Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

Madness: What Compelled the False Prophet?

like a great whirlpool, sucked them to their destruction. The closer to the vortex, the harder to escape, with God Himself finally choosing their delu sion (Isaiah 66:3-4), from which there was no escape. Four steps define the downward course of delusion and falsehood: • Degeneration of personal life. The false prophet tolerates destruc tive habits that influence thoughts, health and emotions. Because personal spiritual discipline declines and is finally replaced, the per sonality is opened to the possibility of vain imaginations or demonic thoughts. • Misguided thought life. Vanity and falsehood become the accept able norm. Willful deceit is easily embraced (Jeremiah 23:31). The laws of God are set aside for a more "appealing" and "exciting" approach to life. The holiness of God is replaced by the pursuit of personal ambition and fulfillment. Flattering dreams and imagina tions become the norm. • Seduction by evil spirits. As the false prophet's personal agenda drifts away from that of God, he or she becomes an easy target for seducing spirits that prey on ambitious souls. Gradually the spirit of Satan takes over, a demonic agenda substitutes for the divine agenda and the prophet is found fighting God and all He stands for. • Delusion by divine choice. When a person's rebellion against God and choice of evil ways reach a certain point, no return is possi ble. Such people love unrighteousness more than truth. As Paul has said, "They did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence ["strong delusion," NKJV; "A misleading influence," Amplified] so that they might believe what is false" (2 Thessalo nians 2:10-11). 12 The false prophet is driven by the same obsession as Lucifer: "I will make myself like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:14). To communicate with spirits and manipulate them, or to communicate with people and manip ulate them, in order to become a final authority in spiritual things-and to be paid handsomely for doing so-is most fulfilling to certain misled personalities. They are experiencing the height of rebellion against the true and living God and are often demonized individuals. These sooth sayers, wizards or magicians sell themselves on the great lie of their own importance, casting aside the claims of God and Scripture. They have a certain slant, twist or perversion in their personalities that makes them a law unto themselves.

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