Day 3 of Illumination: The deep things of God will never be found in darkness.

“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”

I Corinthians‬ ‭2:10-11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

As a young girl I was very interested in what you might call the supernatural. Now, having grown up in a home that was strongly Pentecostal, I knew about the power of God and the reality of the realm of the spirit. Additionally, I was very aware of spiritual activity from a very young age. You might say that I was spiritually “sensitive.”

The problem was that I did not recognize the clear distinction between the things of the Spirit of God and the things of the spirit of darkness. You see, many people (of whom I was one) have the false notion that they will recognize the spirit of darkness because it will be “obviously evil.” Now, whereas there are things in this world that are obviously evil and of darkness, there are things operating out of darkness that look like they are coming from the Light. But, they are not.

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”

‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭11:13-15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In the above scripture the apostle Paul is warning the church at Corinth about false teaching that sounds like it’s from the Lord, but is from Satan.

So, my interest in spiritual things really could have taken me where I did not need to go, and in actuality, it very nearly did.

When I was about 15 or 16 years old I had a dreaming vision in which I was standing in a very misty field. I saw—coming through the mist toward me—three individuals with black robes and pointed hoods. One was walking out in front of the other two and was the one who spoke. They came to a split rail fence between us and stopped. The one in front spoke to me and said, “We have come to take your soul.” Now, you talk about waking up quickly, I did! I thought that this was a terrible nightmare, but it was more than that. I do believe it was showing the reality of what the enemy wanted—not only to do in my case—but to everyone. And make no mistake, the enemy will come in whatever disguise he needs to come, to get your attention, to find a place in you where he can put a hook. And for me, that place was my interest in “spiritual phenomenon.” I enjoyed hearing about research on ESP, telekinesis, transcendental meditation, etc., not realizing that that is taught from Satan’s university.

Now don’t misunderstand me, I never delved into any of these things, but they caught my interest. I know—beyond a shadow of a doubt—that the Lord kept me from going beyond an interest into participation.

“For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

‭‭II Timothy‬ ‭3:6-7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In the above scripture Paul warns Timothy that one of the aspects of the perilous Last Days would be that people would become easily deceived by their desire to be “always learning.”

“For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭17:21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

This scripture from Acts explains that the Athenians had become consumed with wanting to know some (any) “new” thing.

““Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword: “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭2:12, 14-16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Lord, in His admonition to the church at Pergamum, says that He is going to destroy those who do not step away from the teaching of the Nicolaitans who were mixing the ways of Satan in with the ways of God.

Additionally, the Lord, in His message to the church at Thyatira, admonished them for allowing a certain “Jezebel” to teach them to do sinful things under the guise of walking according to “deeper truths.”

““But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching (‘deeper truths,’ as they call them—depths of Satan, actually). I will ask nothing more of you except that you hold tightly to what you have until I come.”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭2:24-25‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Make no mistake, there is nothing we need to know or find out from the powers coming from darkness. Indeed, we are to walk far away from that persuasion.

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.””

‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭6:14-16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Sadly, many Christians, in their desire to be more “spiritual,” fall prey to things of darkness masquerading as “deeper truth” or “new revelation.” They basically approach their spiritual development as though they were standing at a smorgasbord from which they can choose a little of this from the world, a little of that from the world, a little from Mr. or Ms. So-Called-Prophet, and, oh yes, let me finish off with a word from the Lord. But, the fact is, the Lord will not allow Himself to be relegated to one of many sources of “truth.”

Now, just like myself when I was younger, you may not be aware of looking into the things of darkness. But, your only defense against doing so is to let your spiritual journey ALWAYS be led by the Holy Spirit of God. Remember, the Lord will not long allow His Spirit to be mixed in with the spirit of this world; indeed, He will withdraw His Spirit from the one who chooses to indulge in the “truths” found in darkness.

We light a third candle of illumination today by knowing this:

The deep things of God will never be found in darkness.

#25daysofillumination