Receive Not Deceive
Testing the Spirit in the Last Days
Dear friends, 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. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (1 John 4:1-3)
Not every voice is holy, not every encounter is divine and not every spirit that shows up in your room came from God. We are living in a time of great spiritual activity and great spiritual deception. The Apostle John didn’t mince words: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” Why? Because many have already been sent, false prophets with smooth words, subtle lies, and a counterfeit power that mimics the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever felt the nudge of something supernatural and wondered, was that really God? Maybe you’ve sensed a shift in the spirit realm, received a dream, or encountered a voice that claimed to guide. But how do you discern what is from God, what is from your own soul, and what is from the enemy who masquerades as light? In our recent Steel and Spirit series, we traced the believer’s journey from flesh-led to Spirit-led. At that summit where the Spirit rules over soul and flesh, lies both glory and danger. Because for every move of God, Satan engineers a counterfeit. And the most dangerous deception is not the obvious sin, it’s the spiritual counterfeit that looks like God, sounds like God, and even feels like God… but isn’t.
This is the battleground of the mature believer. And John’s warning is for us: Do not believe everything. Test everything. Because what you receive can shape your destiny or deceive your soul.
A Timeline of Spiritual Deception
From the beginning, Satan has waged war not with brute force but with cunning lies. The first record of spiritual deception unfolds in Eden, where the serpent manipulates Eve’s God-given desire for wisdom into rebellion. What was meant to be a gift becomes the gateway to separation. Adam and Eve lose communion with God through a subtle distortion of truth.
This pattern repeats across the Old Testament. In 1 Chronicles 21:1, Satan deceives David into conducting a census, an act seemingly administrative, but spiritually defiant because David failed to test the origin of the suggestion. In the book of Job, fire falls from heaven and tragedy strikes, and Job is led to believe it was from God, though Scripture reveals it was Satan behind the calamity (Job 1:16). Under the Mosaic law, deception, especially through false prophecy and spiritual manipulation was met with God’s severe judgment (Leviticus and Deuteronomy), reflecting His hatred for spiritual seduction that led His people astray.
The New Testament pulls back the veil even further. Satan himself confronts Christ in the wilderness, twisting Scripture in a failed attempt to derail the Son of God. Even well-meaning disciples fell prey: when Peter urged Jesus to avoid the cross, Christ exposed the deeper source, “Get behind me, Satan” (Matthew 16:23). What sounded like compassion was actually spiritual deception.
By the time we reach Revelation, the deception has matured into institutional form. John speaks of a “synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9), a church deceived and infiltrated. He warns of “the deep things of Satan” entrenched within what should be holy. These are not fringe threats, they are present within the house of God.
This timeline makes one thing clear: deception has always been Satan’s frontline strategy, and it intensifies the closer we draw to truth. As Jesus said of him, “He was a murderer from the beginning… for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). To ignore this reality is not just naïve, it is spiritual suicide.
Naivety is not an Option for Us
One of the most dangerous ideas circulating in the modern church is this: “If I’m truly seeking God, I cannot be deceived.” But this belief is not only false, it’s a deception in itself, crafted by the father of lies. Faithfulness to God does not make us immune to spiritual deception. In fact, it makes us more of a target. The enemy reserves his most cunning strategies not for the lukewarm, but for the fervent, those who have tasted the Spirit’s power and are resolved to obey Him at any cost.
The deception is subtle. It often enters through a sincere desire to follow the Holy Spirit. Many believers who have experienced genuine transformation begin to live in what they call “complete obedience” to the Spirit, but without exercising the biblical command to test the spirits. In this zeal, some adopt distorted doctrines, unbalanced practices, or false revelations, all while believing they are walking in truth.
But even Satan quotes Scripture. In the wilderness, he used Psalm 91, not to comfort, but to tempt Jesus into presumption. If the Word itself can be weaponized by the deceiver, then discernment is not optional, it is critical. Maturity in faith does not make us less vulnerable to deception; it simply means deception becomes more sophisticated. If this were not true, Jesus would not have issued such a stern warning: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name… and will deceive many” (Matthew 24:4–5).
Jessie Penn-Lewis puts it plainly: “Deception is not a matter of moral failure but of intellectual error. It is a wrong thought admitted to the mind under the impression that it is truth.” That means even the most sincere, faithful believer is susceptible in the areas where they are ignorant of the enemy’s schemes. This is why Paul urges us in 2 Corinthians 2:11 not to be taken advantage of by Satan, “for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
To be naïve is to give the enemy a foothold. In this hour, discernment is not a luxury. It is spiritual survival.
The Threat is Real
The Apostle Paul does not leave us guessing about the danger of deception. He issues a clear and sobering warning in 1 Timothy 4:1–2:
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.”
Notice this, for someone to depart from the faith, they must have first been in it. But what’s even more chilling is the reason for their departure which is not sin, not suffering but doctrine. They fall not by rejecting the faith outright, but by embracing distorted teaching that still looks like truth. That’s what makes it so dangerous.
Paul tells us that these doctrines are not merely wrong, they are demonic. They originate from deceiving spirits, masquerading as divine insight, and they gain ground when Christians accept every supernatural experience as coming from God. Spiritual encounters divorced from biblical confirmation become breeding grounds for deception.
When we derive doctrine from untested revelations, when we mix God’s truth with our own logic, or when we rely solely on respected human teachers without discerning their spirit, we are not listening to God, we are listening to deceiving spirits. Paul’s warning is not about error on the fringe, but deception at the core, hidden behind layers of spiritual language and religious passion.
Being gifted, charismatic, or sincere is not the test. Neither is reputation nor popularity. As Paul warns in 2 Corinthians 11:15:
“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.
Discernment is not optional, it is commanded. Because the threat is real, and no one is above it.
The Basic Principle for Testing the Spirit
At the root of every belief, thought, or doctrine lies one of two sources: the God of truth or the father of lies. There is no neutral ground. This is why it is imperative for believers to test everything, no matter how small or seemingly harmless. What we believe shapes how we live, and what we tolerate can become what we trust.
The ultimate standard for testing the spirit is the written Word of God. Jesus said, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). And again, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth... He will not speak on His own but will speak only what He hears” (John 16:13).
Notice the language: remind, guide, repeat. The Spirit does not invent new doctrine. He does not revise what God has said. His role is not to create new truth, but to illuminate the truth already revealed. Any voice or revelation that adds to, distorts, undermines, or sets aside Scripture is not of the Spirit of God. Deceiving spirits, by contrast, subtly shifts authority away from Scripture. They minimize it, twist it, or supplement it with human reasoning and mystical revelation. But their ultimate goal is always the same: to obscure or displace the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the battlefield.
Therefore, the test of all things is this: Does it align with the whole counsel of Scripture?
If it does not, it is not from God. Let us remain vigilant, for Satan’s aim is not just to tempt, but to deceive and deception only works when truth is blurred.
Prayer
Lord God,
In these days of great deception, awaken my discernment. Teach me to test every spirit, every word, and every revelation against Your unchanging Word. Let me not be led by emotion, impulse, or appearance, but by truth.
Holy Spirit, remind me of what Christ has said. Keep me rooted in Scripture and guard my heart from every counterfeit voice that seeks to distort it. Expose any belief I’ve received that is not from You, and purge every doctrine that leads me away from the cross.
I reject the lie that faithfulness makes me immune to deception. Instead, I choose vigilance. Let me not be naïve but discerning. Let me not be swayed but steadfast. Anchor me in truth, that I may walk in the Spirit without being led astray.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Timely