The Word of God on 1 John 4:1-2 encourage us to test the spirits to see if they are from God:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets (G5578 = or religious impostors) have gone out into the world.

This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses (G3670= declare openly) that Jesus Christ (G5537= anointed Messiah) has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist.

It is the responsibility of every Christians to find out the spirit behind any Bible teacher we listen to, authors of books we read, pastors, words of prophecy or anyone who says that speaks in God’s name, or any spiritual experience or demonstration that says it comes from God’s power.

The Word of God tells us not to believe every spirit, because there are many religious impostors, it ask us to test them, & tells us how to do it:

We need to know if they confess the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God made flesh! (1 Tim.3:16, John 20:28, Jn.1:1,14). Do they believe in the same Jesus of the Scriptures? 2 Cor.11:4. Fully Human yet Divine 100% God & 100% men. Do they worship Him as God? Because errors on these basic doctrines will contaminate all of their teachings & will affect our spiritual health.

In the times of the early church (When 1 John 4 was written) the issue was about if Jesus had truly come in a real body of flesh and blood. Many Gnostic-influenced teachers said that Jesus, being God, could not have actually become a flesh and blood human being, because God could have no partnership with “impure” things. Paul and John both confronted these gnostic theories in their writings, (1 John 4 is one of them), and so did Irenaeus (a bishop from Lyons) & other teachers in the early church.

Gnostics believe that flesh is evil & impure and the spirit is good & pure, for that reason they do NOT believe that God can become flesh, and they have several theories or possibilities. One of those theories, the one most used today is called ‘Kenosis’ a Greek work for ’empty’, a Gnostic doctrine taken from twisting Phil. 2:7, teaching Jesus was born only a man (not God) and remained so until his baptism, when He received the anointing & made the miracles, as a man. –See study notes of a NASB Study Bible.

The problematic doctrines can be very subtle, but is part of the beliefs of pastors & teachers that belong not only to the New Apostolic Reformation but also to the Word of Faith movements. We are not Reformed, Calvinists or Baptist, we believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but we are against the abuse of false teachers faking the gifts or Charis-mania. This isn’t just happening on Charismatic churches, probably here is worst because the acceptance of prophecies without accountability, but it is happening in all Christian denominations. Please specially avoid these 2 movements according to the Word of God in  Romans 16:7:
“Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them“.
NAR teacher Bill Johnson & others like him, teach that Jesus was born a man but He emptied himself of Divinity a misinterpretation of Philippians 2:7, (see more here), then got the Spirit of God (the anointing) at His baptism, so He did miracles as a man operating in the gifts of the Spirit, died as a man, went to hell & had to be born again at His resurrection!

This is Kenosis, a heresy, check Video below of Todd White, (notice also the devil sign he does here Min  2:55 when he says ‘Jesus goes to hell, I believe’. You can see more of them doing the same sign here). Todd is also a NAR teacher and like all teachers from the New Apostolic Reformation & Word of Faith Movements, Todd White denies Jesus came as God! This is the spirit of Antichrist that 1 John 4:2 talks about. This is serious!

If Jesus was not God in the flesh but a man that needed to be born again, then any man could have done the sacrifice on the cross. He couldn’t have been the spotless sacrificial Lamb of God, whose holy & precious blood atoned for our sins. The true God is eternal, always God, doesn’t change (Malachi 3:6). In the incarnation, Jesus did not stop being God, but rather added human nature to His Divine nature. (Col. 2:9).

We all need to understand that like in the past, the Christian church has been infiltrated by Gnostics, and that they are growing in number, acquisition power & leadership, because people & leaders in the Church are silent & are afraid to expose evil.

Many think that exposing wrong doctrine or wrong teachings is speaking evil, but this is a Biblical mandate, “Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” (Eph. 5:11). “Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.” (1 Tim 5:20). It just  needs to be done peacefully & out of love for Jesus & the brethren that are been harm. Not to condemn anyone but to fix the problem & to ask for accountability.

There are other things that will help us to recognize false prophets or false Bible teachers, & something that has helped me a lot through the years, is to watch out for pride. The Word of God says “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Prov. 3:34, James 4:6), if God resit the proud then they cannot hear from God, the Holy Spirit is quenched so God cannot use them, for that reason I wont waste my time listening to their teachings, advice, etc. Remember who is the greatest according to Jesus:

“But Jesus called them together, and said, “You know that those who are appointed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever among you would be greatest must be servant of all.”.  Mark 10:42:44

Beloved if you haven’t yet,  confess today with your mouth that Jesus Christ is God/Lord (Kurios = Supreme authority), the only begotten Son of God, who became man, died on the cross to pay for our sins, & believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Rom.10:8-10.