Indices of False Spirituality

Purpose Media Productions

Indices of False Spirituality

When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, harkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do… And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the na fewme of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shall not be afraid of him. Deut. 18:9-14, 17-22.

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So that thou shalt put the evil away from the midst of thee… Deut. 13:1-5.

The passages under consideration warns of the possibility and dangers of false spirituality or in other words, pagan cult spiritism. It is fearful to note that it is possible to presume (assume) to speak in the name of the Lord but be speaking for other gods. In both cases, the end is death since ignorance is not an excuse. In the first passage, Moses gave the people the prophecy of a coming prophet like himself. Why is this significant. Moses was a lawgiver who ushered the nation into their identity as a chosen and peculiar nation. Anyone who failed to listen to Moses was liable to death. Jesus Christ is the greater Moses. He is the promised Prophet that gives the law of Grace. Anyone who fails to listen to Him is also worthy of eternal death. He ushered in Himself, the church, the community of God. Now it was after this that it was said that a prophet who presumes to speak in the name of the Lord should be put to death. It means that revelations, visions or dreams that does not point to Christ or does not revolve around Christ and magnify the gospel is false. The second passage also warns just like the first that even if the prophet shows signs and wonders, but asks that the people follow a strange god, the same fate awaits him. The emphasis of turning away from God is a turning from the redemptive acts of God by which the true God is revealed in the law. Isaiah would always borrow from this term to refer to the Lord as the Redeemer of Israel. A spirituality that does not revolve around the redemptive act of God through Christ and the gospel is a lure after strange gods.
Where many youths have been misled is in their mad quest for manifestation of the Holy Spirit apart from Christ in tongues, visions and prophetic utterances of “Thus says the Lord.” One is not advocating that these things are in themselves wrong but they are not the evidences of spirituality. Do you even read your Bible that tongues is the least of all gifts? In the Apostolic teaching, he made it clear that a teacher is in a superior office than he who works miracles. 1 Cor. 12:28-30. It is a concern that youths cannot endure sound teaching (not motivational/ dramatized and eloquent speeches) that exalts Christ and speaks of His marvelous Grace of redemption. It is then the gifts of tongues, visions and utterances can find their proper place. But when the cart is put before the horse, there is bound to be trouble. Are you spiritual? Have you received and believed the gospel? Are you presently obedient to the gospel?

© Purpose Media Publications, 2020