Matthew 7:15-18 Bible study – Testing The Spirits
The attractive nine-thousand-square-foot mansion was located in the ritzy Rancho Santa Fe area north of San Diego. It had a manicured lawn and gardens full of colorful, blooming flowers.
But inside, a grisly scene greeted San Diego sheriffs. There, thirty- nine bodies in varying states of decomposition were laid out on simple bunk beds.
False prophets in the Bible – Understanding Matthew 7:15-18
The victims were eighteen men and twenty-one women. Their ages varied from twenty-six to seventy-two, but there was no variation in the way they had died.
Each victim wore black pants, black shirts, and new black Nike gym shoes.
Purple cloths covered their faces and torsos. And to make things easier for those who found them, each body had identification papers nearby.
The grand master bedroom held a body, too. It was the corpse of the unusual group’s spiritual leader.
His legal name was Marshall Herff Applewhite, but he went by the nicknames “Do” and “Bo” from the “Bo Peep” nursery rhyme.
Applewhite had promised his followers that they would reach a “level above human” if only they would shed their “containers” (or bodies) and rendezvous with a spaceship waiting for them behind the Hale-Bopp comet.
“Planet Earth is about to be recycled,” said Applewhite in a videotaped message delivered in his clipped, robotic-sounding voice. “Your only chance to survive—leave with us.”
Bible Verses Warning Against False Prophets
Each victim left a packed suitcase and a farewell statement. “I look very forward to this next major step of ours,” said one, “shedding these creatures . . . (and) moving on to the next evolutionary level.”
Another said, “I don’t have any choice but to go for it, because I’ve been on this planet for thirty-one years, and there’s nothing here for me.”1
Testing the spirits in Christianity
Unfortunately, the tragedy of Heaven’s Gate is only one of numerous deaths related to cults in recent years.
In April 1993, men, women, and children who followed a man named David Koresh and lived in his Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, died when the place went up in flames.
In March 1995, a Japanese group named Aum Shinri Kyo released the nerve gas sarin into the Tokyo subway system during the morning rush hour, killing twelve people and making more than five thousand ill.
It was because of false prophets like these that Jesus commanded his followers through the apostle John to “test the spirits.” Not everyone who comes preaching a message of hope and salvation means well.
Satan, the father of lies, has deceived many spiritual leaders and those who follow them as well, even if they don’t die in the process.
Beware Of False Prophets Bible Verse – Bible Study On Matthew 7:15-18
John tells us to test the spirits, but curiously, he doesn’t really explain how we should do so.
The examples cited in this chapter may appear extreme, but the people who became members of Heaven’s Gate, the Branch Davidians, or Aum Shinri Kyo didn’t think these groups were dangerous when they joined up.
Nor did the hundreds of poor souls who committed mass suicide in 1978 at Jonestown, Jim Jones’ authoritarian commune located in the jungles of Guyana.
Matthew 7 commentary
Jesus provided some helpful advice in his comments on false prophets found in Matthew 7:15-18.
Like a shopper who goes to the grocery to get a melon, we must probe and test groups that claim to be speaking for God.
A group may look fresh and shiny on the outside but check beneath the surface to see if members talk about abuse and authoritarianism.
Also, be on the lookout for genetically modified fruits that claim to be better than the original.
Bible Verses About Discernment – Matthew 7:15-18 Bible study guide
For example, some groups claim that no one has really understood the Bible for the past 20 centuries until their fearless leader arrived on the scene and explained it all for the first time.
Watch out for charismatic leaders who offer novel explanations of the biblical passages. Such novelty got David Koresh and Jim Jones into deadly trouble, along with all their willing followers.
Believe in God, but don’t follow every self-proclaimed prophet who claims he has the truth. What may appear beautiful might actually mask a horror beyond imagining.
Father, help me to test the spirits and to separate your truth from the spiritual falsehood that is so plentiful in the world.