Home Church of Christ How the Church Lost the Gift of Discernment

How the Church Lost the Gift of Discernment

We charismatics love prophecy and revelation. But we must be aware that not all spiritual information is from God. download (12)

We are living in a day in which spiritual eyes and ears are being opened to receive information with unprecedented clarity. At the same time, our adversary, the devil, is releasing deluding revelation from heavenly places in which the forces of darkness dwell.

The enemy does this in an effort to circumvent and subvert the purposes of God that are designed to be executed in and through His church. Thus it is imperative in this hour that we develop keen discernment, as the Bible commands us to: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1, NASB).

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Currently the Lord is allowing many in the church to see things taking place in the second heaven as well as portions of His perfect plan in the third heaven. The second heaven simply denotes the spiritual domain in which our adversary functions.

In Ephesians 6:12, the apostle Paul teaches us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against spiritual adversaries in heavenly places. The phrase “heavenly places” is taken from the Greek word epouranios, which signifies a celestial or spiritual domain.

We know that our adversary does not reside in a place as lofty as God does because it was Satan’s desire to ascend to the heights of heaven above God’s throne. Paul spoke about a visitation he once had to the third heaven. Therefore the enemy of our soul temporarily maintains dominion over this world through a heavenly place lower than the third heaven, which we call the second heaven.

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From the second heaven, spirits of divination and sorcery attempt to masquerade as the Holy Spirit, creating disillusionment and discouragement in our camp. When people continue unknowingly to entertain revelation from the second heaven, hopelessness begins to fill their hearts.

In reality, it is the impartation of the plans of Satan. It is imperative for the church to understand this reality and be prepared for it.

In Isaiah 14:13-14 we discover the five “I wills” of Satan. The fifth “I will” was his misguided attempt to imitate God. In his declaration, Satan said: “I will make myself like the Most High.”

This aspect of our enemy’s plan is to masquerade as the Holy Spirit and be as much like Him as possible while imparting seeds of darkness and death. According to Matthew 24:24, this spirit is so convincing it will, if at all possible, deceive the elect.

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However, resident in the spirit of God’s elect is an ability to discern the deception. We realize that our enemy is not other humans but rather the evil influences released in the earth that operate through men and women who set themselves against the purposes of God.

 

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