Demonic Spirits, Deception, False Teachers, and the Authority We Have in Christ Jesus. How to Use Discernment from the Holy Spirit to Not Be Deceived by the Devil's Schemes

In today's episode, we will be going over spiritual warfare, discernment, how to get discernment, deception, and things that we need to be aware of that are going on in the world right now. This is something that is very needed for us to talk about, and God has been putting it on my heart lately.

First, I want to say a quick prayer: "LORD, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. Please open our eyes to see the truth of Your words LORD. Holy Spirit, please help us to see the truth, know the truth, discern the truth, and live by the truth. Holy Spirit, consume me and move me to do the will of God the Father. Please open up our eyes to see the authority that we have in Jesus Christ and that each one of us believers are sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ. You Jesus are our LORD and Savior. Thank You Abba Father for every single thing that You've done. Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for our sins and leading by example and showing us how we should live our lives. Thank you Holy Spirit for guiding us an showing us truth. I love You with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Whether you believe it or not, there is a real spiritual battle going on right now between good and evil. Either you are on the side of good or evil, there is no in between. If you are not on the side of God and you do not believe in Jesus Christ, then you are choosing the devil. It really is that cut and dry. I don't care what the world is telling you right now. I am here to tell you right now that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. I want you guys to be able to discern for yourself and not take what I say or what other people say as truth. I want you to be able to discern and know the truth for yourself.

Now let's get into some scripture:

"I wish you would put up with a little foolishness from me. Yes, do put up with me! For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, because I have promised you in marriage to one husband—to present a pure virgin to Christ. But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you had not received, or a different gospel, which you had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly! Now I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.” Even if I am untrained in public speaking, I am certainly not untrained in knowledge. Indeed, we have in every way made that clear to you in everything. Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by taking pay from them to minister to you. When I was present with you and in need, I did not burden anyone, since the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have kept myself, and will keep myself, from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia. Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows I do! But I will continue to do what I am doing, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want to be regarded as our equals in what they boast about. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works." -2 Corinthians 11:1-15

So I really wanted to read these verses about the warning that Paul gives the church of Corinth about these false teachers and false apostles. They are pretending to be workers for Christ, but they are false. There are people in this world who are being deceived. Christians are being deceived by false teachers. People are pretending to be light, but we know as Christians that are saved by the blood of Jesus, that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He says in the book of John in chapter 8 verse 12, “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.” If these other people are preaching something other than Jesus Christ being the only way, then they are preaching a false gospel. We cannot be deceived by this.

I know that we as Christians, now more than ever, have to stand up for the truth. There are so many people being deceived in so many different ways. God has been showing me things and has opened up my eyes to things that I didn't realize before. I'm not going to share everything today, and I'm sure if I ever will. That just depends on what the Holy Spirit guides me to do. I do know that this episode was very important for me to record because I am going to be sharing a lot of truth with you guys today.

So, whenever it comes to false teachers, how do we discern if this person is a false teacher or not? How do we discern if a person is from God or satan? Let's dive into some scripture on it....

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception." -1 John 4:1-6

So right away, if someone does not proclaim Jesus Christ as their LORD and Savior, if they do not confess that Jesus came on this earth, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again 3 days later and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life, they are not from God. Even though there are so many people in this world who say they know God, love God, have a relationship with Him, and they may be preaching about God, but they do not proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only way. The only way to the one true God and to truly know God is to know Jesus Christ and believe in Him.

There are demonic forces working against us right now. Demonic forces are trying to oppress Christians and possess non-believers. We have to make sure that we are using the authority that Jesus Christ gives us. We can proclaim in the mighty name of Jesus and cast out and deliver these demonic spirits that are oppressing our people. It is only through the power of Jesus Christ. There are false teachers out here saying that you can cast out demons with your own free will. It is actually kind of brilliant that a false teacher who is demonically possessed is telling people that they can cast out the demons by their own will, because we cannot do anything on our own. Jesus Christ is the one who has all the power. Once we are saved by Jesus, we have power because of the Holy Spirit within us, but on our own, we have no power or authority. Demons are not afraid of mere humans, but they tremble at the name of Jesus. He has already overcome the world, and He has already trampled them with His feet.

There are also false people out here that are doing things in the name of Jesus, but they do not have the right heart posture, and they do not truly believe that He is the only way. That is why it is so important for us to use the discernment that the Holy Spirit gives us and for us to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to see the truth and be able to discern the truth. There are so many people in this world saying false things, and someone weak in their faith can easily be swayed. Just like in the church of Corinth, it's also happening today. We have to stand firm in our faith.

I want to go more into depth on the verse I read in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 14, where it says, "And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." There are so many people in this world who are doing "light" work. People who are practicing this demonic stuff and saying that it is from the light. They think that it's good, holy, and "light," and it's not. It is satan disguising himself. It is demonic, and it is the demonic forces disguising themselves as angels of light. We have to open up our eyes to see the truth of God's words. There are so many scriptures in the Bible about false teaching, discernment, and making sure that we are fixing our eyes on Jesus. Jesus is the only way into heaven. He is the one who gives us eternal life, and He is our LORD and Savior.

 "For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ." -2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Someone reading this right now has been going through warfare in their mind. Demonic spirits have been oppressing you and telling you all kinds of crazy things. Trust me, I know how it is, I've been there. We can take every thought captive in the mighty name of Jesus, and we can cast out those impure, unclean spirits anywhere near us in the mighty name of Jesus. Those voices in your head, telling you all of these crazy things, are not true. They are from the pit of hell.

I am going to say a prayer right now for us: "Abba Father, we come to you in the mighty name of our LORD Jesus Christ. I pray for every person that is reading this right now, LORD. I pray that You deliver them in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Cast out any impure, unclean spirits. Spirit of fear, spirit of anxiety, those spirits oppressing them, LORD, I cast those out in the mighty name of Jesus right now. Satan has no power or authority over us. Thank you, Jesus, for healing our minds. Thank you, Jesus, for guiding and protecting us. Thank you, Jesus, for saving us. Thank you, Jesus, for your blood shed on the cross for our sins. Thank you, Jesus, for all that you do. Thank you, Abba Father, for giving us the Holy Spirit and for sending your son Jesus down to save us. Thank you so much, LORD. I love you with every ounce of my being. In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen."

So, how do we discern the truth?

First, we pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show us the truth and help us to discern it, then we get in our word. We have to go and check with scripture and see if the things that we have been hearing or believing are in alignment with scripture. If it's not in alignment with scripture, then it's not from God. Also, we need to test the spirits. We have to test and see if someone does not proclaim and confess Jesus Christ as coming on this earth and being our LORD and Savior, they are not from God. We also have to be still and spend quiet time with God and ask the Holy Spirit to consume you and move you to do the will of God the Father. Then we have to listen to the Spirit.

Here are a few other scriptures:

"For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,  so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." -Philippians 2:9-11

"Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." -John 14:13-14

So this is Jesus saying that if we ask anything in his name, He will do it. This doesn't mean that we should ask for any materialistic or worldly things in His name and we will get it. Whenever we are asking for things that are in alignment with God's will, He will do it.

"Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples." -John 15:4-5

This is Jesus Christ talking to His disciples and saying that He is the true vine and we are the branches. We cannot do anything without Jesus Christ. When we are abiding in Jesus, we can produce much fruit, and we have the fruit of the Spirit within us. We cannot do anything on our own accord. The power that we have is from the Holy Spirit, not from ourselves.

"The next day, their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the members of the high-priestly family. After they had Peter and John stand before them, they began to question them: “By what power or in what name have you done this?” Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders: If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man, by what means he was healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing here before you healthy. This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.  There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” -Acts 4:5-12

So in these verses here, Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit, and He is telling these people that only Jesus Christ can heal. Only Jesus can save. Jesus is our risen Savior, and by Him we have eternal life. Pete did not heal this man on his own. Peter healed this man in the mighty name of Jesus. There is no other salvation but through Jesus Christ.

So I hope this episode helped you guys to realize that there is a real spiritual battle going on and people are being deceived in this world. We have power and authority in the name of Jesus Christ to deliver the oppression that is happening in this world. In the mighty name of Jesus, we can ask for things and we will receive them all for the glory of the Most High God. That is it for today's episode, I will see you guys next week.

I love you guys so much.

Never forget to choose faith over fear.

-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)

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Scripture taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.