DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN SPIRITS

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date August 25, 2024
Text: I John 4:1-8 II Kings 6:8-17
Pastor Paul Lehmann

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Today we will look at a spiritual gift which is important to determine if something is of God or Satan. Some translations use the word discernment for this spiritual gift mentioned in I Corinthians 12:10. In our pew Bibles (which is the R.S.V.) and the N.I.V. (which I use), we see it as distinguishing between spirits.

There are various kinds of spiritual manifestations and therefore a wide range of discerning is necessary. The distinguishing must occur between human, demonic, angelic, and the Holy Spirit. I want you to know this morning, that I agree that sometimes we engage in “spiritual warfare” against evil or demonic spirits when we should deny our flesh, or resist our own carnal desires. The problem arises when a person does stand up against Satan’s attacks, or against evil influence and they do try to “resist the enemy’ like we read in James 4:7. But still feel oppressed to the place that they can’t resist, and demons do not flee from them. We shouldn’t believe that we can stand up against demonic attacks, by reading the Word more, or praying more, unless we renounce things in our past that brought us to the point that we cannot experience victory.

The question of whether a person just wants to continue sinning, or if he or she is being demonized can be spiritually discerned. Every Christian has some degree of discernment, and can distinguish between good and evil, right from wrong. We read in Hebrews 5:14 that mature Christians “have their senses exercised to discern both god and evil.” The Berean Christians you may remember (in Acts 17:11) were commended for not being naïve. They tested the preaching of the apostles against Scripture. First John 4:1 is explicit in telling us to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God.”

These passages describe the Christians role of discernment.

The word discernment means;

  1. “the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure.
  2. It involves perception, insight, and power to see what is not evident to the average mind.
  3. Reading character and motives, and distinguishing what is true, appropriate or excellent, combined with a keen practical judgment.”

This definition is a general one, not having anything to do with spiritual gifts In itself this ability gives one an edge when dealing with people. There are many people in their everyday life that have these characteristics and are able to speak about people with good insight. However one does not necessarily have the spiritual gift of distinguishing between spirits.”

Having the Spiritual Gift of Distinguishing Between Spirits –

  • has to do with all that was in our definition, but in addition, the person with this gift, can tell if the word, the prophecy, the teaching is of God. Don’t mistake a person’s good common sense, or the ability to make good value or character judgments with one who has the spiritual gift of discernment.

Not every Christian has the spiritual gift to know if a person’s word, or actions, is the result of demonic activity, mental imbalance, or just a person who is carnal and is committed to living in the depths of sin. A spiritual gift is necessary to tell the difference. This gift may not be exercised frequently. Some who have it may be reluctant to use it because it requires a good deal of courage. It may seem judgmental sometimes. But it is comforting for the Body of Christ to know that God has not left Christians ignorant or defenseless against the tactics of Satan and his forces of evil.

THE GIFT OF DISCERNING OF SPIRITS IS: :

the special ability that God gives to some members of the body of Christ to know with assurance whether certain behavior purported to be of God is in reality divine, human or satanic.

We read in Acts 6: 1-10 where Peter apparently had the gift of discerning of spirits, (or it was the gift of a word of knowledge), when he discerned that Satan had inspired Ananias to lie about his real estate deal, and Ananias was struck dead on the spot, there was a spiritual gift involved. He repeated it with Saphira his wife, who also died. The horrifying fact for most of us is that this couple were professing Christians, born-again, spirit-filled believers, and yet Peter says to them “How is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?”

Later Peter used the gift in Samaria, (Acts 8:18-24) to see through to th heart motives of Simon the sorcerer. He had all the assurance from God he needed to tell Simon; “may your money perish with you…you have no part or share in this ministry…your heart is not right, repent, and he also said…that he was “poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity” (the NIV says; “you are captive to sin…)

The gift of discernment can operate on several levels. The most obvious is the ability to know that purportedly good behavior, or when prophecy is given if it is in reality the work of Satan or God. Distinguishing of spirits is especially necessary when one hears a prophecy given.

A book entitled: “The Challenging Counterfeit” by Raphael Gasson,

who is now a Christian but formerly was a Spiritist Medium, tells it like it is. His experience has shown him, “It is very obvious that Satan is using an extremely subtle counterfeit to the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit. In his book, Gasson describes several of Satan’s counterfeits. He specifically shows, for example, how false gifts of faith miracles, healing, tongues and interpretation are produced by Satan. The counterfeit of the gift of discerning spirits he feels is clairvoyance and clairaudience.

The gift of deliverance is cleverly reproduced by the devil as well. This is why we often refer to “deliverance”, and not exorcism for someone who is being demonized Exorcism is something that Satan himself can do to fool people, but he won’t deliver someone from himself.

Gasson recalls how Satan gave him the ability to prophesy, and points out that most of these counterfeit prophecies came true. Perhaps some of you remember during the early 1960s there was a prophetess named Jean Dixon, who wrote a book about her prophesies. Most of which actually came true. This is one way the devil makes his appeals more attractive. On one occasion during the war years, for example, a man brought to Gasson an item belonging to the man’s son who was in the service. The man wanted to find out where his son was. Through his “spirit guide” (who purported to be the spirit of an African witch doctor), Gasson found out that the owner of the item was well and a prisoner of war. The father then proceeded to show Gasson a telegram from the War Department stating that his son had been killed in action more than two weeks previously. Gasson went back to his guide and verified that the soldier -son really was not dead and that the father would have this confirmed in three days. Sure enough, three days later the father got a telegram from the War Dept. apologizing for the mistake and saying that the boy was well, but a prisoner of war.”

Some mistakenly interpret this kind of prophecy as a work of God. It is in reality the work of the devil, but is no less real.

We immediately need to remind ourselves that God knows all about this deceitfulness and give adequate power to His children to prevent it.

(I John 4:4) “Greater is He that is in you, then he that is in the world.”

In Matthew 7:13-23, we see these exact same circumstances as being done by those who think they are doing them in the name of Jesus, and that their gifts come from God, but in reality, they are the works of Satan,. Jesus says that on judgment day he will say to them to depart from him, he never knew them.

We need to be careful about some things and organizations that seem to be doing such good things, that seem to be good and approved by God when in reality they are in opposition to Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Another problem we also have is the opposite. So many people have made a judgment about people’s ministry without having the gift of discernment. They end up perhaps calling something that is of God, Satanic, and this is a frightening thing to do. There are some who have declared that any manifestation of the gifts of the Holy spirit today, have to be of Satan that they can’t be of God. This is very dangerous. I would remind you of Matthew 12;30-32, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man (Jesus_ will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or in the age to come.”

How important this is. Now I know that this passage is normally spoken of as the unpardonable sin. It means that the only sin that cannot be forgiven is; when we refuse to respond to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and we don’t accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. When we keep on rejecting Christ, eventually the Holy Spirit may not continue to convict, and so the person continues in sin and turns their back on the Holy Spirit and refuses the grace of God.

Now we see that because this passage says, anyone who “speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven…” that this verse become very important when we are considering the manifestation of spiritual gifts. When we speak against the use of or the manifestation of a spiritual gift that we don’t like, and say that it can’t possibly be of God, or that the spirit is demonic, we better be sure that the spirit of discernment is at work and not just our own critical spirit.

We have access to all the Spiritual gifts, and we are to desire spiritual gifts, so let us desire those that will build up the church. Let us be sure of those who will make sure that we won’t be deceived by false prophecies or messages. (Let us be sure that we have the gift of interpretation in use if public tongues are used). Let us be sure we are using the gift of distinguishing between spirits when prophecy is given. Or when someone is teaching.

It is possible to teach or give out the truth, but with a human spirit, with bad motives, and certainly with an ungodly attitude, or user the direction of demons. Acts 16:16-18 shows this. Here the slave girl followed Paul and Silas around, saying correct thins. (verse 17)…”these men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Now is there anything wrong with the words that she used? No, but Paul with the gift of discernment, finally turned and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her.” At that moment the spirit left her.

We can and should judge things that are said, but also the way they are said. Sometimes we can speak the truth, but our heart attitude isn’t right.

Those with the gift of prophecy or teaching often abuse their gift by not speaking with love. They are too often more interested in seeing the truth declared than in the person who is affected. When they abuse their gift they can be; hypocritical, rebellious, judgmental, insensitive, or impatient and have a negative attitude or be very demanding of others. Those with the gift of prophecy are to judge others who have the gift of prophecy. We read this in I Corinthians 14:32; “the spirits’ of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.”

You see how important in the local church that if a prophecy is given, we need other “prophets” to keep false prophecies in check. The spirit of discernment or the gift of distinguishing between spirits is absolutely necessary when these individuals speak.

We sometimes see that certain people are just good judges of character, and as we live and observe enough people we are able to discern their sincerity, or whether they are a fraud or not.

Mothers are particularly good at discerning certain things about their children. How is it that mom always seems to know exactly what is going on in another room, even when the door is shut? At least she makes the kids think so. “I know what you’re doing in there, and you better stop right now before I come in there.” Then the little brother or sister says, “See I told you so, you better stop right now or I’m gonna tell Mom.”

Well, this isn’t the kind of discernment we are talking about, but it is the kind of intuition that comes from experience and observing the behavior of someone over a period of time. When it comes to ministry we need to know if someone is speaking in the flesh, or acting according to their carnal nature or indeed they are ministering according to their spiritual gift or gifts.

Sometimes it might be necessary to discern a person’s call to the mission field. It might be that they want to go overseas for the wrong reasons. Perhaps they think it will be a good adventure, or interesting to experience another culture. Also, not everyone who pastors a church is called either. In Youngwood, PA a Lutheran pastor in our local ministerial assoc., told us. “when he graduated from college and was anticipating graduate work he decided that being a minister seemed like a pretty good “gig.” He had absolutely no sense of “call,” but just thought that being a pastor would be a good profession. NO idea of a spiritual call, or having the spiritual gifts to do this. He wasn’t even born again according to him.

When God call us, He gives us the necessary spiritual gifts especially those He wants us to have.

DISCERNMENT OR DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN SPIRITS;

How important this is for the church. Let’s not be afraid of prophecy, because it can be abused. Let’s not be afraid of the gifts of a Word of Knowledge, because it can be abused.

The gift of distinguishing spirits will help us to know if a gift is of God, of Satin, or is just of the flesh or something false.