TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 31ST MARCH 2024)
“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 91ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Today is a day set aside to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Traditionally, it is called Easter Sunday. But we chose to call it resurrection Day because it aligns more with the scriptures.
In fact, in the early Church, every Sunday was a resurrection morning to them. Corporate worship was moved from Saturday, the 7th day of the week, to Sunday the first day of the week, because of that.
Today we will be looking at something that is very important to us; something that the enemy has used to make sure that the rewards of the resurrection of Christ do not speak in the lives of many who call upon the name of the LORD. That thing is wrong doctrines.
During our prayer vigil on Friday, I made some remarks that shows the dangerous impact of wrong doctrines to the bride of Christ, which we are.
Christ has resurrected, and we have also resurrected with Him prophetically. The Bible says, we resurrected from our graves of sin and the captivity of Satan when He resurrected. But many of us have still not resurrected practically because of the kind of doctrines we are being fed with.
Recently, 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 Yoruba deity (a tribe in the western part of Nigeria).
Taking doctrines of demons to be God for a long time, has shaped his spirit to be hearing from demons and also calling them God. Even Satan knows that the true God will never ask anyone to serve him. 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 linguistic of God to say one thing or the other to people because we have camped on doctrines of devils for too long.
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 add another wife to the one they already have.
Others have been told to go raise altars of sacrifice somewhere by voices that are not of God, because of the dark doctrines of altars they have been hearing. There are those who have said God said to them they should start sleeping with their so-called suitors before marriage, because they are 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 they call leadings from the LORD.
How can the God who says 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; so much ridiculous leadings of the ‘Spirit’ because of the doctrines of demons absorbed over time, mostly by the hand of heretic deliverance ministers.
That is why if your pastor is not preaching sound doctrines, stay away from the church.
If he is preaching you to be giving first fruits, redeeming first born, or leading you to practice the carnal and reckless intake of the holy communion, you are in eternal trouble. If he is leading you to break, silence, or raise altars, you are in dark things. Any voice you hear under such teachings and practices, will hardly be the true voice of the LORD.
AND TRUST ME, YOU WILL HEAR A VOICE LEADING YOU TO DO THINGS THAT ARE NOT BIBLICAL.
Doctrines have the power to shape our hearing systems. So, if the doctrines you are hearing are false, heretic, or outrightly demonic, your prophetic hearing will be questionable.
Personally, when someone brings 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 the Bible to place what they have said side by side the doctrine of Christ. 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 lies from their hearts because the heart deceives or from the pit 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 of what people breathe 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 or word-from-God Christian or preacher. If 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, and yet you live by begging 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 that might be shepherding you is Baal, not the LORD JESUS who lifts 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 true, but are from the pit of hell.
These practices of “the LORD has put a burden in my heart for you,” and “I have a word from God for you,” has ruined many.
You will find believers who live with terrible offences and bitterness in life, bringing a word from God to you. But from Biblical point of view, people living with offence and bitterness cannot hear from the true God.
You find them leading people, and making them to take very critical decisions of life to their ruin. They walk under the influence of false spirits, presenting things that sometimes are factual, but misleading.
THEY EITHER OPERATE AS PROPHETS OR PROPHETIC PEOPLE.
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
It is so sad that many do not listen to the Bible. They just listen to 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 spiritually.
They could have money or some form of success but eternally they are worthless.
The reason for all these lies in the false, dark or heretic doctrines that have been in Church for too long. The heart of the matter remains the matter of doctrine. Another translation of Jeremiah 23:16 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 Let no one deceive you, Satan also ‘blesses’ and gives people breakthroughs. But if he ‘blesses you’ or gives you a ‘breakthrough,’ he will come to eat you much later in the future.
The devil eats who he ministers to after a season of ministering to them.
By definition, “a false doctrine is a teaching or an instruction that is outrightly false if placed side by side the doctrine of Christ.” Like the use of oil, water in prayer, salt and some forms of giving. But a heresy is different.
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, things taught as 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 outrightly teachings and instructions from demons or the pit of hell.
They can shut down one’s life completely when you follow them.
They can make you forbid marriage due to some dark beliefs instead of a righteous vow to the LORD. They can make you resist a prosperous and healthy life, or make you cut yourself off from the good people GOD may have placed around your life.
They have a way of making you eternally damned and completely out of the grace of God. They are like what the devil tried on Jesus, when He was physically here. Our devotional text says;
“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
The greatest insurance we have against dark or demonic doctrines is love for the truth. That is why some times, when 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 tells us how doctrines of demons are carved and launched.
They are carved from hell but wrapped in what is written in the Bible, then launched through a man’s immediate present need. That is why people fall cheaply into the trap.
We can go on and on, but I believe enough has been shared for the day.
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