We should not have a misconception that believers who are deceived by evil spirits are very defiled, degenerate, and sinful. We need to realize that these believers have completely consecrated themselves to God and are actually more advanced than ordinary believers. They strive to obey the Lord and are willing to pay any price to follow the Lord. Because they have wholly consecrated themselves to the Lord but do not know how to cooperate with God, they fall into passivity. Those who are not like this do not have the possibility of being passive. Even though they may consider themselves to be wholly consecrated to God, their manner of life is still according to the thoughts and reasonings of their natural life. They still live according to their own will. This kind of believer will not fall into passivity; they will not be possessed by the demons. They may give ground to evil spirits in other matters, but in the matter of obeying God's will, they will not give the ground of passivity to evil spirits. However, only those who are truly consecrated, who disregard their own gain or loss, and who are willing to listen to and obey God's every command can become passive and possessed. This type of believer has a will that is prone to fall into passivity. Only the ones who are willing to wholly obey every order can become passive.
Many would ask, "Why does God not protect them? Is not their motive very pure? Is it likely that God would allow those who faithfully seek after Him to be deceived by evil spirits?" Many people suppose that God should protect His children in every circumstance. Little do they know that in order to receive God's protection, one must fulfill the condition for being protected by God. If a believer fulfills the condition for evil spirits to work, then God cannot forbid them from working. God is a God who observes the law. Since a believer has given himself, either intentionally or unintentionally, into the hands of evil spirits, God cannot impede them from having the right to rule over the believer. Many people think that as long as their motive is pure, they will be spared from being deceived. Little do they know that the people who are most easily deceived in the world are those who have a pure motive. Honesty is not the condition for not being deceived; knowledge is the condition. If a believer is not concerned with the teachings of the Bible and does not watch and pray, and if he thinks that a pure motive alone will enable him to not be deceived, he will definitely be deceived. If he is deceived and fulfills the condition for evil spirits to work, how can he expect God to protect him?
Many believers assume that they definitely will not be deceived because they belong to the Lord. Or they presume that they will not be deceived because they are wholly consecrated to the Lord and have acquired many spiritual experiences. Little do they know that when a believer regards himself as being stable, he is already deceived! If a believer will not humble himself a little, he will be deceived to the uttermost; that is, he will be demon-possessed and still think that he is filled with the Holy Spirit. Being possessed is not a matter of life and is not a matter of motive; it is a matter of knowledge. When a believer receives too many idealistic teachings at the beginning of his Christian life, it becomes difficult for the Holy Spirit to instruct him with the truth he needs. The believer also may have a prejudice toward an interpretation of the Scripture that makes it difficult for other believers to impart light that he lacks to him. When a believer boasts of security when he is in such danger, he either affords evil spirits an opportunity to work or allows them to continue working.
We have already seen that passivity is the reason for being possessed by demons, but ignorance is the reason for being passive. If a believer is not ignorant, he will not fall prey to demon-possession. Actually, "passivity" is simply misconstrued obedience and misconstrued consecration. We also may say that it is excessive obedience and excessive consecration. If a believer acquires knowledge and thereby realizes that evil spirits love to have and need to have man's passivity before they can work, he will not possibly allow himself to fall into passivity and, consequently, afford evil spirits an opportunity to work. If a believer knows that God needs men to co-labor with Him and that He does not desire that men transform themselves into machines, he will not allow himself to fall into passivity and expect God to come and move him. Today believers lapse into this stage mainly because of ignorance.
Believers need knowledge to distinguish God's moving from Satan's work. Believers need knowledge to comprehend the principle of God's working and the condition of Satan's working. Only those who have this knowledge can keep themselves from the power of darkness. Satan relies on lies for his attack on the believers; therefore, there must be truths to replace them. Satan wants to keep believers in darkness; therefore, the light must shine. We should firmly bear in mind the principle that the working of evil spirits differs from that of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, every time they work, they always work according to their own principle. Even though evil spirits are adept at changing their appearance, if we look at the totality of their work, we can perceive that the principle within is always the same. After we realize this distinction, we should examine our past experiences and discern the principle that served as the basis for our experience. Through this we will be able to discern what is of the Holy Spirit and what is of the evil spirits. Whatever has been done according to a certain principle must have been done by that corresponding spirit.
Because believers fall into demon-possession through ignorance, we need to take a detailed look at several matters that are very easily misunderstood by believers.