How to Test the Spirits
The wonderful thing is that we can know which spirits are not from God. False prophets – though they may present themselves as if they are prophets of God – can be proven false – when the conditions of truth are not met and the conditions of error are met.
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. 2 John 1:7-11 (NASB)
Ultimately, the actual teaching is what will confirm or expose them for what they really are. Those that do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh are immediately defined as those who go too far and do not abide in the teaching of Christ. This also indicates when a person is from God.
True teachers have a true and faithful confession regarding Jesus Christ and they abide in His truth. They eat, live, breathe and sleep Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures! They do not go “beyond” or out of bounds in regard to teaching God’s Word. They do not add to it or take away from it. They stick with the truth of the Scripture. Deceivers do not. They may appear to have fidelity for a while, but in due time, they can be proven false by what they teach.
Please know the Apostle John is overjoyed when people walk in the truth (2 John 1:4) and there are evidences when that is happening (1 John 1). We should want teachers to pass the test and rejoice when they do! But true saints need to realize not everyone is like them. Again, there are many deceivers out there.
MacArthur says, “I’m saying it again, that those who believe the truth are a small part of the population of the world. The vast majority of the world is swept away in false teaching, because the world believes false teachers because they’re of the same ilk….Sinners have affinities for demons, seducing spirits, hypocritical lies ‘cause they have no apparatus for the truth.” (From How to Test the Spirits)
Believers, however, have the truth! And that is the very test we should perform: truth vs. error.
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. They are from the world; therefore, they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:4-6 (NASB)
So, false prophets are not of God, but they are of the world. In fact, they hate God. They haven’t and won’t receive the apostolic truth concerning Christ – His person and work of salvation (John 15:18-27). Therefore, they do not listen to His Word. They do not obey God.