Fool's Gold

"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."
1 John 4:1 (NIV)

In 1848, an inspector named James Marshall spotted gold in the water at Sutter's Mill in California. Within a year, 100,000 people flooded into California chasing a fortune.

Most of these prospectors had never held real gold and were easily fooled by pyrite, a mineral that shines as brightly as gold but carries none of its value. That’s why it’s called “fool’s gold.” Eventually they learned to run tests, because not everything that glitters is real.

A similar kind of danger waits in what you hear preached and taught. Some of it is real gold. Some of it only sounds like it.

In today's verse, John is writing to an early church dealing with that exact problem. Some people claimed to speak for God, but they didn't carry His truth at all. "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." (1 John 4:1, NIV)

Throughout 1 John 4, the Apostle John gives us three tools to recognize true prophets from false prophets, heavenly teaching and hellish teaching, and truth from error. Only believe what:

Is based on the Word of God, 

Exalts the Son of God, 

Comes from the Spirit of God.

Anything that fails even one of those tests, no matter how good it sounds, is fool's gold. 

Test any podcast, sermon, or blog post. If it never mentions sin, never points to Jesus, or doesn't feel shaped by God's Spirit, reject it. 

Real gold survives every test you run on it.

Prayer: Father, thank You that Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. I don't want to build my life on anything but Your truth. Help me test what I hear instead of just accepting what shines. Show me where I've believed anything false and help me walk each day in truth. In Jesus' name, Amen.