Fake Speech And False Spirits

Have you ever witnessed a conversation or circumstance, involving someone you felt to be a believer, that left you confused and in a state of bewilderment? If you find yourself in a quandary like this, it is because you have just witnessed a false spirit or the nature of sin having its way through someone who is deeply troubled by it.

When confronted about their behavior, those who confess their transgression, and acknowledge their struggle with it, must be dealt with patiently and with much grace and prayer, (forgiving them seventy times seven); for it is by God's Spirit they confess.

Others, however, refuse to even acknowledge their bizarre behavior, yet in an to attempt to appease your obvious disheveled state (while hoping to justify their actions), they will excuse their actions and redirect your focus from it in one, or a combination of two, different ways.

1. Being aggressive, twisting truth and speaking with exasperation, they defend themselves adamantly so that it causes you to cower, leaving you to doubt that you judged correctly. You come away feeling guilty for even addressing them for what you witnessed.

2. Being passive, by false explanations and rationalizations, they desire you to compromise your own holiness, striving to win your affections by befriending you.

There are a myriad of reasons for the presence of such a spirit, but the root of it is fear; that is, the lack of perfect love. (1 John 4:18)

The church should never disregard such a person. Maintaining peace without Biblical accountability, for the sake of avoiding confrontation accomplishes nothing more than our own human comfort. It affords the troublemakers the freedom to continue disrupting the peace because they have experienced previous confrontations that were never brought to a point of consequence, though it is this very thing they themselves ultimately pursue. Their actions are immature and rebellious, displaying no evidence of the Holy Spirit within.

However, after being given corrections and opportunities to recognize, confess, and repent of the spirit of rebellion, yet remaining defiant, the final act must be enforced:

"Reject a divisive person after one or two warnings. You know that such a person is twisted by sin and is conscious of it himself." (Titus 3:10,11 The Net Bible)

PJR