I grew up attending a protestant covenant church and accepted the Lord as a young girl. I had a strong biblical background. I began to backslide as a teenager and so I wandered for over 30 years. One day I came back to the Lord. I was so convicted of my sin that I wept in repentance. I became hungry for the Word of God. I joined BSF Bible Study when invited to attend. I hungered and thirsted for righteousness.
I was immersed in the Word and loving every minute of it. But something happened. I began to receive open visions. I saw the Lord’s hands. Gigantic numbers appeared in scenery as I was driving.
Then I began to get messages. Oh how I thought the Lord was using me. I told my mother who thought I was being extremely blessed. I began to take the advice from the voice that I was hearing. I told only a few people but one was impressed with how close I was to God and asked if I had a “Word” for him. Not being familiar with Pentecostal theology I had not heard of this. So I asked God for a “Word” for this person. Indeed I was given specific information regarding this person and shared it with him. It was an extremely joyful experience. However it only deepened my delusion.
Since I was a Christian and was “hearing” a voice, I thought surely I was hearing from God. I did not even question my experience. Satan is a tricky and deceptive being. He will use the best devices at his disposal to pull you away from God.
The messages I received were varied. Some sounded like scripture. Some were odd dreams. I dreamt about evil hanging over the city of Kansas City and the IHOP. (That one was true). Satan mixes truth and lies. I had strange manifestations at night. I once had two open visions of water flowing down the hallway in my home. A week later a water hose slipped from the connection and flooded the house. The demonic world can see circumstances around you and make you think you are prophetic. This list could go on and on.
One was an upcoming judgment of a city with a time frame of two weeks. I started to look for others who were receiving similar information.
Oh my! What I found was a whole world of prophetic people. I came across something called the The Elijah List. I poured over their predictions and visions. I was hearing some of the same things others were. I read them all. I did notice that some of the older posts had predicted future events that did not happen. One was a tsunami for the West Coast reaching up into the Willamette valley. That date had passed. I wondered about that.
But something happened…or didn’t happen I should say. The prediction I was given didn’t come true. It was a failed prophecy. I also read that these predictions are not always right that the prophet can be off, but still be a prophet. This is a standard teaching in the hyper-charismatic world. Someone said to me that perhaps my prayers had diverted the disaster. I wasn’t buying it. Something was wrong. I started praying for the truth…constantly.
Research took up most of time at this point. I was learning about all of the false doctrine entering the church. I was shocked. Contemplative prayer, LatterRain, yoga in the church, prosperity teachings, and the prophetic ministries. Mind boggling. While I was trying to find out why I was receiving these false messages, I was learning discernment. I also learned that I already had discernment because of the doubts in my mind.
One day I opened my Bible to Deuteronomy 18. I read in verse 22 where it says, “if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken…” This sent me to the floor. I was devastated. What I had heard was NOT from God. I knew then that I had been listening to the enemy. It is hard to describe the deflation of pride that happens when the Lord reveals HIS truth. He opened my eyes and scales fell off.
I asked the Lord to take away any gifts that I had that were not from Him. The messages stopped.
A couple years before this started, menopause had hit me and my doctor prescribed Celexa, an anti-depressant because I had become rather weepy. I didn’t think much of it… because it seemed to help. Then I started having colon problems. Another doctor prescribed a pill that seemed to take the pain away. This worked too.
I didn’t know it at the time but the second pill was also an anti-depressant. I was on two powerful psychotropic drugs and I was seeing things and hearing voices. These drugs pierce a protective veil in the mind and are mind-altering. I had opened up my mind with drugs. Another factor is these drugs affect the pituitary gland. This also opens up a person spiritually and this is dangerous. I didn’t know it at the time, and I surely did not want this to happen…But it did.
I want to add that while the drugs were the catalyst for my deception the same problems can happen by being open to false teachings, eastern-style meditation, and receiving impartations from occultism.
A friend alerted me to the predicament I was in and informed me of the influences I was under with the drugs…I had my answer. Praise God for this friend of mine. I went on a tapering program to get off the drugs and now I am totally free of them.
But here is the deal. I was joyful at the thought that I was being used by God. I felt “special”. What rises in a person is thinking that you have spiritual information not available to others. This is a form of Gnosticism. Special knowledge. Now I can see that this was actually spiritual pride. What a lesson. I had only discussed my situation with a handful of people but I had to confess to those I given a “word” to. Confession…..repentance…….restoration.
I was yet to receive another blow to my pride. One night I opened to 1 Samuel and read 15:23. “Rebellion is like the sin of divination.” I had been in rebellion to God by the loving the false messages. It was sin. Later the Lord instructed me on the next step of my undeceiving.
Because I had been reading my Bible every day for six years, I was able to find the truth. Prayer was a staple I needed to get through this situation. But I can see how beguiling the prophetic movement is and how much it actually harmed me and others spiritually. What if I had decided to try to post my “revelations“, lies from Satan, on one of the prophetic sites? I would have mislead many people.
Unfortunately, my problems did not totally stop here. While the messages and visions stopped I still was suffering from some manifestations. Once while commenting on this blog with a student of “A Course of Miracles” this young person said he was going to send me a benevolent spirit that night. A spirit did show up that night but it was anything but friendly. A cold bony hand gripped the back of my neck. I slipped to the floor and prayed it away in the name of Jesus.
It was an interesting experience. The deceived student thought the spirit he was communing with was good but as a born again believer it appeared to me in its true form as an evil spirit. But again I began to wonder, why I was able to discern the spirit world? Is this also a form of divination?
I had a written personal journal of “messages”, or “visions” that I had received over those three years. I was then led to Acts 19:19 which said that the people burned their magic books. This would be my next step. The very next morning I took my journal and burned it on the back porch on a pizza pan. That night I saw the angry red eyes of a demon. They turned away and left. Now I was also free from the manifestations that had lingered. This demon could see I was still reading his messages to me.
This gave me much freedom from the confusion this situation had been causing. I need to warn the reader again…some of the personal visions I received, did actually happen, and I think this was to enforce the delusion. Satan can see our personal instances and the world we live in and can make us believe that we have received a personal revelation confirming circumstances surrounding us. Some of the messages I received sounded very scriptural, but this is how Satan deceives, by mixing truth and lies together. Satan twisted scripture when he tempted Jesus, but Jesus resisted by using the Word….”It is Written” he replied. We need to resist temptation also, and we can use the Word of God and prayer as our strength and power to defend ourselves.
With all the false teachings that are abounding the one thing I fear most for the church at this time is the “anointing”. Those who desire this “impartation” must be prayed for. I have heard the stories of how these so-called prophetic powers can be passed onto someone by the laying on of hands. My situation was only one way that a person can open themselves to deception. But there are many ways. There is the impartation, false anointings, drugs, alcohol, eastern meditation, repetition of word, hypnosis, visualization (very occult) , and the seduction of today’s hypnotic music. The church is being bombarded with all these deceptions and spiritual influences. Sadly the church is embracing many of these occult methods because these methods create an “experience” of feelings, like the “soaking” we hear so much about today. Instead of serving God in humililty we are being taught to soak in ecstasy.
Whenever I hear of the church participating in something that sounds like a “spiritual awakening,” I cringe. New age techniques almost always accompany these gatherings.
It was not long ago I prayed…”Lord, why did I have to go through this? Why me?”
I knew immediately…I had been tested. Who was I going to turn to? The Lord and His Word in the Bible, or Satan and his false words outside scripture?
The church is being tested right now!….Are you being refined or are you being mislead? Can you spot deception and avoid it or are your participating in it? Are you reading and studying the Bible for truth from God or are you following the wicked paths of man?
The deceptions today will pull you AWAY from Jesus Christ if you know Him. If you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord then you will have much difficulty finding the truth. Those who have compromised themselves by a false spirit cannot pray or have difficulty reading the Bible. Christians following this false spirit or desiring its power, have lost all desire for these two mainstays of the faith. If this is the case then you need to repent and turn back to the Jesus of the Bible.
Truth found in the Word of God has to be paramount today. Accept nothing else.
Please show patience and mercy to those caught up in these deceptions. Pray for them. Some truly want to serve the Lord and walk with Him. But the evil one knows who to go after. Those who want the truth will eventually listen to it. It may be a process for them. Others are not sheep and need salvation first. Some who come out of deception seem to recover quite quickly. Others suffer for years learning Biblical truth. The Lord works in His ways to draw His sheep back to Him. Not one will be lost.
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7 comments
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September 6, 2008 at 8:34 am
Mary
oh Kim,
I guess I understand why you asked me about the medications I had taken when I wrote you my testimony. When all that weird stuff was going on, I wasn’t on any medication in high school. I was given an anti anxiety medication several years later after those things happened.
Thank your for telling your story. Do you still think what you saw regarding Ihop and also the earthquake were true?
September 6, 2008 at 10:14 am
Kim
Hi Mary…i have missed you.
Yes, i still believe the dream i had about the evil over KC to be from God. Many trusted Christians have told me of their dreams about earthquakes. Ground breaking up, huge gaps in the ground, buildings falling. I believe we are being warned.
BUT..i am relying on the Word of God.
September 6, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Mary
Hi Kim,
I have been reading, just not commenting much. Busy end of the summer.
September 12, 2008 at 7:46 pm
christianlady
I don’t really know about dreams or things such as this. I have most of my wildest dreams when I am pregnant or just before. I’m very careful about dreams because I don’t think I can trust them.
In the KC area though, I see a big problem with a group called YouthFront and the teachings…look up YouthFront online through google and the man who leads it (has a blog). He is introducing kids to many contemplative things, as well as youth leaders. This along with IHOP and the old stuff with the KC Prophets has caused this area to be one of great spiritual deception. I guess you could say that about Seattle too…a place we love but one with many problems…
September 30, 2008 at 7:58 am
Trish Pederson
Hi Kim. I so enjoy your site. It has been very helpful to me as I have a sister who is very much caught up in “signs and wonders” and prophecy. she believes she has the gift of prophecy and is completely consumed with it. It came to her in a time of great anxiety and depression when she started receiving messages (and on heavy medication). Many of them are true but very irrational. She asserted herself in calling the Pentagon several times announcing to them where missing soldiers were in Iraq. The police have even investigated her home this is so serious. There are many, many other strange instances. She will stop at nothing to get her words to people believing she is being obedient. She has visions of people in certain clothes and tells loved ones about them. She has neglected her marriage and family so much so that she recently filed divorce papers on her husband claiming him to be violent (which could be no further from the truth.) She not only claims to have a very supernatural gift but also speaks in tongues and interprets others tongues. She recently took money they did not have to go to Lakeland because God told her to go. She claims to have “awesome” time with the Lord, reads her bible, etc….. prays for hours at a time. I have spoken so much truth to her from the word of God and now she refuses to speak to me. I believe this to be a spirit of divination and possibly Jezebel as she appears to be very controlling of her husband (who she is now back together with). She has been caught up in this for the last 18 months. She has acquired a following of people who she says, “need her” – but yet she claims to give all glory to God. I am very, very worried and sick about this. Do you have any advice for me other than prayer? I have poured over the scriptures on fale prophets and teachers and am even doing a study on 2nd Peter by Kay Arthur. I would so appreciate if you would email me back some insight. I have been a devoted Christ follower for 11 years and study His Word diligently. I have had three dreams, myself that have been warnings. One dream I had was that my sister and I were walking on the beach together on a pretty steep slant. All of a sudden the ground starting breaking up right under our feet. I kept watching my step closely and fortunately made it to safety on higher ground. She didn’t even notice what was happening and I kept screaming her name. Suddenly the ground completely gave way beneath her feet and she was completely swallowed up by the sand! I tried to go running to her aid but I couldn’t risk getting swallowed up, too so I only screamed her name. After some time she popped up out of the sand. I was so relieved. About a year prior to that dream when I had not yet tested her prophecies and was genuinely trying to listen to her and accept that she may have a gift from God I had a dream. Her and I were in an empty house together with stark white walls. An invisible force was throwing her around the room very violently. I stood there trying to say something but nothing would come out. I tried so hard to force out some words but they were stuck. Finally with great force I shouted, “In Jesus Name get out!” I actually said it out loud in my sleep and woke my husband. I then took that as a warning that something unholy had a hold of her. I have shared these dreams with her – but I know she is receiving her own visions and dreams on a regular basis and even told my 20 year old daughter that I have a different version of the truth and twist scripture. I wonder if you wouldn’t mind emailing me back your thoughts on this? I would much appreciate it. My email is **********. In Christ, Trish Pederson
September 30, 2008 at 8:21 am
Kim
Trish,
Thank you for writing about your situation. I believe your concerns are valid. I will respond to your email. Hopefully others have some insights that will be helpful that they will comment about.
July 11, 2014 at 11:52 am
cindy
this article relates to me . this was a similiar exp. thank you jesus has set me free from this mess.