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.
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There is nothing new in that revelation from John. Way back in the beginning there in the Garden of Eden the serpent, Satan, came along seeking to destroy the relationship between God and man—and man and the woman! His tool was to call the Word of God into question saying ‘did God really say.’ That is the same weapon he uses even to this day!

I know that many believers don't really want to talk about or hear about false prophets, false apostles, false teachers, and even false Christs! Understandably the church today, like in the time of Isaiah when the people said to the prophets 'speak to us pleasant words, prophesy illusions' {Is.30:10} so many today want to have their ears tickled and will accumulate teachers who will teach exactly what they want to hear. {2Tim.4:3} A dark and evil tactic pretty much guaranteed to build larger and larger congregations!

From the devil in the Garden to the Lord's warning about the last days, the end of the age, Satan, that liar by nature who comes to steal, kill, and destroy {Jn.10:10} is indeed prowling about as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour! {1Pt.5:8} And the only defense that we have is to cling to the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus who is the truth! {Jn.14:6}

By and large, the larger part of the church does not want to hear that—it never has. As Jesus said to some Pharisees, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets' {Lk.13:34} He was not only speaking of history but of the future that was drawing near for Him when He would be rejected and crucified—and the future that we now live in. Of course He would also warn that many (not a few) would come in His name and claim to be 'Christ' or just 'anointed' as it says in the original Greek. {Mat.24:5} He then continued saying that many (not a few) false prophets would also arise and mislead many. {Mat.24:11}

So the apostle Paul would continue on in his letter to Timothy saying that in the perilous last days people would not endure sound teaching but would turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. {2Tim.4:3-4} In this last century we have seen so many of those false prophets, evil people and impostors going on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived {2Tim.3:13} saying that they have found “new” truths—which turn out to be the same old lies dressed in new clothes!

The question then becomes, in a world filled with lies by the father of lies, just as Pilate asked Jesus, 'What is truth?' {Jn.18:38} The answer is not complex, not difficult and certainly not far off, the simple answer is "JESUS" and here is the simple way to know it:

“Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'” (John 8:31-32)

BE ON THE ALERT, STAND FIRM IN THE FAITH