Many times it is important to consider a wide variety of spiritual tests and scripture is a good basis for making conclusions. It is good to apply several tests to ensure one is not wrongly judged. The following form a collection of spiritual tests or scriptural bases of testing spirits. It is by no means an exhaustive list. Who is the gift aiding? Is Christ present(in character of acknowledgement), Is is against Christ, is a blatant lie. Some spiritual manifestation or apparitions seek worship. Holy angels refused worship in scripture. Moses, whom I consider a great prophet was never worshiped. Humility also tells alot about a persons state of mind, whether it is submitted to God or not.
1.PROFITABILITY
The manifestation of the Spirit of god is given for the profit of all(1ST Cor 12: 3). It is not for self glorification. God resists the proud, so a proud shepherd must prove who is behind His works, with God resisting him/her. It is also not to break the sheep, making them vulnerable for the devil. In such an instance, the person is clearly playing for the other team. This test can be done by watching the end result of a prophesy, a word of knowledge, e.t.c. If it is a selfish end of usury watch.
Sessions that leave people anxious, fearfull, vulnerable, down, even digging up pasts that are inconsequential e.t.c should be questioned. They digress the fellowship from the race. Its just not Gods style. Watch out to ensure the material being builded on your spiritual foundation, your first love, is not inferior(1 Cor 3:11-13). Some times, we stumble upon these destructive paths. Being inferior material, it cannot stand the fire of the holy Spirit. Thats how to get out of such bondage.
2.PRESENCE OF CHRIST
If any one does not have the Spirit of Christ, He is not His(Rom 8:9). Many doctrines dispute the Godliness of Christ, and never invite Him to their Hearts. Unless one has Christ He cannot be a true prophet,etc. His SPIRIT DWELLS IN MEN(Jn 14:23, Heb 3:6) This scriptural test seeks to gauge the presence of Christ in ones spirit.
3WHOSE WITNESS?
All Prophets give witness to Christ. Any witness that is against Christ is false(Acts 10:43). If the Spirit confesses that Jesus is God come in the flesh, was crucified and died, and arose, then its from God. This is the test of the witness given by the spirit.
4.LYING
A true witness delivers souls, a deceitful witness speaketh lies(prov 14:25).You can only notice a lie if you know the truth. pursue knowledge. The most common lies involve the powers of darkness. there are ridiculous stories like, I used to be a witch, I went to hell where I saw a factory.. was given some blood in a bowl to drink...we gave a human sacrifice.. i turned into a flie... The bible is clear that the devil is full of mischief, therefore some things will come at you as though they are of God, just to have you in fear, which is always the result of such stories. The other is giving a prophesy that is out of season. for this, wisdom to know the seasons is key. Prophesies out of the season never get fulfilled. It could be a word of peace in a time of trouble. Thats a lie. I feel the same about the more recent tales of "Illuminati". Sure. A witch does not need a cult to be one.
5.WORSHIP
Holy messengers of God- Men or Angels will never accept the worship of men. The direct the worship to God(Judges 13:6) Rebellious Angels/Demons on the other hand like to be worship. Most of the gods of this world are such. Infact, the word idols was used interchangeably with Demons(Acts 17:16) in earlier versions of the scripture. The is a sudden rush to the Greek god(desses) in the modern society, especially noted amongst the modern feminists, who go as far as to worship such in the name of women empowerment. This is a mischievous entanglement of demonic powers into a movement.
During worship with the sons of darkness1 Cor 5:13(to be distinguished from the lost sheep,) yokes are built(2nd Cor 6:14). This is unlike the anointing of the priesthood of Christ that comes in a fellowship of believers which is liberating(Lk 4:18-19)It frees the bonded. This is one way of telling apart the annointing, whether its form God or the Devil.
6.HUMILITY
With the lowly is wisdom(prov 11:2) would you take direction from a foolish man? Measure the amount of wisdom in a man by his/her level of humility, KNOWING THAT THE FAVOR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM(Prov 8:13, 9:10.) The level of humility is also a good pointer of maturity in the things of God.
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