When I hear stories of how some children of God are being deceived by evil spirits and false prophets, I wonder if they read their Bibles at all. Deceptive evil spirits were not just created some years ago; they have been in existence and have been operating since the fall of their master, Lucifer, from heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15, Revelation 12:4 & 9). These evil spirits were in operation in the Old Testament and were called by many names, such as “lying spirit”, “familiar spirit”, and so on (1st Kings 22:23, 2nd Chronicles 33:6). Knowing that their operation will be rampant in these last days, the Holy Spirit clearly forewarned us of the coming of false prophets who will be controlled by lying and other evil spirits. He told us that they will seek to deceive many by using the Lord’s Name. For you not to become one of their victims, the Holy Spirit says to us in 1st John 4:1:
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
In light of this scripture, it is your duty as a child of God to test the spirit operating in anyone who claims to be a prophet of God. By His grace, God has given me some signs by which they operate. I believe that every child of God should be equipped with such knowledge, based on God’s word, in order not to be deceived by the signs and wonders of these imposters. After all, the magicians of Egypt replicated the miracles that God performed through Moses.

In 1st John 2:19, we are given a sign to look out for when testing the spirit operating in a fellow. This scripture says:
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”
When you discover rebels who came out of the Body of Christ doing strange things that have no basis in God’s word or are based on a strange interpretation of its message, you must be wary of such people. For example, they might say you need to kill a goat to ward off evil. Beloved, what can be said of a “prophet” who thinks that the Blood shed at Calvary is no longer effective and is seeking to replace it with the Blood of goats? Such a person must definitely be operating under the influence of the devil. In order not to be deceived, you need to immerse yourself in the totality of God’s word, relying on the Holy Spirit to guide you into its truth, Beware of false prophets!
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.