“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts” -Ezekiel 14:3
The pathway from my heart to my mouth is a very short one.
Jesus said from the abundance of our heart our mouth speaks. When we take an idol into our heart our mouth will begin speaking according to that idol!
If you have an idol in your heart you’ll be a fountain of false prophecy in that area of your life. Your idol will prophesy according to your desire.
It becomes very difficult to discern the will of God in areas of our life that are unsurrendered. Our desires end up sounding like the Voice of God to us because the idol has essentially become our god and begins to prophesy out of our own desires!
Dreams, visions, feelings, thoughts and revelation may spring up from inside your heart because of the idol that you have placed there. It’s your idol speaking, not God!
Having an idol in your heart is a pathway to false prophecy.
Spiritual counterfeits
Not only will your own heart lie to you according to the desire of your idol, but deceiving spirits are happy to come along and join themselves to your idolatrous affection.
This is where it gets tricky.
By having an idol in my heart I’m exalting something to be god in my life that shouldn’t be there. It might seem innocent to me- an affection, a desire, a longing. On its own it may be perfectly fine and not sinful at all. But when I take it up into my heart and it becomes an idol, at that point it becomes sin.
“Do not have other gods besides me.” -Exodus 20:3
Once I put an idol in my heart I’ve broken the first commandment and have set up a false god inside me. This attracts demons.
“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.” -1 Corinthians 10:31
By allowing the idol to remain in my heart a door is opened to lying spirits resulting in false prophecy.
Four spirits of false prophecy
The Lord showed me four spirits in particular as it pertains to false prophecy because of idols:
- Lying spirits
- Seducing spirits
- Spirits of divination
- Familiar spirits
The influence of demonic spirits will vary depending on the idol that you have set up in your heart and there may be other spirits involved than the four I mention. It’s important to seek the Holy Spirit who is able to discern the spirits and show you what is taking place.
Take notice of obsessive cyclical patterns. If you’re constantly being driven into obsessive thoughts or behaviors, and find yourself acting out repeating patterns that lead nowhere or lead to negative consequences, it’s time to ask yourself if you’ve set up an idol in your heart
Familiar spirits
A familiar spirit may lead you into familiar situations that satisfy the idol in your heart.
You may think it’s just your own personal preference, when in fact a familiar spirit may be giving you a feeling that makes you feel like seeking out the same thing over and over. The evil spirit knows what you like and leads you to it. It falsely prophecies through familiarity. You might feel comfortable with it because it almost feels like a close friend; a familiar friend.
Do you feel attracted to the same type of person over and over again even though you know they’re going to be bad for you? It may actually be a familiar spirit that you’re attracted to! It’s kind of creepy! You might be loving on a demon and not even know it.
Maybe it’s been in your life a long time, and you feel comfortable with it because you’ve never uprooted the idol from your heart. It keeps telling you the same thing over and over again leading you to the same type of situations or the same type of people.
It’s demonic and it will falsely prophesy to you. False dreams, false visions, false revelation- even false confirmations!
You may think God is speaking to you the whole time because it’s telling you what you want to hear, but it’s actually setting you up for deception! Don’t assume that just because you have multiple confirmations that God is giving you a green light. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. The reason I’m able to teach you about these things with great clarity is because I had to learn these lessons for myself. I once had a very detailed dream that played right into the idolatry of my heart. That same day what ended up happening in the dream played out in my life! Most Christians would probably do exactly what I did. I got excited and assumed it was God speaking to me in the dream and giving me an awesome confirmation. It actually turned out to be the enemy setting me up! Why did I fall for it? Because I wanted it so bad!
Idolatry is like laying out a red carpet for demons to walk straight into your heart
A spirit of divination
A spirit of divination is happy to predict your future and help you to satisfy the idol in your heart. It will tell you what you want to hear and lead you into situations that you shouldn’t be in because you haven’t surrendered an area of your life. When it prophecies to you, you believe it because it plays right into the idol that’s set up in your heart.
I’ve seen false prophecy occur in the church on many occasions. As the Holy Spirit was teaching me He would show me specific examples of it occurring where a spirit of divination was operating and the person felt they were under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The divining spirit said what the person wanted to hear. Later on everything proved to be absolutely false.
The scripture is very plain that we’re to test the spirits to see whether they’re from God. We’re not to despise prophesying, but we are to test everything.
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.” -1 Thessalonians 5:19-20
We’re often afraid to question prophecy because we don’t want to offend the person giving it. The last thing we want to do is quench the Spirit, but we must test prophecy. If we don’t, eventually we’ll end up being deceived.
Lying spirits
Lying spirits have a field day with someone who has an idol in their heart. They pose as an angel of light, pretending to be the Spirit of Truth, giving you words of false prophecy. You think the words of the lying spirit are true because they flatter you by telling you what you want to hear. Maybe the lying spirit even throws in a verse or two!
Remember, the devil tried to use the scripture against Jesus when He was tempted by him in the wilderness.
One of the most common ways the Holy Spirit speaks to me is through the Bible. Nevertheless, there have been many times where a verse has come to me that proved to be a catalyst to produce false faith.
Demons don’t mind if you have faith in a lie!
If you have an idol in your heart you’re a magnet for lying spirits. They know they’re not going to have any problem fooling you because you’ve already decided what you want, and they’ll tell you exactly what you want to hear.
It’s also not unusual for a lying spirit to pose as the Holy Spirit even to the point of giving false manifestations of “presence”.
A desire to know and to live in the truth is important if we don’t want to be deceived. Submission and surrender to Jesus Christ by asking Him to uproot every idol is the path to freedom.
“Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.” -Psalm 51:16
If your highest desire is not to know and walk in truth, you will be deceived!!
Seducing spirits
Seducing spirits are experts at making you feel that you’re going in the right direction, even if you’re not. They will make you feel comfortable even though you’re out of the will of God! Something may appear very appealing, look outwardly right, but still be very far from the will of God. When a seducing spirit is present you may notice a certain “pull”, a magnetic attraction, a drawing power that is compelling you toward a person or situation. What you feel will be very attractive to you as it will be tailored to your propensities. It’s easy to be lured in by a seducing spirit because you actually like what you’re feeling! If you’re honest, most of the time, however, you’ll know gut level that there’s a spiritual force behind what’s going on. Even so, seducing spirits are very beguiling and it’s easy to come under their influence because they appeal to our most basic attractions and desires. When we have an idol in our heart, they’re more than happy to oblige and draw us to our idol. Don’t be surprised if the idol you’re dreaming about materializes before you in a very attractive form!
Freedom in Jesus
Be persistent and ruthless in your desire to surrender everything to God. Idols exist in our heart because we put them there!
Look at the verse again-
“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts” -Ezekiel 14:3
When we want something bad enough it can easily become an obsession that we take into our heart. That desire, that affection, that longing, can become our god!
There is freedom in Jesus but He will not allow competing gods in our life.
Renounce the idol!
Lay it down, surrender it!
Renounce the spiritual influences that may have come into your life because of the idol. You can’t be playing around! If you want this stuff out of your heart you have to give yourself up to the lordship of Jesus Christ completely.
You must be determined. Come into complete submission, surrender, and obedience to Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit do His work in you. Don’t be surprised if you have to go through spiritual warfare! Deliverance may come suddenly or may come over time, but it will come if you press into Jesus.
The Spirit of Truth brings clarity and peace
Once the idol is out of your heart you will notice a clarity and peace that you didn’t have before. You will see things very clearly and recognize the idol for what it is. The obsession will be gone. When the idol leaves, the obsession goes with it.
May the peace of God abide in you, and the Spirit of the Lord fill you!
There is no God but Jesus, no Lord but Him. May every idol be removed and Jesus alone be exalted.