Who Are You Listening to?

1st John 4:3 says:
“And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”

This is why we’re to test the spirits back in verse 1 because not every spirit is of God, not even if they seem sort of right. We must look behind the words and look at the motivation. We must look at the source of inspiration for the words they speak.

You can see this in an Old Testament example. In 1st Kings 22, Israel’s King Ahab invites Jehoshophat, King of Judah, to join him in fighting against Syria. Nothing much changes over the millennia, but they were having a border dispute over Ramoth-Gilead. Jehoshophat was a man of God and wanted to get God’s mind on the battle, so he asks for a prophet in 1st Kings 22:5, “Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire for the word of the LORD today.”

Ahab gathered 400 of his hired court prophets to spew the party line. 1st Kings 22:6 says, “Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, ‘Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to fight, or shall I refrain?’ So they said, ‘Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.’” It was unanimous affirmation of Ahab’s wishes. Yes, they were all ear-ticklers, and not real prophets – they were “Yes men.” Their message was easy for Ahab to like.

But Jehoshaphat wasn’t satisfied. He’s a little suspicious. 1st Kings 22:7 says, “And Jehoshaphat said, ‘Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of Him?’” “Don’t you have a real prophet?” he asks.

Reluctantly, Ahab responds: 1st Kings 22:8, “So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ‘There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the LORD; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.’ And Jehoshaphat said, ‘Let not the king say such things!’”

There! That’s the point! Ahab hated the man of God who prophesied accurately because the answers weren’t ones he liked. This time, the prophecy would be that Ahab would die in battle.

But that’s the very reason almost everyone despises a true prophet. We want our ears tickled. When they aren’t? Well Ahab had the true prophet thrown into the dungeon.

Look at this New Testament confirmation:
2nd Timothy 4:3-4 – “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. “ That time was in Ahab’s day, and that time is now.

Well, how do we wrap this section up? How about with a question: To whom are you listening? Are you listening to those God sent and entrusted with His message of salvation? Or are you listening to those who come out of the world to distort the message? There aren’t three right paths to God, or four, so it doesn’t really matter which one you follow. There is only one.

Jesus made that so clear in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” Are you of God, or are you of the world?