HOW DO YOU TEST FOR EVIL?

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Although there is no litmus paper test to discern what is of God and what is of the devil and his demons, there are some guidelines spelled out for us. The first is straight from the teachings of Jesus and the others come out of the New Testament letters.

FIRST-TEST OF FRUIT-Matthew 7:15-20-"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits."

So, the test here is that we are to look for the fruit of whatever teacher or teaching that is being presented. I see the fruit meaning that the genuine will look and sound like Jesus and the false fruit will be clearly a little off. There is a good sub-principle here to note. Fruit takes time to develop, so don't be quick to accept something as of God. Something that has helped me is to understand that all that is supernatural is not necessarily of God. It could be from the other side-the Evil One.

The other tests come outside of the Gospels: SECOND-TEST OF SCRIPTURE-I Corinthians 4:6-Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.

This kind of goes along with the "you'll-know-them-by-their-fruits" test. So much of what is taught today as coming from God emerges out of some really bizarre experiences that have never been even referenced anywhere in the scripture. One of these might be the phenomenon of gold teeth "supernaturally" appearing in the mouth of people in a healing service. This is not something to be welcomed as from God without closer scrutiny. Why? Because you don't see it in the scripture at all, so be careful not to go beyond what is written. Those who have referenced this kind of phenomenon to me have expressed it in such a way so as to arrogantly point out that this is a true evidence that this is of God.

THIRD-TEST THAT JESUS CHRIST CAME IN THE FLESH-I John 4:1-4-Beloved, 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. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

John actually says that we ought to "test the spirits" to see whether they are from God and not false prophets. The test here is the acknowledgement that Jesus the Christ came in the flesh. When Paul spoke to the issue of Gnosticism in Colossians, he made it clear that all the fullness of God is found in Jesus in bodily form. Those who deny that Jesus the Christ, God's Messiah, actually came in human flesh are not of God.

FOURTH-TEST THAT JESUS IS LORD-I Corinthians 12:3-Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

This seems to say that no one can say "Jesus is Lord" or Jesus is Jehovah or Jesus is God unless he is speaking or teaching in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. So, if a person cannot say this and mean it is not of God.

There is a bottom-line test that I use continually. It's the same test that those in the Treasury Department are trained to use. They don't train these Treasury agents on the variety of counterfeits that exist. They train them on what the genuine looks like, then when they come across something counterfeit it's obvious. It's obvious that something just isn't right here.

I like to put it this way: THE BEST DEFENSE AGAINST THE COUNTERFEIT IS TO KNOW THE GENUINE VERY WELL. The more I walk, talk, think, and love like Jesus the more I get to know Him. And the more I get to know Jesus, it gets easier and easier to discern when something or someone shows up that doesn't represent or sound like Jesus. The best defense against the counterfeit is to know Jesus, the genuine, very well.

You see, God's will is that you spend eternity with Him. The devil's will is that you spend eternity without God. You cast the deciding vote. I choose to walk and follow Jesus today so that eternity with Him begins immediately.