"To another discerning of spirits; by which gift such that were possessed of it could, in some measure, discern the hearts of men, their thoughts, purposes, and designs, their secret dissimulation and hypocrisy; as Peter, by this gift, discerned the dissimulation and lying of Ananias and Sapphira; and by it they could also tell whether a man that made a profession of religion had the truth of grace in him, or not; so Peter knew hereby that Simon Magus was in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity, notwithstanding his specious pretences to faith and holiness, whereby he imposed upon Philip the evangelist, who might not have this gift of discerning spirits; by which also they could distinguish the Spirit of God from the lying spirits in men; of which there is an instance, Acts 15:17." -- Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Discernment in the spiritual gift context is supernaturally knowing the intents and hearts of men who are claiming what they are saying is from God. It is how Peter knew Ananias and Sapphira were lying. Now are we to practice the discernment of spirits as related to teachings and prophecies? Yes, apart from the spiritual gifts:
Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. -- 1Thessalonians 5: 20-21 (ESV)
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. -- 1John 4: 1 (ESV)
What do we test teachings and prophecies against beloved? Our senses? Goosebumps and liver shivers? Why in the world would we trust our lying hearts and sinful flesh when we have access to immutable truth contained in Scripture? The Bereans were considered of more noble character because they tested everything Paul taught by referring to Scripture. Either way, this type of discernment is not the gift of the Holy Spirit, which clearly is not apportioned to everyone. We all should weigh however, what we are being taught or what is proclaimed to be from God by holding it up to the light of Scripture. Goll continues:
"This teaching is devoted to the topic of "Surrendering our Senses to the Holy Spirit." It involves the very act of presenting or surrendering the members of our physical bodies to God (Romans 6:13, 19). To whomever we present "our members," they become slaves! So let's present our entire beings unto God (Romans 12:1-2) as an act of worship!" -- James Goll
This is what happens when you proof text. This is the practice where you have an unbiblical point and you scour the Bible to find things that appear to line up with what you are saying so that you can claim your false teaching is biblical. You can usually spot it however by the lack of context. Here Goll claims two verses from Romans 6 and two from Romans 12 but ignores the entire surrounding and intermediary context. Romans 6 is clearly dealing with our sin nature and the need to submit our bodies to Christ. So yes we ought to present our bodies to God but there is zero connection to abandoning our senses beloved and remember that is the teaching Goll has outlined as his foundation. Romans 12 does speak about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice but Goll cannot even see that verse 2 eviscerates his teaching:
Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. -- Romans 12: 2 (ESV)
