Witchcraft Versus the Holy Spirit
As I had been praying this week, there was really not one thing in my spirit I knew that God wanted me to write, but as I kept praying, one thing after another started coming up. And that is when you continue to pray, until you know what God wants. I kept hearing in my spirit this exact thing - 'witchcraft versus the Holy Spirit'. So I believe that God wants me to share a few things with you, because I am interested in overcoming in my life whatever there is that needs to be overcome.
In Galatians 5:17, it is talking about the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh and how they are contrary one to the other. And if you continue on, you will see a whole list of works of the flesh, and witchcraft is one of them. And God is the only One who can lead you to overcome these works of the flesh in your life. I have had many of them in my life to overcome, and by the mercy and grace of God I am, because I am determined to see the kindgom of God (the power of God) manifested in its fulness. I may be the most bound person there is, but one thing I am confident of is the One who was raised from the dead overcame every single one of these spirits, and by the grace of God I will too.
Years back I would have never believed that a born-again, spirit-filled - one speaking in other tongues, water baptized person could walk in witchcraft, because first of all I believed witchcraft was only in people in Africa, and surely not here. But that was a lie that I heard and believed. And secondly, that a so-called Christian could walk in something that was of the devil. I had heard and believed lies that were spoken to me out of preacher's mouths that if you were born-again you were a new creature and all things were new and old things had passed away. But after I was born-again, water baptized and then years later after receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit, I could see that not all things in me were new. And as I learned out of this apostle's ministry not to take one verse out of context, but to read it in its entirety, I could see in II Corinthians 5:14-17 (not just verse 17), that old things pass away and all things become new when we are living after the resurrected Christ and know no man, not even Jesus, after the flesh.
After reading in Galatians 3 where Paul was talking to the churches of Galatia who had been bewitched because they did not obey the truth, the gospel, and had begun in the Spirit but were now trying to be made perfect in the flesh, if I was honest with myself and could read fifth grade writing, I had to acknowledge that that absolutely could be so. And on the contrary, a person walking in the Spirit being led by the Spirit of God is one that is walking by faith. And Jesus said that the just shall live by faith. And as it states in Galatians 3:3, "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" And the answer is definitely 'no', because those in the flesh cannot please God.
I have had my share of witchcraft to overcome, and only God knows how much more there is for me to overcome in my life because I was raised in witchcraft, even though we went to church every Sunday morning and were fairly 'decent' people - which had absolutely nothing to do with it!! And then after I was born-again at the age of 14 and a few years later was baptized in water and then in 1985 I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, I was still walking in and bound by witchcraft, because old things did not pass away after these events took place in my life.
Plus all of these ministries and preachers I had been around and other people I had listened to, ministered and taught by this same spirit (witchcraft), because they were men and women walking in the flesh. And I thought these preachers I listened to were men of God, and I exalted them as men of God and I believed their lies. (I should have been exalting Jesus.) And back in the 70's, as I have stated before, Howard Conatser and Larry Lea were two of these men. And while I was attending their churches and thinking they were men of God, they were trying to destroy Doyle Davidson, a man who God called as an apostle, for preaching the gospel. I didn't even know apostle's existed, except in the bible, and even then I knew nothing about them. So I was definitely blind, ignorant and stupid, and in unbelief, because that is the first one God has set in the church. And you may be saying, "you were really wicked." And I wouldn't disagree with you at all. But I would ask you this, because it just came up in my spirit, "Did you know an apostle back then, and who were you listening to and following?"
After coming to Water of Life and hearing Doyle for the first time or so read the Word of God, I said, "All this man is doing is reading the Word, just as it is written." And that day God started taking the blinders off my eyes. And I told JR that I was not going back to Church on the Rock any more, and he said, "Well, I don't know about that." But I said, "I'm not." I didn't care if it was rebellion in me, or anything else, I just knew I was not going back there. And I will say right here that it was the mercy and grace of God upon our lives to bring us to this ministry, because He could have left us there. And I am not going to sit here and lie to you and tell you that everything Doyle has said and taught by the Spirit my heart and soul just readily accepted, because that has not been the case. Things in my soul have resisted him, no doubt.
And all the lies and the false foundations that had been laid in my heart, by these false teachers, have had to be pulled down, thrown down, and destroyed, so that a true foundation could be built, and that foundation is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And an apostle and prophet is the only one who does this in a person's life. God ordained it that way.
And after learning how to read, and being instructed by an apostle, it was pointed out to me in Romans 8 that you put to death the deed (works) of the flesh through the Spirit. And you don't overcome them in one day, because you didn't get bound with them in one day. And I was also taught, and experienced, that it would take having devils cast out of me, and strongholds pulled down in my heart, as well as much praying, fasting, and reading the Word of God out loud by mixing faith with the gospel to overcome these spirits in my life. (Read Jeremiah 23 about God's word being a fire and a hammer.) And I have found that to be exactly true and exactly how it has worked in my life. And no, I have not arrived, but I am daily pressing forward.
But getting back to these preachers, they obviously didn't even know what the gospel was, because they didn't preach it to me. And as it says in Romans 10:14-15, "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed (or believed) the gospel...." As a matter of fact, if you are honest, if God had sent these preachers they would have been preaching the gospel, and there would have been changes taking place in the heart of God's people. But this was not happening, at least not in my life. So they hindered me from walking in this gospel and they opposed the gospel themselves. And anything in my life or your life that has not been the gospel has brought curses on us.
Paul said in Galatians 1:6 that he marveled that the people at the church of Galatia had been so soon removed from him that had called them into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another. And then Paul goes on to say that if you preach any other gospel than that which you received, you are accursed. But thank God that Jesus was made a curse for us, because it is written, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Galatians 3:13-14.) And you can read the previous verses and see that it is talking about the gospel and the law.
In John 1:17 it states that the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And Jesus nailed the law to the cross 2000 years ago. And yet I was raised under the law (and the ten commandments are a part of the law) because we obviously couldn't read and we didn't believe the gospel. And then these preachers I was around taught the law. But in Galatians 5:18 it says that if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. They obviously couldn't read well either, or if they could, they didn't believe what they read. Because Jesus said that the just shall live by faith, and the law is not of faith. And faith comes by hearing that Jesus died, He was buried, and He rose again the third day, which is the gospel - not 'thou shalt not'. I came to see, and had to acknowledge that they spoke and ministered by the wrong spirit. And that spirit was witchcraft, and it bound me up.
And as long as I have been with this ministry, I have heard Doyle tell us that if you cannot admit and acknowledge where you've been and who you've listened to and liked, it's because those spirits still have you bound. And you will never start overcoming them until you do. Because God will hold every person responsible for what they have been involved in and the lies they have believed.
Anyway, these preachers would also say 'God said', when in fact God had not spoken at all. So they lied in Jesus name - they walked in flattering divination. And that was a real eye-opener for me to see that a so-called Christian could go around using God's name in vain. One of the ten commandments is 'thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain'. And I always thought that that meant cursing with God's name. Then the first time I heard Doyle say by the Spirit of God that taking the Lord's name in vain was saying 'God said', when in fact He never spoke, I was amazed. Which opened my eyes to see that two people could be speaking the same thing and they both sound like God, but one would not be God speaking through that person, which would be the wrong spirit (a lie), and the other would be by the Spirit of God, which would be truth.
In Jeremiah 14:14 God said that these prophets prophesied lies in His name, and He didn't send them nor command them not speak to them. Yet they prophesied a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their own heart. So I saw that if you went around saying 'God said' and it wasn't God that said it, then God said you were a liar, and it was divination (witchcraft) operating in you. You can also read the whole chapter of Ezekiel 13. And witchcraft opposes the Spirit of God. And those that walk in the flesh (that walk in witchcraft) persecute those who walk in the Spirit - Galatians 4. And the Holy Spirit never lies - He is the Spirit of truth. And when He speaks (out of a person's mouth) it will always be true. I am reminded of a scripture in John 3:21, which is talking about those that do truth, come to the light, that their deeds may be manifest that they are worked in God. So if you are walking in truth - your works (deeds) will be made known that they are of God.
I have had the Spirit of God speak many things to me over the past several years. But you know, not until they are fully manifested will I have 100% proof that it was the Spirit of God that spoke them to me. Because the proof is in the results, or manifestations. I have never departed from believing that God spoke these things to me, but I have humbled myself and said, "Lord, if that wasn't you that spoke to me, then you had better tell me, because I surely believed it was the voice of God." And just because it didn't come to pass after a certain time-frame, I didn't (and haven't) quit believing Him. He has yet to tell me that it wasn't Him that spoke to me. But a person who believes the gospel will trust in it, rely on it, and adhere to it to perform everything in their life and about their life that they believe God has said to them. And if it is the Spirit of God in you, it will surely come to pass every time.
I have been reminding God that He is the judge of the whole earth and He will do right in every situation as I believe Him. Jesus said He committed to Him that judges righteously, and He is our example. That is a hard thing for the soul to do, and mine is no exception. And I have been at this place more than once in some situations in my life, and really I am now, where I commit to the One who judges righteously. But one thing I know about Him, He will do right. And one thing I know He will do, is manifest the fulness of the blessing of the gospel in my life and yours, if we will believe Him. And that is what I am after - complete soundness in my spirit, body and soul.
As I was reading the Psalms today, the Lord fixed my eyes on a scripture in Psalm 119. I have read it thousands of times, but when God fixes your eyes on something, it is like you never read it before. But it was talking about that if your heart is sound (without blemish or spot, complete, or upright) in His statues, you will not be ashamed. Amen.
