Be Still And Know

1 John 4:1 'Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.' There have always been false teachers, but they must have been particularly difficult to identify in the early Church. Many of the Christians would have come from completely different religious and philosophical backgrounds, and few church leaders would have had much education. It would have been extremely easy for articulate people to creep in and lead people astray. Anyone can claim to speak by the Spirit, and it is not surprising that many young impressionable Christians simply accepted what they were saying. In these verses, John was encouraging every Christian to test what they were hearing. Jesus himself was well aware of the challenge from false teachers. In the sermon on the mount he said: “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify the