Acts 4:9 If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well,

 

Peter and John were arrested and called to stand before the Sanhedrin (the highest court of the nation) because they healed a crippled man. This was true on the surface but the real reason they were arrested and put before the Sanhedrin was because of the POWER by which they did this. That was what the religious elite was concerned about.

 

The Priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees were all controlled by the demonic spirit of religion. They really didn’t care what the people did as long as it did not upset their position of power. Peter and John, by the Power of the Holy Spirit of God, upset their position BIG TIME and they could not allow this to continue.

 

The spirit of religion has always been prevalent in the Church. It was in the days of the First Church and it is today. People want the glory when in actuality, no one is worthy of any glory at all. ALL Glory belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ for His Finished Work on the Cross by which we have received the Holy Spirit and all the Power of God with Him.

 

It’s sad to watch good, well-meaning people come under the influence of the spirit of religion. They start off with perfect intentions and then the devil waves money and power in front of their eyes like bait to a fish, and they take it. Their ministry then becomes nothing more than a big business with them sitting at the top.

 

These people are unapproachable. You can’t get near them due to the bodyguards. No one has their phone number because they are “above” the peons who sit in the crowd every week begging for something from God. It’s pitiful but that is what the enemy does. What began as a true God-given Ministry to see people saved, healed, and delivered becomes a phony staged show, and unfortunately people stand in line for hours and pay high ticket prices to just catch a glimpse of the man on the stage.

 

My friends, this is NOT of God. This is the exact same thing that was happening in the First Century Church with Peter and John. It is the demonic spirit of religion at work to destroy the Church and the REAL Work of the Holy Spirit.

 

It was the Power of the Holy Spirit of God Who healed the helpless man. It was not Peter or John. The men who sat at the head of the Synagogue could not allow this to continue because it was destroying their power and the structure of the peons below them. Without followers, there is no leader. Without people below them, there is no place for the guy at the top. POWER was the issue then and remains to be to this day.

 

The enemy comes but to kill, steal and destroy. (John 10:10) He is an expert at what he does. Don’t be deceived, my friends. Seek greater discernment of the spirits. Test every spirit. Serve the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and seek to build that. Your rewards will be great. These other people are receiving their rewards here on earth in the form of money, power, prestige, and position. In the end, all this will get them nothing and they could hear Jesus say, I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21)

 

Do not be deceived. God will soon……….turn the tide

 

Testing the spirits,         Doreen

 

www.bettsministries.org