Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
I Jn. 4 ... Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Spirits speak in form of thoughts. Spirits sometimes speak through other people as they share ideas with us.
Is that spirit of God?
The apostle John tells us to "try the spirits whether they are of God".
We simply say, "Do you confess Jesus Christ is come in the flesh?" If we hear "yes" then that spirit is of God. If we hear "no" that spirit is not of God.
I don't know any other way to try the spirit and I don't know what John meant us to do if he didn't mean this.
And John specifically instructed us to "try the spirits".
So I plan to begin doing this again. There was a time I did this all the time.
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And what does it mean, Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
In Jesus day, they knew he came in the flesh. They knew his father and his brothers ... they could see Jesus standing there as they saw other people. So what does this mean ... Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?
We have 3 scriptures telling us God would not allow Jesus to suffer corruption.
When people die, their flesh suffers corruption in the grave.
When they killed Jesus, God did not allow HIM to suffer corruption. Not only did the Spirit of Jesus rise from the dead but the body of Jesus rose also. Thus we "confess" that Jesus has come in the flesh after the crucifixion.
Scriptures on this subject:
Psa. 16:10 ... For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2 ... Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: 23Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. 25For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: 26Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: 27Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 28Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
... Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 30Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 31He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 34For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 35Until I make thy foes thy footstool. 36Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Acts 13 ... Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 36For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
David, as humans do, was put away after death and his flesh decayed in the way of humans. God did not allow this to happen to Jesus. Both the spirit and the body of Jesus arose after death. Therefore we read the following testimony.
Jn. 20 ... The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 2Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. 3Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. 5And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. 6Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, 7And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
But the body of Jesus was not in the sepulchre. The wrappings were there but the body of Jesus was not there.
Later Jesus appeared to many in bodily form... thus we believe Jesus came in the flesh after the crucifixion.
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When we die, our flesh will suffer corruption in the way of flesh. Our spirit will be raised at the coming of Jesus but we will not be having these fleshly bodies raised. Paul explains that God gives us a body as it pleases HIM. I Cor. 15
And when Jesus returns, some will be living. They will be "changed" before they ascend to meet Jesus in the air. These fleshly bodies will not be raised. Paul explains this in I Cor. 15.
I Cor. 15 ... But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 36Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 37And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 39All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 42So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
... And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (God is a spirit ... Jn. 4) 50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.