“Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear; for they are a rebellious people” 

Compare this verse with Ps. 135:15 – 18;

“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in there mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them” 

And Hosea 4: 10;

“They will eat but not have enough, they will engage in prostitution but not increase, because they have deserted the LORD to give themselves to prostitution; to old wine and new which takes away the understanding of my people. They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.” 

I also think of the eye witness accounts of such people who have sat under the voices of such antichrist inspired leaders such as Hitler; they describe an energized atmosphere that pushes towards believing and joining the band wagon of such leading.

I once sat in a Jehovah witness’ meeting and was totally taken by the teaching they were giving. But as soon as I got out of the meeting, the Holy Spirit started to work on me, taking me back to the bible to show me that what they were teaching could never be right if the bible was taken to objective account. But these people believe these things and I could almost believe it too. Some time latter, I was a member of a group that fell victim of the spirit of the age. God kept speaking about the spirit of rebellion and what I saw was a strong trend in the group to deviate from the leading of the spirit. The atmosphere was electrifying and strong. I tried to walk against the tide and fell victim of inexplicable intimidation; not that the people victimised me, the intimidation was from the spirit regime.

I kept seeing dark clouds of smoke in visions. On closer look at the clouds, they turn out to be large swamps of insects; some times bees, other times locusts, dung beetles, cockroaches and other insects that I cannot put names to.

Latter I was able to put other names to this spiritual swamp based on the manifestations it exhibited; names like the spirit of mind control, fanatism, brainwashing spirits, spirits of diabolic fear, e.t.c... But God calls it the spirit of rebellion, prostitution or error.

I believe this is the main machinery of darkness to keep people from coming to the knowledge of the truth; their work (amongst other things) is to raise a barrier in the minds and hearts of people to the voice of the Holy Spirit; using philosophies, pride (religious, professional and societal) and rhetoric that you would almost want to believe and fears of isolation or disgrace and the likes to prevent the hearts of the people from choosing the truth. That they have too much to loose or that to choose the truth is to side with “our enemies”. The reason the Israelites could not surrender to Babylon as God told them to was because the Babylonians were “our enemies”. The King could not accept the words of the Prophet even though he knew that he was a true Prophet; that to resist the truth was hopeless. But he was afraid of the princes and the people, he feared them more than God and he found it in himself still to hope against hope that the Prophet was mistaken.

Pharaoh could not let the people of Israel go.  He was a god, the linear son of the father of the gods, he could not bow to the wishes of a nameless desert god, he could not be seen to loose face so. Even when his pride was crushed when he could not save his own son, he still tried to salvage something by recapturing the Israelites.

These spirits major in resisting the will of God at all cost, but I am also convinced that they are also involved in manipulating people in to things they normally would not do. This is because of the seductive nature of their activities. They aid tricksters and crooks to convince people to invest life and property into ventures that a little thought will show to be unwise and untrue. They take away the understanding of people.

I have come across people who hold on to fanatical beliefs like Islam, Traditionalism, Legalism, New-age movement and others. I find that if you present to them facts that are generally proven and documented but stands against the metal of their beliefs, they would resort to denial or mind toppling philosophies that derides reason. It is not only that they would not, but they CAN NOT accept the truth; their world would go ‘hay-wire’ if they did. They live by ardent rebellion to the truth. They cannot face the truth and face their lifestyles without condemnation. 

“Their sin hold them fast, they cannot return to the Lord.” 

This is true of every false doctrine in the Church: If the devil merely cuts off the power from the church, It will come back. But if he cuts off the truth as well, the destruction of the church as a representative of God’s glory is complete. Thus, he tries to keep the church in rebellion to God’s spirit as much as possible; thus the multiplicity of doctrines in the Church and thus the zeal with which these doctrines are followed. 

“The Prince of this world blindfolds those who are in destruction; less they come to the knowledge of the truth”. 

How do we rid ourselves of this evil? By not falling in its power in the first place; Rev. 9:1-end describes these spirits vividly. Going back to chapter 7: 14-17 starts with this statement;

“... they that have come out of the great tribulation ...” 

Isaiah 54:11-19 even puts it louder, especially in verse 16&17;

“See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for work. And it is I who has created the destroyer (Abadon or Apolleon) to work havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the savants of the LORD, and their vindication is from me, declares the LORD” 

The way of not falling prey to the powers of rebellion is not to operate in rebellion in the first place. The grace of God empowers us to choose to obey or disobey God and the leading of His spirit. If we choose to use that grace to rebel against God, we are surrendered to our rebellion; to be forced to live by rebellion by demons. Romans 8:1-end speaks of this; verse 12-14

“Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation – but not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live because those who are lead by the spirit of God are the sons of God.” 

Other verses like the one that says;

“But if we sin wilfully, there is no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful expectation for judgment” 

and;

“I do not speak of those that turn back, for if a man turns back after haven tasted God’s goodness and out of the power to come in the new age, it will be impossible for him to repent, less he crucify Christ again a second time.” 

Prov. 22:14;

“The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the Lord’s wrath will fall into it.” 

Prov. 28:18:

“He whose walk is blameless is kept safe, but he whose ways are perverse will suddenly fall.”