Don’t Believe Everything You See and Hear

 

By Andrea Merrell

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits,

whether they are of God; because many false prophets

have gone out into the world.

1 John 4:1 NKJV

 

I got excited when Facebook started posting new movies coming out, all with some of my favorite actors. I made a list so I wouldn’t miss any of them.

Then I found out all the posts were AI generated. Bogus. Untrue. Fake. A scam.

There was a heartwarming post that almost made me cry—until I saw that exact same scenario with different people in different settings.

Again … bogus.

In this day of modern technology, folks can post whatever they want, whenever they want, to try and make us believe whatever they want us to believe. It’s nothing more than deceit and manipulation—sometimes for monetary gain, sometimes just for no reason.

The Devil works in the same way, twisting things around to try and make us embrace a lie. The Bible calls him the father of lies. He will package things in a way to make us think they are true, lovely, and desirable.

The Bible tells us to “test the spirits.” How do we do that? The Message translation explains it like this: “Don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you.”

Don’t be gullible or mislead by what is false. Pray. Seek guidance from the Holy Spirit. Use discernment. And make sure what you embrace lines up with God’s Word.

Photo by Hartono Creative Studio on Unsplash.