The spiritual man judges all things – Part 1

“Beloved, do not put faith in every spirit, but prove (test) the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the world.” (1 John 4:1) AMP

It is not spirituality to consume all that is spoken from the pulpit without checking if they align with the New Testament teachings.

We can’t pretend not to know that not only fake pastors and teachers abound in Africa today, ignorant and immature ministers also abound.

The fact that a pastor has a large congregation or very fine auditorium and speaks eloquently is not the guarantee that he is teaching the truth of God’s Word.

Over spiritualising and overrating the fivefold ministry is a major problem of the Church.

The Word, “touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm”, has been used to threaten believers not to ask questions on very clear matters of scriptures.

Ministers of the Gospel are not God, they can falter and make mistakes.

Even in the deploying of the gifts of prophesy, where we ignorantly believe that God is fully in charge of the prophet’s mind and will, Apostle Paul instructs the church to judge every prophecy.

“Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.” (1 Cor 14:29)

New Testament believers are not supposed to believe any prophesy without first judging it.

I believe these principles also apply to all the gifts of the Spirit, especially the utterance gifts, word of wisdom and word of knowledge.

My dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God.

There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world. Don’t be carried away by signs and wonders, judge every spirit!

You also must judge teachings and preaching of the Word. Not every message today is doctrine of Christ.

Many pastors don’t even understand what the death, burial and resurrection has done for us.

They still speak and teach believers as if Jesus didn’t die for them.

You can easily tell from the theme of their conferences and seminars, not to talk of listening to their massages.

Every minister that puts the responsibility of salvation on individuals and not on the finished work of Christ is ignorantly taking the church back to the Old covenant.

Christ has completed the work of our salvation; our duty as ministers is to teach our people this truth.

I don’t care who your pastor is and what your denomination believes in.

The doctrines of the church are clearly laid down by the apostles.

Every other gospel outside the gospel of grace is a strange gospel.

Jesus was given as grace to the world. We must first accept that God has made us right with Him first before all things can be right.

Paul lamented greatly about the church in Galatia for embarrassing all these self-made doctrines.

The church in Nigeria today looks exactly like the Galatians church.

I love the way the message translation put it: Galatians 3:1-6

“You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses?

Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives.

His sacrifice on the Cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.

Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God?

Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness?

For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God.

If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it?

Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!

Answer this question: Does the God Who lavishly provides you with His own presence, His Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does He do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust Him to do them in you?

Don’t these things happen among you, just as they happened with Abraham?

He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.

God gas done everything for us by grace, but we must receive it by faith. Anything outside this is another gospel.

As a believer, don’t be afraid to judge the messages you have been hearing and will hear to see whether they align to the finished works of Christ, or are mere philosophies of men.

Human wisdom and doctrines appeal to the sense but cannot save the soul.

“But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.”(1 Cor 2:16)

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