The Spirit of Error & the Spirit of Truth

A couple of nights ago a friend (Poster) posted an article about "How the Army Silenced Catholic Chaplains." Another person (Postee)  responded saying you could not trust Fox News as they are extremely biased.  Poster asked which part of the story was inaccurate. Postee responds that the news organization is all about discrediting the president.  Poster responds and again, what exactly is inaccurate about the article.  Remember, it is about how the Army was handling the Chaplains religious freedom which brings into question the First Amendment Rights (freedom of religion and speech).  Postee responds talking about the pill, birth control and choice.  Poster responds again, what exactly was inaccurate about the article.  

Then I entered the conversation because I had first hand experience interacting with active duty chaplains a couple of years ago and their great concern about the military's policy when it came to the use of Jesus name.  The First Amendment is being trampled on. The article mentioned did not surprise me because it's been trending that way for years.  

Postee's response went all over the place and seemed to talk about every thing but the original issue.  They never did address what was inaccurate in the report.  They did not know, neither did they express any concern with the truth.  It was all about their opinion which included a liberal amount of references to President Obama.  Which by the way, neither I nor the Poster ever mentioned.  The Postee spoke of how the church hated, the Vietnam War, choice, birth control, etc. Then said that I was wrong about the controversy about Jesus name.  She "knew that for a fact." I responded with links to 3 articles I found and included my personal testimony.  I was accused of lying and hating our president.

In the midst of all this I introduced Jesus and what He had done for them.  That's one of the main reasons I even get on Facebook.  It's an opportunity to share about our Lord.   I also want to be a proclaimer of truth. 

Have you ever experienced this kind of behavior?

I marveled because I've interacted with old classmates who on different issues responded the same way.  What surprised me was their similar responses.  They never answered a question directly, never back up their statements with facts and ignore any evidence that proves their statement is false.  They insert a whole new controversial subject to deflect attention from the real issue.  Truth is really important.  The ninth commandment is "you shall not bear false witness." Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life and He sent us the spirit of truth. 

The Spirit of Truth
John 14:15-17
“ If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."

1 John 4 teaches us that we are to test the spirits because there are many false prophets.  Then is goes on to teach one of the signs of the Antichrist spirit.  It will deny that Jesus ever came in the flesh. Then we come to the scripture the Lord spoke to me after the conversation previously described. 

The Spirit of Error
1 John 4:6
We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 

That word error in the Greek means deceived, delusional, or in error.  The root word means to rove around as a tramp as an imposter, a misleader or a deceiver. 

I sure thought that described what I've been observing.  They talk talk in circles, have no regard for truth, ignore anything that proves them factually wrong, they are proud, and arrogant.  They try to deflect attention away from issue at hand by slinging around all kinds of controversy and accusations (ie. you hate the president).  They accuse others of doing exactly what they are guilty of doing themselves.  Yet they seemingly do not see it.

Whenever you observe this behavior, and they will not receive the truth of the gospel nor of any other thing there is a spirit at work behind the scenes.  It is a spirit of error. 

Spiritual War Strategies
The overall objective is presenting the gospel of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Second, and equally important objective is to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:16).

Next, we need to understand the lay of the land and the strategies that our adversary uses.  2 Corinthians 4:3 gives us insight.  It says:

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,  whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake.

It is the God of this world who has BLINDED THEIR MINDS.  This is exponentially increased when they have sinned habitually for so long that God gives them over to a debased mind (Romans 1:25-31).  Debased means morally worthless, reprobate, castaway or rejected.  They can't think straight.  Hence, they cannot carry on a conversation and stick to the point.  

We need to remember that we have been given authority and our responsibility is to preach the gospel to every creature (Matt. 28:18-19).  Our Lord also gave us authority over all the power of the enemy.

Luke 10:18-20
And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.  Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 

So what do you do the next time you enter a situation like the one I've described.  First, recognize that the spiritual war starts in the spirit but manifests through people in the flesh.  We need to exercise our spiritual authority and use wisdom while speaking the truth in love.  Here is what you do:

• Recognize what you are dealing with - a spirit of error.
• Loose the spirit of error from its assignment, command it to silence and command confusion to go. 
  
• Speak the truth in love

We need to "bind what blinds" and "preach to reach."  It is much easier if we do it in that order.