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A Stranger's Call

It’s four-thirty one morning, my wife and I are sound asleep and the phone rings! The phone is right there on her side of the bed, so she quickly answers. Groggily, she says, “Hello?”…no one answers her, so she repeats herself, “Hello?” The stranger on the other end of the phone confesses they have dialed the wrong number…they hang up! Phone calls in the middle of the night are rare; typically, they mean family or friends are in trouble. Thankfully, this was not one of those kinds of calls. We are annoyed by the stranger’s call, but relieved it’s not someone whom we love in distress.

Awake and unable to go back to sleep I get up deciding to write the day's blog. I asked the Holy Spirit, “What shall I write?” He directs me to (1 John 4); Testing the Spirits NIV. This is the chapter in the Bible instructing us to not believe every spirit, but to test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Do we recognize the voice we are listening to as we go about living our lives in this earthly realm? Or, are we listening to a stranger’s call? After all, we know who rules in this world – Satan has dominion over the world.

The enemy is constantly trying to call us. He calls in the morning, the afternoon, and sometimes in the middle of the night in a sub-conscious dream. He is calling us when we get angry, when we doubt God, and when we are rebellious, or resentful. The Bible warns that every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ comes from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God – this is the spirit of the anti-christ.

What am I saying? I am saying test who is talking to you, trying to influence your decisions. Don’t be misled by what others are saying and doing, they could all be disastrously wrong! In (1 John 4:4-5) the Bible says, we are from God, and we have overcome these worldly spirits. This Scripture goes on to say these spirits are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. I quote this from (vv6-8) same Scripture reference; “We are from God, and whoever knows God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”

“Some people make a habit of going about hearing the Name, but with evil deceit: They do things that are unworthy of God. You must turn from these as you would turn from a wild beast, for they are ravenous dogs that bite secretly. You must be on guard against them; they are almost incurable. There is one physician: He is both flesh and spirit; He is born and unborn; He is God in man; He is true life in death; He is from Mary and from God; He first suffered and then was beyond suffering; He is Jesus Christ our Lord. – Ignatius of Antioch on False Teachers and the Doctrine that Christ is both God and man (d.CAD. 107) Letters to the Ephesians.

Be careful friends! “Strangers” can call in the middle of the night, or whenever they might catch you sleeping, and not listening to God. They are ravenous dogs sent from Satan to attack you! You will recognize them; they always deny Jesus.

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