Tozer's Rules of Discernment

A few weeks ago my family and I were going to the beach for a week. I needed something to read, so I stopped by the bookstore before heading out of town. In reading several of the Christian blogs that I peruse every now and then, I had seen some good quotes from A.W. Tozer. So I ended up buying a book "The Best of A.W. Tozer - Book One". In the book, there is a chapter entitled "How to try the Spirits". Now is just so happened that during this time frame I was preparing to teach a class on discernment, so you can imagine that the title of the chapter whetted my interest.

In the chapter, Tozer puts forth his method by which he would "test the spirits". Now I had been studying a lot in this area and had been attempting to come up with my own "methods" of discernment, but as I read his method I was impressed with not only how simple it was but how easy it was to apply it pretty much anything.

In short, his method is this: This new doctrine, this new view of truth, this new religious habit, this new spiritual experience, whatever it is - how has it affected my attitude toward and my relation to God, Christ, the Word of God, self, other Christians, the world and sin.

His contention is that by these sevenfold tests we can "prove all things" and determine if something is from God or not. Now Tozer wrote an entire chapter on this method, taking the time to explain each test, so I would encourage you to buy the book and read it for yourself in detail. For brevity's sake I'll just touch briefly on each one.

1. God.

What has this done to my relationship with Him? If it has made me love Him more, if it has magnified Him in my eyes, if it has purified my concept of Him and caused Him to appear greater and more wonderful than before ... then I can conclude that it is probably from Him and will not lead me into error.

2. Christ

How does this affect my attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ? Christ must stand at the center of any true doctrine, all acceptable religious practices and any genuine Christian experience. Whatever makes Christ indispensable to us is pretty sure to be from God.

3. The Word of God

Does this experience or new view of truth spring out of the Word of God or was it the result of some stimulus that lay outside of the Bible? Whatever originates outside of the scriptures should be suspect until it can be shown to be in accord with them. "To the law and to the testimony" (Isaiah 8:20) should always be the last and final proof.

4. self

A good rule is this: If this experience has served to humble me and make me 'small' in my own eyes, it has a good chance to be from God; but if it has given me a feeling of pride in myself it probably is not from Him. He must increase while we must decrease.

5. other Christians

Whatever tends to separate us in person or in heart from our fellow Christians is not of God. Conversely, whatever causes us to love the children of God is likely to be from Him.

6. the world

Any real work of God will tend to make us uncomfortable with the world's fellowship, its pleasures or its riches. Any spirit that permits compromise with the world is unequivocally a false spirit. Any religious movement or experience that imitates the world has to be suspect.

7. sin

Is your heart turned away from sin and toward holiness? Anything that weakens the hatred of sin can be immediately identified as false. Whatever makes holiness more attractive and sin more intolerable can be identified as genuine.

As I read these tests and began to think on them, I realized that they can be applied to just about anything. They are good for testing religious things like teachings, prophecies and experiences. But they are also good for testing more mundane things like books, songs, movies ... even blogs.

Remember, these tests are not 'absolutes' but should serve as a warning flags. They have really helped me in my practice of discernment and I hope they can help you as well.