In 1 John 4:1-3, we read:
Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because
many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of
God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have
heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
This is often used as a proof-text against Latter-day Saints,
sometimes being used as a "proof-text" for Sola Scriptura and/or
against the LDS belief in the "testimony of the Holy Spirit." I have
addressed these issues before (see the articles under "further
reading").
It should be noted that early Latter-day Saints did believe in the
importance of "testing the spirits." Consider the following two
examples:
In a revelation dated May 1831, we have warnings against false
spirits:
Hearken,
O ye elders of my church, and give ear to the voice of the living God; and
attend to the words of wisdom which shall be given unto you, according as ye
have asked and are agreed as touching the church, and the spirits which have
gone abroad in the earth. Behold, verily I say unto you, that these are many
spirits which are false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth, deceiving
the world. . . . Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that if you behold a spirit
manifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not the spirit, ye shall
ask of the Father in the name of Jesus; and if he give not unto you that
spirit, then you may know that it is not of God. And it shall be given unto
you, power over that spirit and you shall proclaim against the spirit with a
loud voice that it is not of God. (D&C 50:1-2, 31-32)
In the article, probably authored by Joseph Smith (*), "Try
the Spirits," Times and Seasons 3, no. 11 (April 1, 1842):
744-45, 747, we are told how to discern the different manifestation of
"spirits" among various groups:
We
answer that no man can do this without the Priesthood, and having a knowledge
of the laws by which spirits are governed; for as, “no man knows the things of
God but by the spirit of God,” so no man knows the spirit of the devil and his
power and influence but by possessing intelligence which is more than human,
and having unfolded through the medium of the Priesthood the mysterious
operations of his devices; without knowing the angelic form, the sanctified
look, and gesture, and the zeal that is frequently manifested by him for the
glory of God:—together with the prophetic spirit, the gracious influence, the
godly appearance, and the holy garb which is so characteristic of his
proceedings, and his mysterious windings. A man must have the discerning of spirits,
before he can drag into daylight this hellish influence and unfold it unto the
world in all its soul destroying, diabolical, and horrid colors: for nothing is
a greater injury to the children of men than to be under the influence of a
false spirit, when they think they have the spirit of God. . . . As we have
noticed before, the great difficulty lays in the ignorance of the nature of
spirits, of the laws by which they are governed, and the signs by which they
may be known; if it requires the spirit of God, to know the things of God, and
the spirit of the devil can only be unmasked through that medium, then it
follows as a natural consequence that unless some person, or persons, have a
communication or revelation from God, unfolding to them the operation of
spirit, they must eternally remain ignorant of these principles:—for I contend
that if one man cannot understand these things but by the spirit of God, ten
thousand men cannot; it is alike out of the reach of the wisdom of the learned,
the tongue of the eloquent, and the power of the mighty. . . . A man must have
the discerning of spirits as we before stated to understand these things, and
how is he to obtain this gift if there are no gifts of the spirit? And how can
these gifts be obtained without revelation?—“Christ ascended into heaven and
gave gifts to men, . . . “and he gave some apostles and some prophets, and some
evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.” And how were apostles, prophets,
pastors, teachers, and evangelists chosen? by “prophesy (revelation) and by
laying on of hands:”—by a divine communication, and a divinely appointed
ordinance—through the medium of the priesthood, organized according to the
order of God, by divine appointment. The apostles in ancient times held the
keys of this priesthood—of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and
consequently were enabled to unlock, and unravel all things pertaining to the
government of the church, the welfare of society, the future destiny of men,
and the agency, power, and influence of spirits; for they could control them at
pleasure, bid them depart in the name of Jesus, and detect their mischievous
and mysterious operations when trying to palm themselves upon the church in a
religious garb, and militate against the interest of the church, and the spread
of truth—we read that they “cast out devils in the name of Jesus,” and when a
woman possessing the spirit of divination cried before Paul and Silas “these
are the servants of the most high God that shew unto us the way of salvation:”
they detected the spirit, and although she spake favorably of them Paul
commanded the spirit to come out of her, and saved themselves from the
opprobrium that might have been heaped upon their heads, through an affiance
with her, in the development of her wicked principles:—which they certainly
would have been charged with if they had not rebuked the evil spirit. . . .
Some will say ‘try the spirits’ by the word. ‘Every spirit that confesseth that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.’ John iv, 2, 3.66 One
of the Irvingites once quoted this passage whilst under the influence of a
spirit, and then said, ‘I confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.’ And
yet these prophesies failed, their Messiah did not come; and the great things
spoken of by them have fallen to the ground. What is the matter here? did not
the apostle speak the truth? certainly he did—but he spoke to a people who were
under the penalty of death, the moment they embraced christianity; and no one
without a knowledge of the fact would confess it and expose themselves to
death: and this was consequently given as a criterian to the church or churches
to which John wrote. But the devil on a certain occasion cried out, ‘I know
thee who thou art the ‘Holy one of God’[’]67 Here was a frank acknowledgement
under other circumstances,—that ‘Jesus had come in the flesh.’ On another
occasion the devil said ‘Paul we know, and Jesus we know;’ of course come in
the flesh. No man nor set of men without the regular constituted authorities,
the priesthood and discerning of spirits can tell true, from false spirits.
This power they possessed in the apostles’ day, but it has departed from the
world for ages.
(*) According
to the Joseph Smith Papers website:
JS
likely authored the article, which was signed “Ed.” . . . Although it was not
uncommon for JS’s amanuenses to author documents on his behalf using that
pronoun (for instance, Willard Richards used “I” to describe JS when keeping
the latter’s personal journal), it was not typically used in Times and Seasons
editorials written by someone other than JS. The frequency of use in this
editorial, particularly in informal parenthetical asides, suggests JS’s
authorship. Certain examples of authoritative pronouncements in the
editorial—like the author’s statement that a “bad angel” could be identified by
“the color of his hair”—seem to also suggest JS’s authorship.
Further Reading:
Not By Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura
“Testing God,” Gideon, and Praying about the Book of Mormon (cf. Gideon and the Dry Fleece, God giving "signs" to His people, and Praying about the Book of Mormon; Roger Ryan on Gideon and the Fleece; Notes from David Marcus, “Gideon’s Two-Part Tests As Signs of Assurance (Judges 6.36-40)")
