ISRAEL IN BIBLE PROPHECY | home
Demons in the Church | Publisher's Note | Dedication | Contents | Proverbs 24:11-12 | Introduction | The Battleground | First Encounter | Old Testament Typology | Battle Doctrine | Who Says It's Legalistic? | Hazardous Theology | Spirits In My House | Lying Spirits | Magic Show | Witchcraft | Mediums & Psychics | Deceiving Spirits | Satanic Visions | Facing Reality | Epilogue
Demons in the Church
Mediums & Psychics
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Mediums & Psychics
I am distressed by the accounts recorded here. Some of these
brothers and sisters are personal friends. Their churches and
pastors are well-known to me, and I love them all in the Lord.
Some will never speak to me again.96 Folks don't take kindly
to the suggestion that they are being influenced by an evil
spirit, but in each of the cited cases, that conclusion is inescap-
able. If we continue to disobey openly the precepts that protect
us from demonic influence, particularly after we have had
them brought to our attention, then we are false prophets. We
have become wolves in sheep's clothing, teachers of futility,
from whom God's people can derive no benefit, ACT 20: 29-30.
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96 Written in 1985, this paragraph has come true, sad to say.
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118 Demons in the Church
The Lord will not be glorified by citing a litany of all the
errors coming out of the "seeking" for the Spirit movement.
But examples of the three most apparent deceptions are
discussed in full: (1) a false tongue and interpretation, (2) a
false teacher, and (3) a false prophet.
A Tongue
There is historic support that genuine tongues have been
spoken in the languages of man during the Christian Era. But
God is not in the business of keeping the Gospel secret,
revealing it only to an "anointed" few. The Lord wants all to
hear the news about His dear Son. That is exactly what
tongues were all about:
1CO 14:22 So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe,
but to unbelievers... (NASB)
In the late 1600s, in the Cevennes mountains of France,
there were simple believers so hated by the Roman church that
the Pope ordered their extermination, calling them "the utterly
detestable race of the ancient Albigenses." Some within this
group were quite militant, defending themselves against the
butchers sent against them by the Roman church; and they
were much maligned, even by other Christians. Nevertheless,
they may have had the scriptural gift of tongues:
"Men and women fell into ecstasies, during which they spoke
in the pure French of the Bible, whereas otherwise they
could only speak in their own dialect, and they inspired their
hearers with heroic courage."97
This is not a unique occurrence. The author has the tape of
a message given by an old-time Mennonite revivalist. On it he
tells of a series of tent meetings he held in Canada, and of a
woman in one meeting who spoke nothing but French.
Nevertheless, when he gave an invitation (in English) she was
gloriously saved. On her way home her friends asked her how
she understood what was said. To which she replied, "Ah, but
he was speaking the most beautiful French." This dear old
brother stated that this had happened twice in his ministry.
_________________________
97 E. H. Broadbent, The Pilgrim Church, (Basingstoke, Hants, UK,
Pickering & Inglis, 1931) pp232-233.
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Mediums And Psychics 119
Then we have a letter from a pastor in Missouri who knew no
Hebrew. But when witnessing to a Jewish boy, he said in
Hebrew, "Joel, I am Jesus your peace." Three days later the
boy was saved.
Mel Hendrix is a traveling missionary with a worldwide
outreach. While riding in a taxi in Mexico, he was led of the
Lord to witness to the cab driver. He started witnessing in
English, but suddenly he was speaking in the driver's native
language. Later, that taxi driver came to the Lord. So again:
1CO 14:22 tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to
unbelievers (NASB)
Unfortunately, the account of the peasants of the Cevennes
Mountains is rather sketchy. It was written in a time of
severe persecution. But since it was recorded that they spoke
in the "pure French of the Bible," it is reasonable to conclude
that they were quoting the Bible. So the tongues of the
Cevennes peasants, the Mennonite evangelist, the Missouri
pastor, and Mel Hendrix all had three things in common:
1. All spoke a known language of man, understandable to
the hearers.
2. All brought glory to the Lord Jesus.
3. All were signs to unbelievers.
But the vast majority of "tongues" spoken in churches today
doesn't even sound like the same animal. These "tongues" are
uttered in some unintelligible "secret language," spoken by
women in disobedience to "let a woman cover her head... keep
silent... not teach or hold authority over a man." And yet,
some of these secret "tongues" appear to be supernatural
phenomena. How can this be? Well, knowing that the Lord
would not tempt anyone to sin, JAM 1:13, we have to ask,
whose spirits would influence a woman to disobey God's Word?
Here is what Randy Negaly. shared with me several years ago,
and is also recorded in Sunset:
In a local church a woman spoke in a "tongue." It was inter-
preted by the church's pastor as, "I was with you in dark-
ness..." Brother, that interpretation was not "I was with you
while you were in darkness," but "I was with you in dark-
ness..."
So that "tongue" declared that the spiritual being who gave
it was in darkness himself! Subtle, but then who is the prince
120 Demons in the Church
of darkness? Certainly not the Lord Jesus, He is the light of
the world. With the Lord there is no darkness at all. Just the
entry of God's Word brings light. So whose spirit was with
this woman while darkness remained around them both?
Obviously a demon. As a result, rather than a gift of the
spirit, we see that this woman was behaving as a medium.
Her "tongue," therefore, was demonic! Interestingly enough,
this identical tongue has been heard in several other churches,
so this must be some common falsehood the enemy is using to
confuse the saints. Jesus is not in darkness, brethren, because
that is what the Bible says.98
Evil spirits control church services in several different ways,
sometimes by influencing visiting celebrities. The following
was told to me by Allen, a young brother who attends a Pente-
costal church which prides itself on having a pastor who clings
exactly to the Word:
I attend a 3000 member Assembly of God. Last Sunday, a
traveling pastor (I believe his name was Thompson) visited
our church. He stood up to preach and said, "The Holy Spirit
does not want me to preach out of this book today (holding
up the Bible). Now all you tongue speakers start praying in
tongues." And so it went for two more hours, as he kept
pumping up the congregation. We just sat there while the
tongue-speaking portion of the congregation stood waving
their hands and speaking in tongues.
Isn't that against the Bible, 1CO 14:26-27? There was no
message, and no Bible reading. After the service was over,
the visiting pastor said, "Now don't you feel good, you've just
been involved in spiritual warfare." I didn't feel good at all.
I was sick of the whole thing, but I go there because my wife
speaks in tongues.
It was spiritual warfare alright, and that church lost. There
was no Bible reading, no instruction, and the name of Jesus
was not lifted up. And besides that, "Pastor" Thompson
encouraged the church to sin. Just as Allen thought, that
whole meeting was in disobedience to the written Word of God:
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98 EPH 6:12, JOH 1:1-9, EPH 5:14, PSA 18:28, MIC 7:8, PSA 119:130.
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Mediums And Psychics 121
1CO 14:26-27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or
at the most three, and each in turn, and let one interpret, but if there
is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church; and let him
speak to himself and to God.
What is the matter with the church, that we go directly
against the Word of God without fear and trembling. Were
those tongues interpreted? If not, were those speakers silent
in the church? If not, would God's absolutely righteous Holy
Spirit be involved in their disobedience? The answer is
obvious. This is very serious, and no game. There is no such
thing as a "little" false tongue. A spiritual phenomenon is
either of God the Holy Spirit, or it's of the devil.
Spirits Unmasked
Now for the bottom line. Saints with a ministry in deliver-
ance will uniformly attest to one truth. Interact with satanic
spirits long enough, and you will end up with one in residence!
You say it couldn't happen to you? It happened to Sally, whose
story you read in Chapter 3. Then a Baptist pastor's wife was
seriously demonized after she "sought the filling," and spoke in
"tongues."99 And here is what just happened in Naples, FL.
Mari Beth (a head-covering sister) of that city was counseling
a young Baptist lady named Rachel who was in spiritual
turmoil. Here is Mari Beth's story:
Rachel loves the Lord, reads her Bible, and could speak in
tongues at will. I asked Rachel if she had ever had her
"tongue" spirit tested as commanded by 1JO 4:1-3: "Beloved,
do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether
they are from God... every spirit that confesses that Jesus
Christ has corne in the flesh is from God; and every spirit
that does not confess Jesus is not from God..."
Rachel conceded that she had not had her spirit tested in
that way, and that she would like to have it done. We met
a couple of days later in a prayer room at the church. After
a short time of prayer, I asked Rachel to start speaking in
tongues.
_____________________________
99 Merrill Unger, What Demons Can Do To Saints; (Chicago, Moody
Press 1977), pp. 81-84.
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122 Demons in the Church
While Rachel was doing so, I said in a quiet voice, "Spirit,
in the name of the Lord Jesus, declare that Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh." This spirit did not respond directly, but
Rachel started speaking louder in tongues.
Again I said, "Spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus,
declare that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh." Again, this
spirit did not acknowledge Jesus.
Now does it not strike you as strange, that a spirit (su-
pposedly of God) would not confess Jesus? It did me. So I
said, "Don't you see, Rachel, that this spirit cannot be of the
Lord? It refuses to confess Jesus."
To which Rachel replied, "But in my mind this spirit is
saying, 'I am lord.' "
I was almost deceived by that declaration, but just the
night before an elder warned me that these demons are cunning,
and could say something like that. So I pressed that
spirit with, "Spirit, are you the Lord who died on the Cross,
was buried, rose on the third day, and now sits at the right
hand of Authority on high?"
The spirit within Rachel shrieked out, "Nooooo!" Rachel's
face contorted, and hissing and snarling, she fell off her
chair. Her hands twisted into unnatural claw-like shapes.
She curled into a fetal position and whimpered, "Please help
me get rid of this thing." I phoned Ray and Jill Darby and
asked them to come assist me, and within an hour or so
Rachel was completely free of that demon.
That is not an isolated case. It is just the latest incident
that has been reported to the author. In one of his marvelous
books about freedom from demonic influence, Dr. Neil T.
Anderson records an almost identical case of demonic deception
through the counterfeit gift of "tongues." In fact, it was by
hearing of this account in The Bondage Breaker, that Mari
Beth knew how to deal with the evil spirit within Rachel. Neil
Anderson writes:
After a lengthy discussion about false prophets and teachers,
Alvin admitted, "I think my problems began when I failed to
test the 'gifts' of tongues and prophecy conferred on me by
false teachers. Not only was I deceived, but I have deceived
others myself."
"Would you be willing to put your gift of tongues to the
test?" I asked. I assured Alvin that I was interested in
Mediums And Psychics 123
putting the spirit to the test, not him. Alvin really wanted
to be free of deception and right with God.
"Yes," he answered.
I instructed Alvin to begin praying aloud in his "spiritual
language." As he began to chant an unintelligible prayer, I
said, "In the name of Christ, and in obedience to God's Word,
I command you, spirit, to identify yourself."
Alvin stopped in the middle of his chanting and said, "I am
he."
At this point a novice may have been tempted to take off
his shoes, thinking he was on holy ground. But I continued
the test: "Are you the 'he' who was crucified under Pontius
Pilate, buried, raised on the third day, and who now sits at
the right hand of the Father?"
Alvin almost shouted the response: "No! Not he!" I led
Alvin through a prayer renouncing Satan's activity in his
life, and he was free from that deception.100
Pentecostal churches are not noted for making their errors
or spiritual problems public; so one wonders, how many poor
men and women in those congregations are now in bondage to
some evil spirit through fake tongues? Since none of those
churches observes the submission ordinance and associated
commands, who among them can discern that what is happen-
ing to them is demonic, or have any idea of how to stop it. As
an aside, Ray Darby later reported:
Over the past four years, my wife and I have been involved
in the deliverance of a few demonized saints. Sometimes it
used to take days to do what the Lord now permits to be
accomplished in just hours. We have now been present at
three deliverances where there were women in the room with
their heads covered, and the difference is dramatic.
The demons immediately recognize that the saints are in
submission to the Lord, and that the church has authority
over them through Jesus Christ our Lord. We don't have to
take all that time establishing our position in Christ, taking
authority, and so on. By the covering, the evil spirits know
that they have been defeated. I now recommend head-
covering for all Christian sisters.
______________________________
100 Dr. Neil T. Anderson, The Bondage Breaker, (Eugene, OR, Harvest
House, 1990) pp159-160.
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124 Demons in the Church
The effectiveness of head-covering (when dealing with evil
spirits) had been affirmed earlier through some brethren in the
Midwest. In 1986, just after Sunset of the Western Church was
released, the author received three separate phone calls from
three different pastors in three different states. All said that
demons were easier to expel and hated it when there was a
woman in the room with her head covered. If the demons hate
it so, then head-covering has to be far more important than
most churches believe it to be.
Some of you dear sisters have not yet spoken in "tongues,"
and are wondering what sin you are in, or what "i" you haven't
dotted, or "t" you haven't crossed. The Lord knows your heart,
and that what you were seeking, you were seeking in good
faith. He has been protecting you. Get down on your knees
and thank God for His covering hand.
Dear Sister, before you turn your mind and body over to
some unknown spirit, note first, that to the author's knowledge,
not one church in obedience to the submission ordinance
and associated commands has "tongues." That's right. I know
of no church where the women cover their heads and remain
silent, that has "tongue" speakers within it... Not One! What
does that tell you? It would appear that as generally practiced
in churches today, "tongues" is a false gift, given by lying
spirits! The true sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit of
God has always been (not tongues) but a heart desire to obey
God's holy Word.101 If we cannot hear the Holy Spirit
through all the Scriptures in the footnote below, we need to
examine the genuineness of our relationship to the Lord!
Testing the Spirits
There is an additional little delusion we should mention
here. According to "spirit-filled" doctrine, testing or question-
ing these spirits (in any way) is considered to be blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit. That is an outright lie of the devil. It
is a lie! It is a lie! It is a lie! It is another deception that
Satan would love to get into the church. It would keep him
from being unmasked. We are COMMANDED to test the
spirits. So again:
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101 JOH 16:13; ROM 8:13; EPH 5:9 (KJV); 2TI 1:14; HEB 3:7-13; 1PE
1:2,22 (KJV).
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Mediums And Psychics 125
Test the spirits! 1JO 4:1
The truth is that the Holy Spirit of God has no problem at
all confessing Jesus. That's what God the Father sent His
Spirit here to do. One of the Holy Spirit's main reasons for
being on Earth is to lead us to the Lord Jesus, JOH 15:26. Do
charismatics test these spirits? Not that I've heard. Instead,
the method used by most to determine whether or not a spirit
is from God, is how they "feel" about it. They use what they
believe to be a spirit of discernment. But, we are not told to
use a spirit of discernment. That is not the test given to us in
the Bible. Knowing that our feelings are deceptive, the Lord
mandated the acid verbal test mentioned above:
1JO 4:1-3 "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. By this you know the Spirit of God; every
spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from
God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God;
and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that
it is coming, and now it is already in the world." (NASB)
I know these verses have been belabored to death, but it is
imperative that the brethren get the message. Those who
trust in subjective feelings for discernment, rather than the
Word of God, are like sheep being led to the slaughter.
One tongue speaker believes that he has scripturally tested
his own tongue. His spirit did not reply in English, but
supposedly confessed Jesus in more tongues, followed by a good
feeling. How could that be an adequate test? Any response
from a spirit in more "tongues" (which you don't understand)
is probably just further deception. The same thing went on in
Rachel's mind. To test a tongue properly, the person being
tested must be speaking "in the spirit," at which time the
person administering the test can address that spirit directly.
But watch out, they will try to fool you. In Rachel's case, the
evil spirit said to her mind, in English, "I am lord."
Identifying a so-called spirit of discernment (or prophecy) is
tougher. Even though the prophet would be speaking in
English, that person could be speaking "the imaginings of his
own mind," or unknowingly be acting as a medium.
JER 14:14 The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I
have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them;
126 Demons in the Church
they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility
and the deception of their own minds. (NASB)
One has to wait until the spirit of discernment is being
evidenced, and then verbally command that spirit to conform
to 1JO 4:1-3. These are cunning and deceptive spirits, with
thousands of years of experience in fooling man. Unmasking
them is not all that easy, but when a spirit is tested properly,
dramatic things sometimes happen. During the seven years
since Sunset was written, I know of only a half dozen spiritual
manifestations that appear to have passed the above scriptural
test. I know of hundreds that have not. Consequently, we
should accept NO spiritual phenomenon as being of God,
unless the spirit behind it conforms to 1JO 4:1-3. We do have
a wonder-working God, who can decree a spiritual gift at any
time He wills, but He will not enact a single miracle outside
the precepts of His written Word.
Some declare that God can operate outside the guidelines of
Scripture. They claim that those who think otherwise "are
putting God in a box." What a absurd concept, as if the
attitudes or ambitions of mortal man could keep the Creator of
the universe from doing anything He wills. The Bible tells us
who the Lord is, and what His will is. It tells us of His
thoughts, His plans, His holiness, His very nature. God cannot
depart from His Word, because if He were to do so He would
be departing from His nature. To bring it all into focus: Would
a true Christian live in adultery? Of course not, it would go
against the new heart the Lord has given to the saints, EZE
36:26. It would go against the Christian's new nature. In the
same way, the Lord cannot do something that would go against
His written Word (no matter how minor) because He would
have to go against His own holy and unchanging nature to do
so, HEB 13:8.
Attacks in the Flesh
Some time ago I corresponded with Fritz Z. (a brother in
Holland) about his charismatic experience, and the physical
troubles that followed. He received his "tongues" through some
European charismatic group. During the course of our corre-
spondence, he wrote some of the most blasphemous letters it is
possible to imagine; and yet he claimed to be "filled with the
spirit," as evidenced by speaking in "tongues." He wrote in one
of his more gentle letters:
Mediums And Psychics 127
"Several months ago I was trying to help a Christian sister
get rid of a demon that she obviously had. As I was praying,
this demon attacked my jaw muscles so severely that it hurt
me to speak. My jaw has been giving me trouble ever since."
By his own declaration, an evil spirit attacked Fritz's jaw
while he was trying to free a woman from another demon.
This attack to the jaw is particularly significant; because Sally
of Chapter 3, was also attacked in the jaw. Both of these
believers spoke in "tongues," and both were physically attacked
in part of the speech mechanism while so doing. That is
probably more than just coincidence. If their "tongues" were
satanic, their speech mechanism would have been under direct
demonic control. In both of these cases, that demonic control
appears to have become a lasting affliction... an attack on the
central nervous system, as Neil T. Anderson documents in The
Bondage Breaker 102. The tragedy is that they both may still
have the evil spirits that caused their distress. In Sally's case
I was too inexperienced to help; but with Fritz I really tried,
carefully walking him through the Scriptures. He was too
deceived to hear them.
Some time later, I went back to see Sally, that demonized
Pentecostal lady of Chapter 3, and directed her to wear a
covering when praying or prophesying, that it would be a
protection to her. She grasped that little straw of counsel like
a drowning person, and I pray that the Lord used it to lead her
to freedom. It was not all I should have done; but at the time,
it was all I knew to do. Now I know that a demon is probably
still with her unless she has totally renounced the sin of her
involvement with the occult.
I haven't been back to that Assembly of God for several years
now. From what I hear, they are still not submitted to the
Word, and women are still speaking in "tongues," with heads
uncovered. By now, some well-meaning soul has probably
convinced that unfortunate lady that head-covering was only
for the 1st Century Corinthians. I wonder how she is, and how
many more there are like her in those churches.
______________________________
102 Neil T. Anderson, The Bondage Breaker, (Eugene, OR, Harvest
House, 1990) pp111-112.
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128 Demons in the Church
More charismatic believers are now telling of undiagnosed
physical problems afflicting them. One Christian Jewish
woman, whom I know personally, claims to be a prophetess.
She also adamantly refuses to cover her head. Since Scripture
specifically commands a woman to cover her head when pro-
phesying, 1CO 11:5-6, if this woman were to get a message
from the spirit world, it could not be coming from the Holy
Spirit of God. The point being: this poor lady now has a
serious illness; and though she has been to many doctors, her
condition remains undiagnosed. Her ailment and her prophecy
could be coming from the same place: A demon.
If these open attacks on the flesh of professing Christians
who are charismatic mean what they seem to mean, then it
appears that the mere act of exhibiting a spiritual phenomenon
that is not of God gives grounds for a demonic attack on the
flesh! I wish I knew what to do for these troubled people; but
if they resist what the Lord Himself has written in His holy
Word, what can anyone do? If they cannot hear Moses and the
prophets, they cannot hear the words of this book.
A Teaching
There was a woman going into local churches with head un-
covered, who stood before mixed congregations and "taught"
the gift of healing. First: A gift of the Holy Spirit is His gift!
He sovereignly decides when and who gets what, 1CO 12:7-11.
To state that healing can be taught, is to imply that we have
some sort of power over the Holy Spirit, to give us on demand,
the gift we want. The grossness of that presumptuous blasphe-
my defies imagination. Second: The Holy Spirit still, again,
and forever will not guide anyone to disobey the Word. The
Bible says "Let a woman cover her head... keep silent... not
teach or hold authority over a man."
Since that is what the Word states, and the Lord will not
empower anyone to disobey it, JAM 1:13; if any supernatural
healings were to take place through this woman, it would not
be the Holy Spirit of God who was doing them. The only other
source would be demonic, through a professed Christian
behaving as a medium! This, while being deluded into believ-
ing she had a ministry for the Lord Jesus. The author believes
there are many women who have been so deceived, among
whom are such notable Pentecostals as Marilyn Hickey and
Kathryn Kuhlman. One could reasonably ask, "Why would
Satan lead someone to do counterfeit cures in Jesus' name?"
Mediums And Psychics 129
First: When the supposedly healed person finds that he is
still ill, his faith in the Lord is shaken. That is so important
it needs to be expanded on. When some misshapen paralytic
brings his wheelchair up to one of these "healers" thinking that
he is before a genuine servant of God, and nothing happens; he
doesn't blame the phoney faith healer, he blames God. Guess
what, so does the faith "healer." The "healer" says, "It's not my
fault you didn't get well, it's the Holy Spirit's." Or the "healer"
says, "You didn't have enough faith." Thus blaming his own
presumption on God, or on the ailing person who came to him
for help. What terrible heartache these so-called "healers"
have to answer for.
Second: There's the Trojan horse principle. That hollow
wooden horse was brought into an impregnable walled city
because the Trojans thought it was of the gods. Instead, it was
full of soldiers who opened the gates of Troy to its enemies.
What a striking resemblance that is to what is happening in
the church today. A whole generation of women now point
with awe to Marilyn Hickey and Kathryn Kuhlman as their
authorization to disobey 1CO 11:5-10, 14:34-35 and 1TI 2:1112,
thus putting the unverifiable works of a couple of disobedient
women above the voice of God! And so, REV 2:20-24 is
fulfilled right before our eyes, as we "...tolerate the woman
Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and... teaches and
leads My bond-servants astray..." As we too learn "the deep
things of Satan."103
A Word of Knowledge
At a local "fullness" conference, a pastor stood and gave a
"word of knowledge," that another pastor who was there should
go kneel at the altar. Supposedly, the women of the church
were then to come forward, lay hands on him, and pray over
him. Some young and humble pastor did so; but on the face of
it, that "word" was counter-scriptural, 1TI 2:12. Understanding
_____________________________
103 Dr. William Nolen in Healing, A Doctor's Search for a Miracle, was
unable to report even one verifiable miraculous cure, from any organic
disease, which could be credited to the Kuhlman crusades. John
McArthur, in Charismatic Chaos, writes that he was unable to find
even a single documented miracle performed by anyone within the
charismatic, Pentecostal, or Third Wave movements.
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130 Demons in the Church
that man is a type of Christ, and women are a type of the
church, the implication of that "word" is clear: that the church
has authority over, and needed to pray for Jesus. That's
blasphemous! Just the opposite is true:
HEB 7:25 Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw
near to God through Him, since He always lives to make interces-
sion for them. (NASB)
Jesus continually prays for the church. If we needed to pray
for Jesus, we would be without any hope at all. Was that
"word" of the Holy Spirit? The answer is tragically obvious.
It was demonic. That man was not speaking a word from the
Lord. Instead he was behaving as a spiritist, a psychic. He
was in touch with the occult. Do you realize how sick it makes
me to write of these things? Praise God, Jesus won the battle
on the cross! His blood needed to be sprinkled on the mercy
seat for us all, just once. Jesus now sits at the right hand of
the Father, and "His name is above every name that is named,
both now, and in the age to come," EPH 1:19-23.
There are dubious "words of knowledge," like the above, and
there are words of KNOWLEDGE! As we have said before,
there is a immeasurable gulf which separates the genuine from
the counterfeit. It's pretty easy to tell the difference. Listen
to the words of a nameless martyr in Italy in 1560:
A young Englishman, who happened to be in Rome, was one
day passing by a church, when the procession of the host was
just coming out.104 A bishop carried the host, which the
young man perceiving, he snatched it away from him, threw
it upon the ground, and trampled it under his feet, crying
out: "Ye wretched idolaters, who neglect the true God, and
adore a morsel of bread!"105
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104 According to the Roman Catholic doctrine of the "real presence,"
after the priest blesses the bread during the mass, it becomes the real
flesh of Jesus. During the Middle Ages, this bread was then carried
around the city and all the people would bow down before it and
worship it.
105 John Fox, Fox's Book of Martyrs, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1967)
p104
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Mediums And Psychics 131
If ever during the Christian Era we are to hear the words of
the Holy Spirit spoken through the mouth of mortal man, that
would be the time. That young man gave his life for only 14
words. He knew they would kill him for it. He was a mer-
chant traveling in Italy during a time when killing Protestants
was a way of life there. Yet the Holy Spirit empowered him to
be a mighty witness for the truth. Not a prophet of the Old
Testament was more bold than he. The pope ordered him to be
suitably tortured and then burned at the stake.
When he heard the sentence pronounced, he implored God to
give him the strength and fortitude to go through it. As he
passed through the streets, he was greatly derided by the
people, to which he said some severe things regarding the
Romanish superstition. But a cardinal, who attended the
procession, overheard him, and ordered him to be gagged.
When he came to the church door where he trampled on
the host, the hangman cut off his right hand, and fixed it on
a pole. Then two tormentors, with flaming torches, scorched
and burned his flesh all the rest of the way. At the place of
execution, he kissed the chains which were to bind him to
the stake. A monk presented the figure of a saint to him, he
struck it aside, and being then chained to the stake, fire was
put to the fagots, and he was soon burned to ashes.106
Every time I get a little puffed up, and think I'm doing
something for the Lord; I remember that young Englishman;
and I also remember what the Lord said through the writer of
Hebrews:
HEB 11:36-38 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes,
also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in
two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they
went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-
treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in
deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
HEB 12:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood
in your striving against sin. (NASB)
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106 Ibid., p105
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132 Demons in the Church
To put this all in perspective, would any of today's "prophets,"
or "words of knowledge" speakers, be willing to shed his
blood for his words? Would the "tongue" speaker be willing to
die for his utterance? Would the man who told that pastor to
go forward and have the women pray over him be willing to die
for his saying? If those were God's servants, and those were
really God's words, they would be; just as millions of martyrs
were willing to die for what is written in the Bible.
Brother or sister, if you are not willing to die for what you
are saying "in the name of the Lord," for the sake of your soul,
don't say it. Speaking falsely in the name of the Lord is
claiming that yours, or Satan's words, are the words of the
Holy One of Israel. It is presumption. It is blasphemy against
the God of Heaven:
EZE 13:3, 6-8 Thus says the Lord God, "Woe to the foolish prophets
who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. They see
falsehood and lying divination who are saying, 'The Lord declares,'
when the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of
their word. Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying
divination when you said, 'The Lord declares,' but it is not I who
have spoken?" Therefore, thus says the Lord God, "Because you
have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against
you," declares the Lord God. (NASB)
But despite the biblical warnings, people do it anyway. The
church is being deceived by a stupendous magic show. Satan's
goal today is to demonize the whole church. As we play with
his spirits, we are playing into his hands. It will not be long
before he demands payment for the little ditties he is fiddling
for us, the tunes to which we are so rapturously dancing. The
wonder is that we are not more demonized than we are.
Thank God for His covering hand, His loving kindness and His
mercy.
These few little accounts of false gifts are just the tip of the
iceberg. As our land gets further from the Lord, demonic
forces usually associated with Africa or the Far East, are now
taking up their abode here. We have imported them, just like
AIDS, Asian flu and the Indian guru. The sad truth about all
this is that the Lord has given us impregnable defenses
against demonic oppression, but we neither teach nor employ
them anymore:
Mediums And Psychics 133
1. The head-covering ordinance of 1CO 11:3-15.
2. Women's silence of 1CO 14:34.
3. Women not to take authority over men of 1TI 2:12.
4. The test for evil spirits, of 1JO 4:1-3.
That is partly what the Bible is for, to keep us from going off
into error. For a spiritual experience to be of the Holy Spirit
of God, it must line up with the Word of God.
So how do we help the brethren in deep spiritual trouble
because of bogus spiritual gifts, when they are absolutely
convinced that what they have is of the Lord? How do we
combat the delusion? One can know and teach the truth, but
how do we reach Sally and Fritz and hundreds like them in a
way that they can hear? I wish I knew. Those being deceived
by demonic spirits through false "tongues" are exceptionally
difficult to reach. Even when Bible verses are quoted that are
point blank against the most outlandish beliefs and practices,
many will continue to believe what their familiar spirits tell
them.107 Worshiping God in a false spirit, just like Nadab
and Abihu; demanding more spiritual authority, just like
Korah. A sister in New England writes about her experience
in the New Age, before she was saved:
When I was in yoga, I attended a two day "intensive" during
which one supposedly received an awakening of spiritual
energy. This energy was said to be transferred by a thought,
or a look from the guru, or "touch" to your forehead by
him.108 People would then experience spiritual marvels
such as roaring like lions, strange breathing patterns, or
quirky movements.109 One woman started speaking in
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107 MAR 3:24, 1CO 14:37-38, JAM 4:7, 2JO 9
108 Charismatics call entering this state "being filled with the spirit."
This condition is sometimes accompanied by a fainting phenomenon
called "being slain in the spirit." Like the guru, charismatic leaders
employ a "touch" to people's foreheads to cause this "Christian"
experience. Some charismatic leaders pride themselves on their
ability to cause whole sections of their audience to swoon by puffing
in their direction. A similar fainting phenomenon was observed in
early Frank Sinatra concerts.
109 Charismatics sometimes exhibit this last phenomenon while
dancing "in the spirit."
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134 Demons in the Church
tongues. The guru conversed with her a few times (from
across the room) in what I believe was Hindi. This isn't just
something I just heard about; I was there, saw it, and was
myself involved. Despite all those wonders, no fruits of the
Holy Spirit (GAL 5:22-23) were in evidence. In fact, just the
opposite was true; they were egocentric, rude, unkind, and
unloving. Looking back, I am horrified at my participation
in these mystic practices, and hate even to remember them.
I now understand that all that I was involved in was
demonic. I have renounced all my association with the
works and forces of the enemy, and claim the blood of Jesus.
After I was saved, I went to a Pentecostal church for a
little while. They also spoke in tongues. Having come to the
Lord Jesus from the New Age where those things go on all
the time, I knew it was wrong, but nobody would listen to
me. The charismatics are doing the same things the unsaved
are doing at yoga awakenings. Thank you, O Lord Jesus, for
leading me out of that darkness into your marvelous light.
The enemy (masquerading as the Holy Spirit) is now having
a field day in the church. However, Satan's arrogant delusion
is instantly exposed when we obey the submission ordinance
and associated commands, and test those spirits. God help us
to see this spiritual battle clearly, and may the Spirit of the
Lord Jesus protect us all. Demonic powers have now invaded
the local churches, and many of them stand behind the pulpit.
Sad to say, I found a few.