Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Beware the end-time spirits


There are 3 demonic spirits that seek to draw believers away from God in these end-times.
1. spirit of apostasy   (cause a person to move away from God)

2 Thess 2:3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. (NIV)
(KJV : Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.

Apostasy (Greek (apo stasia), a defection or revolt, from apo, "away, apart", stasis, "stand", "standing") = a defection from truth; to forsake.

Similarly divorce has the same Greek root (apo lu-o), from apo: “away, apart”, lu-o: “loose” = (to leave, depart from, to give up)
The spirit of divorce is a spirit of apostasy ( to depart from God is spiritual divorce) that is why God hates divorce in the physical realm because it reflects in the spiritual realm the tendency for us to break faith with God. 

MAL 2:13 Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.15 Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.    MAL 2:16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty.  So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.

As the bride of Christ, we are betrothed to Him and should not ‘divorce’ Him. The marriage covenant is a reflection of our spiritual covenant with God. 

2.  spirit of achan (self-absorption/ self-worship) –Achan in Josh 7:1 (cause a person to move towards self – the ‘’I’’)

1JN 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

2 Tim  4:10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. 

2TI 3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

Let us watch against this spirit that draws us to self-centredness rather than Christ-centredness.

3.  spirit of antichrist  (cause a person to influence others to draw away from God ) –this is the spirit of division

    1JN 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

  JUDE 1:17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

Unity is the key to spiritual revival in the Body of Christ so let us maintain this unity through the Holy Spirit.

Bind these spirits and let the Holy Spirit filled you with
-        His fruit of faithfulness to counter spirit of rebellion and divorce
-        His fruit of self-control to counter spirit of self-centredness (sin)
-        the spirit of unity to counter spirit of division
JUDE 1:20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

God wants us to desire Him so much that we are prepared to meet Him in heaven.
Check your heart: if you desire Him, you have the Holy Spirit. Let Him have more of you.