276 The Spiritual Man
the moment, they nevertheless continue to press the fight with no let
up, for they understand who their antagonist is.
Beyond the above two explanations, spiritual combat has for its
existence yet another cause: the need to be delivered from Satan’s
deception and to deliver deceived souls.∗ In spite of the fact that their
spirit’s intuition becomes sharp and sensitive after they are baptized
in the Holy Spirit, believers may nonetheless fall into deception. To
preclude their plunging into the wiles of the adversary, they need not
only spiritual sensitivity but also spiritual knowledge. Should they be
ignorant of the manner in which the Holy Spirit leads, they may
assume a passive position and thereby become captives of the enemy.
The easiest error Christians can commit at this moment is to follow
some irrational feeling or experience rather than the leading in their
inner man. Once baptized in the Holy Spirit, they have entered the
supernatural realm. Unless believers appreciate their own weakness,
that is, know how incompetent they are in themselves to encounter
the supernatural, they shall be deceived.
The Christian’s spirit can be influenced by either of two forces:
the Holy Spirit or the evil spirit. He commits a fatal blunder who
thinks his spirit can be controlled solely by the Holy Spirit and not be
so by the evil spirit too. Let it be forever known that aside from the
Spirit that is from God, there is additionally “the spirit of the world”
(1 Cor. 2.12), which is in fact the spiritual foe of Ephesians 6.12.
Except the Christian shuts up his spirit to resist, he may find the evil
one usurping his spirit through deceit and counterfeit.
When a child of God becomes spiritual he is subject to the
influence of the supernatural world. At this point it is vital for him to
know the difference between “spiritual” and “supernatural,” the
confusion of which forms the cause of many deceptions. Spiritual
∗Consult Part Eight, Chapter 3 and Part Nine, Chapter 4.