TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 2ND April 2023)
“Then he took Him to Jerusalem and set Him on a gable of the temple, and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down from here;
For it is written, He will give His angels charge over you to guard and watch over you closely and carefully; And on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
And Jesus replied to him, [The Scripture] says, you shall not tempt (try, test exceedingly) the Lord your God.” LUKE 4:9-12 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 92ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
This is the day the LORD has made. We shall rejoice and be glad in it.
The LORD God has been our keeper and refuge. He has been our sustainer and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. That is why no troubles have has consumed us.
As a very present help in time of trouble, one may go through the waters, He will be with us, and through the rivers, He will make sure they do not overflow us. And when we walk through the fire, we shall not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon us because He remains our very present help in trouble times.
The Cry of the Spirit yesterday in 1 Timothy chapter 4 tells us of the very times we find ourselves; a time where people will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. I encourage you to read it. The scripture explains why there will be a falling away in our times as prophesied by the Spirit of the LORD in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
It is the absorbing of doctrines of devils that will give birth to many departing from the faith and others falling away from the faith.
Sometime last year, I saw a video of a preacher who had been a member and pastor of one of the churches, that preaches a mixture of doctrines of demons and the gospel, saying God asked him to go start worshiping Ifa (a deity of the Yorubas in the Western part of Nigeria).
Clearly, taking doctrines of demons to be God’s for a long time, has shaped his spirit to be hearing from demons and calling them God. Even Satan knows that the true God will never ask anyone to serve a deity. But here is a preacher telling us that God asked him to go serve Satan. That is how many people in Church today hear from false spirits and call it the voice of God.
There are deceiving spirits everywhere today using the linguistics of God, to say one thing or the other to people because we have camped on doctrines of devils for too long.
IF THERE IS ANY AREA, WE NEED A VERY PRESENT HELP FROM GOD TODAY, IT IS IN THE AREA OF DOCTRINE.
Let me reiterate again, that if you dwell with doctrines of demons for too long, taking them to be the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will be hearing from demons and taking it to be God. We have heard those who said God said they should marry second wives, while the first is still alive and living with them.
There are those who have said God said to them the should start sleeping with their so-called suitors before marriage, because they were already married in the spirit. There are those who have said, God said they should use salt in prayer like Elisha used, and others have said God said they should not work but sit and pray. All kinds of misleading things we hear people call “leadings from the LORD” are everywhere today.
How can the God who say we are the salt of the earth ask you to pray with salt? How can the God who commands chastity in marriage ask you to sleep together before marriage?
How can the God who say He that did not work should not eat, ask you to sit at home and pray and not work? How will you pay your bills?
These misleading directives from demons are happening today because, many have sat under doctrines of demons for too long; today there are so many ridiculous leadings of the ‘Spirit’ as a result.
That is why if your pastor is not preaching sound doctrines, if he is preaching first fruits, first born, reckless taking of holy communion, altar breaking, and etc., just know that most of what you will be hearing in the spirit realm, as the voice of God, will be coming from either demons or the strongholds that those false doctrines have formed in your soul.
Doctrines has the power to shape our hearing systems. So, if the doctrines you are hearing are false, heretic or out-rightly demonic, your prophetic hearing will be questionable.
PERSONALLY, WHEN SOMEONE BRING A WORD FROM GOD TO ME, I CHECK SEVERAL THINGS.
I check the doctrine they have been hearing. If it is right, then I check the spirit they carry if it is right. I also check the state of their hearts, especially as of the time of hearing the word. Another thing I check is the last conversation they heard before ‘hearing from God.’ Then I bring in the Bible, to place what they have said, side by side the doctrine of Christ, to discern who actually spoke to them.
Most times, I have found 95 percent of the people who are good at bringing a “thus says the LORD” to be liars. Most of what they say are either lies from their hearts or from the doctrines they have been feeding from, or leadings from the spirit of hell. The Bible says
“They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD!’ But the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope that the word may be confirmed.
Have you not seen a futile vision, and have you not spoken false divination? You say, ‘The LORD says,’ but I have not spoken.”
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, therefore I am indeed against you,” says the Lord GOD”. EZEKIEL 13:6-8 NKJV
In these days of false prophetic hearing, be careful what people breath into your ears as a word from God. In these days of offenses, be careful what you pick from people as from God. In these days of abundant doctrines of devils, be careful of what you pick from a vision-seeing-word-from-God Christian or preacher as from God. If you we are not careful of these vision-seeing and word-from-God bringing believers, we will be made worthless before our GOD.
You find many of them very poor and very bitter about life, but very prophetic as well. If you are really hearing from GOD, why are you this poor and bitter? The Bible says “the LORD is my shepherd I shall not want” or “I shall not lack.” Why is the LORD your shepherd but you live by begging people for help and prophesying to them to give you this money and that money?
YOU ARE HAVING A FALSE SPIRIT. YOU ARE PRACTICING DIVINATION!
Obviously, the lord shepherding you is Baal, not the LORD JESUS who lift the poor from the dung hill and set them among princes. False doctrines are generators of false spirits. Bitter hearts are generators of divination and sorcery. Doctrines of devils are generators of prophecies, dreams, visions and revelations that sometimes are factual, but from the pit of hell.
These the-LORD-has-put-a-burden-in-my-heart-for-you and word-from-God believers, will pick offense about something, then come with a thus says the LORD of something bad that is about to happen, only to put you in a panic box so that you will begin to ask them for the solution to the problem, and then they begin to lead you astray, and make you spiritually worthless before the true GOD. That is why the Bible says,
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD.” Jeremiah 23:16 NKJV
Sadly, many do not listen to the Bible, but listen to the prophets.
You must understand that when you follow visions, prophecies, revelations or dreams from your heart or the heart of so-called prophetic people, they will make you worthless. That is why you see people in vision seeing churches worthless financially, spiritually, martially, socially, and etc.
You see marriages destroyed and hopes dashed. You see eternal relevance eroded completely, and fear for God replaced with fear for the prophet or prophetess.
Now, it is not just prophecies that make people worthless, when we listen to false doctrines or doctrines of demons for too long, they also make us worthless. Another translation of the same scripture says;
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the [false] prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and fill you with vain hopes; they speak a vision of their own minds and not from the mouth of the Lord.” Jeremiah 16:23 AMPC
FALSE DOCTRINES, HERESIES AND DOCTRINES OF DEMONS IMPART VANITY, EMPTINESS, FALSITY AND FUTILITY INTO PEOPLE.
You must avoid them by all righteous means else you trade your soul for ‘blessings’ and ‘breakthroughs’ from hell. And do not forget, after Satan has ‘blessed’ or given you a ‘breakthrough,’ he will come to eat you. He eats who he ministers to after a season of ministering to them.
Anyone who is not standing on the doctrine of Christ will always speak visions or dreams of their own heart. They will also speak revelations and prophecies from the stronghold of the false, heretic, or demonic doctrines that they have absorbed over time.
Sadly, 90 percent of what is taught in so many Churches today, especially in most mega Churches, are either false doctrines, heresies or doctrines of demons. They church leaders teach and make people absorbed them because of their desire to be mega outside God, and keep being mega without making people temples for God in the Spirit.
By definition, a false doctrine is a teaching or an instruction that is out-rightly false if placed side by side the doctrine of Christ. Like the use of oil, water in prayer, salt and some forms of giving.
A heresy is a teaching or an instruction that is mixed with truths and lies; in other words, a half-truth. Teachings like breaking or raising of altars of sacrifice are heresies. Certain teachings on tithing are heresies; like saying if you do not tithe you will not make heaven. Other heretic teachings are redemption of first born, giving of first fruits, serving holy communion recklessly, evil foundations, and related teachings that are rooted in scriptures that people read out of context.
False teachings and heresies can come from either people’s hearts or from demons. But doctrines of demons are different; they are out-rightly teachings and instructions from demons or the pit of hell.
THAT IS WHY DOCTRINES OF DEMONS ARE DANGEROUS.
They shut down one’s life completely, like making them to forbid marriage, a prosperous and healthy life, and cutting them off from the good people GOD may have placed around them.
Yes, there is the consecration of one’s marital life to God for the sake of the gospel, but forbidding people to marry, making them poor, and cutting them off from the good people GOD has given them, is an expression of the doctrine of demons.
Other expressions of the doctrines of demons are, raising a rod for people to pray towards it, use of handkerchiefs or pieces of clothes they call mantles siting Paul; sprinkling of water on people, sex as a deliverance process; lying on the same sex and praying, siting Elisha who lied on the dead boy in 2 Kings; gymnastics during what they call deliverance, throwing spirits on people and making them confess what they know nothing about, to counterfeit true confession of sins, and wickedness by the demon possess, and a lot more.
One other thing about the doctrine of demons is, it counterfeits God. You cannot counterfeit GOD without quoting from His written word. So, holders of the doctrine quote the scriptures in dispensing it. They tell the people “look at what am doing in the Bible” and since the People have not been taught to know the difference between using the Bible and teaching the Bible, they succumb to the deceit.
The doctrine of devils is a doctrine that is dispensed by counterfeiting God and quoting what is written. Which brings us to our devotional text;
“Then he took Him to Jerusalem and set Him on a gable of the temple, and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down from here;
For it is written, He will give His angels charge over you to guard and watch over you closely and carefully; And on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
And Jesus replied to him, [The Scripture] says, you shall not tempt (try, test exceedingly) the Lord your God.” LUKE 4:9-12 AMPC
EACH TIME I READ THROUGH THIS I SEE HOW VULNERABLE THOSE WHO HAVE NO LOVE FOR TRUTH ARE.
Jesus had three temptations after his 40 day fast. This was the third and most subtle. It is the most subtle because Satan launched this one standing on or quoting from the word. That is how doctrines of demons are launched. They are carved from hell but wrapped in what is written in the Bible, so that we will see the scriptures they are wrapped in and be motivated to obey them, thinking we are obeying the LORD.
The enemy knows that in obeying them, we will think we are following the scriptures, not knowing we are following a demon behind the scripture. That is why anything you have obeyed for a long time and have not found God through it, should be cross checked again and again, our thrown away completely.
I believe enough has been shared for the day. I pick up from here tomorrow.
We must all understand that false doctrines, heresies and doctrines of demons are peddled by false teachers, premature preachers, Old but expired preachers, impostors, end time prophets of Baal, and outright agents of the devil among the clergy and their members. That is why everything the Bible teaches about them must be followed.
You must turn away from anyone whose ministry’s emphasis is on God meeting your earthly needs instead of the formation of Christ in you, or the coming of Him in bodily form in you.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
For many imposters (seducers, deceivers, and false leaders) have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge (confess, admit) the coming of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) in bodily form. Such a one is the imposter (the seducer, the deceiver, the false leader, the antagonist of Christ) and the antichrist.
Look to yourselves (take care) that you may not lose (throw away or destroy) all that we and you have labored for, but that you may [persevere until you] win and receive back a perfect reward [in full]”. 2 John 1:7-8 AMPC