Divination or Divine ?
Discerning the false from the true in prophecy.
Ever since I was saved 30 years ago, I’ve experienced many times where I was confused over prophecies given me. I’ve also once or twice experienced that divination coming onto me and confusing my own thinking. So for some time I’ve wanted to write on it but this morning’s admonition from a friend, Cyndee, sparked some thoughts to share.
Annoyance
What is it that annoyed Paul so about the girl who followed them and he finally cast out the demon from her of divination ?
Acts 16:16-19 NKJV Paul & Silas Imprisoned
Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul & us, & cried out, saying, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation."
18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned & said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour. 19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul & Silas & dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.
After all this girl was speaking the truth was she not…so why was Paul annoyed ?
First of all he did what he did without laud, without announcements, or gratuities.
She brought attention to them, not to the Lord, even though what she was saying was true. This is true with many prophets today. They bring attention to man, or themselves, or there is an unnatural display of pomposity that seems foreign to true prophetic, which in & of itself is quite powerful. But not to cause laud to men, but rather to proclaim the power of the Risen Christ. Prophecy is to always reflect the heart of Jesus.
Rev 19:10 NKJV And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, & of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
Prophecy is not about us, it is about Jesus, the All Consuming Fire & the King of Kings, & it is not to bring attention to us, though it is natural for man to wonder at man’s ability to hear…it is to cause them to be jealous for relationship with HIM.
What I found with showing a prophecy of mine to a youth was that he then asked me “ How do I hear God like this?” That should be the wonder. That is the thing…to make men hungry for relationship with God.
Covetousness
Another thing that Paul saw was the people making money off this girl because of her divination. When Paul prophesied, & I’m sure he did this because He heard from God & wrote much of the New Testament from what he HEARD from God, he didn’t do it to gain money. He was careful not to allow that to happen.
If only prophets today were so concerned! I see the most extraordinary prices for discipleship of prophetic gifting I’ve seen in the church today. And it is not done at all in most churches, so that people have to travel to conferences just to get some tidbits from someone more experienced, because it is not available. Many feel all alone in what they are experiencing, because there is no shepherd to teach them who knows more than they do, or who is interested in hearing from God, or who is not discriminatory against women having gifts or something.
So people travel great distances just to be around someone with greater anointing or gifting. If the church in each city were actually in unity…that problem might be solved…for they would pray together, & worship together, & people would get to know each other by the Spirit so they would have someone to talk to, recognizing the spirit of prophecy in each other.
There is another major problem here it &is related to money…& that is JEZEBEL in the church. That spirit of jezebel is related to idolatry to SELF, as Steve Sampson so well describes in his book, “I was always on my mind”.
Divination is a major part of jezebel & divination is a major part of religious spirits. That is why religious people hear the Word spoken to them that may be totally out of context, or used to bludgeon someone. It is coming from a spirit of divination.
That same spirit came to Edgar Cayce as a beautiful woman. This is a very sneaky & insidious spirit that makes itself sound like the Holy Spirit, & once accepted…it has a root to lie some more. It will prey on selfish ambition & a need to hear in order to be accepted by man. That is how it enters.
I will tell you a vision a young friend of mine had when he was in 6th grade.
He was in my class and asked me this question, “ What does it mean when you see two angels & one is telling you to obey your mom & quoting scripture, & the other is telling you not to obey her & quoting scripture?” He wanted to know which one was right? What he saw was a religious spirit [misusing scripture through divination].
Scripturally a child should always obey their parents in things that are right…so that one was a no brainer. But the problem becomes more complex when we are in a religious system, that exalts self, & then you try to hear from God. You may get prayed over by those with a religious spirit & end up with divination on your shoulder…causing confusion to your thoughts & direction.
You need to be careful who you allow to lay hands on you. This is not to be paranoid. But like Cyndee’s article said, you don’t take in everything said to you. You take that thing said to you back to the LORD and weigh it against scripture.
You reflect on how it made you feel. Yes I said feel! Peace, joy & love, come from the Holy Spirit. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit, but HE seldom airs your dirty laundry for someone to tear you apart piece by piece & know all your sins…think on it!
Divination knows THINGS about you because the devil has a system of information, but not REVELATION. So often the person with jezebel will just know all these things about your sin life…why? Because they are getting them from demons who have shared information-Not from GOD. I have found that God seldom shares my dirty laundry with anyone for them to expose, but rather to PRAY. And if they boast in all they’ve been shown about you…something is wrong.
God does not uncover our nakedness to hurt us. And if He does, it is usually in private with you, by Himself or by a loving other, that will pray you through the problem to the solution. The Holy Spirit in prophecy does not make us feel condemned & worthless. God knows each person & speaks to them individually in a way they will best receive it.
I once got prayer up front in a church & suddenly a strong feeling to commit suicide came over me & I felt to rush out of there, & on the way home, I felt like ramming the car into a pole!! I had not opened my eyes to see who was praying for me! And somehow that spirit of suicide attacked me & I literally felt to RUN! It was coming I believe from someone with a spirit of jezebel as that is what Elijah did when she threatened him.
I once had this young girl I started to trust speak a word to me after my divorce & it was said kind of harshly without feeling & it sent me reeling. She said the Lord says, “I pity you not!” I went outside & cried & cried, & unless I had gone back to confront her, I might have been under that spirit for some time longer. She then told me that it was not meant that way, but that He thinks highly of me…yet she saw my reaction & didn’t budge. Compassion in a person is a real sign to look for of truth & I don't mean unsanctified mercy. That is a whole other thing. The discompassionate are seldom the kind you’d want to hear a prophetic word from. Compassion is the heart of Jesus. He is the all compassionate One and the all JUST ONE as well.
The interesting thing also is that my home group leader before the divorce,spoke a word to me, and said, "God is not going to allow you to be hurt anymore." So what she said did not fit with someone who had known me well, but had not been told I'd been being abused.
Fruitfulness
The heart of Jesus is to encourage you & to love you into repentance. He does not stand in front of me yelling at me - Not that He’s never spoken loudly or strongly to me personally. But He seldom has anyone else do that! HE seldom if ever will give you directions through others also. Directions are high level prophecy & don’t usually come from others in the church except if the Lord has spoken to you first about something, & you’ve asked for confirmation. God will call you out to speak callings & giftings on your life.
God will bless you & speak love to you in front of others. He will speak tenderly especially to those who are merciful. It is only with outright hard rebellion that such tactics might be used by God. Like in the case of Ananias & Sapphira. And that was done by an apostle. Apostleship comes with apostolic holiness! So fruitfulness is another thing to look for. Compassion is certainly a part of the fruit of a person’s life. So are love, kindness, truthfulness, integrity, generosity, thankfulness, humility, etc.
Col 3:12-14 NKJV Character of the New Man
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy & beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, & forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
God seldom motivates anyone by pummeling them with scripture. For the hard-hearted He might just do that…but it is His nature to woo. It is His nature to love us into righteousness. It is His nature to speak kindly & tenderly unless we are so totally rebellious that He MUST catch our attention another way, or if we haven’t been obedient in listening to Him.
Greed
The spirit of Divination will want your money! Just as in the case of the slave girl & Paul, there are many today who love money & want to get all they can for their own purposes, but under the guise or pretense of doing right things. Many prophets today will give you a word if you pay them some money!!!
Those men who owned the slave girl wanted Paul prosecuted. I once went with a friend into a theatre in Santa Ana because I heard someone preaching & though I didn’t speak much Spanish, I thought I felt the Spirit of God in the outskirts of that theatre…so we sat & listened & the guy was talking about money…also having people give testimonies of healings, then much of the sermon was on giving money for their ministry.
I was moved & went up to see after if they had a benevolence ministry that I could plug people in my neighborhood into but he didn’t have any. He only took money, he wasn’t into giving. And he was not kind to me for the asking. Later I shared with a neighbor & he told me that this was a Brazilian guy who’d been exposed on Spanish speaking television for bilking the masses. And I realized what FELT like the Holy Spirit was NOT the Holy Spirit. WE CAN BE FOOLED BY FEELINGS.
And yet because he was preaching the Word, God healed people as He is true to His Word & to mankind that sincerely want to know Him. This is how lying signs & wonders can happen though also so it takes some real wisdom to know & discern what is true from the false.
If you want discernment, you need to be in the WORD of God & the PRESENCE OF GOD daily. Discernment comes from knowing the love of God for yourself & others. That is how you get trained in it, & you ask for it. He will show you. Don’t just accept every word that comes at you from others. You have to weigh it on fruitfulness of those who gave it…& on the TRUTH of the Word & asking GOD whether it is true or not, praying over it.
I was once invited to a special meeting at the church I was attending by a friend who’d met this person who was a Hebrew scholar, she said. So I went & the sermon seemed ok & in the middle, I’d asked her a question, which she didn’t seem much to like. Then at the end she prophesied over the women who’d come. {only ladies meeting} She gave all these wonderful & kind words till she got to me, then she suddenly screamed “GET BACK in the DESERT! GET BACK IN THE DESERT!" I was in shock but almost started laughing. It didn’t touch me like I thought it might.
But she was angry when yelling it, & so after she finished I confronted her about it & she made some comments, & I made mine & I left…but it did not alight. She may have been right about getting back in the desert but her loud angry voice was so opposite. Other times I have been so weighed down over the subtle oppression of those giving words out of their own spirits, that it crushed my own. So don’t take to heart everything you hear as it says in proverbs.
Eccl 7:20-24 AMP
20 Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth who does good & never sins. [Isa 53:6; Rom 3:23.] 21 Do not give heed to everything that is said, lest you hear your servant cursing you--22 For often your own heart knows that you have likewise cursed others.
23 All this have I tried & proved by wisdom. I said, I will be wise [independently of God]--but it was far from me. 24 That which is is far off, & that which is deep is very deep--who can find it out [true wisdom independent of the fear of God]? [Job 28:12-28; 1 Cor 2:9-16.]
You see we can speak out of our own heart & what did Jesus say; Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Part of discernment is listening closely to what people say, as it detects where their heart is at the moment. ie; is it in faith or doubt ? If a person speaks other than from God, most often it is out of their own thinking or heart.
So going to comment on a few verses about the heart:
OT:3820 leb (labe); a form of OT:3824; the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything: KJV - care for, comfortably, consent, considered, courag [-eous], friend [-ly], ([broken-], [hard-], [merry-], [stiff-], [stout-], double) heart ([-ed]), heed, I, kindly, midst, mind (-ed), regard ([-ed)], themselves, unawares, understanding, well, willingly, wisdom.
Prov 3:3-5 NKJV Let not mercy & truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, 4 And so find favor & high esteem in the sight of God & man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, & lean not on your own understanding;
Prophetic gifting is also commensurate with knowledge of the Word. If you want more to hear from God then you must also LISTEN by reading the Word, listening to the Word on tape, getting it into you, like Ezekial was told to EAT THE SCROLL. We need to eat the Word of God. It doesn’t mean you have to be a walking dictionary. But be wary of misuse of scripture by those proclaiming to be prophetic.
In India once, this man walked up to me after ministering to hundred or more people in prayer for healing, & said he had a Word from the Lord for me. Later I went & looked at it & it was definitely bizarre & off the wall & I asked Ben, about it, and it turned out this guy was an imposter & spies on the meetings. The enemy was trying to use him to discourage me and try to stop the anointing & get me into discouragement.
Prov 4:20-24 NKJV My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. 24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you.
As I reread this I felt that the perverse lips are lips not only speaking sexual perversion, but untruths about God or His faithfulness to us. We all must become better to speak only what is the truth of His Word, & not doubt - Don't just speak your feelings. We don’t have to give into feelings, & those feelings can get us into a bad place where we speak out of our heart instead of being dependent on God for what to speak…& that is presumption.
Prov 10:9 NKJV He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known.
In other words, your sins will find you out if you are being dishonest, you will in the end be exposed. It behooves all of us to walk in humility when the Lord is speaking through us, & that we don’t try to gain attention for ourselves.
Prov 10:20a NKJV The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;
We are to use our tongues to bless and not curse…we want our words to be like apples of gold in settings of silver. Our hearts need healing yet if they are not, and I think that includes many of us.
Prov 11:20 NKJV Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the LORD, But the blameless in their ways are His delight.
Those who twist the word to pummel their brother or sister, to speak against them or to prophecy to them out of a wrong heart are an abomination to the Lord. Those are strong words, & I don’t want to be one of them. God does not like anyone misrepresenting His heart. We do it all the time when we curse others through using negative words. How do we speak to our children for example? Do we encourage & speak out of our spirit man, or out of our frustration? God knows I made that mistake too many times to count.
Prov 12:25 NKJV Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.
Wrong attitudes of heart can stop up prophecy from being released to us. When we are oppressed, those demons can interfere with our receptors ! So if I am in a place of healing & there is much on my heart, I don’t attempt to minister. I keep in a receiving rather than giving mode unless the Lord is leading, I don’t want to say anything out of presumption, or my own emotions.
Prov 15:13 NKJV A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Prophecy should encourage, comfort or edify for the most part. You should not come away from it feeling broken & in tears, unless they are tears of joy. God speaks to set aright. God speaks to encourage & comfort. He will speak to the wicked in a direct & painful manner sometimes, but it is RARE for Him to speak harshly to one of His own unless provoked greatly by disobedience.
Prov 15:28 NKJV The heart of the righteous studies how to answer, But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.
This is important. Maybe you’re praying for someone & you get the word “rebellion”. That doesn’t mean you go telling them that!!! You first WAIT ON GOD for what HE wants to say about what He showed you. He may say. “Tell them I love them & will help change their pain into joy” or something totally different from what you thought. God may be testing your own heart when you hear such things. He may want to do an inner healing for the pain that is behind the rebellion. So LISTEN A LOT, & ask a lot of questions of the Holy Spirit as He is our Teacher.
Prov 15:30 NKJV The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, & a good report makes the bones healthy.
More free, & healthy is the way we should walk away from being prophesied over – not depressed & confused! WE should feel lighter & more in love with Jesus, not heavy & discouraged.
Prov 16:2 NKJV All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits.
Now even though you may have been prophesied over incorrectly…the Lord may sometimes allow such things to test your heart or to teach you. So always be quick to forgive even those whose hearts are bound & not right.
Prov 16:5 NKJV Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.
Here is another good signal that the prophetic spoken over you may not be accurate…when there is much pride in the speaker. Jesus is not prideful. He is not in heaven going Hallelu-me like James Ryle once said. Jesus is the example of true HUMILITY in Isaiah 53. He was self-less, not selfish. HUMILITY is the fruit you want to look for.
Prov 17:22 NKJV A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.
God said, “a bruised reed He will not break” referring to Jesus. He is not one to kick a man or woman when they are down already. He is one to uplift and love and HE is KIND. In Your presence is fullness of JOY it says.
Prov 19:22-23 NKJV What is desired in a man is kindness, & a poor man is better than a liar. 23 The fear of the LORD leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil.
Prov 20:30 NKJV Blows that hurt cleanse away evil, As do stripes the inner depths of the heart.
Again, here is a lesson in suffering. Even at someone else’s words. For the suffering leads to perserverance & patience & wisdom. So even what happens outside the realm of kindness & goodness, is used to perfect us. And for this we should also praise Him. So if you've been prophesied over falsely, forgive & don't hold on to defensiveness. Release that person & lay the hurt at the cross. LET GO of unforgiveness & anger. Give the feelings to Him & ask him to remove them.
Prov 23:7 NKJV For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
This admonishes us that we need to clean up our thought life, for here heart is not the physical heart, but the mental, & emotions. We need to agree with how God sees us, & how precious we are to Him. If we think of ourselves as higher or lower than what His Word says, then that is pride! Yes, even lowliness, thinking we are just a worm for Jesus, is PRIDE – defensive pride & false humility. Because it is seeing ourselves different from the way God sees us. It is saying, NO, I’m not the head, I’m the tail. Thereby disputing with God Himself who sees us as the head & not the tail.
Prov 27:19 NKJV As in water face reflects face, So a man's heart reveals the man.
Prov 28:25-26 NKJV He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife,But he who trusts in the LORD will be prospered.
Father,
I just ask for You to pour out discernment, as in this hour we really need to know the true from the false. We need to be discerning and wise and to depend on Your wisdom rather than our own. You see all things and you know all things. We are SO thankful Lord for Your wisdom, for Your grace, and for the gift of prophecy that You have given us. We are grateful for the ways You have taught us and shared Your very heart with us. Help us to grow MORE Lord in the ability to love one another as You have loved us, that we will be able to prophesy out of a pure heart, and not from any wounds. Heal the woundedness inside of us for the times people spoke to us out of their hearts, and not from You. Create in us a clean heart Oh Lord, that we may love the way You love and think the way You think. IN JESUS’ name AMEN !
Priscilla Van Sutphin
