THE DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS
By D. M. PANTON, B.A.
It is vital
to the modern situation to grasp the fact that an evil spirit can fall on a
Christian, on a truly regenerate man or woman. This has reached us from a godly and
experienced missionary:- “On the first day
of classes a dear Christian woman in this
DISCERNMENT
A single such fact establishes once for all the
fearful truth that an evil spirit can fall on a regenerate person; and while a
grossly evil demon (as in this case) has merely to be fought, not unmasked, it
is obvious that a subtle, seductive spirit, which deceives by simulating all
good, can equally fall on a child of God.
Paul names such spirits (2 Cor. 11: 13):-
“false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning
themselves into apostles of Christ
and no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into AN ANGEL OF LIGHT.” Deception is far more dangerous than
open attack. An evil spirit whom Paul cast out
gave unqualified support to the Gospel:- “These
men are servants of the Most High God, which proclaim unto you the way of
salvation” (Acts 16: 17). So constant is the peril even within the
THE INSPIRED
But
now we are confronted with the tremendous fact which constitutes a danger no
less tremendous, namely, that, devoid as we are of miraculous gifts, we have no
‘discernings of spirits’ to
safeguard us: correspondingly precious, therefore, are two divinely given
discriminations for analyzing visitors from the unseen world. Since it is not merely gross, crude
demonism with which we have to do, we must also learn how to unmask spirits of
the utmost subtilty; and therefore the Scripture says:- “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether
they be of God” (1 John 4: 1).
Paul in giving one first, carefully lays down the limits of those to be
so tested. “Now concerning THE
INSPIRED,* brethren, I would not have you
ignorant” (1 Cor. 12:1). For he reveals the danger. The Greeks and the Romans conceived of
‘divine’ spirits, gods, who
communicated: Theosophy has its ‘mahatmas’,
sages from the other world: modern Spiritualism has its ‘saints’ who, supposed to be dead men, entrance
the medium. All such are ‘seductive’ spirits. “Ye know
that when ye were Gentiles ye were led away” - led about, led at will, blindly transported hither and
thither (Alford) - “unto those dumb idols, howsoever” - for Satanic
deceptions assume countless forms - “ye might be
led.” Similarly our
Lord warns us of ‘false prophets’, who come ‘in sheep's clothing’ - that is, in all apparent Christian life and doctrine
- “but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
[*
The context: “no man
saith” implies that the
gifted are in question, not the gifts, and that it is a discrimination of
persons and not of gifts. Impersonal gifts can neither confess
Christ Lord nor pronounce Him anathema.
“Most modern critics decide for this
sense” (Godet).]
THE FIRST TEST
So
Paul now discloses an explicit test for a man or a woman who is manifestly
inspired, or on whom a spirit has fallen, and a test for such alone. “Wherefore” - because you have hitherto been
ignorant of spirit deception - “I give you to
understand” - as a new revelation – “that no man speaking in the Spirit of God”* ‑
that is, no man on whom the Holy Ghost has miraculously fallen - “saith, Jesus is anathema;** and
no man” - that is, no inspired man - “can say, JESUS is LORD, but in
the Holy Spirit.” In the
application of the test, therefore, two conditions are vital: - (1) proofs of
supernatural working, such as ‘tongues,’
must be present, for the test is
strictly confined to the ‘inspired’;
and (2): beyond everything it is vital that the exact words, and no other, be
insisted on - namely, Jesus is Lord.
[*
“‘In the
Spirit’: the phrase is a Hebrew one to
describe inspiration”
(Dean Farrar).
**
The Ophites, or serpent-worshippers
- Origen tells us - made it a
condition of fellowship (before the end of the first century) that the
candidate should ‘curse Jesus’.]
THE SECOND TEST
It is the Apostle John who gives the second test; and
this test is not confined to the inspired, but is priceless as a discrimination
even for visiting angels; “for even
Satan turneth himself into an angel of light,” and an
‘angel of light’ may appear to us
who in fact is an angel of darkness:- “Beloved, prove” - challenge, analyze,
discriminate - “THE SPIRITS, whether they
are of God”; for a visitor from the unseen might be from God. Once
again the test turns solely on Christ.
“Hereby know ye [recognize ye] the Spirit of God” - for He submits to His own
test, and is on earth to proclaim this very truth that the Messiah has come to
earth in flesh: “every spirit which confesseth” - that is, responds to the
‘proof’ to which he is put - “that JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH is of
God; and every spirit which confesseth not Jesus [thus] is not of God” (1
John 4: 2). It is of supreme
importance to keep all the time to the fore that both these tests are in no sense whatever tests for the person
whom the spirit controls; and therefore, as was our Lord's constant habit, the
possessing spirit is to be addressed directly, to the complete ignoring of the
person he controls.
AN ENGLISH CASE
Some
recent cases will show the obstinate refusal of evil spirits to meet the test.* Dr.
Williarn. McAlpine, a medical man, says (Prophetic
News,): “One day, at eight 0’clock in
the morning, I was called to see a brilliant University girl of twenty-eight. I knew her well. She had a fine appearance. When I arrived her father took me up to
her room where she was lying, as white as death, with her hands together. She said: ‘Doctor, have you come at last to save me?’ I leaned against the bedroom door, and looked at
her. Remembering John, first epistle, chapter 4, verses 1-4, I applied the test for the spirits, the confession that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
She cried out, ‘Doctor, they
won't let me say it!’
The demon in possession
said, ‘Dr. William McAlpine, you kneel
before me!’ My reply was, ‘By the blood of
Christ and the victory of
[*
It is a mystery to us why the tests should be put to spirits who have already
revealed themselves as cruel and savage demons; but these cases will at least
illustrate the obstinate refusal of evil spirits to meet the challenge.]
AN AMERICAN CASE
Dr. Louis R. Patmont records (Defender,
October 1935) another case. “In the fall of 1934 the writer was in a Bible Conference in
the city of
A CHINESE CASE
Mr. Ernest Weller, from Lansdowne Hall, reports, in January of this
year, [1936] a
graphic case from Honan, China. He
writes: “During the meetings one spirit,
professing to be the Holy Spirit speaking in song through one of the
Girls’ teachers, was challenged by Pastor
Wang according to 1 John 4: 1‑3. It evaded the
question again and again, until on being pressed for a direct acknowledgment
that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, a repeated and emphatic denial was
given, after which the girl gave a groan and the spirit ceased to speak by
her. The girl afterwards said that
she had understood the question repeatedly put to her and had wanted to reply
Yes, but that the repeated No, No, No,
was forced from her lips by a power outside herself. Another woman under the
‘power’ broke out into curses when the onlookers were waiting for
some prophetic utterance from her.
And yet another of whom we have not the least doubt that she is a born
again soul, started singing under the ‘power’, first in
monosyllables, which, however, presently changed
to words from an obscene Chinese theatrical play. Yet in spite of these and other
evidences, those obsessed with this
movement, while at last acknowledging its tendencies, seem either unwilling or
unable to recognize the source from which it comes. Pastor
Wang, whose eyes were only fully opened after the testing of the spirit already
referred to, was practically compelled
to resign the pastorate because of his changed attitude.”
UNTESTED SPIRITS
Thus
these two explicitly commanded tests reveal a body of errors of a most
dangerous kind. Such errors are these:
Since I am a believer, no evil spirit can fall on me; if I ask for the
miraculous, prayer and prayer alone is sufficient to ensure that what I shall
receive is from God; the upholding of Gospel and other truths proves the
supernatural to be from God; if the gifted person is holy, his miraculous gift
is divine; other tests without these two are sufficient:- all these assumptions are directly negatived by Scripture and have
misled thousands down all the Christian ages. No authenticated case of response to these
tests, with public references and proofs, has yet been given to the Church of
Christ.* “We state the grave fact,”
says a collective utterance of German
pastors (1908), “that in the late Tongues
movement in Cassel and other places, well‑known
Christians have got a gift of prophecy and tongues that was not from the
Holy Ghost. We must say that we missed in a highly deplorable measure
the trying of the spirits, as the Word of God orders, and we confess this
deficiency as guilt and blame falling on us, as on wide spheres of the
Christian Church.”
[* Modern
Tongues movements accept their miraculous as self-proved as Divine because supernatural - in which case
John should have said, Believe every spirit which reveals itself
supernaturally: ultra-dispensationalism
regards all miracle as now so foreign to the Church as to be self‑proved as demonic - in
which case John should have said, Believe no spirit: what the Scripture does
say is, “Believe NOT EVERY spirit,” but discriminate among them by the provided test.]
SEDUCTIVE SPIRITS
For
it cannot be repeated too often that the great departure from the Faith which
is coming is to be created by Christians “giving
heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons speaking hypocritically”
(1 Tim. 4: 1). One vast demonic movement, Montanism, which entrapped even Tertullian, he thus describes in its
origin:‑ “There is at present a sister
amongst us who has obtained the gift of revelations, which she receives in the
congregation by ecstasy in the Spirit, and who has converse with angels,
sometimes even with the Lord.” So it is to-day. “It is of
the last importance,” in the words of Mr. G. H. Pember, “that the full
meaning of this declaration (1 Cor. 12: 1-3) should be understood by the believers of our days. For again demoniacal manifestations are
multiplying among us, and that with a subtlety sufficient to deceive anyone who
neglects to apply the prescribed tests.” So also the apparitions at
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FOOTNOTES.
SPIRITUALISM
“Ten thousand persons,” says Forbes Winslow, M.D., a medical
specialist, “are confined in lunatic asylums on account of having tampered with the
supernatural.”
MEDIUMSHIP
The
Christian explanation of modern spiritism – namely, real intercourse, but the muddled and muddied intelligence of
personating deamons at the other end – is perfect.
‘There is no doubt whatever,’ says Professor C. Board,
(Spectator, Dec. 6, 1935) Professor of Moral Philosophy in the
University of Cambridge, ‘that good
trance-mediums display knowledge of incidents in the lives of dead and living
persons which cannot have been acquired normally and is too detailed to be
explained by chance coincidence. It
is difficult to resist the conviction that the spirit of a dead man has
survived and is communicating. But
if we consider the mass of irrelevance, error, ignorance and twaddle in which
these gems are imbedded, it is equally difficult to believe anything of the
kind.’
POSSESSION
An
extraordinarily important fact, which we have never seen stated, is that Scripture and reason and experience all
affirm that no spirit can fall upon a man, or enter a man, with the Divine
sanction, except the Holy Spirit.
No good angel or dead saint has ever ‘possessed’, or ever
permitted to ‘possess’, a living personality which the Creator has
made sacred to its possessor.
External contact is another matter.
Only the Holy Ghost, who as the maker of the personality can alone
handle it with the safety of perfect knowledge and perfect love, is authorized
to fall on the human: if, therefore, a spirit falls on a man, it is either
the Holy Ghost or an evil spirit who thus defies
the authority of God and endangers the organism he invades.
INTERCOURSE
The
rashness of Christians on the supernatural can be overwhelming. While the Church of Rome has said officially (Resp. S. Officii, April
24, 1917) that “it is unlawful to assist at any
spiritual utterances or manifestations whatever, whether through a medium or
without one,” yet – as Father
Herbert Thurston has said, backed by Episcopal authority – “The Church has never condemned the investigation of physical
phenomena for a serious scientific purpose.” Exactly so also the Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops in 1920, reporting an
physical research, said:- “We welcome inquiry
conducted in a reverent and scrupulous spirit.” Still more astonishing, the Inchowfu Local Council and Shantung
Presbyterian
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