Today believers are particularly susceptible to deceptions in supernatural things. Because of these deceptions, they are possessed by evil spirits. We earnestly hope that a believer would spend the time to discern supernatural things to avoid being deceived. A believer should never forget that if the Holy Spirit gives him a supernatural experience, he can still use his own mind. There is no need for him to be totally or partially passive to obtain such an experience. Even after receiving such an experience, he can still use his own conscience to discern what is good and evil, and he can decide to accept or reject it. There should be no compulsion. If evil spirits give a person a supernatural experience, they must first put him into a state of passivity; his mind must become blank, and all of his actions must be driven by an outside power. This is the basic difference. In 1 Corinthians 14, the apostle speaks of the spiritual, supernatural gifts of the saints. Among them, there are revelations, prophecies, speaking in tongues, and other supernatural expressions. The apostle admits that they all come from the Holy Spirit. But in verse 32 he tells us the characteristic of these divine gifts. "The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets." The apostle said that if a prophet (believer) obtains something that is really from the Holy Spirit, the spirit that he has obtained will be subject to him. If the Holy Spirit gives man numerous types of supernatural experiences, the spirit is still subject to him; the Holy Spirit will not go against man's will to use any part of his body. A man should still have control over himself. Only the spirit that is subject to the prophet is from God. Any spirit that demands the prophet's subjection is not from God. Therefore, we should not refuse all supernatural things. However, we have to check whether or not the supernatural spirit requires us to submit to him passively. If a person who has received the gift of tongues or some other similar gift cannot control himself, if he cannot speak when he wants to speak and be quiet when he wants to be quiet, if he cannot sit still and is forced to throw himself on the ground, or if a power from outside controls him, this indicates that the spirit he has received is an evil spirit. This is the basic difference between the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of evil spirits. The former wants man to have full freedom, while the latter want man to be passive. Therefore, if a believer wants to know where his own experience comes from, he should do some checking and find out if he is passive or not. This will solve all the problems. A believer is deceived because he does not know this basic truth.

Therefore, if a believer wants freedom, he must eliminate his foolishness. In other words, he must know the truth. Knowing the truth simply means knowing the real condition concerning a matter. The lies of Satan bind the believer, and the truth of God sets the believer free. But there is a problem: in order to know the truth, one needs to pay the price, because this truth will shatter the vainglory which the believer gained from his past experiences. He may think that he is making twice as much progress as others, that he is already spiritual, and that he will not make mistakes. It is very difficult to make him admit that he may be possessed by the demons or prove to him that he is in fact possessed by the demons! If a believer is not willing to be faithful to all the truth of God, it will be very hard for him to accept the truth that will cause him to suffer and be humbled. Accepting what one likes is not hard; but accepting the truth that takes away one's vainglory is not so easy. However, whoever vehemently resists this truth should be careful lest he be possessed by demons. It is easier for him to realize that he can be deceived. It is much more difficult for him to realize that he is already possessed and admit that he is possessed! God must grant us the grace. Otherwise, even if we know the truth, we will still resist it. To accept the truth is the first step to salvation. We have to be willing to know all the truth concerning ourselves. Nevertheless, it takes humility and honesty to be willing to know the truth concerning our own spiritual and supernatural experiences.