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How to Test the Spirits

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In 1995, I had the privilege of going to Hawaii and ministering for three weeks. During my stay, I was asked to be interviewed on two television programs. In the last twenty minutes of the first program, the station opened up the phone lines for viewers to call in for personal prophecy. The station manager was shocked when, within a twenty-minute span, 78 viewers were waiting on the line for their word.
 
The next day the manager had me come back and wanted to give more time for people to call. With eleven telephones manned in the station, we answered 256 phone calls in forty-two minutes. It was obvious the people in Hawaii were hungry for spiritual direction.
 
Being new to Hawaii, I did not know that the islands were also a Mecca for the psychics. It wasn’t long before I was confronted by three psychics, one man and two women, after an evening church service. The male psychic started the conversation by saying I had caused quite a stir, and then he asked if I would not say anything against the psychics. I told him that I could not be silent about what they were doing to the people. He responded that he was a Jew. He said he knew that the Bible says to know men by their fruit and he believed what they were doing was for the good of the people.
 
I told this man that, being a Jew, he should know about the curses laid upon those who seek mediums and psychics and furthermore that the fruit he bore did not come from the same tree as my fruit. He responded with a metaphor, saying that he had a refrigerator which he used every day although he didn’t know how it works. I said, “You may not know how it works, but if you were a repair man you would know everything about it. If you are going to practice in the spirit realm, you better know what spirit you are dealing with.” They turned and left the church and I never heard from them again.
 
Just because you may know of things to come, does not necessarily mean that you have heard from God. If what you heard truly is from God and you do not give Him the credit, you will be no better than a psychic. The scriptures tell us to test the spirits and know that they are of God.
 

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (I John 4:1).

 
In the early church, Apostle Paul and Prophet Silas had an encounter with a Psychic. The way they handled the problem should be our example for today. It was a day like any other in which Apostle Paul and Prophet Silas were going to pray. On their way, they were met by a fortune teller who was possessed by the spirit of divination. She followed Paul and Silas crying out, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation” (Acts 16:16). Now that was not a bad thing to say about Paul and Silas, but they knew by what spirit she was speaking.
 
This went on for many days, finally Paul who was greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” The spirit was cast out of her and she could no longer profit her masters by telling them of things to come. The spirit of the psychic had been removed.
 
Paul and Silas were not the only ministers of God in the early church who had encounters with Psychics. We find that Apostles Peter and Barnabas were summoned by Bar-Jesus, a sorcerer and a Jew, to give a word from God to the Proconsul. As Paul and Barnabas traveled to the Proconsul, they were met by a man named Elymas, a Psychic who practiced sorcery. Elymas tried to stop Paul and Barnabas from witnessing and converting the Proconsul to Christianity.
 

“Then Paul rose up full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently at Elymas and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.” And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. The Proconsul, astonished by the teaching of the Lord, believed when he saw what had been done” (Acts 13:6-12).

 
There is an encounter which Peter had that is not recorded in the Bible. We do not know the truth of this event, but I thought I would pass on this record of history to you.
 
Peter was in Rome to refute the apparent miracles of a false messiah, Simon Magus. As a massive crowd awaited the outcome, Simon, who had won the initial skirmishes, was now pushed to the brink and boasted he would prove his divinity by flying “up unto God.” Leaping from a wooden tower, the Magus [magician] aided either by magic spells or by demons, sailed across the sky, seemingly victorious. The crowd looked to Peter for his reaction.
 
The Apostle implored the Lord Jesus to have Simon “fall from the height and be disabled; and let him not die but…break his leg in three places.” The impostor plummeted to the ground. He was carried off, his leg broken in three places, at last humiliated. This tale, from the apocryphal Acts of Peter, is one of many Simon Magus stories (“After Jesus”, Readers Digest).
 

“Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever”
(Hebrews 13:8).

 
We still have the power today to call upon the name of Jesus when His glory is being tested by the false prophets, which are the psychics of today.
 
 

Powers of Angels

 
The manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is a sign from God that He is alive and watching over us. You may have never thought of it this way, but I learned this truth from the Holy Spirit.
 
Angels are ministering for us as we operate in these gifts. When you are slain in the spirit it can feel like someone physically pushed you down or clipped you behind the knees. This is an Angel of the Lord doing the work of the Holy Spirit. Have you noticed that some ministers demonstrate more of the gifts in their ministry than others?
 
This is because they have more angels appointed to them than some of the other ministers. When ministering, you begin to recognize the presence of the various angels. This is one way we know what gift the Holy Spirit will have us operate in next. The presence of the ministering spirit that slays people in the Holy Ghost is different from the ministering spirit that brings the gift of healings.
 
There are various gifts and ministry functions imparted by God appointed to different people. One of these functions is the gift of healings, not healing but HEALINGS. It is plural.
 

“And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.” (I Corinthians 12:28)

 
There are angels that have different powers over disease and sickness, just as Gabriel has different powers than Michael, the Archangel.
 
I have seen people get frustrated and turn from using the gift God has given them. At times they would pray for the sick and they would be healed and other times they would not. Out of frustration they gave it up all together.
 
We are to perfect the gift by using it until we find out the measure of its power. What power does the ministering spirit have that is appointed to you?
 
To experience the accuracy of any gift you must first find your calling. When you know your calling and begin following its course, then you can focus on your gift. Most people want to just move in their gift, but do not have a clue what their calling is. If you do not follow your calling, your angel is not obligated to minister for you, hence no manifestation of the gifts.
 
Your calling may be evangelism, teaching faith, hearing God, feeding the poor, helping orphanages or visiting prisoners. Whatever you are called of God to do, He is faithful to endorse it by signs and wonders following after you. However, if we are not willing to do what God has called us to do then He is not bound to send His Angels to minister for us. Once you have clarity what your calling is, begin moving out on what you know.
 
When dealing with the prophetic, angels are a vital part in seeing the word delivered with power. Angels are sent to signify and clarify what God’s purpose is for His people and for the lost.
 
The book of Revelation was given to John by an angel. Prophets of today cannot deny that prophecy, words of knowledge, words of wisdom are given to them in part by angels. To deny that His angels are speaking to us today would be to say that the Holy Scriptures are a lie.
 

”’Then he [the angel] said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place‘” (Revelation 22:6).

 

Written by Kent Simpson, Apostolic Prophet

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