Religious Spirits

EPH 6:10-12 God's Armor
10 Finally, let the Lord make you strong. Depend on his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God's armor. Then you can stand firm against the devil's evil plans. 12 Our fight is not against human beings. It is against the rulers, the authorities and the powers of this dark world. It is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly world.

The church and the body of Christ are humming with spiritual activity. There is a very powerful and unseen spiritual world that we do not see or understand as we ought to understand. The struggles and battles in this world affect the lives and decisions of all of us whether we realize this or not. The enemies of Christ and the friends of Christ exercise spiritual power, which determine the destiny of souls and the affairs of history. I would like to take some time to discuss how evil spirits called religious spirits affect the Christian Church and the body of believers. We can be influenced and blocked in our relationship with God by this spiritual activity. The religious spirit presents a counterfeit holiness that is more imagined than real It gives us the form of holiness but not the true essence of it. The Pharisees and the Sadducees are a representative of this kind of holiness. They spent time in self-centeredness. They exalted their own relationship with God. They laid down the law about how to be holy and told others how to do it. They interpreted the law to their own advantage. They were arrogant and secretly despised the poor, uneducated and the needy.

Jesus in turn described them as a brood of vipers, and whitened tombstones. They put burdens on others but boasted about themselves. They weighted down God-fearing people with the law and crushed their desire to know God and live for Him. Their self-righteous attitudes made having a relationship with God next to impossible. They coveted power, ignored humility, and pretended to serve God In reality, they served only themselves. Their entire lives were cloaked with falsehood and deception. These kinds of adjectives can be used to describe the activities of religious spirits in people we love and know about. We need, however, to hate the spirit but love the person. The role of these spirits is to make us look good on the outside but hollow on the inside. These spirits rob us of holiness and spiritual maturity. Appearances are what count to the world and the same is true of the religious spirit. The fruits of the Holy Spirit will be missing and the accomplishments and achievements of this type of person will crumble and fade. The goal of a religious spirit is to deceive us about the nature of God, and distract us from following Him. The aim of this spirit is to present the laws of God without the heart of God. This is accomplished in many different ways and I would like to discuss at least some of them here.

It should be emphasized that the Holy Spirit is holy and the religious spirit is religious. Being religious does not guarantee holiness. Holiness comes from having the heart of God. The heart of God comes from simply asking for it repeatedly. We can begin to experience it when we learn to rest in His grace and mercy for us. The character and nature of God is given to us as we express our faith and trust in the covenant of love that He has given us through His Son Jesus Christ. The Father in heaven says that we can become holy by desiring to be more and more like Jesus in the Holy Spirit’s power.

Jesus gives us holiness but man gives us religion. Jesus is the way to holiness but religion is a creation of man. Holiness comes with relationship to God, but religion is born when man attempts to make God in the way he would like him to be. Holiness grows when God exercises power, but religion grows when man exercises power in the place of God When we walk with God, love controls the hearts of men. The religious spirit walks with the law and shrinks the hearts of men. The religious spirit dulls the eyes of spiritual sight by focusing the person on judgment and criticism of others. Religion is man made mental justification of a belief system. Holiness is a faith filled walk with God that cannot be always understood by the mind.

The religious spirit takes away our joy. it removes our freedom to make mistakes and try new things because everything must be right. Righteousness becomes based on our correctness, and not upon the grace and mercy of God. Freedom to express ourselves is lost and we can become clones of the laws of God and other rehgious practices.

The religious spirit says no rather than yes to our approach to God and to others. It focuses on the negative rather than the positive aspects of lift It emphasizes what God does not want us to do rather what God wants us to do. The religious spirit produces and uses fear to direct our actions and our thoughts. The Holy Spirit produces and uses love to direct our actions and our thoughts.

The person with a religious spirit cannot receive criticism or benefit from it in his life. One of the major activities of this spirit is to be critical of those actions that lead to love and freedom. It will not admit to error and presumes that its way is the only way and the best way. Discussions turn out to be frustrating and pointless because change and growth are not on the agenda. Lifestyles become rigid and empty because the goal is to be as correct as possible and not make a mistake. Under the influence of this spirit, God becomes increasingly one-dimensional because obeying the laws of God have supreme importance. The relationship with God becomes an obligation of the flesh to fulfill the law. God then becomes following a set of laws and not a growing, intimate relationship. God is no longer a person but an unchanging taskmaster who becomes more and more uncaring and intolerant.

The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus but the religious spirit will glorify man or the creation of man. An important way to identify the nature of a spirit is to hear what it talks about the most. Does it talk about Jesus or does it talk about man? Who and what gets the glory and the credit for what happens?

Is the goal to make us more like Jesus or to make us more like man or the world? Does it display kindness, love and patience in its actions? Does it use fear and intimidation or love and acceptance most of the time? Is it flexible or rigid in its view of the situation?

These questions help us to discern the nature of the spirit that we are dealing with in our lives. We need to be careful about the religious spirit that will give legalistic lip service to Jesus, but will not have the heart of Jesus.

The religious spirit produces isolation and competition among those that it touches. This kind of spirit will always need to be right in the matters of religion. This arrogance will eventually divide and isolate people. A discussion with a person who has a religious spirit will have no winners. Competition often serves to divide and isolate the body of Christ. It leaves wounds of misunderstandings over points of church traditions and laws. Small issues become much bigger when competition and egos are involved. People will lose their focus on Jesus when their pride becomes greater than their humility.

The person with a religious spirit will say that God is good but really mean that they are good. The religious spirit Will not give away credit or honor except to those things that will bring honor to itself. It does not value people except to honor itself or to use them for its own purposes. This spirit is manipulative and will change sides to suit it’s interest. The underlying message is often you may be good or ok but I am better. This often occurs when they fee! that they have their own hotline to the Lord without allowing others to comment about their revelations except to agree with them.

The religious spirit comes against relationships and isolates us from intimacy. The spirit of religion wants our hearts, our minds, and our spirits. It wants to have our ear so that the deception can be more complete. What do they really know anyway? You can make it by yourself, and you will be alright. The religious spirit is possessive of us, our time and our energies. It is competitive but it hates competition. It tries to tell us that people do not understand you anyway and that all you really need is God. People cannot be trusted so you might as well not get close to them. Intimacy with others only brings pain but you will eventually be betrayed anyway. Just be a good person, but do not get too close to anyone. Go to church and obey the rules and everything will be ok. Friendships are too painful, just go read a book about it. You had better do everything correctly that the book tells you to do or else it will not work and you will have failed again. The spirit of religion gathers people around the rules and not around relationships of the heart.

The religious spirit reveals itself in an extreme manner. This spirit will reveal itself by expressing extreme positions and opinions which will attempt to polarize the body of Christ These positions and opinions are expressed with such force as to prove their validity. Anyone that questions them will be challenged and criticized as being inferior or even unfaithful to the faith and its practices. This approach does not allow much discussion or flexibility. People get offended and become defensive. Soon people spend more time proving their positions rather than working together in Unity. The religious spirit will not hesitate to challenge authority in order to create dissension and division. People with religious spirits do things in the flesh that may appear to be spiritual, like excess prayers in public places or unusual acts of piety for others to see. The religious spirit will lead people into more and more of a lifestyle of extremes. A religious spirit will point you toward their way, but the Holy Spirit will point you toward Jesus.

A person filled with the Holy Spirit will repeatedly desire and cry out for more and more of Jesus. I would like to discuss ways of dealing with religious spirits.

Do not fight with it. A spirit cannot be dealt with by being logical. Spirits are unreasonable and resistant to changa An evil spirit has to be confronted by Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual force must be met by spiritual force.

The religious spirit is defeated by consistent and repeated love. Love crushes and terrifies evil because it is the most consistent characteristic of God. Just words wilt not defeat evil, but love in action will. Love in action forces the religious spirit to come face to lace with the truth and reality of God’s Jove.

Exalt Jesus and desire his presence. Worship is a powerful force in dealing with evil. Just talking about Jesus in the presence of an evil spirit weakens it an overwhelms it with the fear of God. Exalt Jesus and recall the good things that the Lard has done for you. Religious spirits hate to be around people who are busy loving and praising Jesus in their words and their deeds with quiet humility. Praying the blood of Jesus on the person with a religious spirit will do great damage to its effectiveness. The blood of Jesus is part of the eternal covenant that the Father in heaven has given us to protect us and defend us. Covenants that are sealed in blood are the most powerful ones because blood carries in it the life of the person.

Selflessness, sacrifice and prayer defeat the religious spirit. This combination of attitude, action, and spirit is very effective in dealing with a religious spirit. This behavior will encourage the presence of Jesus, and draw attention to Jesus. Humility and sacrifice were the cornerstones of the life of Jesus and are the foundations of spiritual warfare. Please refer to Isaiah 58:1-5 for more description of the religious spirit.

1 The Lord told me, "Shout out loud. Do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet.  Tell my people that they have refused to obey me. Tell the family of Jacob how much they have sinned."

2 Day after day they worship me. They seem ready and willing to know how I want them to live. They act as if they were a nation that does what is right. They act as if they have not turned away from my commands. They claim to want me to give them fair decisions. They seem ready and willing to come near and worship me.

3 'We have gone without food,' they say. 'Why haven't you noticed it? We have made ourselves suffer. Why haven't you paid any attention to us?' "On the day when you fast, you do as you please. You take advantage of all of your workers.

4 When you fast, it ends in arguing and fighting. You hit one another with your fists. That is an evil thing to do. The way you are now fasting keeps your prayers from being heard in heaven.

5 Do you think that is the way I want you to fast? Is it only a time for a man to make himself suffer? Is it only for people to bow their heads like tall grass that is bent by the wind? Is it only for people to lie down on black cloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast? Do you think I can accept that?

The description of the Holy Spirit can be found in:
Isaiah 58:6-1 4

6 "Here is the way I want you to fast. "Set free those who are held by chains without any reason.       Untie the ropes that hold people as slaves. Set free those who are crushed. Break every evil chain."

7 Share your food with hungry people. Provide homeless people with a place to stay. Give naked people clothes to wear. Provide for the needs of your own family.

8 Then the light of my blessing will shine on you like the rising sun. I will heal you quickly. I will march out ahead of you. And my glory will follow behind you and guard you. That is because I always do what is right.

9 You will call out to me for help. And I will answer you. You will cry out.   And I will say, 'Here I am.'
   "Get rid of the chains you use to hold others down. Stop pointing your finger at others as if they had done something wrong. Stop saying harmful things about them.

10 Work hard to feed hungry people. Satisfy the needs of those who are crushed.
Then my blessing will light up your darkness. And the night of your suffering will become as bright as he noonday sun.

11 I will always guide you. I will satisfy your needs in a land that is baked by the sun. I will make you stronger. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water. You will be like a spring whose water never runs dry.

12 Your people will rebuild the cities that were destroyed long ago. And you will build again on the old foundations. You will be called The One Who Repairs Broken Walls. You will be called The One Who Makes City Streets Like New Again.

13 "Do not work on the Sabbath day. Do not do just anything you want to on my holy day. Make the Sabbath a day you can enjoy. Honor my holy day. Do not work on it. Do not do just anything you want to. Do not talk about things that are worthless.

14 Then you will find your joy in me. I will give you control over the most important places in the land.
 And you will enjoy all of the good things in the land I gave your father Jacob." The Lord has spoken.

Signs of a religious spirit

Signs of a religious spirit include rebellion, deceit, and appearing eager to know God but not really wanting to know Him. This spirit will talk about the laws of God but will ignore the heart of God. This spirit will be arrogant, boast about what it does for the Lord, or boast about its relationship with the Lord. The religious spirit points to itself but the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus. A person with a religious spirit will not be merciful or compassionate in its daily affairs with people. Mercy may be shown occasionally to disguise its true intentions. Judgment, strife, quarreling, and division are the earmarks of the religious spirit The Holy Spirit gives, welcomes, and accepts the sinner. It leads them to repentance, fullness, healing and eternal life because of the righteousness of Jesus who lived and died for us The Holy Spirit will lead us to a passion for Jesus, not a passion for perfection. The goal of the Holy Spirit is to present us to the Father more and more like Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:52
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. Yes! We will be changed.