When we first find God, we are most at risk of being deceived by fallen spiritual entities.
There is a spiritual entity that reminds me of Q from Star Trek.
I was a Star Trek fan in my teens and religiously watched most sci-fi after school on during the good old days of pre-internet age BBC2. I clearly didn't have much of a life then but I loved the escape, the moral dilemmas, the adventure and the utopian view of Federation Earth. How young, idealistic and naive I was then!
Occasionally, Star Trek touched on the spiritual and those were my favourite episodes.
As I was also into spirituality, I happened to discover that Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, was a follower of the same beings the first spiritual book I bought was about. It's no wonder I was a fan of his show. Roddenberry was also an atheist with a dislike of religion (1).
Naturally, Roddenberry sprinkled his creations with his own worldview and because it was so well done, I, like millions of other watchers, lapped it up. Devoid of a personal relationship with God, I was ripe for the spiritual, humanistic worldview of Star Trek:TNG which satisfied all my teenage idealism and presented me with a much better vision of a world than the one I lived in.
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Q, played by John de Lancie, was an extra-dimensional being with godlike powers and appeared in several episodes, notably the first and the last. Picard et al. were constantly exasperated by him as he toyed around with the Enterprise crew -- making them see things, changing the laws of physics, manipulating their behaviour, emotions etc. all under the pretext of scrutinising their inferior nature and helpfully offering accountability to a higher being. He was also flamboyantly arrogant which made for funny viewing.
When I watched Q episodes as a teen, I thought him to be like the judgemental Christian God of the Old Testament. In the finale of TNG, Q puts the entire Enterprise crew on trial under penalty of death and hammers home the nature of fallen mankind -- one where humans could never be good enough.
Without Holy Spirit wisdom guiding me, I never picked up on the fact that no redeeming gift of Jesus Christ was ever alluded to so the God presented in that finale was never the God of the Bible but a false god. It does not reflect the character of the holy, loving and just God of the Bible who judges sin but also gives us the gift of salvation from judgement.
Q's "god" instead has the condemning, accusing voice of Satan. it has taken me around two decades to see how Q's character is more akin to a deceptive fallen angel and nothing like God.
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Soon after being born again, the Holy Spirit brought to my attention an energy of thinking that I'd taken to be my own for many years. I knew this kind of thinking originated from a spiritual entity but there was more to learn.
As I listened to a audio format of an abridged Star Trek novel (2), I suddenly noticed new features of this spirit when I noticed a certain similarity to Q. Now I haven't watched Star Trek in years and I've never read/heard a Star Trek novel so it's amazing the Holy Spirit drew me to something I enjoyed in the past to teach me about something relevant to me now. God uses our own flesh nature to help us grow spiritually.
Below are some characteristics of this spiritual entity:
- High intellectual energy
- Pokes holes in one's faith.
- Pits the Christian God as a punishing, judging dictator or a deceptive being. In fact, this spirit is projecting Satan's character onto God.
- Derogatory, especially about childlike innocence or faith.
- A liar who hates God. E.g lies about God even though it knows God.
- Plays the devil's advocate (literally!) and presents itself as supposedly very helpful with the intention of not wanting humans to fall into error or subjugation under the punishing "archon/demiurge".
- Leaning towards nondualism
Rather than bring all demons/spirits to awareness in one go, I believe the Holy Spirit allows careful, graduated exposure in order for us to get wise to the tactics of the fallen spiritual realm. After being unexpectedly born again in the Holy Spirit in 2017, an intense phase of what I can only describe as "making sense of it all" followed. I already had subconscious anti-Christian views and had been immersed in spirituality for many years. Even though I could no longer say God doesn't exist or God is all-that-is, I adamantly did not want to look at anything to do with religion (which I mistook for Christianity and which I had left behind in my childhood). In hindsight, I have no doubt this deceiving entity was involved in that inner battle. When that battle was won, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the deceiving spirit was spontaneously released from my body.
In my own case, I believe a spirit took hold during my intense study into esoteric spirituality and as a result of following spiritual gurus who basically ended up becoming idols to me. I followed highly intelligent gurus of the advaita variety like Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj and others for many years. Some of these gurus (like Maharaj and Mooji) do the most amazing intellectual/soul gymnastics and present brilliant "insights" when questioned by followers. As a result of "self-enquiry", I had many profound, euphoric experiences of my mind being "blown" despite the chaotic, difficult world around me. These experiences, in turn, opened the door to being influenced by other spiritual entities (3).
Granted, all the spiritual insights shared by these nondual gurus were Godless in nature. All were at least one degree away from the Truth or helping followers actually know God and who He is in the quickest way possible. Having a personal relationship with God didn't even come to my mind then and I saw God instead as "sat-chit-ananda", i.e. "truth, consciousness, bliss", rather than the Creator of everything, including me and someone who gives humans a NEW spirit.
Any truth shared by these gurus was, at best, partially effective on the level of body/soul, doing nothing for the spirit but fitting very well into my humanistic, transpersonal, Eastern/occult/new-age view of God.
I wasted years of my life until I realized something was off and it was only after I inadvertently became born again in the Holy Spirit when I realized why those spiritual worldviews were off the mark.
Despite having zero doubt about the existence of the Triune God (God, the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit) this deceptive spirit still lurked around the edges, waiting to pounce, very "helpfully", at the right time.
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
And now for the meat of the article. What are possible strongholds in us that enable spiritual entities like this to have power over us? How may we deal with the lies we've allowed to take hold in us.
Possible strongholds allowing spiritual attack by similar entities:
- Relying on our intellect, spiritual practices (using those as idols) rather than being fulfilled by actually living in God and knowing Him.
- Not trusting God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit (all mistrust should instead belong to deceptive entities).
- Inability to look at sin. Being unrepentant, unforgiving and using spirituality to escape.
- Love of self and spiritual pride.
- Falling for the luciferian/satanic ideologies of "we can be god"
- Unbelief, doubt.
- Holding our feelings and thoughts as truth rather than Truth itself.
- Looking only at the seen, rather than the unseen.
- and more ...
Works in tandem with:
- Spirits of religion
- Occult spirits
- Spirits of depression, fear, anxiety
- and more...
Possible antidotes to spiritual lies:
- Creation doesn't exist apart from God. Our being is sustained by God.
- We cannot be separate from God's presence/love and then expect to be happy/fulfilled. Being separated from God's presence = being in Hell, a special place made for Satan and the fallen angels.
- I believe many gurus were deceived and even possessed by fallen spiritual entities. These same entities then preyed on followers like myself.
- God's design is perfect from the perspective of eternity and omnipresence.
- Jesus was the only sinless human. All gurus, even saintly ones, have sinned. Most gurus are still led by their carnal nature as evident by scandals (4).
- God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit never lie whereas Satan and the fallen spiritual realm constantly do. The latter also cause suffering, evil and extreme cruelty in the world. The only reason why people want to escape the fictitious reincarnation cycle to attain nirvana is to be free of suffering!
- We have a conscience for a reason. There are consequences to sin and unkindness. Even highly respected teachers like Ramana Maharshi and the Dalai Lama urge treating others with kindness and "right action".
- We all want unconditional love, the source of which can only be what is unconditionally loving, just and holy -- our Heavenly Father whom Jesus Christ was a physical reflection of. As one person said:
"Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith -- Alexis de Tocqueville.
Biblical Swords to Use in Warfare
“... God, who never lies…”(Titus 1:2b)
"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23)
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32)
"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32)
“So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:17-18)
To the pharisees, Jesus said “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I (Jesus) tell the truth, you do not believe me” (John 8:44-45)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4)
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father” (Matthew 10:29)
“In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)
“It is appointed for men once to die, and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27)
“if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)
“It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body . . . it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42, 44) -- about the resurrection.
Finally,
I hope this article helps you on your own path. These are things I've discovered in my own life and what I would've liked to have known years ago. Please don't take my word for anything and find things out for yourself :)
(1) Gene Roddenberry and the Council of Nine
(2) "Q-in-Law" by Peter David, Simon & Schuster -- a story about a romance between Q and Lwuxana Troi.
(3) By the way, I believe everyone except Jesus Christ, to some extent or other, is influenced by fallen spiritual entities, without necessarily being schizophrenic. In order to learn more, please see my other articles. E.g. Our Inner Demons: Parts of our Personality or Spiritual Entities
(4) Breaking Free from Spiritual Brainwashing
If you're spiritually struggling with something or are a troubled Christian and would like to talk, I offer my time freely to encourage others in their own walk with God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Send me a message through the contact form at my website below and we can schedule a conversation.