Let me begin by saying, this is not a typical blog post for me, but I have been tumbling this subject around for years due to its ever present nature in the church and my life. I have seen, and experienced first hand, this spirit and all its cohorts at work to destroy families, destinies, and kingdom ordained relationships since I was a young girl. I have not spoken about this subject even though it has been a huge part of my life story, and has effected my family and I greatly. I have had reasons to not speak about it. Some of these reasons were valid and right, some of them were fueled by fear. So, while I am taking a very objective tone in order to, hopefully, shed light and help the body of Christ, please know that this is a very vulnerable thing for me to write about. This is by no means, a comprehensive look into this subject, but an overview of some of it’s components.
I’m not going to go into my story (partly because some of it is not exclusively my story to tell. I have a family who owns this story as well, and my heart is to honor their process and protect them. The situations that are exclusively mine to tell will have their proper timing, which may never be public, and that is something we all have to wrestle and make peace with in the painful places of our lives), but suffice it to say, I have seen the devastation of what we are going to talk about several times first hand, and countless times as an observer. And I am standing up today to say, “No More!” No more in the church. No more in our families. No more in any of our relationships. It’s time to mature, Beloved. It’s time to look at the fissures in our own hearts, repent, get healed, and change the landscape of relationship in the kingdom. Let’s take back the power of healthy and pure relationships, rooted and grounded in love.
“Those who are loved by God, let His love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of Him. The one who does not love has yet to know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
In the past several years I have seen such a growing trend of false accusation, lies, misunderstandings and misconceptions in relationships stemming from unhealed wounds and outright agreement with demonic spirits. It seems we have been tolerating an epidemic for years, and we should know better. The righteous tend to stay silent (in the natural) in the midst of these situations, which is not necessarily wrong, and is typically the wisest course of action. (I think this may be an entire subject unto itself, which we can delve into at another time, perhaps.) I have experienced major devastation with this first hand more than once, and countless times over as an observer.
Let’s look at the nuts and bolts of the beginning, perpetuation, and some practical solution when it comes to dealing with this evilness.
There are a few participants that this spirit needs to complete and perpetuate its destruction:
First, it needs one (or more) hearts who are willing to make a spiritual agreement to initiate an attack, make the accusation(s), agree with the destructive plans of the enemy towards the person, family, relationship, etc. The catalyst for this agreement is typically unaddressed offense, jealousy, deep seated identity issues, etc. And it almost always feels to the person like they are standing for what is right, protecting the church or others in relationship with the target of the attack. This is the great deception of this spirit. It operates in delusion and religiosity, in self promotion and edification of wounds and lies.
Second, it needs those who will believe, support, and continue the attack by means of their spiritual agreement. To gain a support system, this lying and pervasive spirit seeks to appeal to the wounded and weak by framing up the appearance of community and appealing to self-righteous tendencies, etc.; often times also playing on un-addressed offenses that may or may not have anything to do with the target.
Let’s talk about the first group:
Like I said, most of the time the spiritual agreement is made springing from un-addressed, and unhealed issues of the heart. Every single time I have seen this operate, the crack in the door has always been an identity issue. The person doesn’t truly know their worth, value, or unique calling. Most importantly they fail to perceive that they are loved and championed by God who has made enough space for every single person to fulfill their destiny. There is often an unrighteous hunger for platform and position, which can stem from many different motivations; all of which need to be addressed. There is often, but not always, both an orphan spirit and a political spirit operating. This then leads to jealousy (For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing James 3:16). The target is perceived by this person as being more than they could ever be, and having what they will never have, therefore they perceive them as a threat. Most often, in my observation, the target is, indeed, walking in a decent level of freedom and anointing, and is typically operating in the prophetic. This spirit wants to kill the prophetic. (See1 Kings and the story of Jezebel and Elijah. This story is rich with truth, wisdom, and instruction in dealing with this.) This does not mean that the person accusing/presenting a negative case is not anointed and called, but their perceptions are tainted by their wounds which give way to dangerous motivations and spiritual agreements. It is imperative that we allow our hearts to be searched and known by the Spirit of Truth. We’ll talk about this in a minute
Let’s talk about the second group:
This group is no less responsible, and no less in spiritual agreement with the demonic forces that are operating. These forces present a case for support of the one who feels abused, wronged, or on a “holy” mission to purify the church from the alleged horrible actions or failings of a fellow believer. This can be such a deceptive trap that we can all fall into easily, but we need to grow up, get healed, get wisdom, and rise to lead the Bride of Christ out from under the influence of this evil.
It breaks my heart that the church seems to be largely unable to deal with personal wounds and unhealed areas in our lives. So we perpetuate these wounds as we project, join the bandwagon of personal attacks, and make agreement with accusations and stories of offense.
We are so quick to swallow a story of offense, alleged hypocrisy or heresy, and/or the alleged failure or wrongdoing of a fellow believer. Why? We must ask ourselves the question and allow the grace of God to come into our wholehearted turning back to truth and righteousness, and to bolster us up into the place of the shining, brilliant light of Jesus we were born for.
I think we need a makeover. I think we need a baptism of fire in the love and wisdom of God. I think we need to rise up in purity and victory over the wiles of the enemy who is ever the accuser of the people of God, seeking always to divide and kill relationships, people, and destinies.
How do we do this?
What are some practical ways we can “check ourselves before we wreck ourselves”?
We should all recognize that none of us are immune. We all have cracks in our armor that can lead to dangerous decisions and agreements, should they go unchecked. We all need to place our lives in the light, fire, oil, and blood of Jesus. We need to be open to the conviction, correction, and healing of God in our lives. We also need to have relationships in our lives who can see into our blind spots and areas in need of healing. We need to value and listen to these people who love us. It may hurt, but faithful are the wounds of a friend, and I would much rather have someone who loves me enough to call me higher, than have a passel of friends who are easily manipulated by me or others. We may not want to look at some of these places in our lives. But we must. We must walk in freedom, focus on Him, and rise to the greatness and beauty He made us for. It is time for the bride to come higher!
We cannot allow identity issues (or any other issues) to give way to utterly destructive spirits. We must embrace repentance and healing. Repentance is a gift. I have come to love repentance. It rests on my life as an invited friend. The entirety of our lives change every single time we repent. It’s beautiful and necessary. If you haven’t, learn to love repentance. Search it out in the scriptures, invite conviction and repentance into your life as friends who keep, protect, and set your life on the Highway of Holiness.
“We now repeat His words to you: God is pure light. You will never find even a trace of darkness in Him. If we claim that we share life with Him, but keep walking around in the realm of darkness, we’re fooling ourselves and not living in truth. But if we keep living in the pure light that surrounds Him , we share un unbroken fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, continually cleanses us from all sin.”
-1 John 1:5-7
Here are a few things that I have put into practice/questions I ask of myself when faced with situations where there is an accusation/attack on character, a possible potential sabotage, basically when I hear a negative report about a fellow believer that I know: We must be careful not to lend judgement towards a person or situation based on someone else’s story, opinion, or possible offense without seeking wisdom and truth. In some cases it may be appropriate and necessary to have a conversation with the other party(s) involved...especially when we are in relationship with all involved. Whether or not we choose to do this, it is our responsibility to nip this toxic evil in the bud. If we are turned against someone even just slightly, in response to someone else's story exclusively, we can be sure we need to do a heart search and correct. We also need to bear in mind that most often the one who talks the loudest in situations like these is likely the voice we should not be listening to. The enemy has a big mouth.
When I jump to quickly believe one side of a story about a person or situation, draw boundary lines in relationship based on that story; heaven forbid, I perpetuate the story/accusations as truth to others, this tells me something about where my heart is at. This tells me I likely have unaddressed offense from some past wound lodged somewhere in my broken heart. This tells me I may have a need to be needed and will fall into line with anything a person in crisis may present to me. Above all, this tells me I am not walking in the Spirit of Wisdom or Love.
People say and believe all sorts of garbage about others. But we don’t have to be those people. We shouldn’t be those people. The kingdom of heaven doesn’t operate that way, and neither should we.
I urge you, beloved, keep your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23). Life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). Let’s get our hearts in the continual flow of the blood of Jesus that purifies and heals, that speaks a better word, that protects and preserves our lives from evil which seeks to set up camp in our lives and in the body of Christ at large. Love and purity are a better way. We hold the power to change this evil trend and stronghold in the church. We have choices to make.
I write this full of love. Love for the church. I write this with great hope that we can make right choices and see incredible health and change come to the body of Christ. I believe in the pure and spotless bride.
I pray this has helped to begin to shed light on this subject for some. There are many subjects within this that I think are important to address, and I may write further on this in the future but for now I will leave you with a prayer that I pray over my life and that we can pray together as we move forward:
I pray that I would always be submitted to the Love of God, that my life would pour love and wisdom straight from His heart, and that I would not look to the right or the left away from His heart of holiness. In all things, I would keep communion with Him, constantly turning towards His healing, wholeness, and heart for me and for others.
This is an invitation to revolution. Let’s be a holy revolution in the church. Let’s be a holy revolution in the earth. Are you going to join?
©Elisabeth Cooper 2019