November 2019 • USPS 184720 • Volume 58 • Number 11

SEVEN STEPS TO HEAVENSEVEN STEPS TO HEAVENIn This Issue:In This Issue:

“Now the Spirit speaks distinctly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (1Tim.4:1-2). Everywhere we look, we see this word being ful-filled.

There will also be an increase in demonic activity, especially with false doctrine. This will cause some to depart from the faith. The deter-miner the before faith refers to the teachings and doctrines of the Bible,

specifically the NT Gospel. Some will depart from these, and you can’t depart from until you arrive to. You first have to embrace these teachings before you can leave them. This hap-pens when they give heed to seducing spirits. In the original Greek, seduce means to lead astray, to deceive, to corrupt. Notice the plural, seducing spirits, because there is a host of them. They operate in different ways,

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and some activities overlap. They seduce by deceiving, imitating, and lying.

Doctrines of devils: The Greek word for doctrine means teacher or to teach and devils is daimonion—demons. Demon spirits teaching false doctrines. Demons must have human vessels to speak through. They speak through false prophets and vessels of dishonor who speak lies in hypocrisy. The Greek word hypocrisy is translit-erated into English as hypocrite. It was a theatrical word simply mean-ing to play a part on a stage. False

teachers, preachers, and prophets play the part of being true messen-gers of God. But all they have is a religious costume, and Jesus told us what the costume is: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Mt.7:15). There are wolves playing the part of being true messengers of God, but God has some Holy Ghost sheepdogs

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who spot the wolves and warn His sheep. When Paul was saying his goodbyes to the Ephesian elders, he said, “I know after I leave grievous wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29).

There are three types of people in church. Sheep, wolves, and sheep-dogs. Ministers of the truth are sheepdogs looking out for the wolves. They’re always trying to cor-ral the sheep together to stay in the sheepfold where they are protected and safe. By God’s grace, I am one of His sheepdogs. I will always point out the dangers of false teachers.

“Having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” The word sear means to cauterize. When cattle ranchers brand their cows, they use a metal branding iron which they stick into the fire and press into the cow’s flesh. It deadens the skin which no longer has sensation. Imagine having your conscience seared like this. It becomes desensitized, insensitive to the discernment of truth versus error. I truly believe so-called Christian leaders today who are not only say-ing that it is alright for same-sex marriage, but are performing them, have had their conscience seared with a hot iron. They are no longer able to distinguish between truth and error. The sad thing is, because they are leaders with a great voice, they will cause many sheep to go astray.

Test the Spirits“Beloved, believe not every spir-

it, but try the spirits (plural) whether

they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now is it in the world” (1Jn.4:1-3). This is not the Antichrist (capital A—the person). It’s a spirit that was already working in the world in John’s day, and today it denies that Jesus is God’s Son and the only way to eter-nal life.

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: Therefore, speak they of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God hears us not. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (vv.4-6).

John wrote to believers that we must test the spirits. The idea is of testing metals like gold and silver to see if they are pure or mixed with other alloys. Recently, I took a nice thick gold band ring I’ve had 25 years with a broken mount and no stone to a jeweler to sell. I was told it had to be tested to see if it was gold. I said that I knew it was14 karat gold, but it was not stamped on the inside, so it had to be tested by making a lit-tle scratch and applying a chemical that would show if it was 14 karat

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gold. It was. Likewise, we have to test the spirits to see if they are of God. You cannot believe everything that comes out of somebody’s mouth just because they have a title or office, or are wearing a robe or their collar turned around. They might be a wolf wearing sheep’s clothes. The person may even seem to have an anointing and a flow, but if it does not line up with Scripture, it is not the Spirit of God.

John said, there is a spirit of truth and there is a spirit of error. These two spirits govern everything going on in the world, and all things fall into one or the other. I believe same-sex marriage is of the spirit of error, because it goes against Scrip-ture. Anything that says that Jesus is not the Son of God is of the spirit of error. If it says that God has no son at all, like Islam claims, it is of the spir-it of error.

Jesus said, “For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, the elect” (Mk.13:22). Along with what they’re saying, they will do signs and won-ders, and for gullible people, that’s all they need to swallow it right up. They think because they see a mira-cle or a sign, an aura or something supernatural, it means they are of God. Paul said, “By good words and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the simple” (Rom.16:18). It’s the hearts of the trusting, because they are not schooled in the Word of God. In Greek, the words seduce and

deceive are the same word.2John 9: “Whosoever abides not

in the doctrine of Christ has not God.” Wow, that’s a pretty simple test, isn’t it? If they do not abide in the gospel of Christ, they have not God. Verse 10: “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, nei-ther bid him God speed.” We have all had Jehovah’s Witnesses knock on our doors and in some neighbor-hoods, Mormons and Seventh-Day Adventists. Muslims proselytize peo-ple, especially in our prison systems, and deceive them with lying spirits that twist Scripture. If you don’t know the Word of God, you can quickly get hung up. All false teach-ers have a lying spirit inspiring them. This is why they are able to draw in gullible people.

John wrote, “Who is a liar but he that denies Jesus is the Christ? He is an antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.” This is important: The Father and the Son. “Whoever denies the Son has not the Father…. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world…. He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself: he that believes not has made God a liar, because he believes not the record that God gave His Son” (1 Jn.2:22-23, 4:15, 5:10). None of these three sects believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. A major tenet of Islam is God has no son. Therefore, the Bible is in total contradiction to them.

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Satan’s Imposter AngelsIn Colossians 2:3-4, Paul wrote

that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. “This I say lest any man beguile you with enticing words.” The word beguile means to reason falsely, to go around the truth to draw an erroneous con-clusion. It is to talk somebody into something, and that is exactly what false teachers do. If you research (Google it) the beginnings of these religious sects, you will find their founders claimed to have had a supernatural visitation by an angel. The angel Maroni told Mormon founder Joseph Smith that the true gospel was lost when the apostles died and directed him to “golden plates” with the new gospel buried in New York. These plates have never been found or seen by anyone else. Mohammed had violent visions in a cave and said the angel Gabriel forced him to deliver his messages. They were deceived and beguiled by demon spirits posing as God’s mes-sengers.

God knew what was coming down the pike, as Paul wrote in Gala-tians 1:6-9: “I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not anoth-er; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we (Paul and apostles) or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached

unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again (repeating because it’s that impor-tant), If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed.”

They perverted the gospel, cor-rupting it into something else. Mohammed claimed that the Quran was spoken to him directly in pure Arabic; yet there are whole phrases lifted right out of the Bible, pervert-ing the Scriptures. Paul said that they trouble you. This means to stir up, agitate with emotions. We have to know what we believe—we can’t go by feelings. We can’t judge by some kind of extrasensory perception, because if an angel shows up at the bottom of your bed, you’re going to get goosebumps, whether it’s a good angel or a bad angel. All angelic mes-sages must be judged by Scripture. When Satan fell from heaven, he took one-third of the angels with him. He must have done something spectacu-lar to convince them that they could dethrone God. He deceived himself to think he could, and he deceived them to believe it. They are adept at deception, and they come in the guise as messengers from God.

If someone comes preaching to you, no matter how anointed they seem, or charismatic or animated, if it is not this NT gospel, it is a perverted gospel, and let them be accursed. These are strong words that aren’t politically correct. They are harsh for a reason: Wolves have come into destroy and devour the sheep, and we

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can’t play nice with wolves. We have to warn the sheep and holler, “Beware! Wolves in sheep’s cloth-ing!”

In similar fashion Paul wrote to Corinth: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the sim-plicity that is in Christ. For if he that comes, preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit which you have not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted, you migh t we l l bear w i th h im” (2Cor.11:3-4). Paul was concerned that if someone came preaching another Jesus and another gospel, they might put up with him, because they were beguiled away from the purity of the gospel as Satan beguiled Eve in the garden.

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (vv.13-15). They shall be destroyed even as they destroyed oth-ers with their lies.

I have heard of people who say that angels appeared to them during a near-death experience. Some saw a great light. They were not saved, not right with God, but still believed they are good because they saw a light.

There was a time when this was very big. Books were being written about it. Then some true messengers of God came forth and wrote books to counteract this deception, saying, “I don’t doubt that you saw a light. I don’t doubt that you saw an angel. I don’t doubt that he was beautiful, because Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.”

It is my observation that when one has such a visitation or appari-tion, if he will speak God’s Word, “Jesus is Lord, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess, in heaven, and in earth and beneath the earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord,” that angel of light will turn into a devil as fast as you can snap your fingers. The devil will play possum for a lot of things, but once you start declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord, and every knee shall bow—I always add even Lucifer’s knee, and every tongue shall confess—even Lucifer’s tongue, that Jesus is Lord, the demons can’t stand it, and their true identity will manifest.

Since Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, Paul’s reason-ing was we should not be surprised if his false apostles and prophets do the same. But some Christians want a word so badly, they watch preachers on TV whom they know are preach-ing false doctrine, and they are all ears when they start giving “words of knowledge.” In some cases, they are under the influence of a familiar spirit and are receiving information from the spirit. In cases where it is in

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person, it could be a familiar spirit working with him, or he is pretend-ing to receive information from the Lord when actually someone is tell-ing him via an earbud in his ear. Years ago in some meetings, people who needed healing were told to come earlier in the day to fill out cards with their name and physical problem. Then in the night service, someone in the back, reading the card, spoke in the minister’s ear the sick person’s info. The preacher would pretend to be receiving from God: “I see your name. It’s share—share—Sharon!”—imitating the gifts of the Spirit.

Imitating Spirits The devil is many things: A liar,

a trespasser, and an imitator. That’s all he can do is imitate. When Paul and Silas went to Philippi, there was a young slave girl who had a spirit of divination (the spirit of Python), whose masters made much money from her soothsaying—telling peo-ple’s fortunes. She followed them around the city, saying, “These men are the servants of the most high God who have come to show you the way of salvation.” Now that was the truth—they were the servants of the most high God, and they did come to show the way of salvation. She was not telling people to watch out for these guys because they are crooks. No, the spirit in her wanted to make it look like they were all in agree-ment: I’m with you, and you’re with me. It was trying to come under the

umbrella of the true servants of God. This went on for many days until Paul became vexed in his spirit. He was thinking, If we let this go on, the people will assume that her gift is of God, when it’s really a demonic spir-it. Paul turned and said to the spirit (he didn’t speak to the girl), “I com-mand you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” Just like that the girl was delivered, and just like that she could no longer tell fortunes.

Of course, her slave masters were not happy when they saw the means of their gain was gone. They stirred up the people, seized Paul and Silas, and drug them to the rulers, accusing them of causing trouble and breaking Roman laws. They were stripped, beaten with many stripes, and thrown into prison. She not only had a familiar spirit and was able to really tell people their fortunes, but she also had an imitating spirit (Ref. Acts 16:16-24).

How did she tell fortunes so accurately? By a familiar spirit. These spirits attach themselves to families, and they know the history of the family because they have been with the family throughout time. She also had an imitating spirit, and oftentimes these spirits overlap. It was trying to imitate the Spirit of God. We must look out for imitating spirits. We have people today acting like they’re giving out prophecies and words of wisdom and words of knowledge, and discerning things from God. Don’t let anyone prophesy over you if you don’t know who they

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are. Don’t let someone lay hands on you that you don’t know is a real ser-vant of God. They might be harmless and foolishly trying to make people think they are important, or they might actually have demons working with them, so don’t let people put their hands on you if you aren’t sure.

A Personal StoryYears ago my friend and I went

to a campmeeting where they were really big on personal prophecy. I believe the head of the of the minis-try was a true servant of God and had the real gift of prophecy. He prophe-sied over me straight down the line, and I felt the heaviness I was under lift off of me. But some of his work-ers were flaky in that they would teach people how to prophesy over others in the congregation. When guests arrived for their summer meet-ings, they would eagerly come to them to give them a prophecy. I didn’t know who these people were. I knew I could trust the leader who was a true servant of God, but I didn’t know them. I think most of them were harmless wannabe’s trying to be prophets. A problem arose when they started going over a line. It’s one thing to say that the Lord loves you, and is with you, and is going to bring you out, and bless you. Anybody can make up that prophecy. But when they start giving specifics and telling people who they should marry, and where they should move, and to quit their job, etc., this can wreck people’s lives if they are

foolish enough not to try the spirits.This particular day in the after-

noon service, we were trying to give the look to not come to us, and no one did. Then a young preacher took the service, and he called me up front. I didn’t want to be rude, or to cause any babes in Christ who didn’t know any better, to think that I was a devil, so I went up. He probably felt my resistance in my spirit and gave me a terrible prophecy. I don’t remember what he said, but it made me look bad, and on top of it, I was embarrassed in front of everyone. I knew that if the pastor (he is with the Lord now) heard it, he would be upset. He really loved us and my Dad’s ministry. This speaker didn’t know me from Adam or Eve.

That night in the service, when the bigger crowd was there, the pas-tor called me to the platform to testi-fy. The anointing came on me, and I testified powerfully, and everybody was like: She is the one who got the bad prophecy today! The Lord worked it out to let people know that the preacher who prophesied earlier was way off base, and if he was wrong about her, he might be wrong about you, so watch out. The Lord let the anointing and the Word of God come forth powerfully to show a fake anointing is no match for the real.

Paul wrote in 2Tim.3:l: “This know also, that in the last days peril-ous times shall come,” and in the next six verses, he stated the evil characteristics of the people of these days. In verse 8 he said: “Now as

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Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, repro-bate concerning the faith.” Jannes and Jambres are not called by name in the OT, but they were Pharaoh’s magicians. When Moses and Aaron went before him to demand he let God’s people go, God had told Moses that they were to use the rod to perform signs.

The first was when Aaron threw down his rod, and it became a ser-pent. Then Jannes and Jambres threw down their rods which also became serpents, but Aaron’s serpent ate their serpents. Next came the plagues, and Aaron stretched out the rod over the Nile River which the Egyptians wor-shipped as a god, and it turned to blood. It went throughout all the waters in Egypt and all the fish died. Jannes and Jambres with their enchantments, duplicated the mira-cle. In the second plague, Aaron’s rod caused countless frogs to appear. They were in people’s beds, cup-boards, and everywhere throughout the land. Jannes and Jambres did the same thing with their secret incanta-tions, causing them to appear, but they couldn’t get rid of them. Pha-raoh actually asked Moses to pray to God to take the frogs away, and he did and the frogs disappeared.

For the third plague, Aaron took his rod and smote the dust of the ground, and it turned into lice. Lice were everywhere. Then Jannes and Jambres with their enchantments tried to reproduce the miracle, but

they could not, because it was a cre-ative miracle. It wasn’t just calling forth frogs that already existed. “Then the magicians said unto Phar-oah, This is the finger of God” (Ex.8:19). Satan cannot create; he can only imitate. God is the creator. Genesis 2:7 tells us that God formed man out of the dust of the earth and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives. Only God can create life out of dirt. Man cannot create life. Scientists can take an egg and a sperm and put them together, but they cannot create the egg and the sperm. They can clone by taking cells from one living organism and putting them in another, but they can-not create life from inanimate sub-stance or matter.

Lying Spirits

1Kings 22 is one of the most unusual, curious chapters in the Bible. “And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Do you know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria? And he said unto Jehoshophat, Will you go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead?” (vv.1-4).

Israel was split into two king-doms in the days of Rehoboam. Isra-el retained 10 northern tribes, and the two southern tribes became Judah, which is why we see two kings here.

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They were ruling simultaneously. The king of Israel was Ahab, one of Israel’s most wicked kings, who mar-ried the wicked pagan Jezebel. Jehoshaphat was king in Judah and was one of her good kings.

Ahab told Jehoshaphat that Ramoth-gilead was Israel’s land; yet the Syrians were occupying it, and he wanted to take it back. Seeking his help, Ahab asked him to go to battle with him. Jehoshaphat said to Ahab, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” He saw them all as Jews, one people who served Jehovah, and he was willing to go, but he wanted to enquire of the Lord first. He was a wise king.

So Ahab gathered his 400 proph-ets together. This is remarkable when we consider that this was right after the time when Elijah killed Jezebel’s 850 false prophets on Mount Carmel. They already had 400 more prophets! Ahab asked them: “Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king” (vv.4-6). But Jehoshaphat was not convinced and said, “Is there not here a prophet of the lord besides, that we might enquire of him?” (v.7).

Jehoshaphat didn’t swallow it, even though there was 400 of them! Ahab replied, “There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the lord: but I hate him; for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And

Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so” (v.8).

Really? How foolish can you be to want to fool yourself? Yes, there is one prophet of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies good of me but only evil. The reason was Ahab was evil and so was his wife. But his solution to the problem was, Don’t listen to his prophecies—Call my own prophets who will tell me what I want to hear, and I have 400 telling me to go.

Jehoshaphat’s reaction essential-ly: This does not bear witness with my spirit! At his insistence, Ahab called for his officer to get Micaiah.

M e a n w h i l e , A h a b a n d Jehoshaphat were each sitting on their thrones, wearing their royal robes, in the entrance of the gate of Samaria while the 400 prophets prophesied before them. One prophet got very creative and made some iron horns to give an illustrated prophecy. He said, “Thus says the lord, With these you shall push the Syrians until you have consumed them.” And all the rest kept saying, “Go up and prosper: for the lord shall deliver it into the king’s hand” (vv.10-12).

“And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spoke unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let your word, I pray you, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good. And Micaiah said, As the lord lives, what the lord says unto me, that will I speak” (v.13-14). This prophet of

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the Lord was the real deal!He came before the two kings,

and Ahab said, “Shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the lord shall deliv-er it into the hand of the king.” This is where it gets interesting: “And the king said, How many times shall I adjure you that you tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the lord?”

Obviously, Micaiah had said it sarcastically: I’ve already been informed what I’m supposed to tell you. I’m supposed to agree with these guys. That’s what you want to hear, right? Ok, then just go on up and prosper, and the Lord will be with you. This had to have occurred many times in the past, because Ahab said, how many times do I have to adjure you… We can see here how people get deceived. When God gives them the word, and they don’t want to hear it and buck against it, or they find people to agree with their opinion, they are deceiving them-selves. You can always find people to agree with you. You can talk people into seeing it your way, because you’re probably not telling them the whole story or giving them all the facts.

Ahab had said, “Only tell me the truth when you speak in the name of the Lord!” Macaiah answered: “Hear the word of the lord: I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the lord said, These have no master: let them

return every man to his house in peace.” At this Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?” It meant that the shep-herd was going to be killed, and the people would not have a king. Mic-aiah was not done. He not only heard a word from God, he had a vision:

“I saw the lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.” I think there is a lit-tle dig here. When he came in, Macaiah saw the two kings sitting on their thrones in pompous glory while the prophets were exalting the king. But he said, “I have seen the King of Heaven sitting on His throne with all the hosts Heaven on his right hand and on his left hand.” These are met-aphors. The right hand of God is His hand of power, deliverance, and mer-cy. The left is His hand of judgment. If He turns to the right, there will be mercy. If He turns to the left, they will go forth to judge.

A Look Behind the ScenesWhat he saw next is unusual:

“And the lord said, Who shall per-suade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit and stood before the lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.

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“And God said, You shall per-suade him and prevail also: Go forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets, and the lord has spoken evil concerning you” (vv.19-23).

God knew Ahab would die in battle if went up to Ramoth-gilead. Ahab’s reign had been gross wicked-ness, and God had dealt with him many times through His prophet Eli-jah. Once when God was ready to cut him off, Ahab humbled himself, and God gave him mercy, but he fell back into the same wickedness. God was now ready to remove him off of the scene along with his wicked wife Jezebel. It was time to judge Ahab, and He was going to use the Syrians to do it.

In this super-worldly scenario, we see one after another volunteer to persuade Ahab to go to the battle. Whatever their plans were, we are not told. Finally, one spirit came forth and said, “I will persuade him.” When the Lord asked how? he said, “I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets, and they will tell him to go.” The Lord gave permission to the lying spirit.

What is going on here? Is God the author of lies? No, He did not create lies or liars—Satan did (Jn.8:44). We need to understand the difference between God’s commis-sion and His permission. In the Hebrew understanding of God, there is a causative case and a permissive case—divine permission. Ahab had

willfully rejected the truth again and again. He knew the Lord had spoken through Macaiah, but he chose to reject it. He placated Jehoshaphat in calling for Micaiah, but he had no intention of obeying the word of the Lord if Micaiah said not to go. When people choose not to receive the truth, it allows Satan to deceive them. The lying spirit volunteered and God gave permission.

Ahab had Macaiah thrown in prison and told his men to only feed him bread and water till he returned from the battle. Macaiah said, “If you return, the lord has not spoken by me.” Ahab believed he would not be killed. He decided to disguise him-self so no one would know he was the King of Israel, Syria’s enemy. Normally, the king led the charge. He persuaded Jehoshaphat to go dressed in his kingly attire, while he would go as a regular soldier. No one tried to kill Jehoshaphat, but ironically, Ahab was killed by a random arrow. Even though he tried to deceive, he was deceived himself, and the Lord allowed it. In the future, He will allow the Antichrist to do likewise when he rises up:

“Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all

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might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrigh-teousness” (2Thes.2:10-12). There is no neutral ground in the spirit. There is the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. When a person rejects the truth, the lie takes over.

It is frustrating when people can-not see the obvious truth and the obvious lie. We don’t understand it, but it’s because they are deceived. Homosexuals who say, “God made me this way, so I can only be what He made me to be, and He loves me this way,” believe this, and now some preachers are telling them that it’s true. Scientists with no biological evidence are telling them it’s true. They are deceived, and they believe it. Those who preach and uphold it are also deceived. There is no scrip-tural basis for it; on the contrary, Scripture screams out against it. Paul said in Romans 1:28 that when they reach this point of deception, God gives them over to a reprobate mind. I’m not saying that every homosexu-al is a reprobate. There are many homosexuals who will come out of it if they receive the truth. We need to pray for them that God will send them the truth. But there are many who are turned over to it.

God permits lying spirits to deceive those who reject the truth. Job 12:16 says: “The deceived and the deceiver are his,” and 2Tim.3:13: “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

The Devil is DeceivedSaints, the devil is deceived—

Lucifer is deceived. He deceived himself to believe he could throw God off of His throne. He really believed it, or he would not have attempted to do such a thing if he did not think he could succeed. Some-how, he convinced one-third of the angels that he could do it. They would not have risked everything to go along with him if they didn’t think he could succeed. The devil is deceived. His angels are deceived. Because he’s deceived, he believes that at the end of time, he is going to destroy Israel. He believes his man, the Antichrist, is going to become the ruler of the world. And he is going to attempt to dethrone God once again. But his plan will fail, and he will ulti-mately be cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev.12 & 20).

We are living in the age when people don’t want to know the truth. They don’t want anyone to sit down with the Scriptures and show them the error of their way. When they are like this, God gives them over to their lies. This is a clear mandate in the Word of God: When you reject truth, you are automatically given over to the lie; that’s why it is dan-gerous to reject truth. This is what we must do at all times, no matter how much pushback we get. Souls are hanging in the balance:

“I charge you therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

S E V E N ST E P S TO H E AV E N

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Preach the word: be instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine (in balance). For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2Tim.4:1-4).

The significant thing here is: They made a conscious decision of their own volition to turn their ears away from the truth. Turn away is in the active voice in Greek grammar, which means the subject is perform-ing the action. They turned away from the truth. However, shall be turned away is in the passive voice, which means the subject is receiving the action—the action is being done to them. Something or someone is turning them to the lie. In other words, when you turn away from the truth, you will be turned to the lie. There is no neutral ground. God will allow Satan to turn those who reject the truth to lies. This is what we are seeing right now. It’s why so many false doctrines are proliferating. Lying spirits have been unleashed, and apostacy is the result.

When you know the Scriptures and have the Spirit of God abiding in you, as soon as you’re confronted with a lie, the Spirit of God inside of you will bring the right verses to your spirit and to your mind. Scrip-ture is the library of the Holy Spirit, and when He quickens them, He will

bring them to your remembrance one after another.

The greatest danger today for Christians is not persecution; although it is intensifying against the Church. Nor is it fiery trials and tests, because all of these make us stronger and serve to draw us closer to God. Our greatest danger is being deceived by seducing, imitating, and lying spirits—Seduction leading to deser-tion of the faith that was once deliv-ered unto the saints. We must study the Word in order to rightly divide the word of truth (2Tim.2:15). This means not only discerning between right and wrong, but between right and almost right.

As servants of the Lord we are to “instruct those who oppose them-selves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledg-ing of the truth. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2Tim.2:24-26).