THE PREACHER/MINISTER/PASTOR

(What Does The Bible Teach About Preachers?)

Part 62: How To Test Those Who Claim The Spirit of God (Jeremiah 23:16; I John 4:1-2).

Greetings Brethren,

Peace be unto you. We are grateful to God our Father for the blessings received from reading and studying His word. Thanks be to God for our Savior Christ Jesus and for the Spirit of God revealed in the Holy Spirit.

Brethren the rocky but smooth road to the free gift of salvation is not complicated. It is not a hard task to keep God first and stay in prayer. However this must be your consistent behavior. In this you will be able to discern right from wrong and separate the sheep from the goats.

Peace and Love, Carl A. Patton a willing and humble slave of Almighty God writing for the FreedomJournal 18 September 2006 in the year of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.

In the name of God, Master of the universe, Ruler of the earth

Beloved we continue our discussion taken from I John 4: 1-2. The Spirits (in verse 1) means those men who profess to be speaking by inspiration. These are the men noted in the lst verse (I John 3:24) of I John 3.

Often the false teachers claimed that they were inspired by God. In reality they moved with a spirit to beguile the ignorant. Therefore the writer warns the brethren (I John 4:1) at this place not to believe all that come claiming to the inspired by God Thus they are instructed to try them which is to test them by the rule noted in verse 2. But before we make mention of verse 2 of I John 4 we will discuss some companion scripture taken from I Thessalonians 5 that applies directly to both verses taken from I John 4: 1-2.

I Thessalonians 5: 19-21: "Quench not the Spirit.

"Despise not prophesying."

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

Brethren as an aside from our primary discussion we make the following statements. Those that believe in the Pagan act of Cremation (that claim to be believers) argue that God is only concerned about the Spirit. Therefore they can do anything with the body. However we advise you to read and study what God says abut the Sprit in the Bible. Several scripture references generate from the place of our present discussion in I Thessalonians 5:23 which is the only place in the Bible where we find body, soul and spirit in the same scripture. We also advise you to note Genesis 2:7 where the origin of the body and soul of man is noted. Also see Zechariah 12:1 where God formed the Spirit. Now back to our primary discussion.

To quench or hinder the word of God would be to quench the Spirit. There is a lot of quenching going on if you tune into the false teachers of today.

Meanwhile as the Prophet's of Paul's day came as inspired by God many were treated with indifference by the Brethren. Paul warns against this in verse 20.

In verse 21 we see Paul revealing that we are to test those that come as inspired men to see if they are actually from God. So as we return to I John 4 we pick up with verse 2 where the writer reveals a clear way to test and discern the Godly from the ungodly.

During the time John wrote this epistle no one denied that Christ had lived upon the earth. But some denied that he was divine in a body of flesh, although this had been predicted in the Old Testament. Also some still waited on the Christ to come.

Therefore John reveals that the test and try the Spirit by the Spirit is noted in those that acknowledged the divinity of Christ. To do this one had to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Brethren today as we look at the merits of the test for the righteous as noted in I John 4:2 we see a pagan and foolish notion. Many come (false teachers) claiming that Jesus Christ is God while some deny He is divine and was only flesh. Once again if you rely on those that claim to speak for God and are irresponsible toward study of the word you will remain lost.

Cont. Part 63: The False Prophecies of Peace (Jeremiah 23:17)

About the Author

Peace be unto you.