1 John 4:1-6
On Denying the Incarnation
1 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. 2 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, 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 recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
St. John tells us not to believe every spirit we come in contact with...We must test the spirits to see whether they are from God or not...There have been many false prophets to walk the earth...We can recognize a true spirit, because the true spirit acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and is from God...But not every spirit does or will acknowledge that our Messiah, Jesus is from God...The spirit, who does not recognize that Jesus is from God, is a false prophet...The spirit of the antichrist will not acknowledge that Jesus came in the flesh and is from God...
Believers in Christ know that God has sent His Son and will overcome the false prophets...This is because believers have the Holy Spirit of the Father and Son in them, and He is greater than this world...Believers in Jesus are from God, and whoever knows God listens to the believers in Christ...Followers of Jesus will recognize the Spirit of Truth, while others will not...
There will be teachers and people we meet in this world throughout our lives, who do not believe in Jesus, and that He came from God...In these teachers we cannot follow and trust because they do not know the Truth...Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)...St. John wants us to follow the true teachers in this world that are believers and teachers of the Messiah that God has sent us...
There were people in St. John's day, and today that do not believe Jesus came in the flesh and came from God...St. John puts it this way, if we accept Jesus we accept the Father, and those who deny the Son, also deny the Father (1 John 2:22-23)...There is no middle ground offered up by St. John...No one comes to the Father, except through Jesus (John 14:6)...St. John was one of Jesus' disciples...He was with Jesus for three years...He wrote five of our New Testament Books...He was an eyewitness to Jesus on earth and the resurrection...