivers, even as they are children of deception. The children of God listen to the truth of God even as they have been redeemed by the true son of God.