The following was first published in the Mormonism Researched in  July/August 2026. This is a free publication produced by Mormonism Research Ministry. To get a free subscription of the bimonthly newsletter, visit the website here.

If you’ve spent any amount of time with Latter-day Saints, you’ve likely heard them refer to their “testimony.” Latter-day Saints use the word “testimony” to refer to a supernatural, spiritual experience from God that confirms the truthfulness of their beliefs. It’s a form of personal revelation.

The importance of receiving a testimony stems from a text at the very end of the Book of Mormon:

Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things … I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. (Moroni 10:3-5)

Latter-day Saints are led to believe they can know that the Book of Mormon is true by praying and asking God. This, by extension, confirms for them that the modern LDS Church is true. For some, this testimony is so powerful that it can eclipse concerns they may have about their faith. Major issues—like the Book of Abraham, Joseph’s polygamy, the seer stone, etc.—don’t need to be faith destroying if one has a God-given testimony of the truthfulness of the Church. If God has revealed it’s true, then these questions and difficulties must have an answer—even if we don’t have those answers yet.

Which Testimony is Right?

I often like to remind members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that they aren’t the only ones with a testimony. Many Fundamentalist Mormons who still practice polygamy also claim to have a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

But they’ve also received a spiritual confirmation that the mainline LDS Church headquartered in Salt Lake City is in apostasy for abandoning plural marriage. Members of LDS splinter groups are just as sincere. So which “testimony” should be accepted as true? When everyone has a testimony, should we not pause to consider that perhaps subjective experiences might lead some astray?

Don’t Believe Every Spirit

Are we meant to experience or feel something, and then let that experience become an untouchable, irrefutable truth? Consider this text from 1 John 4:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

John obviously warns his readers that some supernatural encounters with spirits might not be from God. How are we to know if a spirit is from God or not?

John gives two tests to help discern the origin of a supernatural encounter. The first test is as follows:

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist. (1 John 4:2)

John was dealing with a specific error in the early church, a heresy known as Docetism. Docetism taught that Jesus didn’t truly come in the flesh. He appeared human, but He  wasn’t truly human (like a ghost or apparition). John warns Christians, “If you encounter a spirit that tells you Jesus only seemed human, that’s a false spirit. Don’t listen.”

The second test comes a few verses later, and is far more general:

They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  (1 John 4:5-6)

False spirits are from the world and deceive the world, but “whoever knows God listens to us”—that is, to the apostles. Then John says “by this we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error.” If a spirit comes and teaches something contrary to what the apostles taught, that’s the spirit of error. Red flag—that’s not from God!

Even Joseph Smith acknowledged that false spirits could come to deceive others. In Doctrine & Covenants 129, Smith provides his own (very different) test for spirits:

When a messenger comes saying he has a message from God, offer him your hand and request him to shake hands with you. If he be an angel he will do so, and you will feel his hand…If it be the devil as an angel of light, when you ask him to shake hands he will offer you his hand, and you will not feel anything; you may therefore detect him.  (D&C 129:4-8)

Evidently, Mormonism’s founding prophet was concerned about the danger of false spirits, though his handshake test was certainly a novel approach to the issue.

God’s provided tests are notably different from Smith’s. Deuteronomy 13 instructs,

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, “Let us go after other gods,” which you have not known, “and let us serve them,” you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. (Deuteronomy 13:1-3)

If a so-called prophet appeared and performed some sign, wonder, or miracle, were God’s people to automatically trust him? The Lord warns His people that a supernatural encounter does not necessarily indicate that he’s been genuinely sent by God. If the supposed prophet instructed the Israelites to go after another god, they were commanded, “Don’t listen to him. He’s a false prophet and a deceiver.”

Supernatural Experiences Don’t Automatically Indicate Truth.

Consider this somewhat terrifying text in 2 Thessalonians 2:

The coming of the lawless one is … by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

How do we know that our spiritual experiences aren’t a “strong delusion” sent by God, because we refused to love the truth? We see in the Old Testament that God allowed (dare we say, sent) an angelic being to be a “lying spirit in the mouths of the prophets” (1 Kings 22:13-28). How can we be sure about our spiritual experiences?

Supernatural encounters are simply not enough to guarantee truth. We need to take seriously the wisdom of Proverbs, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12). Does an evaluation of Mormonism’s truth claims hold up to what God has revealed through Scripture? Are self-professing LDS prophets leading people after “other gods”?

Feelings

People may say, “Yeah, but I feel at peace. I feel good! I’m encouraged to obedience! If we look at the fruit of the spirit that’s given me this testimony, it’s good fruit. Obviously, that means this is from God.”

Let’s push back on that in two ways. First, sin can distort our feelings. The Bible cautions us about this. “The heart is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Because our feelings and emotions have been tainted by sin, our hearts simply cannot be wholly trusted to accurately determine truth. People feel good about wrong things all the time. Our souls and hearts need guidance.

Second, Satan is a master deceiver. If false spirits only filled people with unsettling evil thoughts, would that convince many people to follow their teachings? It’s far more compelling if the enemy makes something feel good. Satan has had several millennia of practice, and sadly for us, he’s really good at his job.

This is what the Bible means when it says,

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

Satan looks like an “angel of light,” and deceivers disguise themselves as “servants of righteousness.” A good feeling simply isn’t sufficient for discerning truth.

Convictions

Others think that they can trust their beliefs because they are sincere. While sincerity is good, it doesn’t necessarily mean whatever is believed is true. The terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks did so because of their beliefs, a conviction so sincere that they were willing to die for it. Does that mean that they were right?

Perhaps the most thoroughly convicted group in the Bible were the Pharisees. They fiercely held to their beliefs, and yet completely failed to recognize their own Messiah. Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said,

Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires … But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. (John 8:43-45)

The Pharisees’ beliefs led them to kill the Son of God, all the while believing they were upright and obedient. They had sincere belief, but not in the right thing.

Our thoughts, feelings, desires, and experiences are very important; yet we should not place sole reliance on subjective means to evaluate truth claims. The Bible warns us against exclusively relying on feelings, beliefs, or experiences. Instead, we are all commanded to “test everything, hold fast what is good.” (1 Thess. 5:21). This is not a helpful suggestion; it’s a command.

Jesus teaches us that to determine truth, we must abide in His word. This is why Christians love the Bible, and are eager to submit our feelings, beliefs, and experiences to God’s word. In John 8:31-32, Jesus said,

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

The Role of Subjective Experiences

We should acknowledge that, ordinarily, God initially reveals Himself subjectively to Christians. This is not saying we should discard our feelings or spiritual experiences. When a person first believes, they’re much like the blind man that Jesus healed on the Sabbath. When interrogated by the Jews, the blind man simply answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25).

John Calvin compared reading Scripture to tasting salt. You know salt is salty by tasting it. You experience Scripture as God-breathed by reading it. This is certainly not a denial of these experiences. Yet these things should be tested and evaluated in accordance with how God instructs us to test things. We  need great wisdom when considering spiritual experiences, given the New Testament warning that “many” false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1).

Don’t disregard God’s warnings and instructions. We should take Him seriously when He warns that our own hearts can deceive us. We must evaluate our experiences against what God has revealed in His Word.

Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21)