DECEIVING SPIRITS

There is more to reality than meets the eye. The Bible indicates the presence of a spiritual reality, which is unseen, and often controls the physical reality we see. It is also concerning that forces in this realm can cause great harm including death as we see in the story that leads to the death of King Ahab.

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?”

Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left.  And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’

“One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him’.

 “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked.

“‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.

“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’

 “So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you.”(1Kings 22:18-23)

King Ahab was sold to doing evil, and he had rejected God’s rule in his life and over the nation of Israel. He was spurred on by his wife Jezebel, who despised God and everything related to God. When someone chooses to persist in evil, God will not stand in his way, because God has created man with autonomy of his will. In this story, we see God appearing to initiate the event, but we know from James that it is not God who tempts, rather man who allows himself to be enticed.

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. (James 1:13,14)

Ahab had created spiritual pathways for his own destruction and when an evil spirit came forward to deceive him, the spirit still had to get permission from God. It also had to contend with the fact that Micaiah would warn Ahab and dissuade him. But God would not stand in his way, because it was in line with the pathway that Ahab had chosen for himself.

We also see the folly of Jehoshaphat, who was for the most part a good king, and followed God but with some exceptions like his friendship with Ahab. When you align with ungodly people and allow them to lead you like in this case where Jehoshaphat allowed Ahab to lead him, you risk harm and even death. Jehoshaphat to his credit, at least got Micaiah, the godly prophet to warn them, but chose not to heed his warning and went along with Ahab to war with Aram, which certainly was not the will of God and almost got killed for it.

The deceiving spirit manages to get 400 prophets to speak a lie, which is truly remarkable. It demonstrates how large groups of people can be convinced to believe in and actively propagate a lie especially when their minds, hearts and wills have no affinity for God. Most contemporary cultures today want nothing to do with God and attempt to get rid of the godly yoke that their forefathers were familiar with. Deceiving spirits that lead individuals and societies down the path of destruction are never too far away when God has been abandoned.

Ahab rejected God, chose evil and silenced the voice his prophet and ended up paying for it with his life. And it was a deceiving spirit that orchestrated his downfall.

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