Casting Out the Python Spirit of Divination
Acts 16:16 (NKJV) says, “Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.”
The original Greek word pythonos translated is a spirit of divination. Literally, the Greek word in this text means “a spirit of Python.” In historical paganism, Python was said to be a serpent in southern Greece that had the power of divination. To understand the depth of this, we have to recognize that there are two sources of spiritual power. One source is the living God, who is omnipresent, omniscient, all powerful, ruler of heaven and earth. The other source is satan—a fallen angel and a creature whose spiritual power pales in comparison to the Creator. Satan can only mimic or counterfeit what has already been created by God Himself.
The demon in the slave girl drew power from satan and said things about the future that came to pass so frequently that it brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. If we were to break down this one sentence alone, hopefully this will open the eyes of many of you. Forth-telling and prophetic accuracy are not the be-all end-all. As a matter of fact, many of you could be in situations where you need deliverance because you received a word that was accurate but did not originate from God. There are many prophetic people in the church who are full of mixture. There are many prophetic voices who are defiled. Knowing whom to glean from should be a number-one focus as a believer.
My wife and I have always been very cautious about who we glean from and who we will receive from in the spirit. Over the years, we have allowed only a handful of these people in our lives. Sadly, the prophetic movement that is happening in the church now is full of devils. I hate to say it, but some of your favorite preachers are among them. They have giftings, but because they have not followed the course of holiness, mixture has set in. You have so many prophetic voices running around doing more damage than good. The Bible says in Acts 16:17-18 (NKJV):
This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.
What did the slave girl who was possessed by divination call out? “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” Was she correct? Absolutely. In Acts 16:18, it says Paul was greatly annoyed for at least three reasons. First, she followed them around and kept repeating this for many days. Second, crying this out during prayer was probably a great disturbance. Third, when people confirmed that these men indeed were the servants of the Most High God who proclaimed the way of salvation, I guarantee that many of them were at risk because they trusted the words of this girl and the demon working through her.
Today, psychics, witches, and fortune tellers are also empowered by this same spirit that says things that come to pass. What is sad and crazy is that many ministers today lack the discernment of spirits and would probably have made this girl an evangelist on their staff because she kept crying out and declaring something that sounded correct, like an evangelist does! This is why discerning of spirits is so vital in the church today. I believe it took many days for Paul to really unravel the revelation of what was going on and to discern and recognize this was not a spirit of God. You see, when your discernment is active, you may feel, recognize, or even get a specific word for a situation, but you may not have the full understanding. Sometimes it takes time for your discernment to completely unveil a situation with an answer. By grace, Paul continued ministering as she followed them. I imagine in his mind he was thinking, “Well, this is exactly true, but there’s something off.” The Bible says that Paul was irked in his spirit. Factual information does not mean the original source is the correct spirit.
The Bible says there is the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. You can have factual information and still be in a spirit of error. God says seeking advice from psychics, witches, and fortune tellers—he calls them abominations— is strictly forbidden.
When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you (Deuteronomy 18:9-14 NKJV).
Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God (Leviticus 19:31 NKJV).
And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people (Leviticus 20:6 NKJV).
Seeking guidance from any spiritual source other than God and the Holy Spirit whom Jesus has sent is an abomination and idolatry before God.
Guarding Your Dreams
Now let’s talk about a very powerful subject—interpreting witchcraft attacks in your dreams. Unfortunately, most do not understand how to deal with this, yet it is one of the most important aspects of your Christian walk. Everyone has dreams. You will live a defeated life if you do not take into account the significance of the dream world. God clearly speaks to us in dreams and visions. It is often easiest to communicate with mankind in dreams because the person is asleep. Let’s really take a deep dive into this area to give you an understanding of why this happens.
Because of the hectic day-to-day schedule and the busyness of life, many different variables weigh people down spiritually while they are awake. It is easier to reach an individual who is at complete rest and begin to speak to them or reveal danger signs to them. It is also a time when the enemy works as well. While we sleep, the enemy comes in and begins to plant thoughts, seeds, and demonic systems to try and come against your life in the natural. These things are created in the spirit realm, and you see the manifestation happen in the natural. This is why it’s extremely important never to just bypass or shrug off what you see in your dreams. God is constantly speaking to you. He is constantly warning you through them.
One of the secrets to a powerful, victorious life in the spirit is to continually die to our flesh. The more crucified the flesh, the easier it is to see in the spirit and to have encounters, visitations, and supernatural experiences. Let’s take it a step further and see what crucifying the flesh means. When you begin to crucify the flesh, you are literally increasing your spirit man’s ability to interpret and encounter the spirit world.
Here are two examples of the power of crucifying the flesh. The first example is a familiar picture of what it means to be consecrated—a Buddhist monk. Buddhist monks will stay in deep meditation, focusing in order to access the spirit realm. These people are extremely deep and carry a demonic force behind them. They have entered the spirit realm illegally. Because of the principles of crucifying the flesh by fasting and meditation, they open a door of access. The reason the Western church is dead in spirit is because they gratify the flesh more than they crucify it. They do not do anything that allows their spirit man to be built up and become perceptive. You will never demonstrate God’s power and anointing or have spiritual authority and influence by being a glutton. You will never carry true revival within your heart by fasting once every few months. Every believer has been granted the ability to walk in an extreme dimension of authority in the spirit, but that doesn’t happen just because you accept Christ.
The second example of dying to self is Jesus. Even Jesus knew that the spiritual laws that God placed here on earth were required of Him. The Bible says Jesus fasted for 40 days before He walked in extreme dominion. The first thing Jesus did before any single act of power was to be led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Jesus made a choice to obey, go into the wilderness, and fast and pray. This is the pivotal moment that allowed Jesus to come out in the power of the Spirit.
The Buddhist monk accessed the spirit realm illegally, but because he crucified the flesh by fasting and meditation, he still entered in. On the flip side, we see that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to fast for 40 days in order to come out in the power of the Spirit. True power is demonstrated by vessels who have placed themselves in a position of crucifying the flesh in many ways. For example, reading your Bible, praying, and worshiping—all of these are examples of crucifying the flesh and edifying your spirit man. Each one of them carries a different level of impact.
Fasting carries a higher level of impact because you are literally denying your body what it needs to physically survive. When you fast and deny yourself, you are opening yourself up to the spirit realm. Now with this revelation, your motive must be correct. There must be holiness in applying these principles. Power is not demonstrated by people who have not crucified their flesh—whether good or bad. As you can see with the Buddhist monk, he is applying principles that are correct, but because they are infiltrated by demons, he is operating in error. But this does not take away from the fact that he does indeed facilitate demonic power and forces. This is why so many people are led astray by the occult or satanism, because they truly demonstrate power. They truly demonstrate a measure of authority given to them by the devil.
In my book, Secrets to Destroying Demonic Assignments, I lay out the five pillars that will help you win every battle in the realm of the spirit. A pillar is something that holds up a building—it is part of the foundation. In the New Testament, Jesus gave us a very powerful statement about overcoming the storms and the wind. The storms and the wind represent our battles and the trying situations that we face in life. Jesus said, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock” (Matthew 7:24 KJV). Jesus is referring to the house as a representation of someone’s spiritual life and wellbeing. This is why it’s very important that when you have dreams of a home, you take note of the structure of the home. If it is well-built, is it big or is it small? The Lord is giving prophetic insight into your spiritual atmosphere. If you have a dream of a rundown home, you have some work to do. If you have a dream of a mansion, this doesn’t necessarily mean that God is going to give you a mansion in the natural, but it does show that you are doing very well in the spirit. These five pillars are crucial for every believer to adhere to if they want to see victory in their life.
