Daily Bread – July 8, 2022 (The Sixth Day – Genesis 1:24-31) 1 John 4:1 – Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. False Witnesses & The Plumb-line Of Righteousness After establishing how keeping the commandments of the Lord is the testimony of oneness with the Lord and the indwelling Holy Spirit, John warns us to try the spirits. There are those who bear false witness of Who God is and what He has willed. Their testimonies do not agree with the Word of God, and they must be identified and refused. The false prophet is someone who supposedly carries a word from God, but the word is false and so is the spirit by which they are speaking. These false witnesses appear to be sincere, but they are wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing. They may even be able to do miracles, signs, and wonders; but if their words to not line up with Scripture, we know they are false. Moses warned of such false prophets and said, “If one appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder that he has spoken takes place, and he says, ‘Come let us follow other gods (gods you have not known), and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of the prophet or dreamer” (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). We should also be able to recognize the similarities between these false prophets and those Jesus spoke of when He referred to the ones who had worked signs and wonders in His name, but practiced iniquity (Matthew 7:21-23). There are those who believe that Satan and those who serve him cannot do miracles, but they can. The man of sin, who is also called the Antichrist, will deceive the nations by the power, signs, and lying wonders he will do (2 Thessalonians 2:8-9). Today, false prophets may not necessarily lead people to worship other gods, but rather they preach and teach things leading men away from God by accepting sin and iniquity as being justifiable. Yet, when we consider such a practice, we must also recognize how sin is an act of participating with the demonic – which is service to ‘the god of this world’ (1 John 3:8). The plumb-line between truth and lie, light and darkness, and God and Satan, is found in living in righteousness and holiness and refusing evil. The witness that we are of God is that Christ Jesus is in us, and we do what is pleasing in His sight (1 John 2:5-6, 27-28, 3:6, 24, and 4:4, 13-16, 5:20). Blessings Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
Daily Bread 7/8/2022
