The Battle: Deception and Victory Over The Demonic

1Ti 4:1  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Shall depart- The word is to “apostatize.”

Seducing spirits.  The same word for that of “error.”  The word for error in scriptures is from where our word “planet” comes.  A planet is defined as a “wonderer”, and error means to wonder from the truth.

Doctrines of devils are promoted through teachers that have fallen into error, wandering from the truth through their own sins. and the influence of demons.

Please see Paul’s order. Seducing spirits, which cause to wander, allow us to pay heed to doctrines of devils.

2  Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

Speaking lies in hypocrisy; should read – Through the hypocrisy of those that speak lies.

Conscience seared with a hot iron; should read- Branded in their conscience.

Let us look at the progression of deception;

When Christians do not know and live by the truth of the gospel that is molded as a pattern of “sound words” (healthy words) they will pay heed to doctrines of devils.

This is what is rampant today in the Body of Christ.

We are brought to believe the doctrines of devils when seducing spirits, which causes the believer to wander from the truth or fall into error, deceive us.

1Tim4:7  But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

Exercise thyself; Comes from the word for gymnastic which in turn comes from the word gymnos, which is defined as “being naked.”

The practice in the days of Paul was for athletes to exercise almost naked to be unhindered as possible for vigorous training.

Godliness is our way of life, which makes us pleasing unto God.

For us to attain to all that the Lord has for us, we must vigorously train in His will, spiritually naked, as to be untangled from distractions, idols, and worldly affairs.

1 Timothy 6:19  Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

There is big difference between getting saved, going to church and performing religious activities versus that of “laying a hold on eternal life.”

To lay hold on, is to grab on to, pull in, and make it our own possession

The Lord is never satisfied with our simple conversion and even our faithful attendance in church.  He wants us to experience as much of the fullness of eternal life as possible while in our earthly tent, which is to know God through the fullness of the revelation of His Son within our lives.

 Ephesians 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Many of us imagine that Ephesians chapter two is Paul’s discussion focusing on unbelievers.  I disagree.

The Greek word for worketh is defined as giving energy to.

This particular verse is in the present participle.  It signifies that the sons of disobedience energize the scheme of the devil . The word for disobedience is being non-compliant.

If a Christian is continually non compliant in an area of his or her life, will he or she energize the works of the devil? I believe that there is no difference; the devil is a legalist.  He will always get in wherever he is given an open door.

I also feel that the same degree of obedience or disobedience to the Lord will result in the same degree of energizing or disengaging the works of the devil in our lives.

1 Cor 5:8  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

2Cor 1:12  For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.

 2 Cor 2:17  For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ

In the above-mentioned three verses, we see that the word sincerity has within its root the word for “sun” in the Greek.  Only a life of purity before the Lord will make us into a clear windowpane by which the rays of the sun or “The Son” can shine through.

An impure life will make us into a dirty piece of glass through which the image of the Lord can hardly be seen.

If the enemy cannot see the sunlight of the Son of God, he shall not leave us alone until the day and the time that he does, and if he does.

Remember our enemy, the devil, is the greatest legal lawyer that this universe will ever see, apart from God Himself.  He will claw and cleave for every inch of us that has not pass by death into resurrection.

Secondly, part of our responsibility for generating purity before God, is found in our consciences.  Our conscience contains one of the most powerful manifestations of the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Its purpose is to either defend or reprove each, and every action of our lives.

 I Tim 3:9  Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

2 Tim 1:3  I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;

To effectively serve God, we must serve Him through our conscience.  The subject of the conscience is extensive and we do not have time and space to study it here.

Yes, we must serve God through our conscience, but first of all our consciences must likewise be taken through the cross.  A guilty, condemned, performance oriented conscience found in many a believer, will be a poor barometer of the voice of God.

This type of conscience produces dead works, which in turn forces us to serve God in our flesh.  I urge you to re-read Romans six, seven and eight as found on the web site.

Once that we learn to serve God in the Spirit, and have become a son and daughter of God, our conscience will become an excellent barometer of our ministry unto God.

Our conscience must be purged of all the dead works consisting of condemnation, guilt, duty and so forth.

Once that the cross has accomplished, we will serve God simply by His voice in our spirit and conscience; No more and no less. This is true sonship.

Hebrews 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

2 Cor 4:1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not Because by the mercy of God, we were called into this ministry, we do not become discouraged. (We know that if God divinely summoned us, He will take care of us, and see us through; therefore we do not lose heart.)

But have renounced (we gave up once, and now forbid) the hidden things of dishonesty (anything that brings shame or disgrace to the gospel, or to us), not walking in craftiness(not conducting ourselves in the doctrines of men), nor handling the word of God deceitfully(by trickery, adulterating or corrupting God’s word for base gain) ; but by manifestation of the truth (but by manifesting the gospel in its accuracy and genuineness through the Word of God and by our lives) commending ourselves to every man’s conscience( we present ourselves to every type of men’s conscience) in the sight of God. (Before the constant gaze of God)

We must remember that the conscience of man is a component of the voice of the Holy Spirit. Paul here says, that the soundness of the apostle’s doctrine and the genuineness of his or her life in accordance to the gospel must be so great, that it must hold up to the scrutiny of the voice of God bearing witness or passing judgment to what the apostle ministers in their hearer’s consciences.

Secondly, the apostle must also deal with the scrutiny of God Himself, whose penetrating look is ever upon the apostle.

John 14:30  Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

Binding the enemy is very similar in nature.

Once again we err in part, when we think that our binding of the enemy has to do solely with hurling scriptural phrases at him.

Yes, there is power in this, but the enemy is never completely bound.  Absolute binding of the enemy can only occur, when each and every part of our lives have come into conformity with the will of the Lord, and the enemy is forbidden a place or space where he can afflict us

Matthew 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

In actuality Jesus tells us the following.  The word for bind is “is to forbid”.  The word for loose is “to permit”. Whatever we forbid or bind upon the earth shall come to pass, if it is of the Lord.  This is because God will honor our obedience and count it as forbidden in the heavenly realm.  He will then execute His righteousness to cause us to successfully carry out the binding on earth, which He decreed in the heavenly realm through our obedience.

The same is true of our loosing, or our permitting.  God will bless our obedience and will loose or let in the heavenly realm, when we loose upon the earth.  He then sends forth His power to cause us to execute the act of loosing as was decreed in the heavenlies.

Please remember, that anything, which God does on earth, must first be executed in the heavenlies.

Mark 1:23  And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

Unclean spirit.  Greek: “a complete absence of purity.” This describes for us a bit about the nature of the demonic.

24  Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.

Greek:  There is absolutely nothing in common between you and us, Jesus (the) Nazarene, have you come to destroy us?

This is a highly crucial verse in that it teaches us about our true authority before Satan and his demons. The authority that the demonic discern in the Lord, and causes them to tremble is that because of the Lord’s absolute purity, and sinlessness, there is nothing in common between them and the Lord Jesus.

Herein lies our key to overcome the demonic within our lives, and then to be used by the Lord to deal with it in other people’s lives.

Purity is attained as we are baptized into the full revelation of the Son of God and become like Him.  The purity of Jesus baptizes us into His freedom, and His freedom allows for the full operation of God’s dunamis power that resides within Jesus to deal with the enemy. We see the same relationship between Jesus and the devil also spoken in John 14:30

John 14:30  Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

Hath nothing   (Greek absolute negative) “The devil has absolutely nothing in me or nothing in common with me.”

Herein lies the true meaning of Biblical binding.

To bind is not to allow or permit something to occur. Genuine binding of the demonic only occurs within a pure life, which has no defilement with what is common with Satan and his cohorts.

At every point of our lives in which purity reigns and the devil shares nothing in common to us, he has been bound.   Now mind you, we will never experience absolute purity and sinlessness on this side off heaven.

Let us be assure that if we live in habitual disobedience and chronic bondage our vocalized confessions of binding the enemy is scorned and mocked by him who will continue to afflict and latch on to us wherever he finds sin.

Matthew 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Greek: (paraphrase) At whatever point you have once and for all prohibited or disallowed something from happening upon the earth it shall be at the same point eternally prohibited and disallowed in the heavens. At whatever point you once and for all let or allow for something to happen upon the earth, it shall be at that same point eternally permitted and allowed in the heavens.

Mat 12:29  Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

Greek (paraphrase) No one will have the dunamis power to come into the strong one’s house to change the situation, thoroughly plunder his goods until they are laid waste, and then occupy.  (Like the USA is doing in Afghanistan.)  He must bind the strong one first and then he will be able to thoroughly plunder.

After twenty-two years of serving the Lord Jesus, He is finally dealing with the strong man in my life.  I am of the belief that every believer has a strong man that afflicts him or her.  The strong man is the demon that is last to be bound from our lives.  He is the one that we can discern constantly standing before us face to oppose and withstand us every second of our lives in a variety of deceptive measures.

The Lord has allowed the strong man to afflict me until I have bound every major area of sin in my life through obedience to Him, which has led to liberty in those areas.  After completing this process, the Lord is now dealing with the strongman in my life.  Let us now look at the next set of scriptures.

Luke 11:21  When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:

Greek: When the strong one fully furnished with weaponry guards his palace, his goods, wealth, and property lie in peace.

22  But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

Greek: But when a stronger one than the strong man comes upon him with a hostile intent, attacks him, and conquers him, he takes from the strong man the armor which he trusted in and thoroughly distributes out (to others) the strong one’s weapons and goods.

Jesus is obviously the stronger one.  My friends, the strong man must be defeated in two ways. His binding by us is the point in which there is not one significant area of unrepentant sin left in our lives. Secondly, it is only the revelation of the Lord Jesus laboring in us by His grace, and attacking the strongman as the stronger one, that is effective

With the strong man is finally bound and conquered we find ourselves running, leaping forward, and plundering for the Lord!

Mark 1:25  And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.

Rebuked him – Greek “To heap something upon someone’s honor.”

All created things have an honor that makes them up.

An honor that belongs to someone, or something, is the glory that makes it into what it is.  Even sickness and sin has a glory, though perverse, that identifies it as a particular sickness or sin, and gives to it its substance and power.

When we rebuke a sickness with faith in the name of the Lord Jesus, we destroy the very substance and power of the sickness.

Hold thy peace – From the word to muzzle something.  Effectively the Lord Jesus commands the demon to be reduced to silence and his activity to be placed in check.

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

When the church does not have the revelation of the Son of God it grows into doctrines of men which are promoted by things instead than the truth which is promoted through the revelation of God’s son.

The church growing lopsided because it is growing lopsided and being blown around by ever wind of doctrine.

That we may be no longer children.  A transformation must take place.

Nepios literally infants, and other minors that are immature and untaught.

Tossed to and fro dashing or surging waves.  In changefulness and agitation the nepio is carried about by every wind of or degree or doctrine.

The sleight of men is the element of an evil atmosphere,

Dice playing and deception.  Instead of growing up into the revelatory knowledge of Christ, we make philosophies, or things , the so called progressive thought, social and cultural issues and wrong doctrine, the main focus.

Doctrines become divine truth.  Things, blessings, miracles, social and cultural issues becomes the major instead of the minors.

Christian philosophies lead into a false way of Christian life that diverts the nepio fatally from the truth. If we concentrate on things, we shall always be immature.

These philosophies of Christian “things” will not bring the revelation of Christ.  The church will not grow up into all things by Christ who is our all and in all.

The church becomes messed up.  Believers are hurting; the teachers of the doctrines of men become exalted.  Many of the doctrines of men only work when you throw money at them.

Philippians 1:9  And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge(thorough knowledge) and in all judgment;(discernment)

That your love may abound yet more (but always held bounded within the river banks of a) a full precise and exact knowledge of the things of God and in all discernment.

Judgment is defined as discernment. Likewise charity must be always held in check within the river banks of our discernment of God’s voice and our discernment of what is of God, and what does not come from Him.

We cannot love the world for Christ through our impulses and emotions, or by becoming its savior, our out of a fear and guilt that the world is going to hell in a hand basket.  Such love will never become charity and will eventually burn us out.

10 that ye may approve things that are excellent;( what differs or excels) that ye may be sincere (judged by the sun) and without offence till the day of Christ;

Greek: That you may recognize as genuine upon examination the things that are differing. Your recognition of what differs will allow you to choose only what is excelling or best towards your fulfillment of the things that pertain to Christ.  This will cause you to become so pure that it will allow for the beams of sunlight to shine through you unhindered.  Likewise you will become as one that has nothing that will make others stumble when they see your life before the Lord.

Charity is the product of an accurate knowledge of the Lord, His will, and His Word.  It is likewise the product of being led by the Holy Spirit. Thorough knowledge of the things of God and restricting our lives to His voice will allow for the distinguishing between the good and the excellent. If we choose the excellent God, will purify us so much that we shall be as a clear windowpane that reflects the glory of God to the world.  This develops charity in our lives because God is love.