Test the Spirits

1 John 4 v 1-6

¹Dear 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. ² This is how you can recognise the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ 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.

⁴ You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognise the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Right now, there is a huge battle going on.  Some people in the world are urging us to get a vaccine for Covid-19 and telling us that this is our only hope.  Others are telling us not to take it as it is not really a vaccine, but experimental gene therapy.

How do we know who to listen to?  How do we know who is telling the truth?  When you listen to them, both sides seem sincere and plausible.  Fortunately for us as Christians, the Bible guides us to truth and who to listen to.

We are instructed to test the spirits to see whether they are from God.  If we have been walking with God for some time, we will have got acquainted with his character and his attributes.  Thus, we should be able to discern whether a spirit is from God or not.

If we look at the current debate over taking a vaccine, what are the opposing parties saying to us?  I don’t just mean what words are they speaking, as that is rarely the full picture.  I mean, what is the full message they are sending us?  This includes the words they speak and the manner in which they say them.

If we look at the full message that we are getting from those who would advise us to get the vaccine, the full thrust of it is fear.  If we do not get the vaccine, then something bad is going to happen to us or to a loved one.  The entire narrative preys on our fears and is designed to keep us constantly in fear.

This tells you where the message comes from.  At the top of every page on this website, you will see our strapline, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”.  This is the character of God, so the message filled with fear cannot possibly come from God.

However, many Churches and pastors are urging their congregation to take the shot so that they can get back together safely to worship.  Have these pastors considered the character of God and where this message comes from?  Do these pastors not believe that God can protect them?

Psalm 91 says that God will protect us from deadly pestilence.  Do these pastors really believe that God is no longer able to protect us from a disease that only kills 0.03% of the population?  Have these pastors fallen so far under the spell of the evil one that they can no longer distinguish God’s voice?

Let’s look at the other side of the coin.  There are moderating voices telling you that you do not need the vaccine, indeed, that the vaccine may be harmful to you.  The message is that the body God has given you has a wonderful built-in immune system that has protected you for many years already and will continue to do so.

These voices, unlike the other side, acknowledge God and give glory to God for the wonderful work he has done in creating us.  Furthermore, they point out that this vaccine is not a real vaccine, but a gene altering mRNA injection which will change our bodies from the design which God spoke in the garden of Eden

So, we have two voices competing for our attention.  One which is majoring in fear or one which gives God the glory for the work he has done in making us and refuses any experimental drug which aims to change that design.

Which of the two should we choose, as Christians?  The passage we read is very clear, we must test the spirits and determine whether they are from God.  The voice which delivers a constant dialogue of fear cannot come from God, so why would we, as Christians, listen to that voice?