War on the Saints – Lying Spirits
I once read a book in which the author consistently said, “The Lord told me”. This was repeated so often I began to doubt that everything this author said was indeed from the Lord.
I have a reason to question his oft quoted assertion. I too can say “The Lord told me”, ” I heard”, “I sensed.” Come to find out, even though I was aware of lying spirits, I still listened to them, thinking that I could always tell the difference. I was wrong.
Not too long ago I read an e-book from a man who was featured on a blog, The Sign of Jonah. His story was fascinating and it was evident that he thought he truly was in the will of God, but certain aspects of his story began to reveal that he was deceived. He told of how he was always hearing from God. God was being rather specific with this man. Apparently this man went through his day, constantly being directed as to what to wear, what to eat, and when to make a left turn. He saw red dragons on all supposedly “evil” sites that needed to be “taken” for the Lord. It became apparent that this man was totally deceived and was not listening to God but had given his ear over to the lying spirits.
In the book “War of the Saints” it talks of counterfeit guidance.
“As Christ was a pattern or example for His followers, guidance or ‘leading’ in its perfect and true form is shown in His life, and believers can only expect the co-working of the Holy Spirit when they walk after the pattern of their Example. Out of line with the Pattern the cease to have the working of the Holy Spirit, and become open to the deceptive counterfeit workings of evil spirits.”
“If the believer ceases to use mind, reason, will and all his other faculties as a person, and depends upon voices, and impulses for guidance in every detail of life, he will be ‘led’ or guided by evil spirits, feigning to be God.”
“This is the time for which the deceiving spirits have been watching…he (man) is now watching for some other supernatural indication of the way to go, or the course to take….This is the moment of opportunity for a deceiving spirit to gain his faith and confidence: and so some word or words are whispered softly, that are exactly in accordance with the inward drawing that he has had….the soft whisper of the deceiving spirit is so delicate and gentle, that the believer listens to, and receives the words without question, and begins to obey this soft whisper, yielding more and more to it, without any thought of exercising mind, judgment, reason, or volition.”
“From this point deceiving spirits can increase their control, for the believer has begun the listening attitude…until he is always watching for an ‘inner voice,’ or a voice in the ear which is an exact counterfeit of the voice of God in the spirit; and thus the believer moves, and acts as a passive slave to ‘supernatural guidance.'”
ppg. 136-137
When I returned to the Lord some years back, I had a true spiritual awakening. Unfortunately, Satan was not going to give up without a fight. Every time I grew in the Lord, Satan provided opposition. I struggled to divide what was from the Lord and what was counterfeit.
God was so good to show me these things and to teach me through the Holy Spirit. All through this struggle I only wanted the truth and I prayed for answers.
Are you teachable? Do you really want the truth? This may seem like a silly question, but truly it is not, for you may say to yourself…of course I want the truth. Human nature is full of pride and what does pride do to man? It limits him. What does it limit? It limits admission.
Admission of being wrong.
Admission of being fallible.
Admission of weakness.
Admission of being deceived.
Why is this so hard? Losing face. What will others think? When we have been wrong the truth hurts. It pierces our pride, and when we are more concerned with what our fellow man thinks rather than what God thinks….we will fail every time.
It is because of this difficult admission of wrong thinking that we allow Satan to lead us into deception…no matter how many Bible verses we learn. We have to really believe and heed them. God’s Word is powerful if we actually use it and apply it to our lives. God’s Word can be poetic and inspiring but if it is left at that, using it only for its beauty we will forfeit its powerful instruction.
It is this power that keeps us teachable, humble, and open to the truth. Truth opposes lies – Satan’s lies. In these times Satan’s lies are growing more powerful because they cover-up and distort God’s written Word. When we as Christians listen to Satan’s lies, we will begin a journey into deception.
“It requires a very deep allegiance to the truth which God desires should reign in the inward parts of His children, for a believer to accept truth which cuts and humbles, as readily as he accepts that which is agreeable. The ‘undeceiving’ is painful to the feelings, and the discovery that he has been deceived is one of the keenest blows to a man who once thought that he was so ‘advanced,’ so ‘spiritual’ and so ‘infallible,’ in his certainty of obeying the Spirit of God.”
Pg. 181
So why is this deception so compelling, ever-growing, and filtering into the church? This has always been Satan’s plan. He is the deceiver of the whole earth. He is deceiving all into thinking that a new spiritual awakening is coming upon the earth. He is right, you know…there is a spiritual awakening but it has nothing to do with Jesus Christ.
“The world is now drawing nearer to the ‘time of the end,’ characterized by the deception depicted in the Apocalypse as being world-wide; when there will be deceptions of NATIONS, and individuals, on such a vast scale that the deceiver will practically have the whole earth under his control. ‘The whole world lieth in the evil one’ (1 John 19) said the Apostle, to whom was given the Revelation, describing the world as already lying deep in darkness through the deception of the evil one, and blindly led by him through vast evil spirit hosts under his control.”
Pg.10
When Satan was bombarding me with opposition and lies, I listened for awhile, but I always questioned, probed and prayed. Was I deceived? Yes, I was…but I was more interested in the truth, no matter what. If I had never acted on my doubts, who knows…I probably would be posting silly lies and prophecies that would sound just like false prophets, Kim Clement or Chuck Pierce.
I was listening to a tape this morning from a Discernment-Ministries conference I attended last year. Carolyn Schorle spoke of her deliverance from drugs prescribed to her when she was diagnosed as mentally-ill. She was taunted with the voices of demons and she battled her way out with scripture. She told us, read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. When you are done start over.
I beg of you….pray for the truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God.
*************
“Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.”
Daniel 11:35
DiscernIt 
22 comments
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April 11, 2008 at 4:39 am
indywatchman
Kim,
Great post, and one that needs to be read and understood, with a deliberate attitude of getting wisdom. It does appear that there is some gaining of ground as a result of the concerted focus on the discernment gifts, but so much more needs to be done. A little here and a little there seems to be God’s way in these last days; using the meager resources of a few dedicated believers to accomplish big things for the Kingdom.
Jessie Penn-Lewis’ book “War On The Saints” is a classic and should be on every Christian’s bookshelf. But, like all products of men/women, a grounded knowledge of the Bible should come first. Jessie’s advise for extinguishing error is to ignite truth, and that can only be done through study of the source document, the Bible.
I have very recently been involved in a situation where close personal friends have gotten caught up with false prophesying by a local pastor who seems to know of people in his congregation who have headaches and lost car keys and the like, and has won the trust of his followers to the extent that his words are as inspired as the words of Scripture. This seems plain crazy to me, but it is true. This same pastor claims to resist the New Age Emerging Church and Rick Warren, but will not give up his insider approach to the Divine. We think that this kind of stuff should be obvious to “believers” but holding onto leaders with esoteric knowledge is the very life of a lot of Churches, and of course the Emerging Church is all about the mysterious insider approaches to God.
Keep up the good work,
In His service,
Steve Blackwell
April 11, 2008 at 7:39 am
Kim
Hi Steve,
Thank you for sharing the current experience of your friends. This esoteric knowledge the pastor receives is the exact same process that say for instance, John Edward of CrossingOver uses. The information comes from demons posing as relatives. In this case the pastor believes it is from God. But the source is the same.
I like the phrase you use. “Will not give up his insider approach to the Divine.”
Those who are “receivers” or believe that they are “anointed”, believe they are immune from deception and are instead, “blessed”. This is a very dangerous misconception.
April 11, 2008 at 9:06 am
Lori
Wish I would of found you all about 3 years ago when I was caught up in what I thought was a church where all these people had “special gifts” and I wanted what they had. I even prayed I could see into the spiritual realm and what I got was just that, sigh. I overcame it when I cried out to Jesus and reading His Word both in the morning and evening and listening to my Bible CD’s during the day. I of course got out of that church (more like a cult) and am now drawn to people who have a love for God’s Word and follow Him (The Lord Jesus Christ) and not following some pastor/prophet/apostle/etc. Jesus is my salvation and my everything!!!!!!
April 11, 2008 at 9:15 am
Lori
Sorry, I should of put self appointed pastor/prophet/apostle/etc.
April 11, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Lee
I just received my copy of War On The Saints today in the mail. Looks like I’ll be doing some extra reading this weekend…
April 11, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Mary
hey Lee,
I am going to start reading it next week sometime. TThis is like an alternative to Oprah’s book of the month club.
April 11, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Lee
Mary,
Yes, and a much improved one!
April 11, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Kim
I am looking forward to your comments about this book. I have never read such detailed information about the world of demons and their influences on mankind, especially the Christian.
April 11, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Kim
Lori,
I wanted to ask you…what denomination church were you attending?
April 12, 2008 at 12:06 am
Lori
Hi Kim,
It was a Five Fold Ministry. This article from Herescope describes it pretty well although we also did prayer walking in our city.
Dominionism and Kingdom Now teachings
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2006/02/dominionism-and-kingdom-now-teachings.html
April 12, 2008 at 6:14 am
Lee
Lori,
Thanks for the link. I’ve read various articles on Dominionism, Kingdom Now, Manifest Sons of God, Joel’s Army, etc. over the past year and this one does a great job of reducing these to their essence. It is quite clear to me that all this combined (and we must add in the New Apostolic Reformation which is trying to enforce compliance) is merely the New Age movement using Christian lingo and twisting scripture to fit New Age ideals.
April 12, 2008 at 7:40 am
Leigh
Kim, I am so glad that you posted the material from “War on the Saints”. Please inform all that they must get the unabridged version as the abridged has all the revelant passages referring to Christians being invaded by evil spirits.
Those reading this book should also obtain her books on the Centrality of the Cross and other topics. She was much used of by God in the 1904 Welsh Revival with Evan Roberts. A great DVD is available called “Diary of Revival” which traces the roots of the Welsh Revival and the ministry of Evan Roberts. Most would know that Evan Roberts himself was deceived by evil spirits and spent many months in the home of Jessie Penn Lewis and her husband.
One of the main reasons that they co authored War on the Saints was because they saw the presence of evil spirits among the supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit. As people were gloriously being saved the enemy was at work.
I might add here that an excellent set of audio tapes are available with a study guide by the late Ernest Rockstad. He pioneered the deliverance in the early 50s testing the supernatural gift of tongues. Their website is
faithandlifeministriesministries.com
I have been involved in deliverance for 24 years and the material on this site I obtained back in the early 80s and formed the basis of my ministry beliefs. Rockstad was very sound in his doctrine.
I believe where prayer is non existant then the Devil is existant. Seven days without prayer makes one WEAK. If prayer is not paramount in the life of the believer then he has a stronghold of demons preventing him from communication with his source of strength, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jessie Penn Lewis says.
“Prayer is the greatest conceivable weapon of destruction at the disposal of the believer, destroying obstacles to God’s working either from sin, or from the works of the devil.”
And again.
“If a systematic warfare of prayer against the forces of darkness is possible to the believer, such a warfare prayer needs to be learnt as much as any other subject of knowledge…such believers need not only to understand the intelligent use of the weapon of prayer, but to obtain knowledge of the organized hosts of darkness…the believer must learn to observe their methods in the war against the people of God. ”
There is a great deception in our pulpits today. Where do you hear preaching or teaching on the warfare against the Devil? Yet this was one of the chief ministries of Christ and His disciples. I believe many of our preachers are aiding the enemy by not teaching warfare therefore their congregations are an open field for the invasion of evil spirits.
No wonder the Churches are falling away from the true doctrine once delivered to the Saints. No wonder that so many Christians end up wounded, crippled and maimed by false doctrine and seduced away from the faith by “deceiving demons and doctrines of devils.”
If I can assist anyone out there with material, CDs or anyother means to take a stand and lean on the Holy Spirit to “teach all things” please let me know. I have about five hundred sermons on CD.
WE MUST stay “strong in the Lord and the power of His Might.”
April 12, 2008 at 8:02 am
Mary
Leigh,
I echo your frustration. There is little to no teaching from pulpits on spiritual warfare it seems. I remember shortly after becoming a believer, my church’s college and career group did a summer long series on spiritual warfare. I think I walked closer with the Lord during that time than any other time since. We the church are so vulnerable because of that lack in good teaching.
April 12, 2008 at 11:59 am
Tim H
Yes,
I am so amazed at the deception and how all of these New Age people tjink they are following after Christ or see some link to their belief system and Christ. It seems like it is really coming out of the woodworks these days doesn’t it?
Come Lord Jesus!
April 12, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Leigh
Mary, every Church should hold a Warfare Seminar every year in my opinion. But of course I am biased.
You can see all around that without the discernment that comes from a close study of “the wiles of the Devil” what is happening to Churches and the Christians in them. Satan is rubbing his hands with glee. He is also rubbing the blood of many Christians in the dirt as he despises their weakness as “soldiers for Christ.”
How it must grieve the Lord to see so many of His flock being torn apart by these wolves dressed up as sheep. We can only tell as many as possible { get called extreme} for talking about demons and be on our knees in prayer.
May 12, 2011 at 10:33 am
Bro. Bob
No book but ONE rightly divides this subject! Books! books! books! Why so many books? Wisdom never comes in a mass. Wisdom is like gold. You have to dig for it yourself. You never get a lot at once. And it comes from God alone. The longer I live the more weary I get of this stuff. Wisdom can not be taught at a luncheon, or bought in a book! The wise know better. If there is gold in a place no one is going to tell you about it! You will have to find it yourself!
May 12, 2011 at 6:10 pm
Kim
Bro. Bob, I do agree with you. But I do get help from some very trusted commentaries. We do need teachers and pastors, i do at least, but ultimately the Holy Spirit is our teacher who guides us into all truth.
My time is often best spent with my Bible open in my lap, just reading and praying over a small passage.
November 4, 2011 at 10:09 pm
john beechy
i have been struggling recently with lying spirits telling me i was going to be punished for my sins or my evil thoughts that come in my mind, it has got so bad that when i do something almost anything the spirit starts bringing condemning thoughts in my mind that i should be punished and i have been being attacked by these spirits in my back and neck and body area.Any advice i have tried fighting against them, but they are very strong, i am having a hard time not listening to them.
November 5, 2011 at 9:18 am
Kim
Hi john,
Christians who have put their faith in Jesus Christ are often attacked by Satan. Satan is an accuser of the brethren. When we read the Ephesians 6 passage about the full armor of God, this is a spiritual battle. Satan shoots his flaming arrows at us but our shield is faith and our defense is the Word of God. Even Jesus when he was tempted, used scripture and 3 times told Satan, ” It is written…” This battle is fought with God’s strength so depend on HIs Word and pray. 1 Peter 5:8 says “Your enemy the devil prowls like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour….stand firm in the faith…Resist him.” James 4:7 “Submit yourselves to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
There is some extra information in the James passage that we all need to think about…Wash your hands you sinner, purify your heart, you are double-minded. Grieve, mourn,wail…….
There may be reasons for your strong oppression. Do you drink alcohol, use recreational drugs, or take anti-depressants? Please do not be offended when I ask these things because it is just a search of lifestyle and possible causes. Have you tried eastern meditation or allowed a deceived person to lay hands on you….? All these things can allow a false spirit to influence you.
I know of these things because of my sinful past. Just 10 years ago a doctor prescribed an anti-depressant which caused visions, dreams, and voices that I thought were from God.
Even when I realized that these voices were from lying spirits it took awhile for them to go away. You might want to go through your past and repent and ask forgiveness of any sin. Wash your hands and your heart….give yourself totally to the Lord, which is what the demons truly fear. That is why they are condemning you….because they want you to forget that there is NO condemnation in Christ.
Another thing you may want to do is truly examine your life and test all things. When I found out that the “words” I had been receiving from “God” were from the imposter… i just couldn’t let go of all of them…Some of them, my favorites, i wanted to cling to….
But then I opened my Bible and read in Acts 19:19 where the people confesses their evil deeds, (sorcery) and burned their magic scrolls. I decided to take my journals and burn them out on the porch…This made a huge difference….It was not the act of burning, or the ritual, but the repenting or doing a total 180 of turning away completely of what was false. The decision i made in my mind turned a cornerstone and a demon was exposed in my life.
You, are going to have to pray constantly, read your Bible constantly for guidance. The Lord teaches us through other believers, through His Word and answers to prayer. Not all of our experiences are the same and God’s answers are not always the same.
I hope I have touched upon some ideas that will assist you. Not all will apply to you since your comment was fairly brief.
Please keep in touch…and I will pray for you.
kim
January 18, 2012 at 11:26 pm
john beechy
I actually have had people lay hands on me before, i am not sure if they were decieved, but i have thought that some of them might have been. I am not doing any drugs or alcohol at all. I really don’t know what it could be.
January 19, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Kim
There are biblical reasons for someone to lay hands on you. This is from BibleTools
“Laying on of hands, performed by ordained elders of the church during prayer, signifies an ordination or setting apart. The church, following biblical precedent, uses the laying on of hands for requesting the Holy Spirit after baptism, anointing the sick, ordaining ministers, consecrating marriage vows, blessing little children and requesting special gifts of God.”
But to openly receive an impartation from laying on of hands is dangerous and really is more like the yogis who impart the shaki-pat by the touch on the forehead.
I have talked with people who suffer from the result of the impartation. On the other hand some seem to never experience the depression or oppression because they were not open to it.
Many have said that being slain in the spirit has caused problems in their prayer life and that they have a hard time reading the Bible.
If you are diligent by seeking God by reading His Word, and praying for deliverance, He will hear you.
July 28, 2016 at 7:30 pm
rhodamama
Hmnn. God bless you so much for this word. Now I know better. I pray others know this truth. In Jesus name. Amen