Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 john 4:1-7

Belief is not an end unto itself; we don’t just believe the right things and then stop there, feeling justified. Testing the Spirits, getting to the truth of the teachings and finding the Christlike path forward is about cultivating the love of God. We have overcome the spirit of the antichrist! Now, what does the victorious Christian do? For what reason did we gain this victory?

Did we win just so we can turn around and act like the world? No! Did we win so that we can change our message to be appealing to the world? No! We have overcome the world so that the love of God can be evident in us.

Love. The spirit of the antichrist is at work to overturn our victory. Don’t let it turn our victory into defeat. Love.

Ethan Kirl