4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:1-6

From God or not from God? That is the question.

There are many out there preaching these days. They’re cool. They’re cajoling. They’re compelling. They’re convincing. But are they from God?

John gives us guidance on knowing for sure. Do you hear the name of Jesus in those captivating stories? Have they found room to tell us that Jesus came from God and walked among us? This may be a simple account, but someone with the spirit of the antichrist can’t bring himself to confess this. He’ll change the subject.

As the famous line says, the antichrists “can’t handle the truth.” But we can, and we know it when we hear it, because the spirit of truth is in us!