Discerning Religious Spirit

Until recently, my understanding of the concept of religious spirit was limited to the traditional definition linking it with legalism or Pharisee spirit. To the extent that it prevents men from having a right and productive relationship with God, legalism could be a manifestation of religious spirit. However, the core of this article goes beyond mere legalism, the traditional definition favoured by Christian groups and ministries.

          For instance, Curt Landry Ministries (www.curtlandry.com) defines religious spirit as “a type of demonic spirit that influences a person, or group of people, to replace a genuine relationship with God with works and traditions, through non-Biblical beliefs and customs.” On its part, Great Bible Study (www.greatbiblestudies.com) defines it as “a demon that wages war against the grace of God in our lives and acceptance of Jesus’ work as true fulfilment of God’s covenant between God and man.”

       While both definitions are correct to an extent, they fail to capture the current situation in institutional churches. They also fail to capture the nature of the deception of satan and his demons when they operate as angels of light. If we understand the true nature of the spirit of religion, we would appreciate the full weight of 1 Timothy 4:1, “The Spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” It is clear that the Holy Spirit was not warning us about the Pharisee spirit. When the Lord Jesus Christ needed to condemn their teachings, He called them by name in Mathew 16:6, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” The disciples later understood that He was asking them to beware of the doctrine of the two groups (Mathew 16:12).

So what is a religious spirit within the context of the current situation in the church? My understanding is that a religious spirit seeks to mimic the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. This is obvious from the plethora of fake prophecies, visions, and “Heavenly Tourism” posted on social media platforms, especially Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The sad thing is that many Christians have refused to use their spiritual filter, the Holy Bible to shoot down these patent lies.

        How does the spirit of religion operate? Of course, satan is too smart to attempt to deceive Christians through “Non-Biblical customs and beliefs.” So, he takes Scripture out of context and presents that as “truth”. For instance, 1 John 4:8 says that God is love. While this is true, it is not a complete picture of who God is. Only a person can tell the truth about himself. God gave us a pen picture of Himself in Exodus 34:5-7, “And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and fourth generation.”  

God gave a similar revelation about Himself to Jeremiah in chapter 9 verses 23 to 24 of his book: “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

The perverted gospel known as “hyper-grace” presents another “God” who is so love-struck that he cannot punish the sinner. Some of the proponents of this false gospel also condemn Biblical repentance, while others insist that God is ‘too loving’ to send anyone to hell. One of them, an American ‘evangelist’ told unbelievers he was ministering to that the sins they committed was not their fault. He explained that they engaged in such things because “they were hurting”. In essence, there was no need for them to repent of their sins!

          Yet, when Jews who were convicted by the message Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Peter did not tell them that God did not expect them to do anything because they sinned unwittingly. He said, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Even the Lord Jesus Christ started His ministry with an admonition to the people to repent of their sin (Mathew 4:17). This was the same thing John the Baptist did (Mathew 3:2). In Luke 5:32, the Lord Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” He also told His followers to proclaim “repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name to all the nations (Luke 24:47).

         Because the enemy knows that God will not change His nature or requirement for salvation to accommodate our nuances, he (satan) is doing everything possible to deceive people into believing that they do not need to repent of their sins. He portrays God as a “grandfather” who dotes on his grandchildren and would not do anything to discipline them. In this what Scripture says about God? Hebrews 6:5-6 state: “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, And scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” Those promoting the doctrine of devils that God loves us too much to discipline us or demand that we stop sinning obviously read another Bible!

         Another lynchpin of religious spirit is the idea that hell is just symbolic. This group of deceived ‘Christians’ insist that God cannot send any one to hell because He is a God of love. In effect, they call Jesus Christ the Son of the living God a liar. The Lord spoke more about hell than any other preacher or prophet in the Bible. What is satan’s intention in making light of this serious matter? Your guess is as good as mine is!

        The most insidious of the lies propagated by religious spirits or demons is that humans are gods. The deception, which was initially limited to the New Age crowd, has gradually filtered into the mainstream of Christendom. One of the ‘churches’ I attended in Abuja holds the view that believers are gods and that they also possess the three attributes of Almighty God – omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. Of course, they twist Scriptures to justify their claims, especially Psalm 82. Anyone who reads that Psalm with eyes clear of demonic influence will readily understand that the ‘gods’ mentioned in verses 1 and 6 do not refer to humans. Verses 6 and 7 are self-explanatory: “I have said, Ye are gods; and a;; of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” If these ‘gods’ were humans, why would they have to die like men?

        “Heavenly Tourism” or purported trips to heaven are also reinforcing operations of religious spirits. Videos abound on social media in which some believers and unbelievers claimed to have been taken to heaven or hell by angels, or that they visited these places on their own in what is known as Near Death Experience (NDE). These visitations have painted rather conflicting pictures about the nature of God, Jesus’ atonement and the requirement for repentance as a prerequisite for God’s forgiveness/salvation. Some of the people who reportedly visited heaven returned to their former life of occult practice and other false religions. Some of them claimed that God did not expect anything from them in terms of their sinful nature; and that He accepts everyone regardless of their sins. There are also conflicting claims about whom they met in heaven or hell. In particular, an American ‘seer’ who claimed to have visited heaven countless number of times, told a popular preacher that she saw his son who had committed suicide in heaven.

         Romans 3:4 declares “Let God be true and everyman a liar.” In the same vein, the Lord Jesus said in John 10:35, “The Scripture cannot be broken”. This means that God’s word is immutable, indestructible and sacrosanct, regardless of what fallen men may say or try to add or subtract from it. God places a demand on humans to repent to receive mercy for their sins. God also places a demand on us to believe in the atonement of Christ to receive eternal life. Believing the gospel is not however the end of the process. We still need to be transformed from the inside in the power of the Holy Spirit.

         What the spirit of religion does is to cause us to seek redemption through other means – works, doctrines of demons, including occult and New Age practices. The enemy will never promote self-denial or mortification of the flesh. That is why most of the polluted denominations emphasise self-actualisation. There is nothing wrong with being successful in life; but that is not a measure of spirituality. As believers, we are not to put self on a pedestal but to crucify it or deny it its desires. We are specifically called to be led by the Spirit of God. Romans 8:14 is emphatic that only those that are led by the Holy Spirit are sons of God.

          How can we discern religious spirits? According to 1 John 5:7-8,  “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in the earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” Therefore, anyone who ignores the role of any member of the Godhead is preaching a false gospel; and is under control of religious demons. Similarly, anyone who ignores the atonement made by Jesus Christ through His blood is an agent of satan.

           Paul talked about the whole counsel of God in Acts 20:27. This refers to God’s counsel in eternity, in which He planned all things that will come to be, including the redemption of man. He is the One who decided how this would be done and our part in it. In John 3:16, the Lord Jesus gave us the summary of God’s agenda – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God’s part is the surrendering of His Son to death on our behalf. Our part is to belief in what God has done. Anyone who preaches any other gospel is working under direct control of religious demons. Such a person is operating under a curse. In Galatians 1:8 Paul thundered, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” The people who sit under a cursed minister cannot be blessed either.