1 John 4:1-6

Put the Spirits to the Test

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit. Put the spirits to the test to see if they belong to God. Many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 How can you recognize the Spirit of God? Every spirit that agrees that Jesus Christ came in a human body belongs to God.

3 But every spirit that doesn't agree with this does not belong to God. It is the spirit of the great enemy of Christ. You have heard that the enemy is coming. Even now he is already in the world.

4 Dear children, you belong to God. You have not accepted the teachings of the false prophets. That's because the One who is in you is more powerful than the one who is in the world.

5 False prophets belong to the world. So they speak from the world's point of view. The world listens to them.

6 We belong to God. And those who know God listen to us. But those who don't belong to God don't listen to us. That's how we can tell the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of lies.