CHAPTER EIGHT

Discernings of Spirits

THE BIBLE tells us that we who live upon this earth are surrounded by spiritual beings of many kinds, of whose presence we are unaware by our physical senses. There are the Holy Angels, whose abode is in the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2; Rev. 12:7-9; Ps. 148:4), and the unholy angels under their leader Satan in the first or lower heaven (Eph. 6:12; 2:2). In addition there are earth-bound demons or disembodied spirits, who are therefore to some extent impotent unless they can gain entrance into either human (Luke 9:39) or animal (Luke 8:33) bodies, which is their great desire.

       There is no spiritual gift which enables its owner to become aware of the whole spiritual situation all the time, so that all spiritual beings are within his ken—that would be an insupportable burden—but there are occasions when it is necessary to a believer to be made aware of spirits, whether good or bad, with which he happens to have come into contact. Then for a moment the veil is temporarily lifted by these gifts, and their possessor is blessed and helped by his experience.

       Both Old and New Testaments are full of instances of these gifts. Holy Angels, for example, were seen in the O.T. by Hagar (Genesis 16:7-13), Abraham (Genesis 18:1-2), David (2 Samuel 24:17),

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Elijah (1 Kings 19:5-7), Elisha and his servant (2 Kings 6:17) and Daniel (Daniel 10:5-6); and in the N.T. by Zacharias (Luke 1:11), Mary (Luke 1:28), Joseph (Matthew 2:13), the Shepherds (Luke 2:9, 13), Our Lord (Luke 22:43), Cornelius (Acts 10:3), Peter (Acts 10:15; 12:7) and Paul (Acts 27:23). God gave a vision of Himself in the O.T. to Isaiah (6:1-8) and Ezekiel (1:26-28; cf. Daniel 7:9-14), and the N.T. to John (Rev. 4:3), and the whole book of the Revelation is a continuous account of the working of these gifts in John, so that the spiritual world was open to his eyes, and he saw and conversed with the Lord and angels throughout. On the other side, Satan appeared and spoke to Eve (Genesis 3) and Our Lord (Matthew 4:1-11), and demons spoke to Our Lord (Matthew 8:28-31; Mark 3:11; 5:6-12) and about Paul (Acts 16:16-18). Doubtless there were many other instances of these gifts which are not recorded, especially when demons were being cast out, but enough have been quoted to show that these gifts were quite normal both in Old and New Testament times.

       It remains to consider what is the value of these gifts. It is clear that they are of the greatest importance since they occur so frequently. Perhaps the first blessing that comes from all such experiences to believer and unbeliever alike is to draw their attention to, and convince them of, the reality of the unseen world on both its sides. We are told in Eph. 6:12 that our wrestling is not with flesh and blood but with wicked spirits in heavenly places. It is, however, difficult to realise this without any experience of such beings. In the same

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way, we are told that the good angels are sent forth to minister to the sons of God, and again it is difficult to realise this if we have no such experience to help us. These gifts are then given to us to make the unseen world real and vivid to us and to quicken our faith in the Bible accounts of such encounters, which to many non-Pentecostal believers seem strange and frightening. Unbelievers, too, like Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3:24-30) and Belshazzar (Daniel 5:5-7) were convinced of the truth of the witness of God's servants in their kingdom by what they saw.

       There are also cases where the gift was given to enable some unwilling person to do the will of God; e.g. Hagar to return to Sarai (Genesis 16:7-13) and Gideon to fight the Midianites (Judges 6:11-24). So, too, the three children and Daniel were enabled to survive their fearful ordeals by the presence of heavenly beings with them. Again the discernment of wicked spirits by Our Lord (Luke 8:26-36) and Paul (Acts 16:16-18) enabled them to deliver those who were possessed.

       I remember Mr. T. D. Dorling telling me of an occasion when in the great Sunderland revival a spirit successfully resisted the efforts of five believers to cast him out, and asserted that he was stronger than they were. Our Lord said that there were those who could not be defeated except with prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29). It is then of no avail to try to cast out a spirit from a sick person, unless (a) you have discerned that there is such a spirit inside, and (b) you are stronger than the spirit.

       It is impossible to exaggerate the blessing which such gifts impart to the recipient by creating a

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cast-iron faith in impossible situations, e.g. Paul's angel in the most dangerous shipwreck (Acts 27:23), Our Lord's angel in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43), Elisha when surrounded by a hostile army (2 Kings 6:13-16), Our Lord's visit from Moses and Elijah, who talked with him of his death, when no man on earth was willing to do so. Moses was able to testify to resurrection after death, and Elijah to Rapture from the earth. Between them they could take the Lord from the grave to glory! The most striking modern example of such gifts is that of Mr. Baker's Adullam Orphanage in Yunnan Fu, where his boys were given wonderful visions of heaven, angels and Our Lord, presumably to strengthen them for the fearful trials that would befall them in manhood under the Communists. Let us pray that we, too, who are entering into the last conflicts of this Age, may be similarly strengthened and enabled to overcome all attacks of Satan.

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