aiki
Regular Member
In discussing it so many have cried demon without too much info which leaves me some big issues. The first of these issues is proving tangibly demons actually exist and are at fault, which to a Christian required to test all things is problematic and a bit too simplistic for my liking. The other bigger issue is no matter what I say once demon has been declared, any objection by me has to be the demon speaking through me which nullifies anything I say because I must be in denial and that’s no help.
You don't think demons are real? Does this include Satan, the devil, too? Do you think he is just a figurative or emblematic character in Scripture? If so, you've got a big challenge on your hands reconciling your skepticism with what the Bible asserts about the reality of the demonic and the devil.
What if what you think is a manifestation of the Spirit of God is actually a counterfeit manifestation of the demonic? How do you distinguish the one from the other? What objective criteria can you use to assess what is genuinely from God and what is a demonic forgery? When I look into Scripture I read no where of the sorts of things that are commonplace at a Benny Hinn show or one of the bizarre NAR/Jesus culture/IHOP events. Hysterical laughing, dropping to the floor in convulsions, crying uncontrollably for no apparent reason, electrical sensations running through one's body - all these are commonplace in eastern mystical religions also. In fact, Kundalini yoga has the exact same physical phenomena as part of its yogic experience. Is the Holy Spirit manifesting in pagan Kundalini cult practitioners? I don't think so.
If you had a demon speaking through you, it would be glaringly evident to every person near you. Now, demons may influence your thinking and feelings and prompt you to certain false beliefs or wrong attitudes and in this way they may "speak" through you, but when a person is possessed of a demon(s) and that demon takes control and speaks through the person, it is very evident this is exactly what is happening. The voice changes in tone, often the possessed person's features contort in astonishing ways, their body many times goes rigid, as well. When you're talking directly to a demon who is not trying to obscure its presence, there is no mistaking that it is a demon talking to you.
In that both events were concurrent the natural assumption by my part would be it was God given. The same could be said of any physical event during that time or even something like a headache. It's nothing to be too concerned about but if you never previously had one confusion abounds.
Concurrence does not prove correlation. Be very careful not to make assumptions about what is and isn't of God. If you're not sure what the source of your experience is, examine it in the light of Scripture. Can you find any instance in the Bible of what you've experienced? Are we urged in Scripture to search for and expect unusual physical sensations as evidence of the presence of God's Spirit? What are we told in the Bible that we can expect from our interaction with the Spirit of God? From all that I've seen in Scripture, your experience does not line up with what we are told in Scripture to expect of the effect of God's Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit convicts us, He illuminates our understanding, He comforts us and strengthens us, and He purifies and transforms us. Gold dust, feathers, fog, chills running up and down your spine, an overwhelming impulse to laugh or cry - none of these things are identified in the Bible as indicators of God's presence and power. These are actually quite pathetic counterfeits of what we see happening in Scripture when God "shows up." Moving pillars of fire and cloud, burning bushes that are not consumed, bodies of water halved and made to stand aside, hails of divine fire from heaven, the ground opening up and swallowing the wicked, and so on - these make the special effects of the NAR movement and the silly "supernatural" antics of Hinn and his ilk ridiculous, childish and sad. It boggles my mind that such impotent and cartoonish "evidences" of God's Spirit at work are so easily embraced by so many professing believers.
Selah.
Last edited:
Upvote
0