Exposing Wolves In Sheep's Clothing
For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:24, NKJV).
But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works (2 Corinthians 12-15, NKJV).
Servants of satan are among us. They infiltrate Churches and Ministries to divide, destroy and to deceive. There are three types of Servants of satan that I have been shown. A servant of satan the Lord told me is someone who serves satans purpose knowingly or unknowingly. Anyone satan uses to serve his purpose is a servant of satan. Good men and women of God can be used by satan for his purposes. When there is a true Ministry or Church with the anointing of God satan will send someone to destroy. Satan will send forth someone who is a divider, rather than one who is of the same accord. Why do you think Church splits happen? Satan will send people with his agenda because he knows what is in a person with which he can use for his purposes. The Holy Spirit once used the witness of three individual people each a year apart to warn Mark and I that our Ministry would be infiltrated by a servant of satan. We were to be on guard. He was calling us as Team leaders to run a tight ship. We have had to make some hard decisions when it comes to friends being part of our Ministry when they are not whom God has called to come alongside us. We always pray for God to open the door to those whom God has chosen and close it to those He has not.
The first kind of servant of satan is a follower of Jesus Christ but puts self ahead of God. They want the limelight and the things that glorify themselves so are willing to forgo certain things to suit their own agenda. They may even put material gain ahead of their true purpose in God. It is all about what they can 'get', rather than what can they 'give'.
The second kind are the people who can be labelled as false prophets and ministers of God because what they are teaching becomes exposed as deception, but these people are doing so in ignorance. Many people can get caught up in deception ignorantly by being deceived by voices posing as the Holy Spirit or even by other people's teaching who fully believe they are teaching truth only to find out later they weren't but were instead deceived. These true servants of God are targets and need our love and grace when a false teaching is exposed as we can all fall short of truth through ignorance. Another example of a deceived person is one that is merely religious on the outside and not born-again. They believe in Christ and follow the doctrines of Christ but are not lead by the Holy Spirit. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23, NKJV). It is so important to pray and ask God to protect you from being a false prophet and false witness for His Kingdom and to protect you from believing and falling into deception.
The third type is the kind who pose as servants of God to destroy the anointing God has placed on Churches, Ministries and individuals. They are satanists and occultists and are sent to knowingly deceive. They are the ones who knowingly work for the devil to destroy followers of Christ. These are true wolves in sheeps clothing. Spotting these wolves is very hard. They cannot be discerned through the flesh. Only the Spirit of God can identify them and expose them. It may be that the Holy Spirit has taught you Scriptural truths to enable you to identify a deceptive teaching or He may use the gift of discernment to alert you to these false servants. These false servants of God will be intelligent, charasmatic people with a great knowledge of the word. They will bring truth mixed with deception to ultimately bring deception. Only through knowing the true word of God can you divide between true and counterfeit servants of God. Their aim is to divide, destroy, take over and conquer. If there is someone you suspect of being a servant of satan posing as a servant of God there is a Biblical test that God has given to His true servants to expose them. I believe that by using this Scriptural test we can discern between true and false servants of God. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error (1 John 4:1-6, KJV). At first glance this Scripture can be simply interpreted as simply a confession of the belief that Jesus Christ is God incarnate and that He came to earth as a man to save mankind. This is a great test to discern between Christian workers, non-Christ believing religions and occult workers who are into New Age techniques. If a person is working in signs and wonders and they don't believe that Jesus Christ is God and the one true God then you know the source of their power is not the Holy Spirit and my advice is to STAY AWAY from these people! The problem with this Scriptural revelation however is a servant of satan posing as a saint can easily confess this as they are liars and sent to deceive. Not only this servants of satan will work in great power with signs and wonders and even counterfeit healings. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:24, NKJV).
So how do we test the ones who are wolves posing as sheep? TEST THEIR SPIRIT! If they are claiming to be a son or daughter of God you can actually pray and ask Father God in Jesus name to bring forth the human spirit while you speak to them and ask them to confess out loud to you that 'Jesus Christ is come in the flesh'. ('Is come' is from the Greek word erchomai and means to come into being). It would also be a good idea to bind any demonic spirits from answering in Jesus name. The spirit of man is God's. We know by Scripture that the spirit of man is the breath of God and is the life force of man that gives us life. God Himself breathed His Spirit into the physical body of man and man became a living soul. Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7, KJV). Demons cannot touch or inhabit the spirit of man once you are born again. Once you are born-again and belong to God demonic spirits can only invade the soul and physical body of man. You then work with the Holy Spirit to cleanse and purify these areas. Our spirit is our God conscience - I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit (Romans 9:1, NKJV). The Spirit Himself also bears witness with our spirit that we are a child of God (Romans 8:16). Your spirit knows if you have knowingly rejected Jesus Christ. By asking God in Jesus name to bring the spirit of man to the forefront you are asking Him to make the spirit in that moment the dominant force. A false servant of Christ is one who has rejected Christ and is anti-Christ. They have chosen to work for satan and deceive the saints. They have knowingly made a choice to follow and serve satan as their master. Doing this test is good but it is not fool proof. The spirit in man is your God-conscience – if that man or women does not believe Jesus Christ is God and that Jesus Christ came in the flesh to save them from their sins there will be an element of discomfort in this confession because your spirit does not bear witness with the truth. In other words if your spirit doesn't bear witness with the Holy Spirit of God there will be an element of discomfort in that confession. Demons and man however can lie – anyone can confess whatever they want for their own purposes and this is why it is not fool proof but if you watch the person closely you will be able to determine how easy or difficult it was for them to do. If a man or woman shows any discomfort trying to confess this then assume that there is something amiss. In this scenario a second check can be put in place. You can then invite that person claiming to be a born-again follower of Christ to do the sinner's prayer inviting Jesus Christ into their heart to become Lord of their lives. A person who truly wants to know and have a personal relationship with Jesus will happily recommit to Jesus but a servant of satan posing as a saint will run a mile. I believe this is a good test to expose servants of satan posing as angels of light! If a person struggled with this test but was happy to do the sinners prayer and recommit themselves to Jesus then ask the Holy Spirit to show you why that person had difficulty. It may be that they need deliverance from an anti-Christ spirit or mind-set that they are under.
In regard to the antichrist (son of sin/man of perdition) I believe that this one will deny that Jesus came in the flesh already. The Bible tells us that he sits in the temple as God performing signs and wonders. I also believe that he will be anti the current Governmental system and bring in a wonderful solution to help the world out of the mess that will be the world when he raises himself up. On the surface he will look good and say the right things. The biggest clue to his identity will be his denial that Jesus previously came in the flesh. This man with his deception will bring in the mark of the beast system to try and deceive even the very elect.
In light of what I have written there is clearly a big difference from those who are actual servants of satan posing as saints, and those who are doing the work of God to glorify self from those who are simply deceived servants of God. The true test however the Lord showed me of testing the spirits is to see their fruit. 'By their fruits you will know them'. Knowing the word of God and the character of God will go a long way into protecting yourself from wolves in sheeps clothing.
By Tania Francis