How to find out another ‘Christian’ spirit

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common sense, courage, deception, discerning the spirits, duty, exhortation, experience, false spirits, following Jesus, God's guidance, Jesus Christ, light, Light and Darkness, obedience, Oswald Chambers, peace, resurrection power, spiritual power, Truth in Love, Walking in the Light

“For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…” (Ps 95:7-8 ESV)

I have come to know several people who thought they were led by the Holy Spirit, who believed in Jesus as their Lord, and who prayed to God, their Father. Alas, the spirits they usually listen to are mostly the voices of their own soul’s desires, their own mind’s ideas, and their self’s pushing interests. Here the question arises whether it makes sense to try to correct someone who is absolutely convinced of being led by God? I am afraid it might be of little help to do so unless God tells us to open our mouths in His perfect time. But speaking up and telling them the truth might turn out a damaging experience if these people are too unstable to be confronted with their deception yet. Maybe, they are confused, maybe, they are mentally sick, maybe, they were led into error by the wrong people.

When and why the Holy Spirit moves or… Transfiguration Through Trials (T.A. Sparks)

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deception, discerning the spirits, exhortation, false spirits, Fellowship of His Sufferings, God's love, resisting temptation, spiritual power, spiritual transformation, suffering, T.A. Sparks, testing, the cross, the devil, trials, wilderness

I colori dell’infinito (The colors of infinity): Green standing for new life (through FAITH), white for purity (in HOPE), and red for God’s LOVE – freely adapted from John of the Cross
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

Today I want to make clear that being filled with the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with what we find as a common belief in some religious circles (Pentecostal and Charismatic in particular). When we receive the Holy Spirit through spiritual baptism, it is not primarily about getting power to preach the gospel, it is not about having some great spiritual gifts with which we could impress others, either, nor is it about beginning to shine like a radiant light bulb nobody could resist to look at. 😉 Just think about Jesus’ example we find described in the Bible. What happened after our Lord had been baptized with the Holy Spirit?

Counterfeit Spirits

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church, deception, demons, discerning the spirits, drawing boundaries, experience, false spirits, following Jesus, God's goodness, God's love, light, peace, Resisting the Devil, RHEMA movement, Satan, T.A. Sparks, Witchcraft, Word of Faith

The danger behind the fence… (Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

The following excerpt by T. Austin Sparks speaks bluntly about how evil spirits imitate God by letting people appear ‘holier’ than before they had come into touch with these cunning underlings of Satan. May we not think it is easy to discern the real Christian who is indwelt by Christ’s Spirit (cf. Rom 8:9) from the ‘Christian’ that is indwelt by these evil spirits that comport themselves as if they were beings of light. Sparks wrote,

Putting Christianity to the Acid Test

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discerning the spirits, dying to self, exhortation, false spirits, false teachers, God's love, Michael Clark, movements, peace, psychology, soul-life, Spiritual Life, T.A. Sparks, the cross, Truth in Love

Putting our Christian views to the test
(Picture credits http://i0.wp.com/mrvitaminsnews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/acid-alkaline.png)

This is another joint blog post Michael Clark and I wrote together. As always, it needs to be seen against the backdrop of our own religious history. We both have had many years of experience in different church groups that were not founded on Christ and see why Paul said, “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Cor 2:2 ASV)

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Imagine you hear or read about a new branch of Christianity and you, of course, want to know whether what those people believe might be the truth or not. How can we quickly discern if we are dealing with real or only fake Christianity? To come straight to the point, without spiritual discernment received by God’s Spirit, the firmness of our conviction will be shaken again and again, depending on our moods, feelings, thoughts, and reasoning. T. Austin Sparks wrote the following about spiritual understanding.

On the Consistency of Thought and Deed

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agape, carnal mind, consistency, deeds, demons, discerning the spirits, ears of the heart, experience, false spirits, God's love, God's voice, Jesus Christ, Michael Clark, Satan's voice, The Truth, the Word of God, thought life, true faith, words, worldly spirits

Picture credits http://stores.jkmstore.org/spirits-that-hinder-the-flow-of-god-in-your-life-mp3/

Michael Clark and I wrote this blog post together, once again. As it has often been the case, I, Susanne, start with writing and share my thoughts on a certain topic with Michael and then God gives us a confirmation about writing another joint article.

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Can you force yourself to seemingly like what you basically do not like? What a strange question, Susanne! I need to admit that I can’t do it any longer although I tried. My heart won’t let me deceive myself anymore. Even if I like or love someone, I cannot like nor love what they do when their twisted thinking and doing contradicts the truth revealed in Christ. Not that I stop loving them, but my heart is grieved, often very deeply grieved. That hurts a lot indeed!  😦 In the past, I tried to do the impossible, that is, to encourage someone despite their wrong thinking and doing, simply because I liked these people. Well, God showed me how hypocritical that behavior was and how much I put myself in a state of bondage of the wrong spirits through that seemingly “kind” behavior. No, Susanne, that was not kind, it was only “nice.”

How to Detect False Spirits – The Spirit of False Unity and Fake Love

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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, Nicky Gumbel, obedience, Satan, sin, the devil

Picture source http://www.datekoupdatekar.com/blog/fake-world-fake-people

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 not fun!! 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 that approach us every day.

Beware of the Snare in the Air

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church, deception, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, eyes of the heart, false spirits, fellowship, Michael Clark, Satan, sin, true faith, worldly spirits

Marienkirche Hof/Bavaria (St. Mary’s Church)
Photo by Susanne Schuberth

“What a strange headline,” one might say here. Leaving aside the fact that I love rhymes, I put the heading that way in order to hint to the possibility that not all snares by the devil can be recognized immediately. The Prince of the Air works in an unseen realm and he is very crafty in manipulating our thought life, which cannot be seen, either. Just recently I read an interesting quote from a man who was finally freed from the bondage of a destructive Christian cult. I took that quote out of a longer testimony which Michael Clark had shared with me. After having left the cult, Tom Murray realized,

No one can consider themselves above the possibility  of deception.

Instead of Sanctification: The crossless gospel spirit

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discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, false gospel, false spirits, following Jesus, God, Jesus Christ, justification, pain, peace, sanctification, Satan, sin

Every gospel that focuses on man instead of focusing on Christ is anti-Christian by nature.
(Picture taken from https://thepropheticnews.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/antichrist.jpg)

I am sure there are more versions of that kind of gospel today and I presume there will pop up more and more of them in these last confusing days where Satan appears as an angel of light. However, I want to merely focus on two different manifestations of the crossless gospel I have met particularly on the internet since I began to write online comments in English on December 1, 2011. I would like to refer to these two confusing sub-categories as Spiritless Salvation of the Sinner and Spiritual Self-Salvation.

The Secret of How to Obey God in every situation

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chastening, controlling spirit, discerning the spirits, disciplining, evil spirits, exhortation, experience, false spirits, following Jesus, God's love, Jesus Christ, Michael Clark, obedience, prayer, sin, the fear of God, the new self, the old self

Obeying God means everything will fall into its place…
(Photo by Paul Schuberth)

Having got acquainted with being disciplined by God for a long time, I always feel a mixture of cautious compassion and silent awe when I observe that God chastens someone whom I have known personally. While the love of God draws us ever closer to His heart, the fear of God causes fear and trembling in our souls since we realize that our God truly is a consuming fire. He loves us so much that He does not accept ongoing sin in our lives. In fact, God does not take sin lightly.

A severe warning against confusing the Holy Spirit’s work with manifestations of mere soul-life

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confusion, discerning the spirits, emotions, evil spirits, experience, false spirits, immaturity, mind, salvation, Satan, soul-life, T.A. Sparks, thought life, will

Confusion of the mind…
(Picture taken from http://robertbsloan.com/2015/01/26/dont-be-distracted-by-false-teachers/)

Here is another part of my series as to discerning the spirits with which we have to do every day. I observed many different evil spirits that guide other Christians who seem to be convinced they are led by the Holy Spirit of God. For almost four years now I only watched this saddening development particularly on the internet. However, lately I felt that I need to speak up more often about the reality behind the scenes. I know that the truth hurts at times, but if we let God do His work in our hearts and minds, there is nothing to fear for us. On the other hand, if we think have no need for correction because we have arrived at a certain (perfected) point of no return, we can be sure that Satan was the author of such a proud conviction. The humble mind of Christ is all we need and looking to Him for advice as to anything we might say or do, that would be enough for the true believer.