The Spirit of Deception

Quarantine the Voice of the Enemy

Hello and blessings to the Body of Christ and everyone who has found their way here today. As hubby and I begin week five of our shelter-in-place life, the Lord has been speaking volumes to me, as I’m certain you have been receiving much revelation as well. I wanted to share a few of those things with you in this article.

Last week I shared a critical aspect of getting through this worldwide coronavirus pandemic victoriously. The Lord reminded me of the importance of sifting through the many voices that are vying for our attention, and “quarantine” those that are contrary to the voice of God! (For those who haven’t read Coronavirus and the Voice of the Holy Spirit, it’s available by clicking here.)

In continuing with that thought, the Lord reminded me how easy it is to listen to the wrong voice thereby opening ourselves up to the spirit of deceit. If ever we needed to hear the voice of God and discern the voice of the enemy it is today. Years ago, almost 25 to be exact, I became a victim of the spirit of deceit. Without going into every detail (the devastating experience is chronicled in my candid testimony, “The Bride Wore Black.”) I’m reminded of how very, very subtle and beautiful the spirit of deceit can be. Subtle and beautiful can be a deadly combination, if it’s not the voice of God!

The Spirit of Deceit in the Bible

Oftentimes we erroneously think the spirit of deceit works only in the lives of unbelievers. Not so! In fact, the Bible has many warnings to Christians regarding deceit — and gives us multiple examples of great and mighty men of God who dealt with this demonic spirit. Jesus was one of those men! Let’s take a look at the following scripture:

Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to you!”

Matthew 16:22

In this biblical account, Jesus had just finished telling His disciples that He would have to be killed and then raised from the dead (Matthew 16:21). Peter, as you can see, objected to that. He defiantly and arrogantly came back at Jesus and basically said, ‘Nope, not gonna happen on my watch!’ Now on the surface that sounds like a man of faith talking, right?

Jesus jolted His disciples by saying He must suffer and die, and Peter’s very first reaction was to dismiss that idea and rebuke Jesus for speaking such ‘negative’ words. Peter’s fleshly nature had a hissy-fit. He wasn’t accepting this [perceivably] ‘bad’ news, so he reacted from his soulish realm (his own intellect and opinion) rather than by the Spirit of God. (Now, in defense of Peter, the Holy Spirit of God had not yet been poured out. The day of Pentecost had not yet come. Acts 2:1-4.) Even though Peter’s words sounded faith-filled and ‘religiously’ correct, they were in fact downright demonic. There was something sinister at work here. How do I know this? Take a look at Jesus’ response…

But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Matthew 16:23

Wow! Jesus said that Peter’s words came from Satan himself! Let me interject something right here. I learned the following principle a long time ago: All that glitters is not gold, and all that is spiritual is not God! This biblical account is a prime example of that. To the disciples of Jesus, Peter’s words sounded good and godly and reassuring and positive and spiritual, but they were not God! Jesus, through the discerning of spirits, recognized Satan’s presence. And Satan was using Peter to hinder God’s divine plan to save mankind. Scripture clearly states that Jesus came to earth to “die” (Philippians 2:6-8), but Peter’s words (as wonderful and ear-tickling as they sounded) contradicted that. Church, we must be keenly aware that this same Satan who used the voice of Peter to speak a lie desires to speak through Christians today.

Just to be clear, Jesus was not calling Peter the devil when He said, “Get behind Me, Satan.” Jesus was speaking to the demonic spirit (Satan) that was influencing Peter’s words. Jesus was not attacking Peter personally, He was dealing with the unseen spiritual world. This is a blatant reminder that not everything spoken by Christians, even Christian leaders, is the voice of God. I cannot stress enough the importance for every Christian to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit (a totally different experience from salvation and water baptism) in order to access the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, one of which is “discerning of spirits,” (1 Cor. 12:7-11). This special gift empowers me and you with the supernatural ability to be able to discern the “spirit” behind people’s words and actions.

Jesus Warns of Deception

I would propose to you, that in these last-days it will become more and more difficult to distinguish the spirit behind a person’s words. In other words, many Christians will fall prey to beautifully presented words that sound so spiritual, and yet they are not from God. Every word spoken is from one of three sources: the Spirit of God, the spirit of Satan (like in the biblical example above), or from a person’s flesh (human intellect). That’s it — God, Satan, or man. And we must learn, as mature Christians, how to tell the difference.

Deception is going to be so prevalent right before the return of Jesus, that He issued this dire warning to the Church:

“For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

Matthew 24:24

That’s a pretty strong warning from Jesus Himself regarding the end-time spirit of deceit. Jesus is saying “even the elect,” the chosen ones, are in danger of wandering off course and believing lies. It’s no secret that Satan targets Christian leaders and those on the front lines of Christianity with a vengeance. Why? Because everything flows from the top down. If Satan can deceive a leader, he can potentially take out an entire congregation. That’s why I’m so adamant about every member of the Body of Christ becoming spirit-filled. The discerning of spirits is our best weapon against the spirit of deceit.

A Devil-Inspired Tactic

Did I mention how subtle and beautiful this demonic spirit can be? Did I touch upon how smooth and flattering those demon-inspired words can sound? In fact, the words can sound so biblical and the messenger can appear so godly, that I call it pretty poison! Let me give you one more biblical example of this demonic spirit at work:

Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.

Acts 16:16-18

This is one of the most powerful examples of the spirit of deceit in the entire Bible, because it was so subtle. First of all, did you notice who the devil used? Yes, a little girl! A child — the most innocent and vulnerable amongst us. Secondly, did you notice what she said? “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” She was referring to Paul and Silas. Were her words accurate? Yes, of course they were. Paul and Silas were preaching a gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ everywhere they went, just like the little girl said. She hit the nail right on the proverbial head. She spoke truth.

Then why was Paul “so greatly annoyed” by that true statement? What ticked him off so much? Because all that glitters is not gold, and all that is ‘spiritual’ is not God! Although the little girl’s words were truthful, Paul knew it was a demonic spirit motivating her to say those things. It was the spirit behind the words! God is concerned not only with our words, but the motivation behind the words.

Paul, through the gift of discerning of spirits, recognized it for what is was — a spirit of divination (witchcraft) working through this little girl. And the Bible says Paul immediately cast the demon out of her. Satan will use anyone he can to deceive people, from the youngest to the most senior among us. He will even use words of truth as a facade for his deception. And that’s what makes this spirit so difficult to detect. Very often the devil will use words of truth [right from the Bible] as beautiful wrapping paper for his poison, then deliver it through the most unsuspecting person, who doesn’t even realize they’re being used as a tool of Satan. A cunningly and sly devil-inspired tactic! But here’s the good news… the voice of the Holy Spirit is a great threat to the demonic spirit of deceit!

Dear friend, with everything going on in the United States and the world, you and I must seek to hear and follow the Spirit of Truth like never before. There is a depth of disease and death, emotional depression, and financial turmoil happening, the likes of which many of us haven’t experienced in our lifetime. But I encourage you to continue to trust in God and be super-sensitive to the voice of His Holy Spirit. He alone can protect you in the age of deception.

Question: How can I pray for you during this challenging coronavirus season? Feel free to use the reply box below for prayer requests, comments or questions. Additionally, you may use the Contact Me form here.