Discernment and Testing Spirits

¹If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, ²and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, “Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them,” ³you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴You are to follow the LORD your God and fear Him. Keep His commandments and listen to His voice; serve Him and hold fast to Him.

⁹When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. ¹⁰Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery, ¹¹casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead. ¹²For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. And because of these detestable things, the LORD your God is driving out the nations before you. ¹³You must be blameless before the LORD your God. ¹⁴Though these nations, which you will dispossess, listen to conjurers and diviners, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so.

¹⁵Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰So then, by their fruit you will recognize them. ²¹Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²²Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ ²³Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

¹⁰As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true. ¹²As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.

⁷Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by the same Spirit, ⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in various tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who apportions them to each one as He determines.

³I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ. ¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

¹⁹Do not extinguish the Spirit. ²⁰Do not treat prophecies with contempt, ²¹but test all things. Hold fast to what is good. ²²Abstain from every form of evil.

¹²Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness. ¹⁴But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth. ¹⁵Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice. ¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. ¹⁸Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time. ⁴You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. ⁵They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them. ⁶We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.