{"id":2342,"date":"2020-03-27T23:31:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T23:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/?p=2342"},"modified":"2020-03-27T23:31:32","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T23:31:32","slug":"we-must-try-the-spirits-a-w-tozer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/27\/we-must-try-the-spirits-a-w-tozer\/","title":{"rendered":"We Must Try the Spirits \u2013 A.W. Tozer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cBeloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits\nwhether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the\nworld\u201d (1 John 4:1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are times of moral and religious confusion, and it is\nsometimes hard to distinguish the false from the true. Our faithful Lord has\ntried to save us from the consequences of our own blindness by repeated\nwarnings and many careful instructions. It will pay us to give close attention\nto His words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toward the end of the age, we are told, there shall be a\ntime of stepped-up religious activity and frenzied expectation, growing out of\nthe turbulent conditions prevailing among nations. The language is familiar to\nmost Christians: \u201d \u2026 wars and rumours of wars \u2026 nation shall rise\nagainst nation \u2026 famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places\n\u2026 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye\nshall be hated of all nations \u2026 And then shall many be offended, and shall\nbetray one another, and shall hate one another\u201d (Matthew 24:6-1 0).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concurrent with this state of affairs will be a great\nincrease in religious excitement and supernatural happenings generally.\n\u201cFor many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive\nmany\u201d (Matthew 24:5); \u201cAnd many false prophets shall rise \u2026 \u201d\n(Matthew 24:11 ); \u201cThen if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ,\nor there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false\nprophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were\npossible, they shall deceive the very elect\u201d (Matthew 24:23-24).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PRAY FOR DISCERNMENT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Christians fear to sin against love by daring to\ninquire into anything that comes wearing the cloak of Christianity and\nbreathing the name of Jesus. They dare not examine the credentials of the\nlatest prophet to hit their town lest they be guilty of rejecting something\nwhich may be of God. They timidly remember how the Pharisees refused to accept\nChrist when He came, and they do not want to be caught in the same snare, so\nthey either reserve judgment or shut their eyes and accept everything without\nquestion. This is supposed to indicate a high degree of spirituality, but in\nsober fact it indicates no such thing. It may indeed be evidence of the absence\nof the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gullibility is not synonymous with spirituality. Faith is\nnot a mental habit leading its possessor to open his mouth and swallow\neverything that has about it the colour of the supernatural. Faith keeps its\nheart open to whatever is of God, and rejects everything that is not of God,\nhowever wonderful it may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201d \u2026 try the spirits \u2026 \u201d is a command of the\nHoly Spirit to the church. We may sin as certainly by approving the spurious as\nby rejecting the genuine, and the current habit of refusing to take sides is\nnot the way to avoid the question. To appraise things with a heart of love, and\nthen to act on the results is an obligation resting upon every Christian in the\nworld, and so much the more as we see the day approaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we tell whether or not a man or a religious\ndemonstration is of God? The answer is easy to find, but it will take courage\nto follow the facts as God reveals them to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tests for spiritual genuineness are: First, the leader\nmust be a good man and full of the Holy Ghost. Christianity is nothing if not\nmoral. No tricks of theology, no demonstrations of supernatural wonders, no\nevidences of blind devotion on the part of the public can decide whether or not\nGod is in the man or the movement. Every servant of Christ must be pure of heart\nand holy of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While sinless perfection is not likely to be found among\neven the best of men, still the leader to be trusted is the one who lives as\nnear like Christ as possible and who knows how to repent in sorrow of heart\nwhen he sins against his Lord by any act or word. The man God honours will be\nhumble, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, modest, clean living, free from the\nlove of money, eager to promote the honour of God, and just as eager to\ndisclaim any credit or praise on his own part. His financial accounts will bear\ninspection, his ethical standards will be high, and his personal life above\nreproach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE ACID TEST<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the test of moral goodness is not enough. Every man must\nsubmit his work to the scriptural test. It is not enough that he be able to\nquote from the Bible at great length or that he claim for himself great and\nstartling experiences with God. Go back to the law and to the testimony, if he\nspeak not according to the Word, it is because there is no light in him. We who\nare invited to follow him have every right, as well as a solemn obligation, to\ntest his work according to the Word of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must demand that every claimant for our confidence\npresent a clean bill of health from the Holy Scriptures; that he do more than\nweave in a text occasionally, or hold up the Bible dramatically before the eyes\nof his hearers. His doctrines must be those of the Scriptures. The Bible must\ndominate his preaching. He must preach according to the Word of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price of following a false guide on the desert may be\ndeath. The price of heeding wrong advice in business may be bankruptcy. The\nprice of trusting to a quack doctor may be permanent loss of health. The price\nof putting confidence in a pseudo-prophet may be moral and spiritual tragedy.\nLet us take heed that no man deceive us.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"