In today’s episode, Sharon Knotts explores the pressing issue of false prophets and the rise of demonic influence in the modern world. As followers of Christ, it is crucial to be vigilant and discerning. Drawing wisdom from Apostle Paul and biblical scripture, this discussion highlights the importance of recognizing and rejecting seducing, imitating, and lying spirits that lead believers astray from the faith. With abundant references from the New Testament, Sharon delves into practical tests to identify these deceptive influences and uphold the truth of God’s word.
00:00:06 Introduction to Seducing, Imitating, and Lying Spirits
Greetings friends and new listeners and welcome to the Sound of Faith. I’m Sharon Knotts thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today’s message, Seducing, Imitating and Lying Spirits, is the third in the five-part series, Spirits, Angels and Demons. Apostle Paul warned us that in the last days there will be an increase in demonic activity. including false doctrine, and some will depart from the faith, the New Testament teachings of the church, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. Jesus warned, beware of false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. These have come under the influence of and are working with seducing, imitating, and lying spirits. We’re in a series about spirits and last week we preached on familiar spirits. The week before we preached on hindering spirits. And we’re sort of going to take up today where we left off last week and we’re going to speak on seducing spirits. And that includes not only spirits that deceive, but lying spirits and imitating spirits. So turn with me into 1 Timothy, the fourth chapter. And we mentioned these as we were ending the message last week, but we ran out of time. So we’ll start here today in 1 Timothy 4. And you know these verses well. Verse 1. Now the Spirit, capital S… referring to the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. How many think we might be in the latter days? Amen. Amen. Everywhere we look, we see that the word of God is being fulfilled. If you read Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, the signs that Jesus gave, that the disciples asked him, what’s going to take place before you’re coming? We see that they’re coming. Together. Rapidly. And overlapping one another. Amen. And we also see reading in this verse that there’s going to be and there is actually an increase in demonic activity. Especially with false doctrine. And this is going to cause some to depart from the faith. Thank God not all. But some will depart from the faith. And here the word faith refers to the teachings and doctrines of the Bible and specifically of Christianity in the New Testament. Amen? And some are going to depart from it. Now you can’t depart from something until you arrive. Amen. You first have to embrace it. You first have to embrace these teachings before you can depart from them. Amen. And this is going to happen because they give heed to seducing spirits. And the word seduce there in the Greek means to lead astray, to deceive. But notice that it’s plural. seducing spirits because there’s a host of them and they operate in different ways, many of which operations overlap one another. Amen? Seducing by deceiving, seducing by imitating, seducing by lying. Amen? And so… The word there, it says doctrines of devils. Again, the doctrines are going to be teachings. Amen? And actually, the Greek word is didaskalia. And it’s the word for teacher or teach. In fact, when Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and he said… We know that thou art a great teacher. That’s what he called Jesus. Amen? We know that you are a teacher sent from God. It’s that same Greek word. So it simply means to teach. So it’s going to be teachings of devils. And the Greek word is diamonia, which means demons. It’s the word for demons. Amen? And so there are going to be demon spirits that are going to be teaching false doctrines. That’s what it boils down to. Demon spirits teaching false doctrines. But in order for the demon spirits to do that, they have to have a human vessel. to speak through. Amen? So they’re going to speak through people. And so false prophets. Amen? And they speak lies in hypocrisy. Now the word hypocrisy, you’re probably familiar with it. It’s a Greek word. It’s a theatrical word. It simply means to play a part on a stage. It means to be an actor or an actress. Amen? And so they, the false teachers and the false preachers and the false prophets are playing a part. They are playing the part of being true messengers of God, true apostles and prophets and true pastors, amen? They’re playing a part, but all they have is a costume. How many know when you play a part, you wear a costume? They’re getting ready to do the Christmas play, and we’re going to have guys walking down the aisle with bathrobes on, and we’re going to call them shepherds. We’re going to know that they’re shepherds. Amen. They’re going to have the thing. And we’re going to have some out here with these big wings. They’re wearing a costume. And we’re going to identify them in that play as angels. Amen. And so what is the costume that the false preachers and the false teachers wear? Well, Jesus told us in Matthew 7, 15, Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing. But inwardly they are ravening wolves. Amen. So they are wolves playing the part of being true messengers of God by wearing a costume of sheep’s clothing. And Paul, when he was saying his goodbyes to the Ephesian elders and Ephesian pastors, he said, I know after I leave, because he spent a long time in Ephesus. I think it was about a year and a half he spent there. He said, after I leave, grievous wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Now, there are three types of people in church. We have sheep, we have wolves, and we have sheepdogs. Because the ministers of the truth are the sheepdogs. Amen? And they’re looking out for the wolves. They’re always trying to corral the sheep together to stay in the sheepfold and stay protected and safe. Amen? And they’re looking out for the wolf and the predator coming in. Amen? And will chase the wolf off and corral the sheep into safety. Amen? How many sheep do we have here today? Okay, that’s a lot of hands. How many wolves do we have here today? I didn’t think I’d get any hands. Because if they’re here, they’re wearing sheep’s clothing. Amen? And I’m a sheepdog. I’m one of God’s sheepdogs. Amen? And so I’m going to always be trying to point out to you the danger of the wolf and try to keep you in the sheepfold of God. But he said, these wolves in sheep’s clothing, they have their conscience seared with a hot iron. And you know what that means. It’s like they take that branding iron when they brand the cattle. So they know, okay, this cow belongs to the okay ranch. Amen? placed there, it becomes dead skin. And it feels no longer has sensation, can feel nothing. Amen? And so imagine having your conscience seared like that. Your conscience is seared, and when the conscience is seared, it’s desensitized. It becomes insensible to the discernment of truth, Versus error. And you know, I have to say this. I truly believe this. This is my belief that those so-called Christian leaders today who are not only saying that it’s all right for same-sex marriage, but are performing those same-sex marriages, they have their conscience seared with a hot iron. They are no longer able to distinguish between truth and error. Amen? And the sad thing is that because they’re leaders with a great voice, they’re going to cause many sheep to go astray. Amen? All right, so last week we also gave a passing look at 1 John 4. So let’s turn there, 1 John 4, verse 1. Beloved, now is there anybody here today that will put yourself in the category of the beloved of the Lord? Let me see. All the sheep should be raising their hands. So he’s not talking to sinners or unbelievers. He’s talking to us. Beloved, believe not every spirit. But try the spirits, plural, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are going out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist. Whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now it is already in the world. Now this is not speaking to the Antichrist, capital A. Amen. a person. It’s a spirit, amen, that was already working in the world in John’s day. But ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He that knows God hears us. He that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth… and the spirit of error. So first of all, we are being told we have to try the spirits. And what does that mean? It means to test them. It really came from the idea and the meaning of taking metals like gold and silver and testing them to see whether or not they’re pure or they’re mixed with other alloys. Amen. Recently, I took a ring that I’ve had for like 25 years that had a broken mount on it. And so there was no stone in it, but it was a really nice thick gold band. And I thought, you know, I probably could get some money for this because it was a heavy one, big heavy one. So I took it to them and she said to me, the jeweler said to me, she says, I’m going to have to test this. to see if it’s gold. I said, well, I know it’s gold. It’s 14-karat gold. I know that. She says, but it’s not stamped on the inside, so I have to test it. She says, well, I’m going to have to make a little scratch in it and put some kind of, I don’t know what the liquid was, but put something on there that would tell her if it is gold. whether or not it was 14-carat gold. Amen? Because a lot of rings today, because the price of gold is so outrageous, a lot of the jewelry being made today is only 10-carat. Amen? And so, you know, and she told me that. And I had already read up on that a little bit because I didn’t want to be, you know, somebody to rip me off. And I already understood that 14-carat gold means it’s 58 parts gold. gold and the rest is other metals like nickel and other things. Amen? Pure gold is 24 karat. But you’ll rarely see jewelry made out of 24 karat. Not only because it would cost you an arm and a leg, but also because it’s soft and it’ll just wear, it’ll wear quickly. So they put the other metals in there. Amen? But you have, it has to undergo a test. To see what it is. And that’s the word here. You’ve got to test the spirits. You cannot believe everything that comes out of somebody’s mouth just because they have a title or an office. They might be wearing sheep’s clothes. Amen? Some people wear their Halloween costume year round. Amen? Amen? And so you’ve got to test it by the word of God. Amen. To see what kind of spirit it is. Because it may even seem to have an anointing and a flow. And can get that going. I would run out of gas real quick doing that. Almost ran out of gas that time. Amen? And so you’ve got to see whether or not it lines up with the word of God. Because we just read in verse 6, there is a spirit of truth and there’s a spirit of error. These are the two spirits that are governing everything that’s out there. Whatever it falls into. If it’s same-sex marriage, it’s a spirit of error. If it’s something that says that Jesus is not the son of God, it falls over here. If it’s something that says that God has no son at all. It’s an error. Amen? And so that’s why we’ve got to test it because we have these two spirits out there. Amen? And Jesus said, I’ll read some of these. I’ll just read some of these to you. But Jesus said, many false… or false messiahs, and many false prophets shall rise. And they will even show signs and wonders to seduce people, even the very elect, if possible. That’s Mark 13, 22. So along with what they’re saying, they’re going to do signs and wonders. And for gullible people, wow, that’s all they need. They just swallow it right up. They think because they see a miracle or they see a sign, amen, or they see an R around them or something like that, that that must mean that they are of God. Paul said in Romans 16, 18, that with good words and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the simple. That means the hearts of the trusting and the gullible because they’re not schooled in the word of God. Amen. And whenever I’m speaking these scriptures to you and you hear the words deceive and you hear the word seduce, they’re all the same word in the Greek language. Amen. He said, John wrote in 2 John, we don’t read that epistle much, but there are some powerful verses in there, in verses 9 and 10. Whosoever abides not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. Wow, that’s a pretty simple test, isn’t it? He just boils it right down. If they do not abide in the gospel, the doctrine of Jesus Christ, they have not God. Amen. And if any man come and receive not this doctrine, listen to this, receive him not into your home. I’m sure all of you have had the Jehovah’s Witnesses knock on your door. And in many neighborhoods like mine, Mormons. Amen. And different ones, sometimes the Seventh-day Adventist. Amen. And so there are people that have been evangelized by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, by the Mormons. That’s the Church of the Latter-day Saints of Jesus Christ. Because when they say the Church of the Latter-day Saints of Jesus Christ, you say, yeah, that’s me. I’m a saint of the Lord Jesus Christ in these latter days. That’s their formal name. but they’re really the Mormons. So you need to know that. Amen? And you’ll see it abbreviated LDS and such. And then even Muslims. Muslims have been able to proselytize people, especially in our prison system. Amen? And deceive them. And with lying spirits, they’re able to twist the Word of God. And if you don’t know the Word of God, you can get hung up quickly. Because let me tell you this. All false teachers have a lying spirit or a false spirit. working with them and inspiring them. And because of this, it draws in the gullible people. I’ll quickly give you some other verses that John wrote in his first letter, 1 John. Who is a liar? But he that denies Jesus is the Christ. He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. It’s important, the Father and the Son. Whosoever confesses Jesus is the Son of God dwells in God and God in him. He that believes on the Son of God has the witness of God in himself. Because he believes on the record that God gave of his Son. He believes on this record. And this is the record that eternal life is in his Son. Now that’s 1 John 2. 22 and 23, 4, 15, 5, 10, and 11. So in other words, many of these… Well, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormons, and certainly the Muslims do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And one of the major tenets of Islam is that God has no son. And so therefore… The Bible is in total contradiction to them. Amen? So they have to try to find a way to fix that. And, you know, we’ll talk about that maybe, I don’t know, today, maybe another time, or I’ll get off chasing a rabbit and never get back. But Paul said in Colossians 2, 3, and 4, “…in Christ, in Jesus, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” This I say, lest any man beguile you with enticing words. So to beguile means to reason falsely and draw an erroneous conclusion. It means to talk somebody into something. Amen? And that’s exactly what these false teachers are doing. And if you will go and research, it’s very easy to Google this. You go and research the beginnings of the Jehovah Witnesses, the beginnings of the Mormons, the beginning of Islam. Go and research and you will find that their initial leader always had some kind of supernatural visitation by an angel. The Mormon’s angel was called Moroni. I mean, it sounds like pasta. And actually, now a thought just came to me, it sounds like a moron. And that’s why they’re called Mormons, because of the angel Moroni. Amen? And Muhammad said that he had, that Gabriel was the one that gave him his visions. You Google it, you will see how corrupted, very corrupted the first… leaders of these different religions were amen and how that they became deceived by these spirits but let’s see i’ll have you read this one galatians go to galatians chapter one because this is a very important one i want you to see it for yourself galatians chapter one and let’s look at verse six This is what Paul says, because God knew what was coming down the pike. Amen? I marvel that you were so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ. unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert, somebody say pervert, pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, meaning Paul and all of his associate ministers, Silas and Barnabas and Peter and James and John and all of them, but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again. I am repeating this. I’m doubling this because it’s that important. If any man preach any other gospel unto you than you have received, let him be accursed. Amen? And so he said they have perverted the gospel. It means they’ve turned into something else and they’ve taken it and they have corrupted it. And if you read the Quran, you will find out it has… scriptures and they’re all from the Bible but they’re all corrupted. And here’s the thing about it. Muhammad claims that it was spoken to him directly all in Arabic. Pure Arabic. But yet when you read those scriptures you’ll find out their whole phrase is lifted right out of the Bible. Amen? Perverting the gospel. So We have to know what we believe because we can’t go by feelings. We can’t go by, you know, any kind of extrasensory perception. Because if an angel shows up at the bottom of your bed, you’re going to get goosebumps. whether it’s a good angel or a bad angel, you’re going to have goosebumps. Amen? And if someone comes preaching to you, no matter how anointed they may seem to you or charismatic or animated they may seem to you, if it’s not this gospel, then it’s a perverted gospel and let them be accursed. Now that’s very strong words. It doesn’t seem very politically correct. It seems rather harsh. But there’s a reason for that. Because wolves have come in to destroy and devour the sheep. And you can’t play around with wolves. You can’t play nicey-nicey with wolves. Amen? They have come in to destroy and devour sheep. And that’s why you’ve got to let them be accursed. Amen? And when you see they’ve come in, you certainly have got to warn. Beware, beware. Sheep, wolves in sheep’s clothing. Amen? And so it’s very important that we understand this. So you have to know your Bible. Turn now to just a couple pages over to 2 Corinthians 11. And let’s look at a couple verses there. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 13. Actually, let’s look at verse 3 first. But I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity or the purity that is in Christ. Amen? For if he that comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit which we have not received, or another gospel which we have not accepted, you might very well bear with him. He’s going on to say that if someone came along and was preaching another Jesus and another gospel, hey, you might put up with him. I’m afraid that you might be beguiled as Satan beguiled Eve in the garden, as the serpent beguiled Eve. I’m afraid that you will beguiled away from the purity of the gospel. Drop down to verse 13. For such are false prophets, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Hey, and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. In other words, they’re going to be destroyed. Amen? And so we see here, and how many testimonies have we heard? I know I have. read and heard of people saying that an angel appeared to them. Amen. People have claimed that they have died and saw a light and these people were not saved and these people were not born again. These people were not right with God. But they saw a great light and so they came back and they believed that they’re fine because they saw a light. There was a whole season, a period of time when this was very big. And there were books being written about it. And then there were some true messengers of God that stood up and wrote books to counteract that and show, I don’t doubt that you saw a light. Right. I don’t doubt that you saw an angel. I don’t doubt that he was beautiful. Because Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. But let me tell you something. If someone were to have such a visitation or such an apparition, amen, and just begin to speak the word of God and say, Jesus is Lord. And speak those scriptures right there. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess in heaven and earth and beneath the earth that Jesus Christ is Lord. I tell you what, that angel of light will turn into a devil as fast as you can snap your fingers. Go along with a whole lot of things. Oh, you can say a lot of things, but once you start declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord, and I always say, every knee shall bow, and I always put my own little phrase in there, even Lucifer’s knee, and every tongue shall confess, even Lucifer’s tongue, that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen? Now, last night, I had a very powerful attack last night, a demonic attack. And it went on for quite a while. And there was no fear in me. I didn’t have any fear. I just had to, you know, keep wrestling until it left. Amen? And it eased up a lot, but I did not feel that it was totally gone. And so I just continued to say, Jesus is Lord, and Jesus is my Lord. Jesus is my Lord. And every time I would say, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is my Lord, I would feel that… I don’t know how to explain it to you, like electricity running up and down my legs. And I knew then that the Spirit was still present. Amen. And only when I could say that and praise and worship Jesus with nothing, then I knew, okay, I can go back to sleep now. Amen. Amen. What a demon chasing teaching, seducing, imitating and lying spirits. The Bible amply warns of the increase of this demonic activity in the last days. And not only have we seen the demise of Christian values and biblical teachings in America’s political landscape, such as the ruling on same sex marriage, but in the church. Homosexuality is openly celebrated and same-sex marriage sanctioned. Adultery and divorce are lightly reproved if at all. False doctrine perverts righteousness and promotes sin with its selective seduction of grace. False teachers and prophets are able to seduce people because they are appealing to the flesh and they seem authentic. But we are to test the spirits to see if they are of God because there is a spirit of truth and there is a spirit of error at work. And if Satan is transformed into an angel of light, it is no great thing that his ministers are also transformed into ministers of righteousness. They imitate the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and they seduce and deceive by lying spirits. This message, seducing, imitating, and lying spirits, is the third in my five-part series, Spirits, Angels, and Demons, which includes hindering spirits versus ministering spirits, familiar spirits. and Bail Busters and Troublemakers. This album can be ordered for a love gift of $25. Request SK-185. Mail to Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203, or go online to soundoffaith.org, where you may also order on MP3s. I strongly urge you to get this powerful series the Holy Spirit has given me. It is thorough but simple and scripturally sound. You will learn much. So order today. Send $25 or more to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Request SK185 for spirits, angels, and demons. Until next time, this is Sharon Knott saying, Maranatha.
