We recognise that David was on the side of the Israelites and that his enemy were the Philistines, but we fail to see that David’s group was also divided into two groups … those that were with him and those that envied and hated him.
The Israelites represent God’s people, the Church; yet we fail to see that the church has always been divided into two groups. The church at Corinth and the church at Laodicea and Pergamos are just three examples. Even Christ’s own disciples were divided and Judas exposed himself as a traitor.
Group 1 … The TELL group
The largest group of people in the church are those that see God as their Father and thus believe that God is responsible to protect them and supply all their needs and perform for them what they need from Him. This group believes they are a child of God and thus have the right to TELL the Father how He is supposed to perform towards them. This group murmurs when God doesn’t do it according to their expectations. They murmur if God takes longer than they expect.
The Pentecostal Church has flourished on the back of this group’s selfish expectation, to the point where it preaches that if you don’t get what you want from God then you don’t have faith. Like a bacterial infection, this belief has spread like wild-fire through fake churches that promote the worldly lie that you can be whatever you want and have whatever you want, just believe. This group simply expect God to perform their wishes and have a MOOD when He doesn’t. Like a two-year old child, the purpose of a mood is to get the authority to change their mind and give you what you want; and that’s the underlying behaviour of this group. This group is envious of what someone else is achieving or has a better deal.
Example
I was counselling a young so-called Christian who admitted he was wrong but that the punishment he received of being grounded was over-the-top. He was defending that he hadn’t done anything that bad, but was blinded to the real issue that he couldn’t be told. He couldn’t see that it was the resistance that was being addressed, not the act.
If you stop and look at that reaction, what does it tell you? Clearly, it’s telling you that the young man is TELLING the authority what’s right and wrong. He’s more interested in not looking bad than in being corrected. It’s revealing to you that the young man is questioning the authority, and really declaring that he is not that wrong, but that the authority is the one that’s wrong. This is an incorrectable, unrepentant spirit, and as such is really a spirit of anti-christ. Holy Spirit would not react this way! A genuine Christian would admit that he was wrong, full-stop, no BUT.
The angel of light
This group is often perfectly good, not because it flows from God, but because if you’re good you can’t get told you’re bad, and if you’re good you get rewards. Thus goodness is simply a tool to get. In fact, this artificial goodness flows from Satan. Anyone who thinks they’re good is actually declaring that they are not of God. Jesus Himself said in Luke 18:19 that there is no one good except God; so if you think you are good then you’ve been deceived by Satan into being your own god, and thus see yourself as above others. If you think you are good then you are contradicting the Word of God that says you’re not. This is the spirit of anti-christ, and definitely not the Holy Spirit.
We fail to comprehend that Satan can come as an angel of light. Right from the beginning Satan has employed two key tactics … attack and destroy, and infiltrate and soften. He uses these in the church because he has the power over the church. Contrary to Pentecostal mis-conception, Satan’s power has not been diminished and won’t be until he is cast into the bottomless pit. He’s just as powerful now as he’s ever been. Only God is more powerful. But the church tells you that you can put Satan in his place because you’re a child of God and heir to the throne. It’s blind to its arrogance. Like the fake church in Communist China, it’s simply the world camouflaged as the church.
Good + TELL
Goodness and Tell are key signs of the spirit of the anti-christ. Despite its apparent goodness, eventually this spirit will expose itself by TELLing the authority what is right and wrong. Eventually this group will display its control with superiority, intimidation, and obligation. It will use the scriptures to try and control you especially by using the 5th commandment to respect their authority, whilst all the time blindly mis-using the 7th, 9th and 10th commandments.
This group won’t be told even though they act like they will; in their heart they resist instruction as a put-down. They simply have a mood till they get what they want, even a silent mood of goodness (like the rich young ruler); yet they can’t see that they’re being defiant and simply refusing to repent because they believe that they’re not bad and that if you are saying they are, then you’ve got the problem, not them.
Hatred of men is a sign of anti-christ
Embedded in this group are many women who have a hidden hatred of men. They hate the fact that men have authority over them. They secretively don’t like being under authority and being told what to do. They think they’re better than men. They TELL men how they’re supposed to behave towards them. This is the spirit of anti-christ. You can clearly see this spirit flooding the world today, and this worldly spirit is clearly in the church. God decreed in Genesis 3:16 that man would have authority over the woman and anyone who objects to that is clearly against God.
This group is full of their own importance … “I think I’m special or have a special call”
Many men, both in the church and in the world, are under this female spirit. Self-decoration of ear-rings and tattoos, and homosexuality and cross-dressing are just signs of feminism. Many men have been told by their mothers that they can do anything or be anything. Like Eve vs Adam, their mothers have been used of Satan to fill their sons with their own importance. This is the spirit of ant-christ and its purpose is to subtly destroy. Christ said in Luke 14:26 that unless you hate yourself you cannot be my disciple; the opposite to what the world and the church teaches.
Over the years, I’ve become aware that most people think they’re special, to the point that they sincerely believe that if you have a problem with them then you are the problem, and if they have a problem with you then you are still the problem. They sincerely believe that they have a special call on their life and that God values them higher than others. The simple truth is that they feel so inferior and wounded they have to live in the fantasy of their own puffed-up self-importance. Sadly, the church is just copying the world by indoctrinating people with this false positive thinking instead of teaching the flock to die to self so that God reigns in you. The spirit of anti-christ is alive and well convincing people of their self-importance in direct contradiction to the Word of God which declares that God loves a contrite heart.
A spirit of FEAR
This group is like King Saul. It is occupied by a spirit of fear and thus uses intimidation to try and control people to do its will and put you under its fear.
Ezekiel 33:31 … they come unto you and sit before you as my people and hear your words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness.
Group 2 … The ‘willing to be told’ group
The second group are like David. They don’t think they are good; it doesn’t enter their thinking. They don’t think they deserve anything from God. They serve God because they appreciate His love for them. They don’t serve to get a reward. They don’t serve Him to get to heaven, but like Moses who was willing to go to hell for the people of Israel, they serve God with a grateful heart. This group doesn’t expect anything from God, they’re just grateful for being considered His child.
This group doesn’t TELL God what He’s to do for them; they ask Him what He wants them to do for Him. Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they ask Him for His protection but leave the outcome to His discretion. This group doesn’t envy what they’re neighbour has, but rather they’re grateful that God has blessed them. This group doesn’t think it’s special, but rather is amazed that God might consider them worthy to serve Him. Moses’ response to God was “who am I?” David’s response to Saul re marrying his daughter was, “who am I?”
This group makes judgments based on their heart relationship with God (it talks it over with God and waits on Him), and not just on whether a person has done good or bad.
FEAR
This group has to face fear from the first group. Like the Pharisees who intimidated the parents of the man born blind in John 9, the first group uses its power to keep you in its group, and if you want to be in the second group you will have to face the fear of what the 1st group thinks.
This second group takes correction when it’s wrong, and doesn’t stand defiantly when it’s mis-judged for doing wrong when it didn’t. It takes its concerns to God; it doesn’t react with a mood.
Conclusion
- If you love God you serve Him. If you love yourself you get God to serve you by being good.
- If you love being important then you’re in the first group.
- If you judge people based on right or wrong/ good & bad, you’re in the 1st group.
- If you worry whether someone is doing it right or wrong, then you’re under the influence of the spirit of anti-christ.
- If you disrespect or question your husband, father or pastor then you’re in the first group.
- If you think you are good, then you are god, and you’ve taken the bait of self-importance from the spirit of anti-christ.
- If you think you are special, then you’ve taken the bait of the spirit of anti-christ.
- If you have a mood because it’s not working out the way you want then you are under the influence of the spirit of Satan. Holy Spirit does NOT react that way.
- The real reason you’re in the first group is that you’re too arrogant/stubborn and too fearful to change.
- Everyone’s born to be a somebody, but you won’t find God till you’re a nobody.
You can change groups. In fact, it’s essential that you do. The first group will never find salvation no matter how much they learn about Christ; they’re the tares. Everyone is born in love with themselves; that’s the influence of Satan, but you have to wake up to yourself if you want to change groups. It just takes a revelation that you are the one who is acting and trapped in group one, and the courage to face your fears of what people might think, and swap groups.
May God open the eyes of His remnant.
Pastor Jim Desmond
www.e-preacher.org 