The Charismatic Identity Crisis - A letter to the Pentecostal Movements

There is an identity crisis among some in pursuit of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And it has not only colored the way that we see God, but at times, tragically, how others see the Holy Spirit. In the worst cases, our desire to bring people closer to understanding the spiritual gifts have actually driven them away due to compromise, bad fruit, spiritual abuse, or not following biblical protocols regarding how we should exercise spiritual gifts in the church. Simply put, when the miracle becomes the most important thing, everything else suffers. Now let's be clear. God is miraculous. He split seas. He healed the blind, lame and sick. He cast out demons and was resurrected on third day, promising a miraculous resurrection of the dead. I believe that the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit are active and alive. I have seen the sakiled tongue interpreted, prophecy accurately delivered and more. But when our passion for the miraculous is where we start getting our spiritual identity, we've placed our eyes on one attribute of God, his miraculous nature. While our identity is always to be found in the fullness of Christ. As discussed before, this hyper focus on a part of Christ to make that our identity is common among many denominations. But there are specific dangers when doing it with the gifts of the Holy Spirit which we need to discuss and where we have been a part of it. We need to take accountability. This is the only way forward for unity among believers and for all to see the beautiful, balanced and holy worship Spirit and truth. And he will one day say, I never knew you. Depart from me, worker of lawlessness. In this teaching we're going to be looking at why have so many abuses been done in the name of the Holy Spirit? Why is discernment so often lost in the pursuit of the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Why is lawlessness prevalent among some charismatic circles if they claim to be filled and led by the Holy Spirit? How can we as believers restore our identity in Christ to walk in balance and not just in spirit, but in spirit and truth Worship. In this video, we're going to be looking at some real life examples of abuses that have been done in the name of the Holy Spirit. You know, in past times there's been some crazy things said by some. Some have even gone as far as to say that if you give me money, then I'll pray for you, then you'll be healed. Placing the gifts of God behind a paywall. Some have said things like if you don't speak in tongues, then you are not saved. You know, there's many of these traditions of men that have been invented that now lay burdens on the shoulders of men regarding The Holy Spirit. But we're also going to not just look at the extremes, but the spectrum of confusions that have come in, such as incorrect protocols, lack of discernment, bad fruit, counterfeit gifts, even demonic spirits and activities. But first, let's just be reminded of what these spiritual gifts are that we are talking about today. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul gives us a nice list of them. And he says it is the gift of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. These are the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit, which he distributes as he desires unto believers. He is the one who does it. We are his conduits. We are mere servants. So first, let's talk about this identity crisis. When our identity is grounded in these spiritual gifts, or the miraculous in general, it will start driving our discernment. It will establish how we conduct our fellowships and even how we determine what is true. The spiritual gifts, such as the gift of discernment or the gift of prophecy, should not be the primary driver of our discernment. The Scriptures are. The word of God gives us, with black letters on our white pages, a clear compass of what is true and what is false. And it is that by which we test all our gifts and any word that someone has said they have received or any direction they believe the Lord is leading them in. Spiritual gifts are not themselves the rulings for how we conduct our fellowships. The Scriptures provide specific protocols wherein the spiritual gifts operate according to God's ideal. We see this in the gift of speaking in tongues, as Paul gives us a protocol for that, or the gift of prophecy. Paul gives protocol for that. For some reason, humanity has always wrestled with this pendulum where we want to start running after the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And then it comes at the cost of worship in truth, leading to God's Word not sitting in its rightful place of authority in our life anymore. You know, and then we started walking into a lawless lifestyle. Even at times, you know, or on the other end, we just run after the truth, the law, the words of God. And then it comes at the cost of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit, and all that which the Spirit so importantly needs to give us and be with us in. But it doesn't need to be that way anymore. So concerning the Holy Spirit today, whenever we give what God calls the standard of truth, that is the Bible, second place in determining truth, we open the door up to deceptions brought in by other spirits in the midst of the Holy Spirit and his works. Even in the Book of Genesis, the Spirit of God is hovering over the water, waiting for the Word of God to go forth. The Holy Spirit accomplishes the Word of God upon the earth in his people. And in the Exodus, God came to humanity at Mount Sinai, gave his beautiful law to usher in this new generation of holy people, Israel. And yet, many who proclaimed that they were the keepers of the law by the time of the first century were corrupting the law and used the law to abuse man. For example, the Pharisees abused the law of God for their own purposes by laying burdens on the shoulders of man. As we discussed and confused men regarding what is God's law and what is oral laws of man. The traditions of Judaism and the mixing of tradition and law confused people so much, leaving them despising the law of God, considering it a burden. And that's exactly where we are today, with many in Christianity considering the law of God a burden because of the abuses done in the name of God. We discussed more of this in our teaching called the Hebrew Roots Identity Crisis. Please go check that out. If haven't yet. On the other hand, concerning the Holy Spirit later, God came upon humanity at Mount Zion. He poured out his Spirit and gave gifts to men to prophesy, to speak in tongues, to heal the sick, to receive dreams and visions for old and young so the captives may be set free. And yet today, many who proclaim that they're walking in the Holy Spirit corrupted the gifts of the Spirit. Spiritual terrorism has begun. It's no longer just Torah terrorism as we saw of the Pharisees. Now it's Holy Spirit terrorism. Men abusing the gifts of the Spirit for their own gain, laying burdens on men for their own gain, and confusing men regarding what is now the Holy Spirit's work. So what are charismatic traditions of the Holy Spirit? And this false representation and this mixing of tradition with biblical protocol and instruction regarding the Holy Spirit has left the gifts that God has given us despised among some because they've seen how it's been misused, they've seen the abuse, they've seen chaos. And I'm thinking, God, why is not the power of God moving? He said, because you haven't kicked that woman in the face. And there's this older lady worshiping right in front of the platform. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me. The gift of faith came on me. He said, kick her in the face with your biker boot. I inched closer and I went like this. Bam. And so do you. Not now see how there is a spiritual battle to destroy spirit and truth worship in one way or another in the people of God. Do you not see that Satan has gone to great lengths and used corruption to hide away pure spirit and truth from God's people in one way or another? Do you see the strategy that he has used to confuse us by blurring the lines between the holy and the profane? And the goal in all of it is so that the counterfeit could hurt you, so that your heart could be turned away and your eyes turned away from what God has called holy and good, even leading some to call what is good evil and what is evil good. And that's what happened. Some call it evil to obeying God's law. Some call it evil to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. And both of these beliefs will keep you from God's best for you. Many of us can really connect with what I'm about to say. Many of us have stumbled across a treasure. You know, we've experienced God in a new way, perhaps, or found a new way to shine his glory to others. You know, maybe you got baptized in the Holy Spirit and just changed your life. Maybe you prayed for the sick and saw someone healed miraculously. Maybe you find speaking in tongues edifying in your relationship with God. Maybe you told someone about Christ, saw him move, and now you're frustrated at the lack of evangelism that's happening in the body of Christ in general. Maybe the Lord gave you a word that you really feel is burning on your heart. You feel this need to share it. You know, many of these things can be wonderful, but we've all heard of the deliverance ministry that's gone wrong. This beast on my biscuit, Let it die, die, die. We've all heard of healing ministries gone wrong. Those who are demanding money for healing God speaking. I want you to sow a seed for your freedom because this is a key for your deliverance. So if that's you, if that's you, and God is directing you to sow a seed for deliverance, you can sow one. That's the basket to the right there. And if you can write on the envelope, this is for deliverance. And be open to God as he will ask you. He may ask you to continue sowing, to continue sowing, to see that complete breakthrough. And we've all heard of speaking in tongues gone wrong. Those who claim it's required for salvation. You know, I've had people say, well, if that's the way Luke thought, why did he just say so? Why did he Just say tongues is the initial sign. You must speak in tongues. If you don't speak in tongues, you're not saved. Many of us have seen prophecy gone wrong. Those who've set a date on the Lord's return, while the Lord has not returned on that date to the people who are listening, please pay attention to what I'm going to say. He says to me, on the 23rd and 24th September, 2025, I will come to take my church. There's a date. There is a date on the 23rd and 24th September, 2025. 2025. So what happens 2026 now? And to those who walk in these abuses, it would have been better if you'd never prayed for healing than to charge for it. See, because by adding additional charges and payments, you're proclaiming something. You're proclaiming that Christ, who made the payment with his own body on the cross, that was not enough and that this person needs to now take more out of their own pocket to qualify for a healing. It would have been better if you never spoke in tongues than to make it that which saves, replacing Christ, who saves, with a work like the work of speaking in tongues. It would have been better if you'd never prophesied than to be so foolish to have set a date upon the day that no one knows replacing the Father in heaven on the throne, who alone knows. See, all of these are beautiful gifts when they are practiced in order. But as you can see, these abuses have elevated the gift into a type of idolatry. The gift that was supposed to draw people to God starts now, replacing the role of God in our life. And then these abuses are devastating and confusing to the recipients. And it not only causes many to despise the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it has caused some to even fall away from the faith entirely. It would have been better to not hurt the reputation of the Holy Spirit that you were called to preserve as holy. And if this is indeed you, repent, fear God, and hear me out now. Your day of judgment will come unless you repent. The third commandment is well known. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Exodus 20:7. When the Pharisees in the first century abused the law, like the law of circumcision, declaring that to become circumcised is required in order to be saved by God, Paul wrote to those quite straitly, and he said in Galatians 5:12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves. What Paul is saying here is that you've twisted the point of the commandments of God so severely that I would rather that you not reproduce physically nor spiritually to God. Even the laws that the Pharisees were keeping were as filthy rags because of how they were twisting and abusing what God has given them. And so in the same way we can say we're walking in the Holy Spirit, we're walking in the Holy Spirit and thinking that that's going to sh us from the judgment of God when we abuse. But the reality is is that all of our walking in the Holy Spirit will be as filthy rags before our Father. If we have abused people in that process, we need to use the gifts as they were intended to draw us and others to God. With knowledge comes great responsibility. This is why whenever we come across what we think as new revelation to us, it can be both beautiful and dangerous. Beautiful because God leads us into deeper knowledge of him, to worship him better and to reach others better. But dangerous because God has decided to place his name upon you. And then how you walk is how others will perceive him, for you are his ambassador and witness of who he is. So if we are unprepared to handle this revelation that he has entrusted with us with humility, we can bring his name to nothing, taking his name in vain. And so that's why when it comes to the truth or the Holy Spirit, we must approach revelation with absolute fear and trembling. For if God has given me something holy, such as the Holy Law or Holy Spirit placing the Holy One inside of me, making me a holy place, then I must in awe ask the Father, Father, how do I not mess this up? Oh God, help me be humble, help me to be vulnerable, help me to take it easy and slow. And help me, help me to not hurt people. Help me to not move in a way that's confidently in the absolute wrong direction. But many have no fear like this at all. And so it's not enough to know about the Holy Spirit or God's law. What is even more important is walking out the correct application of that truth in love. Firstly for God and for neighbor. Now we've discussed some like serious heavy for some of us, obviously wrong abusive situations, but not just the extreme situations are bad and should be avoided. We should be wary of bad fruit in general, for simply bearing bad fruit of the flesh takes the Lord's name in vain. If we do that whilst coming in saying a look at our Spiritual gifts or a look at how we keep the law. Galatians 5:19 says, now the works of the flesh are evidence. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such there is no law. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. It is just crazy to me how some can be passionate about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and then be into divination or sorcery, whilst the fruit of the flesh of sorcery will lead all who practice it to not inherit the kingdom of God. Or to think that you can pray for someone to get healed, and then you engage in drunkenness and think that the fact that you prayed for someone is going to redeem you before God. Or the fact that we think how much we speak in tongues covers the fact that our house is absolutely out of order, we do not have self control, disunity follows us wherever we go. Or the fact that you can have fits of anger and then try and cause our demons of anger. Don't ruin your testimony before men and before God. Be careful in how you walk. And again, this comes back to our identity. I don't want to be like whatever charismatic celebrity is hip today and follow his actions and how he conducts himself. I want to look after Christ, for that's where I get my identity. Not in a denomination, not in who a denomination has propped up as the poster child. But ask Christ, for He is the perfect example. And when I get my identity in Him, I prioritize him in my life. And when I prioritize him in my life and that intimacy that comes first, then I grow in love with him more and in love with people more. And I don't do anything to make another stumble unnecessarily. While we're speaking about bad fruit, I'd like to also speak to those for a moment who have been victims of spiritual abuse done in the name of the Holy Spirit. I want to first take a moment just talking about the law of God to make it draw an example for you. You know, maybe you've come across this type of person that I'm about to describe. Someone who came and said that they are keeping the law of God, but in trying to get others to believe what they believe. They hurt everyone around them because of the way they went about their interaction with people. And here's then the real danger. It's easy to start associating the theology that they wanted to share with you with the bad fruit that they were carrying whilst doing it. Sometimes what they wanted to share with you is indeed blatantly just false, right? But sometimes it's not all false. While the Pharisees in the first century, who Yeshua Jesus directly opposed, they had bad fruits and they had false doctrines, but they had also some other things right? And Yeshua confirmed what they did right even in the midst of rebuking them for what they did wrong. As in Matthew 23:23, when he mentions how they're focused on tithing. And he says, these you ought to have done without neglecting the others. See, Yeshua didn't throw out everything that they were doing. He recognized that they were doing good things. You ought to have continued in the good that you were doing, but not using that to neglect other things that are important. Yeshua also encouraged listening to those very same Pharisees whenever they were quoting from God's law. It says in Matthew 23:1. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses seat. So do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do, for they preach but do not practice. Christ is telling the crowds and his disciples that when these men who have wicked works and who have abused people, when they quote the word of God, listen and obey what they're saying, isn't that crazy? Yeshua is teaching us a deeper level of discernment here, that even someone who is an abuser, just because they say something doesn't mean that that in of itself is wrong just because their fruit is rotten. We need to be more careful in how we discern so that abuse doesn't hurt us so deeply that we throw out even the good. With the bad, as with these Pharisees, how could we throw out the tithing that they were rightfully doing? And speaking of with the bad, Be careful that those who hurt you do not create an experience and trauma inside of you that causes you to turn your back on even that which is good. Good. It's important to realize that the bad fruit that you may have witnessed or experienced was a absolute misrepresentation of God, of His Law, of His Holy Spirit. But we cannot characterize God's law or the Holy Spirit by how men have abused it or mixed it with their traditions that go against God's word. We cannot judge God's law as guilty by association to the Pharisees and we cannot judge God's Holy Spirit as guilty by association to an abusive charismatic church that we've witnessed. Let's look at another biblical example of abuse. Simon the Sorcerer. It says in Acts 8, 9 there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Simon Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. Verse 18. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles hands, he offered them money saying give me this power also so that anyone in whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, may your silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Simon's number one problem that led him into this disastrous act was that he considered himself as someone great. The root of his selfish behavior is that he saw himself as more than he ought to see himself. And then he thought, well look, I can improve my standing amongst men. I can even make some money perhaps by buying this Holy Spirit thing as some kind of an asset so I can own it. Because of course if I have ownership of it, I can monetize it and then I can start a new business venture. Peter did not allow Simon to buy the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is not for sale. He is not to be bought or sold or used for greedy gain in any way. Holy Spirit doesn't do our bidding. He is God, he is holy and we do his bidding. We see in Matthew 10, 8 a similar warning. He says, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Amen. You received without paying, give without pay. Yeshua is telling us that if we place the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit behind a paywall that is unbiblical and against his will, that we have freely received him and his gifts and his power and we freely give that to others. That is why On Rise On Fire, all of our teachings, every single one of them are free. We do not have any paywalls. That is why even my book about the Holy Spirit has a free manuscript version available. Because I take my Messiah seriously when he says freely received, freely give. But now let's just think theoretically for a moment. If Simon the Sorcerer actually did do what he intended to do, if he actually tried to buy this gift and use it abuse it for his own gain. Would that association that he now has with the Holy Spirit not cause some man to be like, whoa, I don't want anything to do with all of the things Simon has been using and doing. The reality is that his association with the gift of the Spirit would not mean that the gift is the problem. Simon's fruit is the problem. So let us not be like ignorant men who would have looked upon Simon's wretched fruit, not even wanting something to do with the legitimate authentic move of God that God wants for us found in the holy Holy Spirit and his holy gifts. And so this now begs the question, there's been a lot of confusion regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And does the presence of confusion and of itself mean that that is not of God? Now it's true that God is not the God of confusion. Where did we hear that first in the Scriptures? In 1 Corinthians 14:27, Paul tells us our God is not the author of confusion. But the context is very interesting. Let's read a few verses earlier. We read in verse 27, if any speak in a tongue, let there be only two, or at most three, and each in turn and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in the church and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent, for you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and be encouraged. And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. So the context is very interesting because God is saying to us indeed that he is not the author of confusion, but he is not saying that to us to indicate to us that we should get rid of any spiritual gift that seems confusing or that is done in a confusing atmosphere in a confusing manner. God is rather saying, look at practicing the spiritual gift with proper biblical protocol in the church of Corinth. They needed to learn this because there was chaos when they were speaking in tongues. And Paul is coming and saying two to three, one at a time, let there be an interpreter. He's saying to those who are prophesying only two to three, one at a time, let the prophets be subject to prophets. Let it be weigh what is said, right? So he is really going after improper protocol that is causing people to be confused in the church of Corinth, See the Holy Spirit was legitimately involved in the Church of Corinth's gifts because while they had this improper protocol of how they were walking it out, Paul didn't say, stop doing them. You're busy with demonic things or whatever. He's just saying that do them properly. And this is interesting because people have this idea that if the Spirit of God is working, that it will always certainly be done with order and in protocol. No, in the Church of Corinth, there was lack of order and protocol, but the Spirit of God was involved because the gifts of the Spirit is a working together between the Holy Spirit and us. We do have control over how we walk it out. There is room for us to grow in how to walk it out. There is ways to be sensitive in walking out and receiving responsible and walking it out. The Spirit of God working in us is something that we learn to grow in more into maturity. And so we should have humility in ourselves and grace on others when they are still learning, when they're still immature. And we should allow them to grow and bring biblical correction. When there are mistakes happening and when there are serious issues, the elders should step in so that no one gets hurt. The reason that spiritual abuse done in the name of Holy Spirit has gone as far as it did is because in those churches, the leadership has turned a blind eye and even participated within it. Whilst we see that Peter the apostle, when he started spotting spiritual abuse like in Simon the Sorcerer, he immediately stepped in, immediately put an end to it, immediately in Simon's case, warned him seriously because Simon's sin was serious. He wasn't just having a immature slip up as the Church of Corinth was having. But Paul corrected the Church of Corinth with graciousness, saying, I speak in tongues more than all of you. I love you. I want you to understand I'm for you, but let us do this with more order. So let's be gracious. And as the situation calls for another thing I want you to see about this Church of Corinth is even though they were practicing these spiritual gifts in a pretty big way, they still had lack of discernment. You know, a lot of us have a hang up with charismatic churches and people and we say, look, they don't have discernment. So that's why they are obviously led by a demon, an unclean spirit or something of that nature. And you know, we're going to be talking about demons, we're going to be talking about other spirits in a little while here. But let's just get a Few things out of the way. First, the Church of Corinth actually had serious sins happening among them, including in 1 Corinthians 5. One, it's written, it's actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans. For a man has his father's wife and you are arrogant. Would you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. The Church of Corinth neglected to step in and remove the guy who was in this incredibly disgusting sin because they did not practice church discipline and because of their arrogance. Right? Paul is coming and bringing correction. But Paul is not thinking that these people are disqualified from being used by the Spirit of God legitimately, even in giving prophecy and in speaking in tongues, because later in the same ladder, he encourages them in it more. So I want you to see that even though a church lacks in discernment, as the Church of Corinth had very serious sin issues, that did not mean that they had illegitimate gifts. Romans 11:29, we read, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. We've now talked about biblical protocols not being followed. But what if another spirit comes in? How do we discern demonic influence? You may have noticed that I am quite careful in how I judge whether the Holy Spirit or another Spirit is involved in a particular situation. I think it is very important that we first rule out that there was simply, you know, disorder or no protocols being followed in a particular situation. Sometimes there's a lack of teaching, not an unclean spirit. And sometimes there is an unclean spirit involved. But I want you to notice something in how the Pharisees came after Christ when he was walking by the Spirit. When Christ dwelt among sinners himself, the Pharisees mistook him for a sinner and judged quickly by appearances. That's why we need to be careful to not judge by appearances. When Jesus cast out demons by the Holy Spirit, the Pharisees came and called the Holy Spirit Beelzebub, a prince of demons. And in that situation, Yeshua warned him that they are committing the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. For they judged the Holy Spirit by appearances because they did not like who the Holy Spirit was using to cast out the demon. In Matthew 12:28, Yeshua concludes this encounter with them, and he says, but if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. He also teaches this principle that a kingdom divided cannot stand and it says he called them to him and said to them in parables, how can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, then kingdom cannot stand. The simple principle is in the spiritual realm that demons don't cast out demons. The demons are only cast out by the power of the Holy Spirit if they are indeed cast out. And so if the fruit is evident that a demon, an unclean spirit has left, then we should judge by that fruit that the Spirit of God was involved. Now, Christ was perfect and the Holy Spirit used him, which, you know, that's easy to understand, but men aren't perfect. And still the Holy Spirit uses them, which can be very difficult to understand. In fact, I don't even understand why the Holy Spirit would use me. I don't understand why he would use any ratchet person. If I judge on appearances, if I judge based off works, if I judge based off whether we are worthy enough ourselves. But if I judge based off Yeshua being the perfect one who can be used, and him dying to make us as he is, clean and righteous, then I can understand how the Holy Spirit can use me. Then I can understand how the Holy Spirit can use you. And so the disciples needed to learn this as well. And that's why in Luke 9:49, John answered, said, master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name. And we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us. But Jesus said to him, do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you. Jesus is repeating the principle of that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. And therefore, if someone is on your side because he is using my name, then don't stop him. You see, the disciples were coming across a guy who was not with them, weren't following with them. This was like someone in a different denomination, if I may explain it that way. This was someone in a different group, but someone who was, well, obviously recognizing Jesus, recognizing Yeshua and what he has done and who he is, right? And so in the same way, we're going to encounter this situation where there's people who, we don't like the fact that they have this theology that, you know, we don't agree with. We don't like the fact that they, you know, they clap in church or, you know, whether our disagreement with them are big or small, right? And there are. There is a line there. But, you know, a lot of our disagreements are not fundamental. And as the disciples were worried because, you know, they didn't know the person, because this is a stranger, he's part of a different group and he probably has different theology than we have on some things. Yeshua says the one who's not against you is for you. That's the principle. Are they against you? Are they actually your opponent? Or are they actually on the same team as you? They're actually for you, they're actually with you. And let's walk from there. As we discern not being quick to judge by appearances, for that's what the Pharisees did, and they committed blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in the process. That being said, unclean spirits do exist and counterfeit gifts do exist. So how do we test for them? It's actually told very simply in 1 John 4, verse 1 to us, beloved, do not believe everything spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist which you heard was coming and now is coming is in the world already. So the way that we discern a spirit is to ask does the spirit declare that Christ has been sent from God and has appeared in the flesh? This world is lawless and of the Antichrist. For they reject the idea that Christ was sent from heaven to do God's work upon the earth, just as he said he has come to to do so. When we are dealing with a spirit that is of this world and not from our God, that spirit will proclaim that same lie that Christ has not been sent of God. That spirit will lie regarding who Christ is. And if you went to a fortune teller or if you went to a witch doctor in Africa, if you went to a New age healer. Either way they are all going to be rejecting the power, the authority and the lordship of Christ that he has been sent of God and is who he says he is. I'm not talking about someone who says they like Jesus. I'm not talking about someone who says, oh Jesus, you know, is a good moral teacher. But to accept him for how he has been declared from heaven is another thing. To accept the fact that he has say that I have come in the flesh to die for your sins and you must repent from sin, right? These basic principles that he is the way, truth and the life. For the Antichrist spirit will never admit to those beliefs. For each authentic and biblical gift of the Holy Spirit, there is a counterfeit Back in South Africa, where I come from, there was something called a sangoma. And so Gomas would promise people many things, that if you make an appointment and go, you can do some witchcraft with the person and then they will promise you your lost lover back, that romance that fizzled out that you really want back. You want to capture that girl, that guy's attention again. You do this spell and then, you know, that's what they promise. Yeah. And, and you know, they also promise things like healings. You come and you do weird things and then healing will come to you or a family member, or you put a curse on someone. All of these things are promised. This is called witchcraft. This is counterfeit healing done by demonic power. In the west, you may be more familiar with fortune tellers that promise speaking the future over you using various methods. This is a counterfeit type of prophetic gifting, and it is also empowered by unclean spirits. We see that Paul was harassed by a girl who had a fortune telling spirit. Speaking in tongues is also practiced in some circles of witchcraft. A type of counterfeit tongues. Pharaoh's magicians in the book of Exodus presented miracles to Moses. This is a counterfeit gift of miracles empowered by unclean spirits. I'm making these examples so you can understand that they are demonic in nature because they do not profess that Jesus appeared in the flesh and is Lord according to the biblical definition of who Christ is and what he has come to do. That being said, the exercising of a counterfeit spiritual gift means nothing regarding the authentic. At least it shouldn't. Bringing up the counterfeit gifts as a concern of a biblical spiritual gift today is not a valid criticism. In fact, Satan got the idea from God in the first place, twisting people's natural spiritual gifting and using it now for the kingdom of darkness being empowered by demons. But what about the person who professes Jesus accurately, yet still manifests strange behavior in the name of the Holy Spirit? We have to understand that in an atmosphere of worship, demons can manifest due to the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room. But due to a lack of discernment, believers sometimes mistake demonic manifestations as the presence of the Holy Spirit. If there is certain demonic behavior, the demon should be cast out. And if a demon is mistaken for the Holy Spirit by believers, the demon will not be cast out. But we have to be careful when making such decisions and discerning this. We have to be sure that we are mature enough to make the call and be very careful not to judge wrongly. We have to involve elders and mature Believers to help us navigate that discernment. We don't want to cause disunity and confusion by accusing one another of having demons left and right. We must submit ourselves to accountability in making decisions. Remember that a primary goal of demons is to cause disunity and cause us to turn against one another. It is also for them to disguise themselves among the flesh of people, for when their presence is uncovered, they are at a high risk of being cast out. The reason that there is a gift of discerning spirits in the first place is because discerning the presence of an unclean spirit is not always as straightforward as people like to imagine. People often mistake fleshly behavior for a demon or a demon for the flesh. Sometimes someone is behaving strangely because they think they should behave in a certain way, because they were taught to behave in a certain way by their past spiritual experiences or whatever. It doesn't necessarily mean that there is a demon there. And also sometimes they are practicing a gift in a disorderly manner. That doesn't mean that there's a demon there. We have to be careful. I think so often people are way too easily pointing their finger, whilst we should really only be making such a call when we are absolutely sure and the Father can give us such assurity when we are seeking it with a clean heart, with accountability and with responsibility towards the Scriptures and what the Scriptures say we should look for. On the other hand, I think it is important to recognize that when we look at the character flows of someone to one degree to another, or the bad fruit of someone to one degree to another, and they're still exercising a spiritual gift, and we'd like to judge that they're not exercising a gift from God because of their works. We have to remember something. The healing that they're praying for doesn't come from them, but from God. The prophecy that's being delivered doesn't come from us, Right? It comes from God. Whatever other gift, it doesn't come from us, it comes from God. Moses was of the greatest of prophets, but he himself was not allowed into the Promised Land due to sin because of bad works and bad fruit. Peter walked with Christ in person, and yet when it came to the crucifixion, he denied Christ three times and despite this, was still raised to leadership in the early church. Peter healed the sick by the gift of healing later and yet still compromised the gospel when he withdrew from the gentiles. In Galatians 2, the prophet Jonah directly rebelled against God's command to go to Nineveh. Yet when he finally preached to the entire city, they miraculously repented by the power of God. Every one of us will have faults, have made mistakes, and sometimes even serious ones. The question is whether there is repentance and whether we believe in the biblical Jesus. This all can be an uncomfortable reality for us to navigate. But the Holy Spirit is way more merciful than we are sometimes and will use broken vessels because he loves to heal the sick, he loves to heal the brokenhearted, and he will do so in unexpected ways through unexpected people. And the scriptures actually warn that we should not look at how the Holy Spirit will use use people as God's endorsement on that person's lifestyle. We read in Matthew 7:22, on that day, many will say to me, lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. So these are people who acknowledge the lordship of God, who had gifts from God, such as being able to prophesy in his name, being able to cast out demons in his name, and do other mighty works in his name. And yet God used them in that despite then finally at the day of judgment, declaring that they are workers of lawlessness. See, God can use a donkey. That's not a problem for him. He can use a rock. Yeshua said he can raise sons out from these stones. His arm is not too short. But the question is, when we are used, what does that mean? It just means we were used. It doesn't mean God is pleased with our life. And so in the same way, now we, we have to audit ourselves and recognize that if we have lawless behaviors, walking in the Holy Spirit isn't going to cover that before God. The only thing that will cover our sins is the sacrifice of Yeshua, not spiritual gifts. The only thing that will cover our sins is when we come to our God in repentance and turn and say, lord, I'm done with that. I don't want to hide behind my gifts anymore. I don't want to hide behind this portrait that I have built up to show men. And men have said, oh, how amazing my works. But God, you see all things, and now I repent. We will all be judged for our sins. And you know, while you can hide them from men for a time, nothing is hidden from the eyes of God. And so as we seek to come in the name of the Holy Spirit, as we should desire to do for his glory, if we Approach it with a correct heart of humility. Then let us walk it out in holiness in the keeping of God's law. Because God is calling a new uncompromising people who are holy for the Holy Spirit. We're now going to discuss the root issues behind this identity crisis. First, the false treasure. Something so amazing about our God is that when we come to him, he reveals deeper and deeper things about Himself to us, even giving us gifts from heaven. But we need to use the revelation that he gave us to draw nearer to Him. First let His Spirit teach us how to walk out what we received. And then, only from then can we even think about teaching this to other people. But we, on the opposite end, are making the same mistakes of our fathers. We grab a hold of that which our Father in heaven gives, gives us that which was to draw us closer to him and make the gift our treasure, while it was only ever supposed to draw us to the true treasure that is Christ. And so that's my question to you today. What is your treasure? What do you seek above all else through these spiritual gifts? For whenever we make anything but guard our treasure, we're never going to be satisfied and we're going to fall into a never ending pit of greed. And this is exactly why some take advantage of the gift of God for self gain. Whether to draw people to themselves, gain acceptance among men, or separate themselves into a clique of exclusivity. Either way, we prioritize drawing people to our our treasure more than us drawing closer to God, not recognizing that our drawing closer to God is the most important ingredient to draw others closer to God. For our passion for him will be contagious on a spiritual level. If we don't develop the intimacy with God to handle the truth in humility, we will bring destruction upon ourselves, upon others, and profane the name of God. It's only when our relationship with God is prioritized that we can be a healthy light. Matthew 6:21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? And this exactly is why there is a stereotypical association between churches abusing spiritual gifts and the love of money, which is just another embodiment of that treasure that we are looking for here and there. Louisiana based televangelist says God wants him to have a brand new $54 million private jet, and he's asking his followers to pay for it. It would be his fourth plane. You know, when they were fighting me about them jets, my little. They said he has four jets. Well, I've never owned four jets at one time, but they gave me an idea. I thought, well, praise the Lord. Why not? They're let Christ be our one and only treasure, and God will add the rest unto us. And the second root issue is a lack of discipleship and lack of humility. In our excitement and zeal of this new thing, we discovered we can speed into things not recognizing that we're still new to this and unlearned. And if new, we are spiritually immature. If we're not humble enough to recognize that lack of maturity in an area our pride will cause us to make dangerous mistakes. Just because you prayed for a sick person, they got healed, received a word of knowledge, got a prophecy correctly delivered. None of that means that you're mature. Maturity comes with many, many years of walking with the Lord and specifically walking in that gifting and being discipled in it as well. And this lack of discipleship is something that I truly hope that the body of Christ as a whole can start to address, especially when it comes to spiritual gifts. I mean, just think about it. When you receive a weapon of war, it's not just like point and shoot. And the one who handles that weapon for the first time and yet is arrogant with it, not knowing the safety protocols, swinging it around can hurt not only himself, but others. There can be friendly fire, shooting of your own team, something that happens very often in Christianity today. But instead, what we do in this world is we send a new soldier to boot camp to be trained in weapon safety. So when you receive your weaponry, spiritually speaking now, to cast out demons, to speak in tongues, to interpret tongues, to heal the sick, to discern spirits, or whatever else. It's not just point and shoot. We should seek to learn about how to avoid the process, pitfalls, and mistakes that can be made in whatever particular gift we're talking about. A soldier goes to boot camp, and we need a boot camp. We at Rise on Fire are going to be working towards this so that we can provide an avenue of discipleship for more and more people. And then a word regarding unity. It's easy to get passionate about something like spiritual gifts and make it a point of contention with other believers, even not fellowshipping with people who don't share our perspective. Matthew 10:34 do not think I have come to bring peace on the Earth, I have not come to bring peace but a sword, for I've come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter in law against her mother in law. He then goes on to say, whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Yeshua's words were regarding himself that accepting the Messiah will be a controversial thing that will divide families and people. If it's about being prevented from worshipping God following Jesus, then by all means divide, he says, for no one may keep you from him. But if it's about a free discussion on what that worship of God could look like between believers who already accept him, then slow down. Regarding division, Spiritual gift theology is important, but not salvific, not foundational. I have friends and even co labels members in ministry who do not agree on all of the practicals of every gift. As long as we are humble, we can work together. And we do. But whenever either party has a prideful hang up, that partnership becomes almost impossible. So let us be the person to recognize. Yes, these are important, but see them for what they are. Gifts to draw us all near to God and to one another, not to divide from one another. And now I end this teaching with Beware spiritual terrorism. From the outside we know that terrorism, as the world calls it, is wrong. But to the terrorists he is fulfilling a God given duty. Classically, some terrorists strap bombs to themselves, hurting not only themselves but others. Yet they consider it a holy calling and worth it for the divine calling. Spiritually speaking, spiritual terrorists strap theological bombs to themselves, hurting not only themselves but others, considering it a worthy sacrifice for what they believe to be their divine calling. And it is true that Jesus calls us to great sacrifice, but not to destroy ourselves and not to destroy others. Rather to love, to serve, to walk in humility and truth without any pride or conceited desires. But the problem comes when we start sacrificing not in the manner that God has called them, but because of what we want. We want to be right, we want to be great, we want to be honored and we want the authority over people. We want power or to be seen as the chosen ones. You will end up as Paul, thinking he was doing God's work, his divine calling, while being a spiritual terrorist, persecuting Christians, using the gift that God has given you and destroying God's kingdom with that gift. To Paul, it was his intellect of the scriptures. He was able to convince men that believers in Christ must be destroyed. But Paul had an awakening. He met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he turned his life around and then used his gift that he used to destroy now to lower himself. He recognized his intelligence was only all the more reason to recognize how little he actually knows. And so he glorified Christ and he brought billions into the kingdom. And if you're on the opposite end, a recipient of an abuser like Paul, the wise thing for us to do would be to not let that bad experience become our teacher. For if we allowed that experience to mold our theology, the person we actually recognized as having spiritual abuse in their life actually in another certain way teaches us. For they now inform our theology negative by the trauma they've caused us. Look instead to the scriptures. Look to those who have good fruit and consider their witness if they do have first hand witness, testimony of the spiritual gifts that they have encountered and experienced. As Yeshua said in Matthew 7, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. And so I leave you with these two scriptures. 1 Corinthians 14:1 pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 1 Timothy 4:13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have which was given to you by the prophecy when the Council of Elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. Scripture encourages devotion to scriptural teaching and practicing of gifts. Scripture assumes the ongoing rule of the gifts received by the laying of hands and by prophecy. Scripture instructs us to earnestly desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Father, I thank you for your Holy Spirit. Lord, some of us are so passionate about your spirit and gifts. Lord, we asked for your spirit and we received it, but we ran in impure ways. Lord, we repent for our mistakes. We repent where we have perhaps conducted our gift in an improper manner or disorderly in a fellowship. We ask that you would be our teacher, Holy Spirit, that you would send us discipleship, help us to learn your ways. And Father, there are some of us who have been recipients of abuse spiritually, and I ask that you would heal their hearts, that any bad experience would not color their vision of the Holy Spirit, but that they would be able to enter themselves into the beautiful gift that you have for them, that they themselves could walk in that hole holiness of the Holy Spirit to draw people to you and to draw more close to you in their own life. Father, I thank you that your hand is near, that your power is real, that you still speak through your people, that you still heal, that you still give us discernment supernaturally, that you still do miracles, that you still cast out demons. Hallelujah. You set the captives free. Father, I pray that you would set us all free as we pursue you to a deeper level and protect us from the evil one. I pray for unity between people who are believers in spirit and truth, that they would come together, learn from one another in humility and that they would find you there. I pray all this in the name of Yeshua. Amen. I hope that this teaching has been a blessing to you. Thank you for joining me. Can't wait to see you in the next one. Shalom and love from my house to yours, Sa.