620 The Spiritual Man
We have cautioned our readers repeatedly about the danger of
supernatural experience. We are not suggesting that every such
manifestation must be categorically resisted, forsaken and opposed:
this would be at variance with Biblical teaching since the Scriptures
record numerous supernatural acts of God. Our purpose simply has
been to remind Christians that there can be more than one source
behind supernatural phenomena; God can perform wonders, but so
can evil spirits imitate! How crucial for us to distinguish what is of
God from what is not of God. If one has not died to his emotional life
but earnestly seeks sensational events, he will be easily duped. We
do not urge people to resist all supernatural manifestations, but we do
exhort them to resist every supernatural occurrence which derives
from Satan. So what we have tried to point out throughout this Part
of the book has been the basic differences between the operation of
the Holy Spirit and that of the evil spirit so as to help God’s children
discern which is which.
It can be stated that present day Christians are particularly
susceptible to trickery in supernatural matters. Our earnest hope is
that in their contact with supernatural phenomena they shall first
undertake the task of discriminating lest they be beguiled. They must
not overlook the fact that when the supernatural experience is
authored by the Holy Spirit they are still able to engage their own
mind; it is not required that they be totally or partially passive before
they obtain such an experience. And afterwards too they are still able
to exercise their conscience freely to distinguish good and evil
without the least inhibition. But should the experience be authored by
the evil spirit, then the victims must settle into passivity, their mind
be blank, and their every action be performed under outside
compulsion. Such is the essential difference. The Apostle Paul
mentions in 1 Corinthians 14 various spiritual gifts among which are
revelation, prophecy, tongues and other supernatural manifestations.
He acknowledges these gifts as flowing from the Holy Spirit, yet he
defines the nature of these God-given gifts in these words: “the
spirits of prophets are subject to prophets” (v.32). If what the