Spirit of Truth—Spirit of Error.
By J. C. Nichols
There are persons who lay great stress upon being led by the Spirit, while at the same time they are ready to reject any commandment of God with which they are out of harmony. Certainly they are led by some spirit; they could not be led in any other way. But by which spirit are they led? There is the spirit of error (1 John 4:6), “which worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2); and there is the Spirit of truth, “which will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13. We read, “All thy commandments are truth.” Ps. 119:151. The Word also admonishes us to try the spirits. How can I prove the spirits so as to know one from the other?—Simply by comparing the spirit with the Word. Where these two agree, we have the unmistakable evidence that the spirit is true. The Word says, “All thy commandments are truth.” The same Word also says that the Spirit of truth will guide into all truth. Here is the agreement: the Spirit of truth guides into the keeping of all the commandments. Therefore, when a person loves the ten commandments, he is being led by the Spirit of truth; but when a person rejects the love and the keeping of the ten commandments, he is led by the spirit of error.