“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” – 1 John 4:1-3
In 16th century England, gunpowder was used for measuring the alcohol content of Whiskies and other Spirits.
The term ‘alcohol proof’ was first coined then and refers to a test to demonstrate the potency of an alcoholic spirit. Historical accounts of the test vary and it quite possibly could have been conducted using a number of methods, all with similar base principles.
Back in the day, Spirits were taxed at different rates, depending on how much alcohol they had. A pellet of gunpowder was soaked in the liquid and could the pellet still be ignited afterward, the Spirit would be rated as above proof and thus taxed at a higher rate.
Gunpowder would not burn in Rum (Spirit of choice back then) with less than 57.17% of alcohol by volume.
In this passage, John is not talking about alcohol but rather the Spirit of God. The Lord asks us to test the spirits to see whether they are from Him. Today, in prayer, praise the Lord that we can test the spirits to see whether they are from God or not.
“As we well know, the imbecility of ‘profound’ philosophers is so immense that it is exceeded only by the infinite mercy of God." - Giovanni Papini
God’s Word: “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.” – 2 Peter 2:1
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