A Little Leaven Leavens the Whole Lump

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deceitfulness of the heart, deception, delusion, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, false spirits, false teachers, following Jesus, little lies, the devil

This article might turn out another entry on discerning the spirits which seems to be an ongoing theme I cannot, and meanwhile do not want to get rid of, either. Whether we want to know if Christians speak the truth when they share their experiences with God or if we want to discern a preacher’s sermon, it appears to me that we all need this discernment as little lies often creep in secretly. I do not want to give a theoretical approach here. Therefore, I am going to share my latest experiences with you on here.

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How to Break free from Delusion and Deception

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deceitfulness of the heart, deception, delusion, discerning the spirits, entering his rest, exhortation, experience, false prophets, God's love, Jesus Christ, Satan, sin, spiritual growth, T.A. Sparks

“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Jer 2:13 ESV)
– Photo by Susanne Schuberth

Below you can read a definition of what the word ‘delusion’ basically signifies. T. Austin Sparks explained it this way.

What is delusion? Well, it is to lead from truth into error. It is to mislead the mind or the judgment, to beguile, to lead astray, to cheat, to frustrate, to disappoint, to impose upon; something that is not the truth; and these are days peculiarly marked by that peril. [1]

Actually, delusion and deception are so natural to us that we usually submit to them without knowing about it until God sets us free. On the one hand, there are people who are atheists or agnostics who are deceived because they reject The Truth which is Christ. On the other hand, there are religious people, even Christians, who are deceived because they are content with what they know and can do for God or other religious entities. These believers do not want to grow spiritually because it is too painful for the flesh which must die and make room for Christ in us. Furthermore, there are Christians who have come to know parts of the truth and who had their personal experiences with God and Christ too, however, they habitually eat the whole meat of everything they were taught and do not spit out the bones. Thus it is often times a horrible mix of truth and lies they offer and you need to be cautious to not get captivated by their confusing spiritual spider webs as well.

Seven ways to discern truth from error by A.W. Tozer

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A.W. Tozer, clarity, confusion, deception, delusion, demons, discerning the spirits, God, Jesus Christ, love, method, mystical experiences, Satan, sin, test, the Bible, The World

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Mt 7:13-14 ESV)
Photo by Susanne Schuberth

If we are insecure about how to discern the spirits in certain cases, A.W. Tozer offers a very helpful method to try any new experience, doctrine, or religious movement regarding their effects on our relationship with (1) God, (2) Jesus Christ, (3) the Bible, (4) our (old) self, (5) other believers who are indwelt by Christ’s Spirit, (6) the world and its desires, and as to (7) sin. It is a quite long article of which I only pasted some excerpts on here although the text is pretty long, still. If you want to read more, please, follow the link below. It is well worth reading, I believe. I also think we can use this method in order to judge the origin of our thoughts, our (day)dreams and visions, even everyday occurrences and their effect on us. May God help us sharpen our discerners with what Tozer, who in my opinion had been inspired by God, wrote about.

Satan’s Counterfeit Spirituality

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carnal, counterfeit gifts, deception, delusion, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, faith, feelings, God's will, joy, spiritual, suffering, walking by faith, Watchman Nee

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Lk 9:23-25 ESV)
Picture credits http://cornerstone-marion.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/mission-website-cross.jpg

To begin with, I want to make a distinction between the carnal believer who is fully carnal and spiritual believers who can be both carnal or spiritual. That might sound a bit strange in the beginning, but I am going to explain it right now.

Godly suspicion or… A not so nice but honest blog post

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darkness, delusion, discerning the spirits, evil spirits, exhortation, experience, eyes of the heart, false prophets, light, Michael Clark, prophecy, T.A. Sparks, the devil

The Evil Lurks at Every Corner
(Source Pinterest)

This is another joint article Michael Clark and I wrote which springs from our experiences with controlling spirits in family, friends and even commenters that have found our blogs as of late. It has been a steep learning curve as to what is the voice of the Lord and what is from the carnal desires of people.

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If I (Susanne) was still after gathering as many followers, “likers”, and commenters as possible, I would never write such an open letter as I am now doing. 😉 First of all, as I had begun to moderate comments recently, completely splitting up with commenters and email contacts on the net, trashing comments that seemed to be very nice at first, unfollowing many blogs and unfriending a large percentage of people on Facebook… this was very difficult for me in the beginning. It was like a new habit that did not yet fit nor sit well with me. But of course, it has not become a real “habit” since God follows no hard and fast rules – ever! His leading is as unpredictable as can be. Sometimes it has simply been listening to the Lord’s gentle nudgings right at the outset and at other times I felt the urgent insistence of the Holy Spirit when He warned me about very dangerous spirits that tried to primarily influence me and then those people around me, including my readers.

How do we define SIN?

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deception, delusion, experience, faith, following Jesus, listening, Michael Clark, mind, peace, Satan, sin, true faith

Walking with God…
(Photo credit https://revlisad.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/walking-with-god.jpg)

This is another joint article Michael Clark and I wrote together.

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Jesus was without sin because He only did what He saw His Father doing and He only spoke His words. This is why Paul could say that nothing of itself is sin, but only that which is done without faith… which is not doing what our Daddy in Heaven shows us to do and say. Faith is not law keeping. Faith is obeying the Spirit and the wind of the Spirit blows where no man expects it to. We must be free to follow the leading of the Spirit if we are to walk by faith. This is why Peter was sinning when he refused to eat with Gentiles, though the law forbade him to do so, but the Spirit of the NEW covenant often surpasses the law. The apostle Paul told us the following,

“I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.” (Rom 14:14 ESV)

“To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.” (Titus 1:15 ESV)

Another Fake Revival or… how Christianity is being deceived

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Baptism in the Holy Spirit, deception, delusion, discerning the spirits, exhortation, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, the old self

For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” (Lk 8:17-18 ESV)
Picture from http://hosts.blogtalkradio.com/talkteachtestify/2015/04/29/the-counterfeit-christianity-unfolded-the-great-deception-of-satan

A dear brother shared a link with me today which led to an article that describes the latest alleged “outpouring” of a spirit – I do not dare to call this spirit the Holy Spirit of God since I really cringe in my heart and soul about this blend of truth and lies we are offered there. Alas, I found a very uncritical entry by a Christian magazine as I followed the link.  😦 If you want to read the whole thing, below is the link. It could serve as a training to sharpen the ability of discerning the spirits in us.