SharinginKingdomLife

How the Spirit of Religion fights the Spirit of God
Definition: by the spirit of religion we mean that group of evil spirits which inspire loyalty to religious concepts and practices in such a way as to oppose and possibly to counterfeit the true work of the Holy Spirit. In other words it is more soul power and devil power in operation than the Holy Spirit at work.

Satan knows he cannot stop people from being religious. He therefore seeks to pervert the religious instinct of mankind by deception. All religious deceptions work to draw men away from glorifying and enjoying Christ. One example is getting people to put other gods before their God. Example: praying to Mary, praying to saints, doing devotions etc.....Another place where we miss it is to put timing on our services and not allow the Spirit of God to move freely. Everything has to be done in our wonderful little religious ways and programmed services. Religious spirits work in many different ways, and with many different tactics. We may see through some of their tactics only to be completely fooled by them in another area of our attitudes and thinking. Therefore we must be humble enough to admit that we too, not having fully possessed the mind of Christ as yet, could be deceived in some areas.

It should be obvious to Christians that the power that non-Christian religions exercise over the minds of men comes from Satan. Only a supernatural powers could drive men to worship rocks or rats, people and anything else that they can make a god out of. What power is it that keeps people away from worshipping the true God, the Creator and turning their primary affections to false gods and other vain things? It is the spirit which is now at work in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2). God warned that many of His own elect would be deceived in the end times....and many of us are. We are so focused on our religions and ways of doing things that we have lost focus of God Himself. Our worship is given to other things and other people.

However, religious spirits are at work not only outside the church of Christ, but also within it. The extent to which Christendom has been infiltrated by evil spirits is greater than it will ever be possible to calculate. It extends virtually to every local church and across every denomination to a greater or lesser extent. This fact can be demonstrated logically by considering for a moment the theological disagreements and bad relationships which exist between churches, and also within individual local churches. The churches are full of strife and division which goes against what God wants for us...to be united in one mind and one heart...in Him. To be truly one with our Father, with Christ and with one another in unconditional love. How can these things be so, when Jesus put so much emphasis on us loving one another (John 13:34, 35), and was so emphatic in his desire for the unity of the church to reflect the unity of the godhead? (See John 17). Obviously the spiritual power behind these problems is religious in nature.

The religious spirit will also rear its ugly head when a man or woman full of the mercy of God and the power of the Holy Spirit begins to confront religious people in churches with the truth. At these times demons get stirred up and if possible will provoke all kinds of unreasonable and malicious attacks on such servants of God. In some situations they may even be publicly cast out of those so influenced by them. This ministry is necessary, and in the last days will become more and more common. God is rising up people who will have the spirit of John the Baptist and will confront lies, heresies and sins. God has shown me in a vision His hand coming down on all false religions and the pulpits in this world that do not line up with His Word or His will.

Jesus Christ had little trouble dealing with demons provoking sickness and disease in people. However, the Lord faced greater opposition from people controlled by religious spirits. These people did not know they had religious spirits. They thought they represented the true religion of God. They did not want to be free of the spirits that made them feel important and more righteous than those around them. They had built themselves up a comfort zone and not realized that they made their own prisons where there was no true freedom or liberty. Because of their pride and hardness of heart, even the Son of God could not help them to come to the Father. These people were known as the Scribes and Pharisees, the chief priests and experts in the law. It was these people who hated Jesus and conspired to crucify Him. They were motivated by pride, envy and self-righteousness. They refused to humble themselves and believe in the Messiah, despite the many proofs that Jesus gave. This remained true even after they were confronted with the fact of the resurrection.

We make a serious mistake if we assume that the spirit which motivated these Jewish religious leaders can in no way influence us. In fact, those who think like that are probably the very ones who are influenced by such spirits. While these religious spirits will obviously not promote exactly the same errors now as they did in those people, there will be similarities of attitude and behavior which will be clearly seen. If we continue to sit under this kind of legalistic and religious leadership it will have an effect on us. Don't think that it won't. It is very sneaky and sly. Over the years I have seen people in such churches develop changes. And it was not changes that was to the glory of God. I have been in many churches where these things were in operation yet not recognized. The Lord always had me sitting in the back of these churches praying. He often showed me heads hanging down in shame and condemnation. He had me there for a season, then told me to brush the dust off my feet and leave so that I would not be contaminated. Beware of condemnation, guilt, shame or any such thing coming from the pulpit. God did not put Shepherds over us to be Lord over us but to train us up in His ways, to encourage, build up and edify. And it is all done in love.

This subject is actually a vast one and we need the help of the Spirit of God to be able to get free from the influence of religious spirits. Most people, myself included, will have an ongoing battle with these kinds of spirits. If we are not fighting them, perhaps it is because we are happy to be securely in their grip. Religious spirits are controlling, manipulating and deceiving. So beware of anyone who operates in this.

The Scripture gives us many clues as to the marks of the activity of religious spirits, especially those religious spirits which are closest to the truth and therefore harder to detect.

Characteristics of the Work of Religious Spirits

Fear of not being good enough

When we think our salvation depends all on us we will be fearful, because the Bible says that we all stumble in many ways. Until we cast ourselves at the mercy of God and truly give ourselves to Him, we go through a cycle of hearing laws, falling short, feeling guilty, trying to measure up, and repeated failure.

People under religious spirits are carrying heavy burdens and do not have the sense of freedom that comes when we know that our sins are washed away. The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit. If you are religious but you have no peace or joy, something is wrong. Condemnation and unrighteous judgment may have stolen it from you.

Fear of People

If you are asking yourself more often: "What will the people at church think?" than "What will Jesus think?" you are bound by a religious, man-pleasing spirit.

We should not offend people unnecessarily, but if we must choose between offending people and offending the Spirit of God, then let people take offense if they must. Many were offended at Jesus.

The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be kept safe. (Pr. 29:25).

Fear of the Pharisees kept many Jews out of the Kingdom of God.

"Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. (John 12:42,43)

When you are at church you behave in a certain way, because you are more conscious of people than conscious of God. If you really feared God more than people, you would not watch some of the garbage you watch on television, you would be careful of the books you read, and you would be walking every day in ways that please God. But remember that God sees and hears all that you do.

When will you give up that garbage, confess it to God and get on with serving the Lord from a pure heart.

Performance, not grace-based.

The religious spirit seeks to have us serve the Lord in order to gain his approval, rather than from having received our approval from the cross of Christ. Religion says...do, do, do. Christ says: come as you are. Just be. Rest in Me and trust My salvation.

Doing works to atone for our sense of guilt, rather than trusting the blood of Jesus

Some people are driven to do good works to make up for the wrong they have done. This kind of works will never bring us God's acceptance. It is another way of rejecting the sacrifice of Jesus when we say to God, "No, let me pay for it." Every time we think ourselves unworthy we are telling Jesus that what He did on the cross for us wasn't enough. What a slap in the face of Jesus!

Emphasis on External Things

- food (Hebrews 13:8; 1 Tim 4:1,2)
- marriage (forbidding to, or pushing people to marry)
- clothes
- external appearance (Matthew 23:5; 2 Corinthians 5:12)

"Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness." (Luke 11:39).

Religion can put new clothes on the man, but Christ puts a new man in the clothes.

Two extremes: carnality and legalism. Both put too much emphasis on external appearance.

False Prophecy

We no longer stone to death those whose prophecies do not come to pass, but still we must judge prophecy.
Failure to do this has given the religious spirit too much influence in the church. Just because we feel something spiritual does not mean that it was the spirit of God. Too often I have sat in churches where prophecies have come out that were not from the Lord but from what I like to call "soul power." It was more flesh or demonic than the Spirit. We really need to test the spirits in these days.

"Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. TEST ALL THINGS; hold fast to what is good." (1 Thess. 5:19-21).

"Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge". (1 Corinthians 14:7). Do you let people judge what is said? This is a commandment of Scripture.

If we make people fear that they are blaspheming the Holy Spirit if they dare to question anything said in church with a "Thus sayeth the Lord" we are not letting people judge the prophecy.

If we say "The Lord has spoken" and he has not spoken, we give place to a religious spirit. This can corrupt the church, by putting fear and condemnation into people when instead they need to be built up and strengthened and shown how to overcome sin and the devil.

Emphasis on Traditions of the elders "this is the way we've always done it":

"Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?" (Mark 7:5)

If limit God to a particular way of doing things in ministry, we may grieve the Holy Spirit and He will not work as He wishes. He may even leave us alone. We need to get ourselves out of the way of what the Holy Spirit desires to do. That is when the glory of God will enter our churches and people will be healed, delivered and set free. It's not by our might, nor by our power, but by the Spirit of the Lord.

If the way we do things is not working, perhaps we have not allowed the Holy Spirit to lead us to make the necessary changes. We really need to pray and seek God's counsel on a daily basis. Ask Him what He wants to do and how He desires to do it. We need to put our flesh down and stop giving it what it wants and allow God's will to be done.

If the way we minister healing does not work, we need to ask how much we are being led by the Spirit, and how much we are stuck in tradition. I've seen so many lay hands on others and pray for healing, yet nothing manifested. How much of that is us and how much is the Holy Spirit. Some of us have so much love and compassion for the sick and hurting that we allow our feelings, our emotions and our own heart to get in the way of the Spirit. We are quick to throw up prayers and do not seek God's leading first. My favorite prayer before I lay hands on anyone is: Father, help me to pray according to Your will and by the power of Your Spirit. Then get out of the way and allow the Spirit to move.

Emphasis on ritual, special rules and regulations.

"And they have many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches" (Mark 7 4:)

We don't worry about the same rules, but we look too much at other things. For example, the difference between the clothing of men and women. Jesus did not wear pants. He wore a robe. Appropriate clothing will always be modest, but it depends to some extent on culture. Women should not dress like prostitutes, but neither should men be looking over every woman in church making sure they are not breaking any of "the rules". We should keep our eyes on Jesus.

The religious spirit makes outward things like clothes the major issue, and puts less emphasis on a right heart attitude of humility, gratitude, mercy and courageous faith. God does not look on the outward appearance, He looks at the heart. He knows our heart motivation.

Pride in personal sacrifice.

We may have given up things to serve the Lord. We may have prayed, fasted or given. But when we want others to know we do these things, and we wish to gain the approval and admiration of men, we are falling prey to the religious spirit.(Matthew 6)

The next step if to ask, "Why is God not blessing me, since I have sacrificed so much?"

Lack of mercy.

But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice', you would not have condemned the guiltless. (Matthew 12:7)

Mercy is one of the "weightier matters of the law". Remember the Samaritan who helped those in trouble by the roadside, while the others went to church. Remember that Jesus healed as an expression of the mercy of God. Healing is not a reward for good behavior, although sometimes bad things like religious spirits can stop us from receiving our healing. When Jesus heals today it is an expression of God's mercy and love for us. We need to have more mercy towards one another and even ourselves.

Lack of concern for the needs of people

The Pharisees would pull their ox out of the well on the Sabbath, but were upset when someone was healed. They didn't care about the needs of the people around them. They loved to sit in high places and prance around like they were perfect and knew it all. Yet they had no mercy and no love. Many of our churches are like this today. They can't even pick up a phone to call the sick or seek the missing. They see a need and overlook it. They are more concerned with their own needs than those around them. Materialism and money are the main focus of many ministries today rather than God and the needs of others. When someone leaves a congregation to a higher calling, the church wants nothing to do with them. They don't call, they don't keep in touch. No matter where God places us, no matter what church we belong to, we are all one Body, one family in Christ. There is no separation in the Spirit, we are jointly fitted together.

Hypocrisy - play acting

Why do some people have a special tone of voice in church? What is this if not "play acting"? When we pretend that we have a concern for righteousness and justice but secretly hold onto certain areas of sin we are being hypocrites.

The Love of Religious Power, but rejection of the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Pharisees hated Jesus because they thought that because of him they would lose their place as religious leaders. There was no humility or surrender to God involved here. It was a Me, Myself and I situation.

They were upset with Jesus for healing and casting out demons. They called it the work of the devil. (Matthew 12:44)

They were very good at wrong judgments and criticism. Sound familiar?

Jealousy and Envy

of anointed ministers of God.

They considered that if Jesus were truly from God he would recognize and honor them.

1 Corinthians 1:12 "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos".

"But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." (2 Cor. 10:12),.

What does it matter who God works through? We are making disciples for Jesus. If we have anything it comes from Him. Can we rejoice when God blesses someone else, or do we immediately feel bad and try to find fault with them. Remember Cain's attitude to Abel when his sacrifice was rejected, but Abel's was accepted. We should rejoice when God honors a brother or sister by highly anointing them and using them for His glory.

Despising people

"But this crowd which does not know the law is accursed". (John 7:49)

Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. (Luke 18:9)

The Pharisees considered themselves better than the bulk of the people because of their knowledge of the law.

We make a serious error if we consider ourselves better than others on the basis of race, education, knowledge, good looks or any such thing. God will choose to use whom He desires to use. God can take a babe in the Lord and quicken them where they have more understanding, wisdom and knowledge than any so called greatly advanced religious scholars of our day.

Placing more emphasis on their traditions than on the plain teachings, commandments and declarations of the Scripture

Jesus told us to preach the gospel. (Mark 16:15). People are dying out there. Why are we fighting about what kind of clothes we should wear, and how important this or that practice should be in church life? Personally my prayer has been for God to help me to spread His Gospel and teach it so it will be easy enough for a child to understand. We need to have a heart for the lost folks. We need to shine out God's character and His love is we are to win anyone to His Kingdom. We need to come out of our religious nonsense and truly start walking in the footsteps of our Lord and to follow His example.

Blindness to the work of God.

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant . I would dare to say there was a lot of pride and jealousy at work there with the priests of that day. The focus was on Jesus and not them and they were not pleased.

They could not rejoice in the healing of the blind and lame. It had become unimportant to them. They were spiritually blind.

Fault-finding.

"So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him."
Mark 3:2.

They were hoping to find something to accuse Jesus with. They would do anything to prove Him wrong and to judge and criticize Him to put Him down so they themselves could be exalted.

Piczo