FIFTEEN
Discerning Evil Spirits
The difference seen from one mind to another is not based in differing spirits so much as in how the spirit is filtered. Customarily, evil spirits are interpreted as distinct entities that are separate from their hosts. We seekers, however, travel the high road. We see things from a different point of view. I have put forward that mind and spirit are interchangeable terms and may be used to reference like matters. I have asserted that to exercise the mind is to develop spiritual muscles and that the opposite end of that spectrum is attrition and atrophy.
Our premise is that the godly mind is a mind possessed by God. A mind possessed by an evil spirit is a mind that is occupied by all that is other than God. Moreover, that evil mind is as it is because it has failed to exercise the godly. We know that minds may change. We know that even a godly mind can suffer atrophy.
See Ecclesiastes 7:7, “Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift (bribe) destroyeth the heart (mind).”
What occupies a mind will define a mind. We know of a scriptural instance in which Christ put a madman in his right mind. Circumstance, then, is a factor in any state of mind. When one wishes to understand and recognize evil spirits, or more precisely, when one wishes to identify the atrophied and ungodly mind, one merely searches for those who exalt the baser nature of man.
See Jeremiah 5:23, “But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart (mind).”
Denial is a reverse exercise of the mind, a sort of anti-action, a state of erosion that may seem to loom larger than life. Just as darkness is the absence of light, as death is the absence of life, so evil is the absence of good. We may take this as a general formula. An evil spirit (that is to say, an evil mind) is the absence of a godly mind.
See Psalms 36:1, “The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart (mind), that there is no fear (respect, reverence) of God before his eyes.”
Just as there are many levels of a God-possessed mind, so too are there many levels of a mind that is possessed by an evil spirit. The evil spirit is not an entity outside the host, but an identity of the host. It boils down to the choices that an individual deliberately makes.
See Psalms 101:5, “Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour . . . him that hath an high look and a proud heart.”
There are many telltale signs of an evil spirit in man. They are not always extreme, but the mind of God, in the writers of scripture, has made sure that we are ‘clued in’. To see the evil mind, we simply seek the man that denies anything above himself.
The evil mind will promote the individual: Proverbs 18:2, “A fool hath no delight in understanding, but (only) that his heart (mind) may publish itself.”
Also, Proverbs 16:5, “Every one that is proud (boastful) in heart (mind) is an abomination to the Lord.”
Also, Romans 1:21-22, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart (mind) was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
Also, Ezekiel 14:3, “These men have set up their idols in their heart (mind).”
The evil mind will be presumptuous: Proverbs 18:12, “Before destruction the heart (mind) of man is haughty.”
Also, Daniel 5:20, “But when his heart (mind) was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.”
Also, Ezekiel 28:2, “Thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart (mind) as the heart (mind) of God.”
The evil mind will be feral: Daniel 4:16, “Let his heart (mind) be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart (mind) be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.”
The evil mind will be worldly-oriented: Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He hath set the world in their heart (mind), so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.”
Also, Psalms 73:7, “Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart (mind) could wish.”
Also, Hosea 13:6, “According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart (mind) was exalted; therefore have they forgotten Me.”
The evil mind will be rash: Psalms 39:3, “My heart (mind) was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.”
Also, Matthew 12:34, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart (mind) the mouth speaketh.”
The evil mind will use fair words as weapons: Psalms 55:21, “The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart (mind): his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.”
Also, Matthew 15:8, “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart (mind) is far from Me.”
The evil mind will deny God: Psalms 78:8, “ . . . As their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart (mind) aright, and whose spirit (mind) was not stedfast with (not a reflection of) God.”
Also, Psalms 78:37, “For their heart (mind) was not right with Him, neither were they stedfast in His covenant.”
Also, Matthew 13:15, “This people's heart (mind) is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart (mind), and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
Also, Acts 7:51, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart (mind) and ears, ye do always resist
the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”
Also, Hebrews 3:12, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart (mind) of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”
Also, Proverbs 11:20, “They that are of a froward heart (a mind of opposition) are abomination to the Lord.”
The evil mind will be static and will display little or no progress: Psalms 95:10, “Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart (mind), and they have not known My ways.”
Also, Hebrews 3:10, “They do alway err (digress) in their heart (mind); and they have not known My ways.”
Also, Matthew 13:19, “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart (mind).”
Also, Luke 24:25, “O fools, and slow of heart (mind) to believe.”
The evil mind will be desensitized: Psalms 119:70, “Their heart (mind) is as fat as grease.”
Also, Hosea 4:11, “Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the (right) heart (mind).”
The evil mind will deliberately and creatively generate misconduct: Psalms 140:2, “Which imagine mischiefs in their heart (mind).”
Also, Proverbs 6:14, “Frowardness (opposition) is in his heart (mind), he deviseth (formulates) mischief continually; he soweth discord.”
Also, Proverbs 6:18, “An heart (mind) that deviseth wicked imaginations.”
The evil mind will live in its own little world: Proverbs 12:20, “Deceit (pretense) is in the heart (mind) of them that imagine (fantasize) evil.”
Also, Obadiah 1:3, “The pride of thine heart (mind) hath deceived thee.”
The evil mind will be clever: Isaiah 32:4, “The heart (mind) also of the rash shall understand knowledge.”
Also, Colossians 2:18, “Let no man beguile you of (lead you away from) your reward in (by) a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly (narcissistically) puffed up by his fleshly (corporeal) mind.”
The evil mind will be malicious, vindictive, and motivated by spite: Ezekiel 25:15, “With a despiteful heart (mind).”
Also, Acts 5:33, “When they heard that, they . . . took counsel to slay them.”
Also, Acts 7:54, “When they heard these things, they were cut to (wounded in) the heart (mind), and they gnashed on him with their teeth.”
The evil mind will never be satisfied with proof: Mark 6:52, “They considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart (mind) was hardened.”
Also, Daniel 5:22, “And thou . . . hast not humbled thine heart (mind), though thou knewest all this.”
Also, Malachi 2:2, “Ye will not lay it to heart (mind).”
The evil mind is an affliction: Luke 7:21, “And in that same hour He cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits (unholy minds); and unto many that were blind He gave sight.”
The evil mind will be characterized by its desires: 2 Peter 2:14, “An heart (mind) they have exercised with covetous (envious and materialistic) practices.”
Also, Mark 7:18-23, “He saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? For from within, out of the heart (mind) of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
Also, Ephesians 2:3, “Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath.”
The evil mind will make unreasonable demands: Matthew 23:4, “They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne.”
The evil mind will perform actions not in its own best interest: Romans 1:28, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.”
Also, Romans 2:5, “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart (unrepentant mind) treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”
Also, Jeremiah 32:35, “And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into My mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.”
Also, Jeremiah 19:5, “They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into My mind.”
The evil mind will intrude where it does not belong: Acts 8:21-22, “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart (mind) is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart (mind) may be forgiven thee.”
The evil mind will sport a very large blind spot: 2 Corinthians 3:14-15, “But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail (blindfold) untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail (blindfold) is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail (blindfold) is upon their heart (mind).”
Also, 2 Corinthians 6:11-12, “O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart (mind) is enlarged. Ye are not straitened (limited) in us, but ye are straitened (limited) in your own bowels (emotions).”
Also, Ephesians 4:17-18, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity (could this be the blindfold?) of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness (self-limitation) of their heart (mind).”
The evil mind will often have a thin religious veneer: James 1:26, “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart (mind), this man's religion is vain (empty).”
Also, Luke 9:55, “But He turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit (mind) ye are of.”
The evil mind will be open to contamination: Ezekiel 38:10, “Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought.”
Also, Ezekiel 13:3, “Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit (mind), and have seen nothing!”
The evil mind will not be inclined toward sympathy or empathy: 1 John 3:17, “But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
The evil mind will be moved by violence and irresistible force: Jeremiah 17:1, “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart (mind).”
The evil mind lives to lie: Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart (mind) is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”
We must recall that in the majority of scriptural references, the evil spirit was inside a human host. Detection of loose demons, whether visible or invisible, is negligible. The discerning of spirits
is a matter that is always connected to physical man. Look closely at this next verse to see two
spirits, or two minds, in opposition.
Acts 5:3-4, “Why hath Satan filled thine heart (mind) to lie to the Holy Ghost? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart (mind)?”
How does one explain the correlation between the instigation of this act by Satan and the instigation of this act by the man’s own will? I think that a man’s free will is a tiny thing: halt and limited; not the grand creature man has called it. One is free to choose either Satan or God only. Clearly, by the words above, Ananias conceived the act in his own mind, and yet that bit of free will is attributed to Satan. This is not a case, therefore, of possession by such a notable character (he would send his flunkies for such tasks), rather, it is a reference to the admittance, by free will, of another mindset. It is simply the case of frowardness on the part of Ananias. It was most likely something that developed
over time.
No one, I think, looks up and notices a fully possessed individual - out of the blue, so to speak. Changes, whether bad or good, occur naturally and are matters of gradual increments in time, process, or development such as either addition or attrition.
See the developmental attrition of Christ’s own apostles in Mark 16:9-14, “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After that He appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart (mind), because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen.”
As to Ananias, he may have subscribed to a satanic (or worldly) mindset before he joined the circle of believers. If so, he might have been permitted entrance (by God) for the sole purpose of the display of God’s power and reality - a little something to inspire and encourage the true believers. That gift by Ananias might have been doomed to rejection from the beginning because of his innately wicked nature, but doubly-doomed because of the deliberate connivance on his part. In the story about Ananias, I see a connection to the story of Cain and Abel.
See Proverbs 21:27, “The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?”
This is the evil spirit or evil mindset, that is rejected by God. This is the mind that is open to the Satan way of thinking rather than the God way of thinking. Each individual is exposed to both, and each individual must choose between the two. When Christ went up to be tempted ‘by the spirit’, no one went with Him. No one was there to report that Satan, in person, tempted Christ. The story came through Jesus in His communication to His disciples. What Jesus resisted was temptation. It could well have been that what, exactly, He had to face was the internalized temptation to think like Satan. Many succumb to that mindset, and for many reasons, not the least of which being that thinking that way is so easy and has such widespread support.
You will find these evil spirits everywhere. You will find them in every stage of development, from the full-fledged bad guy in a black hat to the worldly-oriented everyday working stiff, to the sleepy-eyed disciple exposed to common temptations.
See John 12:40, “He (God) hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart (mind); that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart (mind), and be converted (another Ananias in the camp), and I should heal them.”
Also, see Mark 8:17, “Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart (mind) yet hardened?”
Know that the hardened heart, whether it belongs to a man or a son of man, can neither perceive nor understand spiritual issues. To turn one’s back on the God-mind is to have a huge blind spot in one’s perception. To face God, however, is not the same thing as having a blind spot toward, or ignorance of the worldly or satanic elements of existence - for God also created evil. To face God is equivalent to both knowledge of, and empowerment over evil.
If you face God, the mindset that opposes God cannot sneak up on you because you are both warned and empowered, but if you turn your back on the spiritual (which necessarily presupposes avoidance of the tools that perceive the invisible), God can most certainly sneak up on you.
See Ezekiel 23:28, “For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated.”
Imagine that someone threatens to stab you. The smart response is to take a prepared stance and to increase vigilance. But, let it not be assumed that everyone will do the smart thing. One who is offended by such talk may, as I have seen in real life, turn up the nose or turn the back in an attempt to boycott the offense. Now let me ask this: will not the stab-happy offender see this as an opportunity? If you’re not skilled in body language, you’d do well to be fleet of foot.
An evil spirit is a mental calcification brought on by the incessant outpouring of worldly jisms. Another epithet for ‘evil spirit’ is ‘unclean spirit’. This describes a contaminated mind. When the body is contaminated, we notice worsening symptoms. The open spiritual eye may also notice worsening symptoms in connection to a contaminated, poisoned, or an infected mind. If just anyone can notice an evil spirit (as in a possession), it must have been building for quite a while. At the point where an evil mindset is bad enough to be noticed by those who normally pay no attention, it is usually given a name, associated with something that easily symbolizes the affliction.
Someone in an advanced state of physical illness may be symbolized as ‘the walking dead’, for example.
See a symbol in the communicating orifice of each of these three: Revelation 16:13, “And I saw three unclean spirits (minds) like frogs come out of the mouth of (spoken by) the dragon, and out of the mouth of (spoken by) the beast, and out of the mouth of (spoken by) the false prophet.”
These are three extremely contaminated individuals whose progressed states are easily symbolized
by frogs. A frog can be seen as a symbol of transformation, and as an incarnation of something. It
can be seen as something that wallows in mud, something unclean like a plague.
Now, pay attention. A Coat-of-Arms is attributed to Satan by the Holy Roman Empire. The crest bears three frogs. (I found that Internet search both surprising and informative.) But, mainly the frog is associated with water, which in itself is a symbol of the masses.
As a fruit tree is pruned rather than destroyed outright, God has in times past been persuaded to change his mind about evil men. Individuals like Moses have stood in the breach between man and God to beg for mercies. Yet, God will reject evil thinking. In the process of God’s realization into man, the God-mind will necessarily destroy the world-mind.
See Jeremiah 15:1, “Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.”
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