THE DISCERNMENT OF THE SPIRITS

‘for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.’


(1 Corinthians 12:8-10)



In the above passage, the Apostle Paul discusses the gifts of the Spirit. Instead of discussing all of them, I will only discuss one of them: ‘the discernment of the spirits.’



Many Christians have trouble understanding that gift because of the manner in which they read the passage. For many years, I thought that Paul was referring to the ‘gift of discernment’ while in fact he was talking about the ‘discernment of the spirits’.


It is critical that we emphasize the manner in which Paul wrote about the gift because a misunderstanding can lead to confusion especially during spiritual warfare.


The Holy Spirit gives the gift of the discernment of the spirits. This is not a gift to discern people, appearance, human character, human decency, riches, etc… The gift of the discernment of the spirits is designed to identify and uncover the spirits.


Therefore, the same gift can assist in knowing the kind of spirits operating behind politicians, false ministers, hypocritical people, etc…


Many people still think that the gift is designed to discern people and their external appearance (and they wonder why they always vote for demonic people into political offices…). If it is the case, then many people will easily fall for the tricks of the enemy because Satan and his occultists followers work very hard at keeping good appearance. The Bible states that Satan masquerades as an angel of light.


‘And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.’


(1 Corinthians 11:15-16)


One of the first principles of satanism and occultism consist in operating in hiding and disguise. You will not be able to uncover the true nature of the enemy and his agents if you want to discern their external appearances. It will only be through discerning the spirits that you will be able to uncover the agents of Satan.


Instead of discerning outside appearances, you must discern the spirits working behind people, organizations and nations.