Because I’m a part of my church safety team, I pay attention to dangers that are not usually reported beyond the local level; both attacks on church properties and attacks on people attending. There are more of these attacks than most believers are aware of. A lot more. Now, some of this is just the effect of living in a world of fallen, broken people; thieves break in looking for something they can sell, thoughtless teenagers commit acts of vandalism, domestic disputes turn violent, angry people see an opportunity to strike, etc. In other cases, however, a church can be targeted because it is a church. Ranging from violent protests, to bomb threats, to arson, to shootings, these attacks occur with a frequency that is truly shocking, reminding us that the phrase “spiritual warfare” is more than a metaphor. The war is real, and it’s deadly.
Jesus warned his disciples that this would happen:
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me (John 15:18-21).
and:
They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them (John 16:2-4).
But although the war we are caught up in is real, the resurrection is real as well. My life, and the life of everyone who follows Jesus, is hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:2-4). That’s way Jesus could tell his disciples:
“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more” (Luke 12:4).
And why the Scripture also says:
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15).
If we believe that Christ has defeated death, then our lives will show that we believe it. That we are not afraid of death.
But as serious as this is, violence and persecution are not the real threat. Throughout the history of the church, the biggest danger has always been deception. Jesus said about our enemy, “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). And when he was asked by his disciples about the threats that were coming, the first thing Jesus told them was, “Watch out that no one deceives you” (Matthew 24:4; compare also Mark 13:5 and Luke 21:8).
Because the war is real, and because our enemy’s most dangerous weapon is deception, it is crucial that we learn to distinguish lies from the truth. Every message and every teaching that seems to come from God must be tested to determine whether or not it genuinely is.
Test Everything
For some this might be a radical concept, but if you think the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, whether it’s in a dream, thoughts while praying and studying the Bible, through circumstances, through other believers, or in any other way, you are supposed to test it. What the Apostle Paul wrote with respect to prophecy, “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:20-22), applies equally well to other ways that the Spirit appears to be speaking. The fact that something sounds Christian on the surface does not necessarily mean that it is. After all, “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). And John, the beloved disciple, wrote:
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 (1 John 4:1).
Now some of you reading this are probably already saying, “Okay, but how?” I’m glad you asked. Beginning in the very next verse, John continues with:
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. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world (1 John 4:2-3).
This is straightforward, but it seems rather limiting if we can only test ideas related to that one specific topic. Everything in Scripture has a context, however, and the context here is certain heresies that plagued the churches he was writing to. The more general rule is that God does not contradict himself. Any spirit, any thought, that contradicts what Scripture teaches is not from God. And any teaching that contradicts what the Scriptures teach is wrong
This should be the first test of anything, and at times it’s almost trivially easy. “I would be better off married to so-and-so instead of my current spouse” obviously fails this test, and is definitely not from God. “I should take money out of my savings to help my neighbor, who’s struggling” passes, and might be. Some times it really is that easy, but not always. Some errors are not obvious, and no one on earth has perfect knowledge of God’s word. But it is a general law of the universe that people (and animals, too) do get better at the things they practice. So studying God’s word, in a group or alone, with a study Bible and commentaries, or just reading and meditating on what you read, is spiritual warfare. Does that surprise you? Jesus used the Scriptures when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-3). There is, I believe, no better preparation for battle than devoting time to the Scriptures and to prayer. And no better way to detect, and reject, the lies of our enemy.
But, of course, not everything that feels like a prompt from the Holy Spirit involves actions that have either been commanded or forbidden by God. A sense that you should, for example, write a book, volunteer for a particular ministry, or move to Detroit might be from God. Or it might not. The Bible will not tell you whether you should do any of those things. Still, a deep knowledge of God’s word will help you as you consider whether or not this prompting, in the context of your own life and background, is the kind of thing God would say. That’s not as easy as simply looking up a verse, but it is, nevertheless, something that we should expect to get better at as we grow in maturity.
In addition to the test of God’s word, we should also be seeking advice from others whose wisdom we’ve learned to trust. Proverbs 11:14 tells us that “victory is won through many advisers.” God created us as social beings. He intended that we would uphold, encourage, and yes, advise one another. Without that connection, we are vulnerable to being led astray. Fellowship with other believers is not an optional add-on, but a basic need, and this is one of the reasons why. And even more critically, those of us who are married need to ask whether God has spoken the same thing to our spouses that we think he has spoken to us. This is, obviously, not a substitute for testing against Scripture, but it is a valuable supplement to it
Another test that I’ve found useful is simply to ask myself, “if I do this thing and I’m wrong about it being from God, what will the consequences be?” If, for example, some particular person comes to mind while I’m praying, would there be a down side to praying for them as well? Probably not, even if the prompting came from my own subconscious and not from God. If I can’t see how some particular prayer contradicts Scripture, then no further testing is warranted. Equally, there’s really no down side if I have an impression that I should go start up a conversation with somebody. As long as I’m polite and willing to back off if they prove to be uninterested, I should probably do it. Moving to Detroit, on the other hand, would require more certainty.
Did God Really Say?
Testing impressions and promptings and things that might or might not be prophecy is critical. But I think it’s even more critical to test the things that are being taught from the pulpit, and in books and videos and other media. Throughout the New Testament, one of the biggest problems that the early church faced was with people teaching things that were not true. To pick just one example, Paul wrote to the Galatians:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! (Galatians 1:6-9).
It had only been a short time since Paul had left these people, and already they were being led away from the grace of Christ into a false gospel. It clear from what he says that this is not just the confusion caused by people who are new in Christ misunderstanding the message; somebody, or more likely several somebodies in this case, was teaching them heresy.
Paul did not expect this to happen. Although he had not spent a great deal of time with these people, he had left believing that he had taught them everything they needed to persevere and grow in their faith. But the “weeds,” to use a term from Jesus’ parable (Matthew 13:24-30) weren’t just hiding among the wheat, they were traveling from one field to another, actively trying to convert good wheat into more weeds. This same Apostle Paul would later warn the elders in Ephesus:
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them (Acts 20:29-30.)
It was a warning based on hard experience. And it’s a warning that is still needed today. But Scripture also shows us some examples of people who were not deceived. One of these is in Acts 17:
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men (Acts 17:11-12).
I have sometimes heard Bible teachers say that asking “did God really say?” is dangerous because it’s the same question the serpent asked in Genesis 3:1. But both God’s command and the example given in Scripture say otherwise. There’s no question about the serpent being presented as an example we should follow; he’s not. But that fact does not outweigh the example of the Bereans, who are called out in Scripture for their noble character. “Did God really say?” is precisely what the Bereans were praised for asking. Much less does it outweigh the clear command of 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22 and 1 John 4:1-3.
Ironically, when we look at the full text of the serpent’s question:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1).
it’s obvious that the answer is, no. God had not said what was being claimed (Genesis 2:16-17). And far too frequently, when I read or hear somebody telling me not to ask that question, it turns out that they’re also teaching something that can’t pass the test; either something that is contrary to what the Scriptures actually teach, or else something that the Scriptures do not teach, but that this individual claims is necessary for Christians to believe. I can easily give examples of both that I’ve encountered, but I expect that all of you, if you think about it, can come up with your own.
Nowhere in Scripture are God’s people told to study how to cast out demons (although we are also not commanded to avoid studying that). But over and over again, in both Old and New Testaments, we are called to study God’s word (Deuteronomy 11:18-19, Joshua 1:8, Romans 15:4 and 2 Timothy 2:15 just to name a few places). Our enemy is a very experienced liar; he’s been doing it since long before you and I were born. Deception, not violent persecution and not demonic oppression, is the true face of spiritual warfare. The only way we have to recognize the enemy’s deceptions is to study the truth. Casting out demons may be exciting, but learning to discern truth from lies is what wins the victory.