Symptoms of Spiritual Pollution, Part 1
Symptoms of Spiritual Pollution, Part 2
Symptoms of Spiritual Pollution, Part 3
Symptoms of Spiritual Pollution, Part 4
Symptoms of Spiritual Pollution, Part 5
Understanding Spiritual Warfare -- Becoming a Victor
In my continuation on the blog series Spiritual Warfare from the last time I discussed the critical aspect of Intimacy with God based upon the 4 essential core values that one must have to defeat the kingdom of evil. In this blog aspect we will now cover what many refer to as DISCERNMENT. So what is the definition of discernment?
Discernment by definition found in Webster’s is as follows: a quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure, an act of perceiving or discerning something. So what does discernment in the spiritual sense then mean? In the Christian context it means a perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding.
Therefore let’s get this started: what is discernment? This word has multiple definitions. The culture within the Church wishes to define discernment as the power to see things which are not obvious to the average mind. In other words, discernment is a special ability which sets a person apart as a special human. However, once we start using words like “power” and “special”, our egos are listening attentively as well as the demons.
God talks about a person having discernment, this is a different definition. So our dictionary states discernment can simply mean “showing insight and understanding”. Spiritual discernment isn’t about power, this is about receiving information via the Holy Spirit. This is about God helping a person see the difference between truth and deception. Example of discernment is listen to a sermon, as you don’t want to just believe what you hear. You will want to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show you if anything the pastor is saying is truth.
When you do this act of requesting to be shown truth you are asking God for discernment—you are asking for insight and understanding. This is a comparison much like a student in a class and God is your teacher. When you raise your hand to ask a question, you are asking for discernment. A person is searching for clarification about something that bothers them. Sometimes God will give it to you, but sometimes God won’t. All wisdom and understanding comes from God and thus God never downloads all of this wisdom into your brain at once.
As a person matures in their faith, they will find themselves feeling more and more dependent on God for everything. God created you which as a powerless little speck you can’t do anything without Him. This is a reality that will never change. By listening to God’s truth, the more in touch a person will become and thus the total dependency on Him becomes even greater. Now the opposite occurs as a person listens to lies, the more out of touch they become with their need for God.
When people (whom are not righteous with God) encourage others to view themselves as a little Harry Potter—which is a person who is born with some innate supernatural powers, with which just some cultivating work can turn them into a master over the spiritual realms. These individuals are teaching you to embrace or downplay your dependency on God. These people are teaching others to downplay the dependency on God. Unfortunately, those unrighteous people are teaching these decent people to view God as your willing assistant and not the sovereign King over your life. Do you think that such a mindset might create problems between you and God? Answer: Yes and Big ones at that.
So have you been told that have the gift of discernment by someone other than God? Can you sense the presence of demonic forces more often and clearly more than other people? Do you believe that you have a “special” ability to see into the spiritual realm? Were you taught by someone other than God directly that those special abilities are indicators that God has specially equipped you for battling demons? If so, then you have been led to a very dangerous place.
The way you presently comprehend spiritual warfare and your own spiritual abilities is very damaging to your soul. Being caught in a web of deceptions is only going to carry you deeper and farther into a plot of delusions. A person can’t draw close to God when they’re clinging to those delusions. However, these kinds of delusions which one is headed towards are that these extremely addictive lies leaves a person wanting more. These actions will serve the ego so much that you won’t want to let them go. Demons know how to make lies sound far more attractive than truth and have been doing this since Adam & Eve. The dangerous aspects are that you are some spirit kicking warrior is one of their favorite games to play with these self-absorbed individuals.
Now wait a second—are you saying that demons would encourage one to believe they are a threat to them? Oh, yes and in a heartbeat. That whole rebuking package that they’ve been sold—it comes straight from them. Demons enjoy it when you start rebuking them in the Name of Jesus or better yet—chanting Bible verses at them. Maybe you’ve been sold the version in which you’re supposed to hold up some large crucifix to drive those evil spirits back and commanding them to leave by just the presence of a crucifix.
Perhaps these spiritual mentors of yours took you down the holy liquids boulevard. Teaching you to apply upon yourself some holy oil, holy water or something else holy as a physical shield against those powers of darkness. This is all such a fantastic scam and unfortunately you are the victim. If you’re serious about wanting to know God (i.e. drawing close) and thus please God with your life, then there is a whole lot of relearning needed about the spiritual realm.
Getting a person to the proper place in their life with God is a challenge due to truth. However, this isn’t going to be an enjoyable trek because God’s truth is often very repulsive to our own pride. Sadly, truth is truth, and trying to ignore it doesn’t change anything, this just ends up harming you further by ignoring the truth. Many people feel that God will adjust reality to suit their wishful thinking and that will not happen. If you want to please God, then you have to submit to His rules and align yourself with His definition of truth, not your definition of truth especially in Spiritual Warfare.
In our next blog we will cover DEMONS and what this affords a person as this is thrown around in Spiritual Warfare.
Rev. Bradley Luoma, Exorcist
