How to discern counterfeit spirits?

[JohnB445]

Counterfeit Spirits? Are these some attributes of a counterfeit?

1. Spirit that denies Jesus as the Lord
2. That denies His death, burial and , resurrection
3. That denies the Godhead(Trinity), Father, Son, Holy Spirit
4. Person may experience uncontrollable involuntary action, hatred (Bad fruit)
5. Word of God offends them
6. Pride thinking they are exclusive (The one percenters)
7. Thinking they need to work to be saved
8. Radically different from the Mainline Church, and they attack the mainline Church.

 

[JIMINZ]

Counterfeit Spirits? Are these some attributes of a counterfeit?

1. Spirit that denies Jesus as the Lord
2. That denies His death, burial and , resurrection
3. That denies the Godhead(Trinity), Father, Son, Holy Spirit
4. Person may experience uncontrollable involuntary action, hatred (Bad fruit)
5. Word of God offends them
6. Pride thinking they are exclusive (The one percenters)
7. Thinking they need to work to be saved
8. Radically different from the Mainline Church, and they attack the mainline Church.

What is this Counterfeit Spirit a Counterfeit of?

The Spirit you have described is, the Spirit of Anti Christ.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Counterfeit Spirits? Are these some attributes of a counterfeit?

1. Spirit that denies Jesus as the Lord
2. That denies His death, burial and , resurrection
3. That denies the Godhead(Trinity), Father, Son, Holy Spirit
4. Person may experience uncontrollable involuntary action, hatred (Bad fruit)
5. Word of God offends them
6. Pride thinking they are exclusive (The one percenters)
7. Thinking they need to work to be saved
8. Radically different from the Mainline Church, and they attack the mainline Church.

How about the spirits that masquerade as angel's of light? This is the most deceiving of them all. Only those who have the gift of discernment can really point out this deception. That is why a healthy congregation contains a few of these gifted types to help lead the flock away from such things.
Blessings

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Counterfeit Spirits? Are these some attributes of a counterfeit?

1. Spirit that denies Jesus as the Lord
2. That denies His death, burial and , resurrection
3. That denies the Godhead(Trinity), Father, Son, Holy Spirit
4. Person may experience uncontrollable involuntary action, hatred (Bad fruit)
5. Word of God offends them
6. Pride thinking they are exclusive (The one percenters)
7. Thinking they need to work to be saved
8. Radically different from the Mainline Church, and they attack the mainline Church.

I agree with Numbers 1-5 on your list.

As for Numbers 6-8:

Jesus said narrow is the way that leads unto life and FEW be there that finds it. Most churches I have encountered fail the King David acid test question. They say that King David was saved in his sins of adultery and murder. Oh, and we are saved unto good works. If we are not saved to do good then we are saved to do evil. There is no other alternative. God wants us to live holy. The devil is the one who wants you to sin. In Genesis 3, we learn that the serpent was trying to get Eve to think that she could disobey God and yet they would not die. Somehow you think not doing good does not play a part in salvation? For you said good works are not a part of salvation. Okay, so if that is the case, then you can sin to your hearts content and just believe in Jesus. But you do not believe in doing that. Well, at least most here do not believe in doing that. I have talked with Eternal Security proponents who believe they can sin as much as they want and they are still saved by having a belief on Jesus. The thing is that they do not sound any different in their initial message than other Eternal Security proponents who believe that a person has to generally live a holy life (even though one or two unrepentant sins may not necessarily separate a person from GOD). Both of these kinds of beliefs leads to bad fruit (Which is sin) because they both downplay grievous sin in some way (despite the Bible's dire warnings to a person's soul in the afterlife).

There are many warnings in the Bible about how sin can separate a believer from GOD (Matthew 5:28-30, Matthew 6:15, Matthew 12:37, Matthew 25:31-46, 1 John 3:15, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21, Revelation 21:8). I believe these warnings in Scripture are the parts of the Word of God that most Christians are secretly offended by. They try to change these verses and or ignore them (and many other ones like it).

 

[JohnC2]

The best way to discern counterfeit spirits is not by familiarizing yourself with the fakers. The best way is to make yourself intimately familiar with The Holy Spirit itself.

Remember that quite a few demonic spirits encountered in the Bible loudly and repeatedly affirmed Jesus and his divinity. Remember also that several were cast out while attending the “local mainline” church/synagogue....

A key thing is that you will know a tree by it’s fruit. The Holy Spirit does not bear fruit of division, dispute, and frustration...

 

[JohnB445]

Jesus said narrow is the way that leads unto life and FEW be there that finds it. Most churches I have encountered fail the King David acid test question. They say that King David was saved in his sins of adultery and murder. Oh, and we are saved unto good works. If we are not saved to do good then we are saved to do evil. There is no other alternative. God wants us to live holy. The devil is the one who wants you to sin. In Genesis 3, we learn that the serpent was trying to get Eve to think that she could disobey God and yet they would not die. Somehow you think not doing good does not play a part in salvation? For you said good works are not a part of salvation. Okay, so if that is the case, then you can sin to your hearts content and just believe in Jesus. But you do not believe in doing that. Well, at least most here do not believe in doing that. I have talked with Eternal Security proponents who believe they can sin as much as they want and they are still saved by having a belief on Jesus. The thing is that they do not sound any different in their initial message than other Eternal Security proponents who believe that a person has to generally live a holy life (even though one or two unrepentant sins may not necessarily separate a person from GOD). Both of these kinds of beliefs leads to bad fruit (Which is sin) because they both downplay grievous sin in some way (despite the Bible's dire warnings to a person's soul in the afterlife).

I repent of my sins. The Bible says there are rewards in heaven for our works, I'm not wasting my time on Earth doing nothing.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

I repent of my sins. The Bible says there are rewards in heaven for our works, I'm not wasting my time on Earth doing nothing.

If one’s gospel message itself can inadvertently lead someone into sin by it making light of sin (by suggesting that a person can commit grievous sin and still be saved on some level), then their good work doesn’t really count. Matthew 7:23 says there are certain believers who did good works but they also worked iniquity or sin, as well. Jesus told these kinds of believers to depart from Him (Also see Matthew 25:32-46). The point is further hammered home in verses 26-27 (Matthew 7:26-27) by Jesus saying that if a person does not do what He says, they are likened unto a fool who built his house upon the sand, and when a storm came, great was the fall of that house. Obviously the belief that says we are saved by a belief alone in Jesus can easily lead others into thinking they commit grievous sin and still be saved. Living holy is not essential to salvation. But Hebrews 12:14 says without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.

 

[JohnB445]

If one’s gospel message itself can inadvertently lead someone into sin by it making light of sin (by suggesting that a person can commit grievous sin and still be saved on some level), then their good work doesn’t really count. Matthew 7:23 says there are certain believers who did good works but they also worked iniquity or sin, as well. Jesus told these kinds of believers to depart from Him (Also see Matthew 25:32-46). The point is further hammered home in verses 26-27 (Matthew 7:26-27) by Jesus saying that if a person does not do what He says, they are likened unto a fool who built his house upon the sand, and when a storm came, great was the fall of that house. Obviously the belief that says we are saved by a belief alone in Jesus can easily lead others into thinking they commit grievous sin and still be saved. Living holy is not essential to salvation. But Hebrews 12:14 says without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.

I understand, God demands Holiness and not only did Jesus die for our sins, he saved us from our sins that we were living in so we can go sin no more unrepentantly.

There are a lot of people who have a dangerous thought thinking they are saved because of head knowledge or the sinner's prayer, I was deceived by this in the past until the Holy Spirit actually came to convict me of my sin.

 

[JohnB445]

 

[RDKirk]

The best way to discern counterfeit spirits is not by familiarizing yourself with the fakers. The best way is to make yourself intimately familiar with The Holy Spirit itself.

Remember that quite a few demonic spirits encountered in the Bible loudly and repeatedly affirmed Jesus and his divinity. Remember also that several were cast out while attending the “local mainline” church/synagogue....

A key thing is that you will know a tree by it’s fruit. The Holy Spirit does not bear fruit of division, dispute, and frustration...

As we say in bicycling, "When there is an obstacle ahead of you, never focus on the obstacle, focus instead on the path around the obstacle."

 

[Bible Highlighter]

I understand, God demands Holiness and not only did Jesus die for our sins, he saved us from our sins that we were living in so we can go sin no more unrepentantly.

There are a lot of people who have a dangerous thought thinking they are saved because of head knowledge or the sinner's prayer, I was deceived by this in the past until the Holy Spirit actually came to convict me of my sin.

No, my friend. A believer also has to repent (seek God’s forgiveness), too. Jesus said to repent or perish (Luke 13:3). 1 John 1:3 says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

 

[JohnB445]

No, my friend. A believer also has to repent (seek God’s forgiveness), too. Jesus said to repent or perish (Luke 13:3). 1 John 1:3 says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

I may have communicated that poorly. But I agree with you.

 

[thecolorsblend]

A counterfeit probably won't steer you toward faith in Christ. My guess is a counterfeit will also deny the Incarnation. Those two things alone should be a pretty good indicator of what you're dealing with.

 

[JohnC2]

The danger is that these beings individually have thousands of years of practice on humans when at most any one of us may have 70 or 80 years... That means many tricks up their sleeves and much practice with persuasion. That’s why it is so important to be clothed with the Holy Spirit and to intimately familiarize yourself with it.

An important thing to realize is that “fallen” means their will and moral compass is not aligned with God’s. They may say “right sounding” things or things that are strictly “true”.... But at the end of the end - they are not aligned with God.

It’s interesting to note that while they proclaimed truthful things about Jesus and the apostles - Jesus and the apostles always rejected their testimony.

I am going to repeat that because it is critical: Jesus and The Apostles always categorically REJECTED the testimony of demons even when it was 100% factual!

And we need to do the same thing - even if the testimony is strictly completely factual. That’s what makes it hard many times to stop division and anger from spreading - the facts are true, they are just weaponized in such a way to make believers claw at each other rather than unite our wills with Jesus.

 

[RDKirk]

The danger is that these beings individually have thousands of years of practice on humans when at most any one of us may have 70 or 80 years... That means many tricks up their sleeves and much practice with persuasion. That’s why it is so important to be clothed with the Holy Spirit and to intimately familiarize yourself with it.

Any given demon has billions of hours of human nature observation. Not to mention knowing the histories of each one of us. And our family histories. They know what buttons to push because they observed our buttons being installed.

Thus, no matter what tactics we come up with, they will always have seen it coming. The only way to win is to be strictly following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can cause a demon to say, "I didn't see that coming."

An important thing to realize is that “fallen” means their will and moral compass is not aligned with God’s. They may say “right sounding” things or things that are strictly “true”.... But at the end of the end - they are not aligned with God.

It’s interesting to note that while they proclaimed truthful things about Jesus and the apostles - Jesus and the apostles always rejected their testimony.

Even if they're quoting scripture, their intention is always to deceive.