THE LYING SPIRIT

I have come to know the truth, through Jesus Christ. I know now, that a saint is more than a person who attends church, and church is not a spiritual social club based on preference of belief. But the church is one body and of one Spirit, which is the Spirit of Christ.

I know that many leaders in the Body may disagree with the next statement, but nevertheless, I must remain true to my own conviction. The devil has infiltrated the church through false doctrines of men. These doctrines have changed the face of the church, and made it to be an unholy thing.

The church has become groups of people in competition with the people of the world for the things of the world. The devil has created so many independent beliefs in the church. These foreign beliefs have taken the church so far off course, until it resembles the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness.

One of the most detrimental doctrines the devil has ever slipped into the church is “no one is perfect” or “we will always sin as long as we are in these bodies”. My friend, such doctrines are not of God no matter who promotes them.

St. John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Christ described Himself as the truth, so let us see what the truth is concerning sin according to Christ.

St. John 8:32-34

32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

Christ described our relationship with sin as slaves owned by a master. We can only be free from this master through the knowledge of the truth, which is Christ Jesus.

St. John 8:35

And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

Now keep in mind when Christ uses the word “servant” in this passage, He is still referring to the servant of sin. This is the servant who shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven forever.

So when a man teaches a doctrine that states as long as we are in these mortal bodies we shall sin, he makes a provision for our flesh to sin. That provision establishes a mindset of passiveness in the saints towards sin, and causes us to believe that God is passive as well. It robs us of the hope of the Gospel, which tells us we have been made free from sin and one day will inherit eternal life with the Father.

This is a privilege only given to the sons and not those who are still servants to sin.

St. John 8:36

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Here Christ clearly states that if He makes us free from sin, we are free indeed. Therefore, the heart now must choose to sin. We are no longer captives to sin, if we have received Christ in our hearts as our Lord and Savior.

Saints, we must always remember the devil’s objective for the sons of God is to work our spiritual demise. So because he cannot destroy us from the outside, he causes us to self-destruct due to lies we accept as the truth. Whatever we accept, we will follow. So in this we must be careful and certain that we are in Christ for He is the way, the truth and the life, and none can come to the Father except by Him.

St. John 8:44

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

The devil uses men and women in leadership to establish false teachings in the Body of Christ. This is done so the members of the Body will never mature as sons.

How is it possible for Satan to use one of God’s leaders to corrupt the Body? This is very easy for the devil. All he has to do is find some wantonness or lust in the leader. If so, he can cause that leader to slant the Word of God to meet his own lust. But this is not a new operation for the devil. He tried this same tactic in the life of Jesus, in Matthew the fourth chapter, when Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted of the devil.

The devil was trying to find lust or pride in Jesus. If he had succeeded the whole Christian faith would not exist today. But there is no darkness in Christ. This was proven in Christ, while He was in the wilderness being tempted. But there are many men and women who have not been proven to be pure in heart, having no lust or wantonness when they are tempted by the devil.

St. Matthew 16:24

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

This scripture has been one of the greatest stumbling blocks to leaders in the Body of Christ. In order to truly follow Christ or I should say walk in the Spirit; we must want nothing. The denial of self is a necessity in ministry.

The acceptance of a cross that represents the suffering that comes along with Christ is necessary as well. If there is no self-denial, somewhere our ministering will not be pure, and we will say those things that are pleasing to the flesh. But remember if our teaching does not come from God, it comes from Satan. If it is from Satan, it is not solely for the purpose of pleasing our flesh, but it is to work the demise of the church through our lust. This is why there must be no lust in us for the devil to attach his devices.

Galatians 5:7-9

7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Paul is teaching the same message that we are now teaching in this lesson, showing first that not all persuasions in the church are from God, the one who called us.

It also shows the effect of a little iniquity. A little iniquity in a leader will corrupt his whole congregation if not challenged by the truth. I have seen this many times especially if the cross that comes along with salvation offends the leader. If you listen to such leaders, they will teach messages based on their own personal preferences. Messages like: “God doesn’t want us to suffer.”

If a leader is greedy, he is liable to teach messages on giving more so than messages that teach the people to walk in Christ. In essence, if there is anything in the leader that is not of God, the whole congregation will be affected. Oftentimes the leaven of the leader is revealed in their counsel to others. When their heart is not pure, neither is the counsel. Instead of godly counsel, the leader can only give his or her opinion of a thing. The opinions of the leader can cause great damage to the ones they counsel.

The infiltration of Satan into the church is becoming more and more subtle. Nevertheless, his presence continues to provoke the same characteristics as are common to him. Satan infiltrates the church through its leadership. His entrance is through leadership’s counsel and decisions relative to situations or relationships of the saints.

When the Word of God ceases to be the authority and the principles of Godliness are not the standard in counsel or decision-making, then the will of man becomes the standard. Over a period of time the complexion of the ministry changes and a lying spirit becomes the leader and ruler in the ministry.

When the heart of the leader is not pure, his counsel and decisions are not always pure. His counsel will always have a subtle slant. This is "will worship".

When a leader enters into will worship he has

1). No respect for the voice of God,

2). Will replace the voice of the conscience,

3). Entertains righteous leadership after the flesh and

4). Redefines Holiness: Not in the “blatant sins” (those things that are overt: drinking, smoking, fornication etc.) but in decisions and counsel.

In such settings, the people who sit under this type of leadership must find the truth above and beyond the leaders. They that reverence truth (The written Word of God) must cleave to it regardless of the disposition of leadership.