Enemy gifting?

[boatJOURNEY]

Hello Sign Gifts,

My question is about spiritual gifting. Can the enemy grant you spiritual gifts? When I was a Buddhist I would have visions while I was meditating and dreams when I slept. Really that was the intention of Vipassana meditation. The visions and dreams were innocuous and innocent enough. So I pursued it greatly. The Acharya at the Buddhist temple said I was making great progress. Cool I thought.

But I had no idea what these mainly dreams where about. What was I seeing. Who was interacting with? Was it my soul? Was it my spirit? Was it other people dreaming? Was it “good” or “wrong”. People at the temple encouraged me further. So, as time went on the dreams became more epic, complex and film like. I was getting to a point where I could control them to a degree.

As I ventured into the Vajrayana aspects of Buddhism. The advanced meditation techniques while chanting slogans and reciting tantric scripture. Things stared to go very, VERY wrong. Please checkout this dream I had:

found on road

My question can the enemy grant you Spiritual Gifts. The ability to see the spiritual dimension. In that dream I was saved. Since I have been saved the dreams have stopped completely. Now that is a very good thing. BUT, I would like that ability back. Can God restore the gift that the enemy gave me? I feel lost, naked and isolated without being able to dream. Or is it a one way ticket? Since Jesus has come into my life, and for that I’m very grateful for that and I have cleaned up my spiritual house I no longer dream. If that is God’s will I’m very comfortable with that. But is it okay to ask for something that the enemy gave you?

Ezekiel 40:4

“The man said to me, Son of man, see with your eyes, hear with your ears, and give attention to all that I am going to show you; for you have been brought here in order to show it to you Declare to the house of Israel all that you see."

Thank you very much for reading

Your friend in Christ

boatJOURNEY

 

[Maria Billingsley]

My question can the enemy grant you Spiritual Gifts.

No. Satan is all about deception. When you were involved in Eastern meditation, no matter what type, you basically opened up a portal to the dark side. I know this because I was a Sidha in the 80's. I suggest you not concern yourself with anything associated with what you did before. You are a new creation in Christ and He will take away all that you have put in during that dark time. There will be some flesh driven adjustments to be made while the Holy Spirit "reprograms" your flesh to walk with Him. Meanwhile stay very far away from this and maybe stop focusing on it as well.
Blessings

 

[Dave G.]

If you think about it it wasn't much of a gift if everything went south, was it ? But yes, the dark side, especially in these times can produce signs and wonders, scripture speaks about this. They are not of God but more like darts of information sent into your mind.

A pastor I know and like says something like this. Is Christ sufficient for you if all He ever did is give you eternal life, meaning in the here after. If you got nothing else from Him wouldn't that alone be enough ? Especially given you did not have it before encountering Him ? Of course we get more than that, we get peace, love, grace, mercy etc. etc.

 

[Dave-W]

To the OP:

Everything the Lord gives the enemy fakes. I have personally run into fake gifts of tongues 2 times. Both were cases of demonic activity.

 

[Dave G.]

I agree that anything from that other side is deception, in the end there is no good in it.. Satan makes a good stab at producing light but it's all darkness.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Hello Sign Gifts,

My question is about spiritual gifting. Can the enemy grant you spiritual gifts? When I was a Buddhist I would have visions while I was meditating and dreams when I slept. Really that was the intention of Vipassana meditation. The visions and dreams were innocuous and innocent enough. So I pursued it greatly. The Acharya at the Buddhist temple said I was making great progress. Cool I thought.

But I had no idea what these mainly dreams where about. What was I seeing. Who was interacting with? Was it my soul? Was it my spirit? Was it other people dreaming? Was it “good” or “wrong”. People at the temple encouraged me further. So, as time went on the dreams became more epic, complex and film like. I was getting to a point where I could control them to a degree.

As I ventured into the Vajrayana aspects of Buddhism. The advanced meditation techniques while chanting slogans and reciting tantric scripture. Things stared to go very, VERY wrong. Please checkout this dream I had:

found on road

My question can the enemy grant you Spiritual Gifts. The ability to see the spiritual dimension. In that dream I was saved. Since I have been saved the dreams have stopped completely. Now that is a very good thing. BUT, I would like that ability back. Can God restore the gift that the enemy gave me? I feel lost, naked and isolated without being able to dream. Or is it a one way ticket? Since Jesus has come into my life, and for that I’m very grateful for that and I have cleaned up my spiritual house I no longer dream. If that is God’s will I’m very comfortable with that. But is it okay to ask for something that the enemy gave you?

Ezekiel 40:4

“The man said to me, Son of man, see with your eyes, hear with your ears, and give attention to all that I am going to show you; for you have been brought here in order to show it to you Declare to the house of Israel all that you see."

Thank you very much for reading

Your friend in Christ

boatJOURNEY

Where there is the genuine gift, there is always the counterfeit. What sets the genuine apart from the counterfeit, is that the genuine always points a person to Christ as the only way to the Father and for salvation. The counterfeit never points anyone to Christ. It may point people anywhere except Christ.

The good way to test a person who operates a suspect gift is to ask them, "Did Jesus come into the world as a real human being, died and rose again, and is now at the right hand of God as the glorified human Son of God?" If you sense a negative first reaction to that question, you can then know that the gift is counterfeit. No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. You will find that a suspect gift will not point to Jesus as Lord, but will point to something humanistic, or will glorify the person with the gift, or a particular movement or church, or some other big name person - but never, ever to Christ as supreme Lord. They may name "Christ" or "God" but not the Christ or God of the Bible.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

To the OP:

Everything the Lord gives the enemy fakes. I have personally run into fake gifts of tongues 2 times. Both were cases of demonic activity.

How do you know? Did you ask the speakers whether Jesus came in the flesh as a real human being? Did they acknowledge Jesus as supreme Lord? That is the test - not what tongues might sound like to you, and not even if the person speaking is full of shortcomings and faults.

I do acknowledge that where people depart from Paul's teaching about tongues, and speak it publicly without intending for it to be interpreted, it is possible that they could be doing it in the flesh. But Paul said to the Corinthians that even if they spoke without interpretation, they were still giving thanks well. So we have to be careful about judging people we may not agree with, because we cannot see into a person's heart, no matter how strange they may appear to us.

 

[Dave-W]

How do you know? Did you ask the speakers whether Jesus came in the flesh as a real human being? Did they acknowledge Jesus as supreme Lord? That is the test - not what tongues might sound like to you,

Yes, both of them were true believers and fit those tests.

I knew by discernment.

 

[boatJOURNEY]

As I read my OP I’m taking aback a bit. It seems I’m asking the wrong question and in the wrong way. It was not my intention to give the enemy attention or to glorify him in any way. Honestly I’m much better off now that I’m saved and I’m truly grateful for that. The dreams of spiritual conflict were horrific. In no way, shape or form am I asking for the restoration of what I was able to do and see. For I now realize it was not of the Holy Spirit. If I could only dream of the antithesis of what I was shown.

I’m sorry if I have offended anyone here. It was not my intention. Is it sinful to ask for spiritual gifts. Maybe by reminiscing about the past when I was influenced by darkness is giving power to the enemy. Perhaps by asking is not of Christ and the Holy Spirit. I’m I inviting the enemy back into my life whit such questions? That is the crux of my question. Is it ok, not sinful to ask in Faith? In the crucible of my dreams I was saved. I’m a very visual person. I realize that Jesus used that medium to reach me. I guess I’m asking for the medium back but with a different context. Is that wrong? Perhaps, I should pray on the matter. I have repented for my sin of the Occult (Buddhism) and ask God to forgive me. I’m just curious why I have stopped dreaming.

 

[boatJOURNEY]

As I read my OP I’m taking aback a bit. It seems I’m asking the wrong question and in the wrong way. It was not my intention to give the enemy attention or to glorify him in any way. Honestly I’m much better off now that I’m saved and I’m truly grateful for that. The dreams of spiritual conflict were horrific. In no way, shape or form am I asking for the restoration of what I was able to do and see. For I now realize it was not of the Holy Spirit. If I could only dream of the antithesis of what I was shown.

I’m sorry if I have offended anyone here. It was not my intention. Is it sinful to ask for spiritual gifts. Maybe by reminiscing about the past when I was influenced by darkness is giving power to the enemy. Perhaps by asking is not of Christ and the Holy Spirit. I’m I inviting the enemy back into my life whit such questions? That is the crux of my question. Is it ok, not sinful to ask in Faith? In the crucible of my dreams I was saved. I’m a very visual person. I realize that Jesus used that medium to reach me. I guess I’m asking for the medium back but with a different context. Is that wrong? Perhaps, I should pray on the matter. I have repented for my sin of the Occult (Buddhism) and ask God to forgive me. I’m just curious why I have stopped dreaming.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Yes, both of them were true believers and fit those tests.

I knew by discernment.

Well, I can't argue with that!

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

As I read my OP I’m taking aback a bit. It seems I’m asking the wrong question and in the wrong way. It was not my intention to give the enemy attention or to glorify him in any way. Honestly I’m much better off now that I’m saved and I’m truly grateful for that. The dreams of spiritual conflict were horrific. In no way, shape or form am I asking for the restoration of what I was able to do and see. For I now realize it was not of the Holy Spirit. If I could only dream of the antithesis of what I was shown.

I’m sorry if I have offended anyone here. It was not my intention. Is it sinful to ask for spiritual gifts. Maybe by reminiscing about the past when I was influenced by darkness is giving power to the enemy. Perhaps by asking is not of Christ and the Holy Spirit. I’m I inviting the enemy back into my life whit such questions? That is the crux of my question. Is it ok, not sinful to ask in Faith? In the crucible of my dreams I was saved. I’m a very visual person. I realize that Jesus used that medium to reach me. I guess I’m asking for the medium back but with a different context. Is that wrong? Perhaps, I should pray on the matter. I have repented for my sin of the Occult (Buddhism) and ask God to forgive me. I’m just curious why I have stopped dreaming.

Paul said that we should pursue love and desire spiritual gifts. So it is not wrong to desire them.
The Scripture also says that through prayer and supplication, we make our requests known to God, and the peace that passes understanding shall keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Put those together, along with: If we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts.

Then we see that we can desire spiritual gifts, ask for them, and delight ourselves in the Lord; and He will give what we ask Him for and nothing else.

 

[boatJOURNEY]

No. Satan is all about deception. When you were involved in Eastern meditation, no matter what type, you basically opened up a portal to the dark side. I know this because I was a Sidha in the 80's. I suggest you not concern yourself with anything associated with what you did before. You are a new creation in Christ and He will take away all that you have put in during that dark time. There will be some flesh driven adjustments to be made while the Holy Spirit "reprograms" your flesh to walk with Him. Meanwhile stay very far away from this and maybe stop focusing on it as well.
Blessings

“No. Satan is all about deception.”

Thank you for clarifying this for me. I was really confused about “how” I was able to see what I was seeing. Curious though was I seeing his plans for me and why would he do that. He was tipping his hand it seems to me. By these assaults he was inviting his demise. For I was saved from that conflict. He lost!

“When you were involved in Eastern meditation, no matter what type, you basically opened up a portal to the dark side.”

I feel SO guilty about this. In the thirteen years as a Buddhist I brought many people to it. Including some of deepest friends and worse of all my girlfriend.


“I suggest you not concern yourself with anything associated with what you did before. You are a new creation in Christ and He will take away all that you have put in during that dark time.”

Thank you for those words of encouragement. I will look now to only SEE Christ. Put him above all else.

“There will be some flesh driven adjustments to be made while the Holy Spirit "reprograms" your flesh to walk with Him. Meanwhile stay very far away from this and maybe stop focusing on it as well.”

Could you please explain “flesh driven adjustments” and Holy Spirit reprogramming to me. Is this regret I’m feeling over the loss of those dreams of the flesh? You are right I should put it far behind me and stop focusing on it.

Thanks again

Your friend in Christ

boatJOURNEY

 

[Dave G.]

It sounds like you might have had an intercession within the dreams. The dreams are gone because they never were of God. It's not sinful to ask for gifts but the list gifts we ask for are not determined by us. There are known gifts of which the Holy Spirit will bring to us according to His will and we are free to pray for them, even encouraged.

But let me ask you this. While wide awake have you ever asked Jesus Christ into your heart and for the forgiveness of your sins ? Do you personally believe that Jesus, Son of God and God came to earth to walk among us fully man, fully God for the purpose of salvation? He died on the cross and rose again on the third day, is seated now with father ? Have you had that talk with the Lord not in your dream but awake ?

 

[Dave-W]

Is it sinful to ask for spiritual gifts.

Not at all. Paul tell us in 1 Cor 14 to desire the greater gifts. If you desire, you ask.

 

[boatJOURNEY]

If you think about it it wasn't much of a gift if everything went south, was it ? But yes, the dark side, especially in these times can produce signs and wonders, scripture speaks about this. They are not of God but more like darts of information sent into your mind.

A pastor I know and like says something like this. Is Christ sufficient for you if all He ever did is give you eternal life, meaning in the here after. If you got nothing else from Him wouldn't that alone be enough ? Especially given you did not have it before encountering Him ? Of course we get more than that, we get peace, love, grace, mercy etc. etc.

Hello Dave G.,

“If you think about it it wasn't much of a gift if everything went south, was it ?”

You are so right, I went south way south. I guess I’m just lusting for what it was like before it went south. But like everything of the enemy it gets ugly real quick real fast.

“But yes, the dark side, especially in these times can produce signs and wonders, scripture speaks about this. They are not of God but more like darts of information sent into your mind.”

It is strange you mention this because I had a dream of women chanting and nailing symbols into my forehead. I think they were marking their territory. The territory of the mind.

“A pastor I know and like says something like this. Is Christ sufficient for you if all He ever did is give you eternal life, meaning in the here after. If you got nothing else from Him wouldn't that alone be enough ? Especially given you did not have it before encountering Him ? Of course we get more than that, we get peace, love, grace, mercy etc. etc.”

It is enough. God’s grace is sufficient! The gift of salvation is the greatest gift of all.



Thank you

Your friend in Christ

 

[boatJOURNEY]

To the OP:

Everything the Lord gives the enemy fakes. I have personally run into fake gifts of tongues 2 times. Both were cases of demonic activity.

Thank you Dave-W for replying.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

“No. Satan is all about deception.”

Thank you for clarifying this for me. I was really confused about “how” I was able to see what I was seeing. Curious though was I seeing his plans for me and why would he do that. He was tipping his hand it seems to me. By these assaults he was inviting his demise. For I was saved from that conflict. He lost!

“When you were involved in Eastern meditation, no matter what type, you basically opened up a portal to the dark side.”

I feel SO guilty about this. In the thirteen years as a Buddhist I brought many people to it. Including some of deepest friends and worse of all my girlfriend.


“I suggest you not concern yourself with anything associated with what you did before. You are a new creation in Christ and He will take away all that you have put in during that dark time.”

Thank you for those words of encouragement. I will look now to only SEE Christ. Put him above all else.

“There will be some flesh driven adjustments to be made while the Holy Spirit "reprograms" your flesh to walk with Him. Meanwhile stay very far away from this and maybe stop focusing on it as well.”

Could you please explain “flesh driven adjustments” and Holy Spirit reprogramming to me. Is this regret I’m feeling over the loss of those dreams of the flesh? You are right I should put it far behind me and stop focusing on it.

Thanks again

Your friend in Christ

boatJOURNEY

As soon as you received Christ, you were entirely justified. That means that every sin you ever committed was forgiven, cleansed, and totally forgotten by God. You have become a totally new person.

But sanctification is a life-long process of having your mind transformed to the mind of Christ. Sanctification does not save you or makes you any more acceptable to God than what you were as soon as you received Christ. But it helps you more successfully point others to Christ as you grow in grace and show the fruit of the Spirit in your life.

But it is a great deception for people to think that they can do anything they like and fulfill any lust that takes their fancy. A good preacher said that a person cannot be sanctified without being justified, and that the evidence of being genuinely converted to Christ is the heart desire to be sanctified.

We will never be perfect, and will always have a battle between the flesh and the Spirit in us. But the fact that there is a battle, and that the flesh side of us is like grit in the eye or a stone in the shoe, shows true conversion, because an unconverted person indulges in the flesh without any sense of battle or conflict at all. He loves the flesh and indulges in it any time he likes. But a genuinely converted believe hates the flesh, is afraid of sin and its effects, and the last thing he wants is for sin to upset his fellowship with Jesus and the Father.

 

[boatJOURNEY]

Where there is the genuine gift, there is always the counterfeit. What sets the genuine apart from the counterfeit, is that the genuine always points a person to Christ as the only way to the Father and for salvation. The counterfeit never points anyone to Christ. It may point people anywhere except Christ.

The good way to test a person who operates a suspect gift is to ask them, "Did Jesus come into the world as a real human being, died and rose again, and is now at the right hand of God as the glorified human Son of God?" If you sense a negative first reaction to that question, you can then know that the gift is counterfeit. No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. You will find that a suspect gift will not point to Jesus as Lord, but will point to something humanistic, or will glorify the person with the gift, or a particular movement or church, or some other big name person - but never, ever to Christ as supreme Lord. They may name "Christ" or "God" but not the Christ or God of the Bible.

Hello again Oscarr,

“Where there is the genuine gift, there is always the counterfeit. What sets the genuine apart from the counterfeit, is that the genuine always points a person to Christ as the only way to the Father and for salvation. The counterfeit never points anyone to Christ. It may point people anywhere except Christ.”

I’m curious, where these conflict dreams perhaps of God? What I’m trying to say is that through my dreams He was revealing the enemies straggles for me. For in the end I was saved. From the outset the dreams had salvation as its conclusion. If what you say is right, that the genuine always points to a person that is Christ. The dreams could have been God’s plan of salvation for me through the medium of dreams. At first the dreams were fun and entertaining but as soon as I started to doubt Buddhism the spiritual conflict dreams started. And honestly I knew that deep down it was God moving in my life. For in one dream I told the assailants “I’m not afraid.” God gave me the strength to say that. Though at the time I thought it was too late. The game board was set, the pieces were in place and I had to play to the end.

“The good way to test a person who operates a suspect gift is to ask them, "Did Jesus come into the world as a real human being, died and rose again, and is now at the right hand of God as the glorified human Son of God?" If you sense a negative first reaction to that question, you can then know that the gift is counterfeit. No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. You will find that a suspect gift will not point to Jesus as Lord, but will point to something humanistic, or will glorify the person with the gift, or a particular movement or church, or some other big name person - but never, ever to Christ as supreme Lord. They may name "Christ" or "God" but not the Christ or God of the Bible.”

That seemed to be the case. The dreams prior to the final one where I was saved were of worldly delights. Mostly about me and my fleshly desires. But as an unbeliever I had know idea what the spiritual context was. I was playing the game, but didn’t realize who was playing. I was just a game piece. The forces were playing for keeps. I didn’t understand the consequences of my actions. It was only at the drawing down of the “game” did I realize who was playing the game and that game was for my soul. Sorry to use the gaming analogy. I realize how serious this is.

Good to talk with you again

Your friend in Christ

boatJOURNEY

 

[boatJOURNEY]

It sounds like you might have had an intercession within the dreams. The dreams are gone because they never were of God. It's not sinful to ask for gifts but the list gifts we ask for are not determined by us. There are known gifts of which the Holy Spirit will bring to us according to His will and we are free to pray for them, even encouraged.

But let me ask you this. While wide awake have you ever asked Jesus Christ into your heart and for the forgiveness of your sins ? Do you personally believe that Jesus, Son of God and God came to earth to walk among us fully man, fully God for the purpose of salvation? He died on the cross and rose again on the third day, is seated now with father ? Have you had that talk with the Lord not in your dream but awake ?

Hello Dave-G,

“It sounds like you might have had an intercession within the dreams.”

Could you please explain “intercession” to me. Please forgive me I’m new to the faith.

“The dreams are gone because they never were of God.”

I’m curious though. Maybe the dreams were of God. Please don’t misunderstand me, I know they were of the enemy. Perhaps they were to deceive me, to think they were of God. But, The dreams did lead to my salvation. I was saved in the final dream. After the dream I got down on my knees and asked for Jesus to come into my life and heart. Why would the enemy start a sequence of dreams in which he would lose that which he is seeking. My soul! Perhaps the dreams were a way of revealing the enemies plans for me. I know DECEPTION!


“It's not sinful to ask for gifts but the list gifts we ask for are not determined by us. There are known gifts of which the Holy Spirit will bring to us according to His will and we are free to pray for them, even encouraged.”

Thank you for the clarification.

“But let me ask you this. While wide awake have you ever asked Jesus Christ into your heart and for the forgiveness of your sins ? “

Oh yes. That night after the final conflict dream I got down on my knees, fully awake, and asked for Jesus to come into my heart and into my life. I repented of my sin of the Occult (Buddhism) and asked for His and God’s forgiveness.

“Do you personally believe that Jesus, Son of God and God came to earth to walk among us fully man, fully God for the purpose of salvation?

Yes I personally believe that Jesus, Son of the living God came to earth among us fully man, fully God for the purpose of salvation. For I was saved. And I feel it. I feel fully transformed and my mind renewed.

“He died on the cross and rose again on the third day, is seated now with father ? Have you had that talk with the Lord not in your dream but awake ?”

I fully believe Jesus died on the cross and rose again on the third day, and is seated with the Father for now and always. Yes, I have had that talk with the LORD fully awake. And continue to have that talk with Him.

Thank you for that - I got lost there for a bit

Your friend in Christ

boatJOURNEY