I have read loads of books about spiritual warfare - but I must admit I have not heard much teaching in the church about it either- personally when a person comes to faith I think it is the first thing they should be instructed in, I had no idea. Along with that should be ' how to put on the armour ' and to consistently read Ephesians chapter six.
We should always take a step back when things are said to us ' hold every thought captive to the Lord ' , so many of our responses and reactions are on impulse. I have messed up big time in forum life in the past, and it's still easy sometimes to ' react ' x
I do sometimes think that some of it is our personalities as well, sometimes Satan doesn't actually have to be involved in creating issues and problems, it happens without any of his Imput.
Rita
I thought the same thing - and I too have read a number of books on spiritual warfare. Can I ask you what book that you thought was the best? I've been searching for another one . I was left on my own to muddle through the attacks. It was very difficult - I didn't know anything about that part of the Christian faith and I think it's dangerous to not know about it. Pastor Bubeck said that some of the worst suffering that he's seen has been in believers plagued by Satan. I bumped into a neighbor who was a Christian back then when I was a new believer and we got to talking and I thank God that she was more honest than most and shared her struggles; she recommended the book "The Adversary" and that described some of the struggles that I was having. It was such a relief to finally understand what had hit me. But I was so disappointed that no one bothered to come up beside me as a new believer but this is something that I plan to do. I like the saying by Gandhi: "Be the change you want to see in the world." I had been raised Catholic and that's all I knew. I was literally left on my own to read and study the bible. I was misled early on and took all the pamphlets that I had gotten from radio and TV preachers of the "name it and claim it" hucksters and burned it in the wood stove.
So God began me on my journey of listening only to Him and not elevating a pastor above what God wanted to teach me in His Word because it's mans interpretation. It was a difficult process and I'm not saying that I never listen to sermons - I do - but back then I had been deceived. So it was treacherous to step my way through the land mines of false teaching. Thus I cam to rely on God alone leading me. I still make mistakes but I know to go deep into the spirit at times to sense what is really going on in a situation. And at times He will bring a verse to mind applicable to a situation that helps me.
Someone asked me about my taking a different position than several other believers on an issue in this forum but I have learned to trust God alone and not to be swayed by the crowd. I followed the crowd early on and they led me down the wrong paths. I believe that those painful early experiences in my walk galvanized me to never want to be misled again because I was greatly misled. When I walked through the fire of satanic attacks and false teaching I finally developed a close relationship with God and I came to trust my own spirit - His spirit - that He placed within me when I was spiritually regenerated.
Often there are believers that are misguided themselves who lack discernment and point the finger at another whose position they disagree with. We know from Scripture that Christ didn't follow the crowd. Often He had to go
directly against the crowd. We should
never judge truth or a certain position because the crowd follows it, as evidenced in the following Scriptures:
Matthew 7:13
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide
is the gate, and broad
is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:”
Matthew 15:14
“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
After that I went solely on my own. I only knew two Christians and they were into the Pentecostal church. Some believers fit into that church - but rolling in the aisle and speaking in tongues out loud didn't fit with my quieter nature. It was too much emotion and too little Scripture. So I was left on my own and determined to use my own instincts - or
spirit to sense truth and error. I studied the bible and bought a lot of Christian literature. I guess in one way it was good in that God allowed it all, and when I look through the eyes of my faith I think that God may have possibly wanted me on my own because I wasn't indoctrinated with any diverse theology that is from
another Jesus or spirit as in Corinthians:
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or
if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with
him. 2 Corinthians 11:4
I really think that a primer on spiritual attacks should be included with every salvation booklet.
You're right in that sometimes our reactions in the flesh come out when we respond to another's goading who has a spirit not of God giving them the
compulsion to goad.
I find it's when we're tired, not feeling up to par, or otherwise at a distracted moment that Satan can use that to have us react in the flesh instead of exercising our senses to perceive evil spirits at work in another believer. I was told that I have the gift of discernment but I have not understood how to use it to help the church yet since our church doesn't get into that; I want to learn how I'm supposed to use it to benefit the church so I'm going to read up on it. But as it stands I can sometimes perceive when another spirit other than that of God is at work in a person and on a forum and this verse came to mind yesterday as I prayed about a situation:
When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for
there are seven abominations in his heart. Proverbs 26:25
I'm sure everyone has had the experience of the Holy Spirit bringing a verse to mind at a specific time, and that happened to me yesterday as I dealt with an issue. I'm of the belief that a Christian can have a demon and a person inhabited by a demon will often attack someone in the deliverance ministry or who has the gift of discernment and not know why they're even doing it. You can often recognize the earmarks of this when we see someone heckling, inciting, goading, baiting, or taunting another in their posts or in person and I've witnessed it on here.
We have to be careful that we don't point the finger at the one
reacting because it's doing them an injustice. For instance, it would be unwise to advise someone to turn the other cheek if an individual was was becoming aggressive to the point of causing one to feel unsafe or otherwise threatened. The sinner should be stopped from that type of behavior; we should not admonish the victim of this type of abuse. That is just wrong and twisted. In psychology it's called "blame the victim." We have to look at where a problem is
originating and with whom. As an analogy I recall the principal in our local school telling me that often a teacher would send a child down to the office, yet upon questioning he learned that the child only
reacted to abuse, the problem didn't
originate with him, it originated with another child who was goading and instigating. Usually when you deal with an individual who does this they'll play the innocent and claim that
you are taking it wrong, or they'll find a way to twist it so as to blame
you when you did no wrong and your conscience is clear before God except for the fact that you knew that you could react better but the lions share of the problem should be on the perpetrator.
We had very twisted neighbors one time who got off on instigating. They would laugh and tell us about a couple they were friends with. "Bob" our neighbor, told us he would get his friend aside and say: "Hey Jimmy I saw Carla talking to another guy at the bar when you went to the bathroom." They said when they got back to the hotel they could hear thuds, bangs, and screams coming from the next room where their friends were. They laughed when they told us that Jimmy beat Carla and they'd hear Carla scream: "NO JIMMY! NO!" And they'd hear Jimmy beat her up again. It was pretty sick but showed me a clear example of subtle instigators and how they operate. You would do Carla a grave injustice by admonishing her to turn the other cheek when the right thing to do would be to counsel her to walk away from the entire bunch.
I recall Dear Abby saying years ago that you don't turn the other cheek if the first one is black and blue. I believe there is wisdom in that and every believer has to hammer out how they interpret Scripture and when and how to apply it.
I believe that the Holy Spirit gives some the gift of
discernment but that all Christians may be able to perceive it by the earmarks. Sometimes it bears a resemblance to the way the girl possessed with a spirit of divination would not stop following Paul in Acts 16:16. We even see the apostle Paul reacting with annoyance:
"And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her."