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church, deception, discerning the spirits, Ecumenism, evil spirits, exhortation, experience, fake love, false spirits, feeling, God's love, knowing God, love, obedience, Satan, sin, the devil
God knows how often since October last year I asked Him when this series about discerning the spirits finally would be over. However, I never got a direct response from Him. Instead, He taught me consistently new lessons about dangerous spirits that look so innocent and “holy” on the outside. If this kind of teaching was only a “mind thing”, that would be no problem at all. But God always lets me FEEL those evil spirits, meanwhile even before I meet them. Brothers and sisters, that is never a pleasant experience, quite the contrary. Yet I believe it must be important to God that we learn to merely listen to His voice and to keep ignoring those other seducing spirits which often approach us.
Well, that kind of spirit I pointed to in my headline is one of the most dangerous spirits because many people believe this is indeed the Holy Spirit. You can see this kind of spirit somehow freewheeling through Christianity and you can watch people getting happy and merry about knowing “god” through this certain spirit. What are his characteristics then?
(1) The spirit of false unity causes people to never take a stand for the truth. Instead, he seems to be acting according to Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer where He prayed “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (Jn 17:21 ESV) That is quite tricky, indeed. You can watch efforts of ecumenism not only in mainline churches, but also on a personal level in home churches, and even on the internet. This spirit tries to create oneness of mind and/or heart between people by ignoring that Jesus told us,
“I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” (Jn 17:9 ESV)
Actually, divine oneness with God and Jesus requires to have received eternal life beforehand (cf. Jn 17:3). This gift enables us to “know” (read love) God and Christ through our own spirits that are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And if God puts us together with someone who has received the same eternal life we have, more and more perfect oneness between us will be the outcome as we are being led by God, not by human reason or emotions. Alas, mere human efforts of ecumenism or of trying to become “one” with others avoid God’s intervention here. If we do not wait on God – which can be, admittedly, quite difficult at times – we might be tempted to create oneness as we see fit by seeking to find likeable people with whom we could become “one”. Whether we feel drawn toward them by our feelings (heart level) or if we simply agree on certain doctrinal issues (mind level), that could represent a mere human idea, still.
(2) Are there different kinds of “love”? Yes, indeed, there are. Perfect agape love is never man-made and we may not confuse it with being touched on a human level when we see someone is hurting. What I meant by “fake love” in the headline was a love that keeps giving and reaching out to others by ignoring the truth. Since there is only one truth (Jesus Christ as The Truth), it should be obvious that there cannot exist several (contradicting) truths that could be reconciled through what we call “love” (or emotions in this case). If there is only one truth, then there are not two, nor three, or even more. The fact that there is so much division in churches and between Christians has to do with the fact that people have become used to listening to spirits of division instead of listening to God. Sad to say, this whole confusion in Christendom has been Satan’s work. But in contrast, the love of God is so much different from fake love as the apostle John told us here.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (1 Jn 5:2-3 ESV)
At times it happens that we stumble into sin and repent; there is provision as John confirms (1 Jn 2:1). However, the Bible makes clear that the love of God that should be seen by the world consists of both loving our brothers and sisters AND keeping His commandments which God has enabled us to keep (cf. Phil 2:13). If we try to become one with others who obviously or even intentionally ignore, let’s say only one of His commandments, do we think that God will truly encourage such a fellowship then? 🙄
14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Cor 6:14-18 ESV – emphasis in italics added)
Entering the Promised Land 
Susanne, I appreciate your warning here. There are so many kinds of deceivers among us these days (2 John 1:7). How will we come to recognize all of them, for many come as angels of light who can say, “Jesus is come in the flesh,” even as “good loving Christians”? I think it all comes back to this as to how we avoid being deceived by false spirits…
Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
If we can truly see our Father AS He IS, we will also see the enemy and his minions as THEY are. I believe that as we let our Father purify our hearts through the work of the cross we are called to take up as our own as we follow Jesus, we eventually will be able to say with Jesus, “The prince of this world is come and has found nothing in me.” These kinds of sneaky spirits that are coming at us will only be seen for what they are if we are pure in our walks toward the Lord and have no hooks in our flesh that they can hang things on or grab hold of. Or as David put it,
“Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part you shall make me to know wisdom. Purge me… Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” (Ps 51:6-10, KJ2000)
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That was very well said, Michael. Thank you!
Yes, I also think if we share the purity of Christ’s light, the darkness won’t serve to confuse us any longer. Instead, we will be able to clearly see that which we now merely sense with our spiritual antennas.
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Susanne, you nailed it once again!
“…if we share the purity of Christ’s light, the darkness won’t serve to confuse us any longer. Instead, we will be able to clearly see that which we now merely sense with our spiritual antennas.”
John put it this way,
“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1John 1:6-7, KJ2000)
These men in that link in your article that are trying with all their flesh to be one (have fellowship one with another) will not succeed unless they release their own darkness to God and embrace the Light of Christ alone instead of their own intellectual light. Our unity is always found as we abide in the LIGHT of Christ alone!
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Oh, thank you very much, Michael! 🙂
In fact, I only shared my thoughts and you come up with the proper Scripture of which I had not thought before. Amazing! Thanks again!
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I am having a very hard time to read that link you posted. I feel the anger surging up on me. Please forgive me. Most of my family is Catholic and can’t they hear? I’m DEAF!!!! 95% DEAF. And they can’t hear? Joyce Meyer? I used to love that woman and grieved over the fact that she was a wolf! I even kissed her cheek before I started to seek truth. God forgive me! I am so sorry Susanne. I am an outcast in my family anyways and have been for years. I think the only person who really understood me was my brother. And now he is dead. And the rest of my family more or less just ignore me. And yes I do love them but I can’t tell them anything. They don’t believe me. If I should happen to be in a nut ward again than you know why. LOL Sorry. That link angered me. If you want to delete this post I understand.
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I am sad to hear about your lonely position in your family, Stacey. 😦
My whole family is Roman Catholic too and I know only God can draw them to Jesus, I can’t….. Often tried, always failed in the past.
If something I read arouses anger in me, I know that there is an old wound in my heart that has to be healed, still. But that is easier said than done, i.e., waiting on God to finally do so.
As for this particular link, well, the man you see facing the Pope is someone to who I listened quite often on TV and, in fact, He said some good things about Jesus too. However, since he has been part of the charismatic movement, his message got more and more confused over time and I can only pray for him. Regarding the Pope, uhm well, to me he is a normal man like any other. And if people, esp. women, praise him for being closer to God than anyone, then they do so because they often long for a “good father figure” in their own lives. Just my two cents…
If someone tells me what the Pope or anyone else who is a famous Christian has said, I only listen to my heart and check whether that could have been God’s voice or not. Sometimes God speaks through them, though… However, they do not know about it because they do not know God and Jesus and they cannot discern the spirits. Therefore it is so important for us to become acquainted with God’s voice – He can speak through anyone when He wills.
Joyce Meyer, well, I think it is good to know about her painful past (having been abused by her own father) and to also discern that she has listened more and more to the wrong spirits over time. She is in my prayers, too.
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Stacey, I just found a quote from Ossie Chambers in one of my blog posts where he referred to those saddening experiences we need to go through when we have trusted in people more than in God. Eventually, we will see them as they are without putting them on a pedestal any longer… and then unconditional love may begin. ❤ If you’re interested, the link to that article is beneath the quote.
“Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens— if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone.”
The End of Illusions or… Should We Trust Anyone?
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And most times I sat alone unless Ceaser found me and he was a challenged but sweet kid.
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Ceaser? 🙄
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You are right Susanne. I probably do still have some old wounds that needs healing. Especially towards my childhood memories and a couple of others. I love people as a whole but do not ever want to put anyone on a pedestal again. Jesus has to be my focus. I have this darling 5 yr. old granddaughter lying next to me and she is just so pretty! I count myself as being blessed to love my kids and knowing that even when my daughter when she was very young was smart enough to ask questions in “catechism” class that the teachers thought she was disruptive. A priest mentioned it to me as we were leaving and I asked my daughter what were her questions? It had to do with communion. I agreed with her and we never went back. It has been an interesting journey.
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Well that gets me thinking. The Methodist / Presbyterian (yes it is both) building I was going to. Some thing did feel odd at first. Like I had to come home and pray after each service as something didn’t feel right. That feeling did go away after a few months. Although I feel farther from GOD then I did before I started going. Any way the best part of that service was when I felt love was during the pacing the peace ( giving every one a hand shake and greeting every one) and also I felt some love after the service during the cookies and coffee stuff. I think in a conversation with Michael I had mentioned this. I can not remember what he had said about it though.
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I know that “pacing the peace” thing too, Fred, even in the Roman Catholic church it has become a habit. The main problem is that we indeed might have encounters with people who are honest and open AND let us feel some love, BUT if they regularly attend these churches and submit to another authority than Christ (priest, pastor, elder), the love experienced cannot grow when the Holy Spirit is not in it. That applies in particular if the church’s teachings contradict the Bible (for example regarding tithes that belong to the Old Covenant, not to the New Covenant).
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Well, Fred, the reason you felt better during the parts where people were being friendly instead of the institutional “service” is that the kingdom of God is a family, not an institution. It is organic and not a machine that is programmed to function by the man with the title… the paid Christian. When we are with a group of people who are yielded in the Spirit to God it much better yet, as HE orchestrates the will of God and His love flows between us.
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Hey I work at Oral Roberts University and they are Pentecostal and I have told them that I do not see things the way they do–they do not fuss at me but they do listen to me and I just tell and show them who Jesus is and how He works–I am so glad that when I was unsaved I was not in to organized religion.
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Great, Ken! Indeed, you work where the devil spreads his poison and don’t get affected. So, it must be the Lord who protects you. I have Pentecostals as my neighbors – that is no prob, either, since here are either Catholics or Pentecostals only. 😉 It is always good to know that it is never the person who is our enemy, but the unseen spirit that “drives” them.
I am glad they listen to you, Ken. Take care!
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