Bible Studies
Doctrines of Demons: Deceiving Spirits and Their Teachings, Chapter 6
The great danger to the church in the last days is not persecution, but deception. Persecution refines God’s people. Deception can destroy them. As we approach the end of human history, deceivers will multiply, deceptions will be more and more subtle, and Christians will be in deadly danger of being deceived.
Jesus warned the Church that “false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect — if that were possible” (Matt. 24:24)
There is no historical evidence that this prophecy was fulfilled in the time of the apostles or before the destruction of Jerusalem (70 A.D.). Though the Olivet Discourse, as it is called (Matt. 24: Mark 13; Luke 21:5-36), contains references to both the Second Coming of Christ and the Destruction of Jerusalem, some statements clearly refer to the end of time, and not to 70 A.D. The statement quoted above occurs in the context of a statement by Jesus about “great tribulation,” or, as NIV puts it: “great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now — and never to be equaled again.” I don’t see how that can refer to the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. because the holocaust of WW II involved six times the slaughter of 70 A.D. The Roman armies killed an estimated 1,000,000 Jewish people in their attack; the Nazis killed around 6,000,000. So I believe this time of unequaled tribulation is still future.
Matt. 24:21-31: “For then there will be great distress (great tribulation, KJV), unequaled from the beginning of the world until now — and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, `Look, here is the Christ!’ or, `There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect — if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. So if anyone tells you, `There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, `Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
Quite clearly this is not a reference to the Destruction of Jerusalem. The sign of Christ’s appearance, the gathering of the elect at the sound of a trumpet, great and ominous signs in the sky, and the actual coming of the Son of Man cannot, to my mind, possibly describe the events of 70 A.D. They do, however, agree with other references to Christ’s return (I Cor. 15:52; I Thess. 4:15-17; Acts 2:19-20; Joel 2:28-32). Also the fact that this discourse was meant for the entire Church, not just those who heard the Lord, is evident from Matthew’s statement in verse 15: “Let the reader understand.”
So what we can expect as we approach the return of Christ is a great proliferation of false prophets, false teachers, and false Christs, able to do marvelous and convincing miracles. We already see a little of that even now. First Sun Myung Moon declared himself to be the Christ and led away multitudes of ignorant youth into his Unification Church. David Koresh claimed to be Christ and led his followers to destruction. The New Agers have their Lord Maitreya, the ‘Christ,’ who (they claim) is already on the earth ready to reveal himself to the world in great power. But if Jesus’ words do, as I believe, refer to a time still future (but quite near), we have only begun to see their fulfillment. Yet to appear are many false Christs and false prophets, who will arise and “perform great signs and miracles.”
Paul also predicts this multiplying of subtle deceivers.
I Tim. 4:1-3: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.”
Those who fall away in later times will be led away by deceiving spirits speaking through false and plausible men, who are able to perform convincing miracles and wonders. And the world will be ripe for them.
See also Paul’s following warning:
II Tim. 3:1-8: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth — men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.”
Jannes and Jambres were the names traditionally given to the sorcerers who opposed Moses in the court of Pharaoh.
Ex. 7:11, 22: “Pharaoh then summoned the wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts... the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard...”
If you think these sorcerers were mere stage magicians, fooling Pharaoh with sleight-of-hand tricks, you’re very mistaken. Through demonic powers they were able to do many of “the same things” that Moses did “by their secret arts.” They gave up in the end when they realized that the source of Moses’ power was Jehovah, and not evil spirits (“this is the finger of God” 8:19), but they displayed very impressive power, real power, up to that point. So Paul compares the false teachers of “the last days” with those Egyptian sorcerers, possibly implying that they also work credible wonders to validate their deceptions.
False teaching takes many forms, but the most common false doctrine involves a distortion of the nature of Jesus Christ. Every pseudo-Christian cult distorts ‘the doctrine of Christ.’
Hear John’s admonition:
I John 4:1-3: “Dear friends, 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. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”
Again:
II John 7-11: “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ [or better, teaching about Christ] does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.”
This does not mean that an unclean spirit can’t say the words: ‘Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.’ It means that they will invariably distort “the doctrine of Christ” one way or another. They will either deny His deity, or they will deny His true humanity; or they will introduce some other perversion of the “teaching of Christ.” Apparently the “teaching about Christ” that John refers to is the fact that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” He is both Jesus, the Son of Man, and Christ, the Son of God. He is God and Man in a single Divine-Human Person, the God-Man, so to speak. This fact is the bedrock of all Christian theology. Anyone who denies or weakens either the deity of Christ or His true manhood “does not have God.” Examine every cult or heresy from the earliest era of Church history, and you will find that nearly every false teaching either denied the full deity of Jesus Christ, or else it denied His full humanity. This is true today of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, New-Agers, Mormons, and of many others. In considering any strange new teaching, ask of it first, Does it do justice to both the Humanity and the Deity of Jesus Christ? Does it teach that ‘Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?’
Jehovah’s Witnesses speak of Him as a son of God, and Mormons honor Him as a Savior and Revealer. But they will not confess Him to be the unique God-man, incarnate Deity, Who came as the uncreated image of the invisible God and the only source of salvation. New Age and Eastern religions acknowledge Jesus as a Great Master, an equal to Buddha, Krishna, and other ‘avatars.’ Moslems ‘honor’ Him as a great prophet, but they don’t accept His deity. So we have to “test the spirits” as we listen to religious and ‘spiritual’ teachers. Anyone who denies that Jesus Christ is the unique incarnation of the Eternal God is following instructions from evil spirits.
Another common deception is to claim to find occult ideas and practices in the Bible. Occultists are notorious for trying to prove their teachings by quoting the Bible. The famous ‘Sleeping Prophet,’ Edgar Cayce, began as a Sunday school teacher in the Christian Church. He was well known for going into a kind of sleep-trance and (while asleep) diagnosing and prescribing cures for his clients. He ‘saw’ things impossible for him to know by natural means. But soon he introduced false doctrines into his teachings and prophecies. Beginning with the lie of reincarnation, he brought in every other occult teaching—so much so that today Cayce is a great hero of the New Age Movement. Where did Cayce get his supernormal knowledge? From the same source that he got his teachings: from demons.
In another lesson we looked at a well-known passage in Deuteronomy, in which the LORD condemned all forms of occult knowledge and power. He referred to them as ‘detestable,’ as ‘abominations.’
Deut. 18:9-14: “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead [through mediums or channelers]. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the LORD your God. 14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so.”
Lev. 20:6-7: “I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people. 7 Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.”
Ex. 22:18 “Do not allow a sorceress [KJV witch] to live.”
We saw that the reason God found these practices detestable was that they involve dealing with demons. Some Christians ‘innocently’ play around at the border of these abominable practices. They ‘play’ with the ouija board, they experiment with palmistry, read their horoscope, maybe visit fortunetellers ‘for fun.’ Christian parents and grandparents give their little ones Harry Potter books to read, and dress them up as ghouls, witches, and demons on Halloween. Christians bring back from developing countries the images of Aztec and African ‘gods,’ which (for all they know) have been ‘dedicated’ by the native artisans who made them. They place them on a knick-knack shelf. People put voodoo and witch doctor masks on their wall, little fat buddhas on their coffee tables. I’m not saying that every souvenir brought back for a Third World country has demons in it, but I personally don’t bring anything into my house that could ever have had any connection with pagan religions.
Whenever people come to us for deliverance counseling, we have them renounce all occult practices in general, and renounce by name any particular ones they remember being involved in. Here is a short list of questionable practices, some of which may seem innocent at first glance, but which are associated with other, more obvious, occult ‘abominations.’
Astrology, automatic writing, amulets (for good ‘luck’), casting spells, channeling, clairvoyance, ESP, crystal balls, fortunetellers, horoscopes, numerology, palm reading, Eastern-style meditation, chanting mantras, séances, subliminal recordings, Ouija board, tarot cards, tea leaf readings, psychic ‘readings,’ ‘white’ magic, hypnosis, and other similar practices.
These practices are subtle and appealing. Through the years I have not been greatly tempted by pornography, but I have been powerfully drawn to find KNOWLEDGE from these forbidden sources. There is a beautiful, seductive side of evil. Just as demons appeal to our fallen sexual nature, they also appeal to our pride and desire to know. This was Satan’s first temptation, wasn’t it? Basically the Devil has not changed his tactics since that first temptation.
Gen. 3:2-6: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”’ ‘You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
There it all was in the beginning: pride, desire to know, desire to be like God, distorting God’s word, the appeal of pleasure. If demons did not make sin beautiful and appealing, they could not deceive us.
II Cor. 13-14: “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."
Clearly there is a beautiful and attractive side of evil; otherwise who would be deceived? I’m convinced that apparitions of ‘the Virgin Mary’ really are being seen around the world. I’m also certain that the messages she gives are real. But these appearances are caused by an angel of light, not the mother of Jesus.
Another way the teaching of demons leads people astray is by various forms of mind-altering activity. God has given us a rational, conscious mind as the gatekeeper of the soul. By our reason we study and understand the truth. If we know what the Bible teaches, we are much less likely to be deceived than otherwise. If we love, pursue, learn, and practice the Truth, we will “know of the teaching, whether it is of God” or from demons (John 7:17).
Also anything that disengages the gatekeeper opens the door for demonic invasion. This includes hypnosis, Eastern-type meditation, drugs and alcohol, mind-altering music such as heavy metal and New Age music, and subliminal recordings. Under normal circumstances God has given us sleep as a protected time during which demons cannot invade us. They may disturb sleep, but they are not routinely able to enter a person during sleep, even though the mind, the ‘gatekeeper,’ is not engaged. However, when the sleeper has made himself vulnerable to demons in his waking state, or has taken drugs, or is involved with sleep-learning, he may give demons power to come in during sleep; I have no special insight on this. What I’m sure of is this: If we weaken our conscious, rational minds through drugs or other activities, or if we make our minds blank through meditation or hypnosis, we open ourselves to demonic invasion.
Determine that you will seek neither power nor knowledge from any other sources than from the Bible, the leading of the Holy Spirit, or from studying nature. The people of Israel listened to those who consulted other beings, other ‘entities,’ and so were led to destruction. God has revealed all that we need to know in nature and revelation. The rest is His secret:
Deut. 29:29: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”
The key word to remember as we proceed further into the 21st century is this: “Take heed that no man,” or demons working through men, deceive you. Amen.
Chapter 7, Demons and You