Test the Spirits

From the very beginning, Satan has used the same strategy: subtlety. In the Garden, the serpent didn’t storm in with open rebellion. He slithered in quietly, whispering questions that planted both temptation and doubt in Eve’s heart. “Has God indeed said…?” (Genesis 3:1). That one question carried both an invitation to sin and a challenge to truth. And in the end, the serpent succeeded—not because he shouted lies, but because he softened them.

John’s command to “test the spirits” goes all the way back to that first spiritual attack. Not every message that sounds spiritual is true. Not every teacher who quotes Scripture is trustworthy. And not every idea that feels right is from God. Like Eve, many believers fall not because the deception is obvious, but because it’s almost right—just close enough to truth to slip past an unguarded heart.

False prophets and false ideas work the same way today. They sow questions that sound reasonable, spiritual, even compassionate—but subtly twist God’s Word. They speak in half-truths that invite compromise. They introduce doubt with a tone that seems harmless. Satan hasn’t changed his tactics because they still work when Christians fail to discern.

So how do we test the spirits? By holding every voice, every teaching, every impression up to the steel plumb line of Scripture.
Ask:

• Does this align with what God has clearly said in His Word?
• Does this message exalt Christ or the teacher? Does it elevate human desire?
• Does it produce obedience—or excuse disobedience?

Truth never contradicts itself, never shifts with culture, and never leads us away from God. The more familiar you are with the Shepherd’s voice, the faster you’ll recognize the serpent’s whisper—no matter how subtle it sounds.

Today, guard your heart by testing every spirit, just as Eve should have done: not by feeling, but by the unchanging Word of God.