The deceived believed and laid claim to positions to which he had no right, for with the entrance of truth he discovers he was neither so advanced, nor so spiritual, nor so infallible as he had thought. He built his faith about his own spiritual condition on assumption, and left no room for a doubt, that is, true doubt, such as doubting a statement that afterwards turns out to be a lie, but in due season doubt finds an entry to his mind, and brings his house of infallibility to the ground. He knows now that what he thought was an "advanced" experience, was only a beginning, and that he is only on the fringe of knowledge. This is the operation of truth. In the place of ignorance is given true knowledge; in the place of deception, truth. Ignorance, falsehood and passivity; upon these three the enemy silently builds his castles, and unobtrusively guards and uses them. But truth pulls his strongholds to the ground.
By the entry of truth, the man must be brought to the place where he acknowledges his condition frankly;as follows:
1) I believe that it is POSSIBLE for a Christian to be deceived and possessed by evil spirits.
2) It is possible for ME to be deceived;
3) I AM deceived by an evil spirit;
4) WHY am l deceived?
Then comes the facing of the fact that
1) "ground" does exist; and
2) the seeking for knowledge as to what the ground is.
In order to discover the ground, the believer must first, in a general sense, get a fair conception of what ground is; for he is liable to be deceived in
1) putting down to "possession" what belongs to something else, and
2) placing to something else what belongs to possession.
He may confuse ordinary conflict, i.e., the perpetual battle in spirit against the powers of darkness, with conflict which comes from possession. And when the deception and possession are of long standing, the spirits of evil may get the believer himself to defend their work in him, and through him fight tenaciously to guard the cause of his deception from being brought into light, and exposed as their work.
They thus get the believer himself, in effect, to take their side, and fight for them to keep their hold, even after he has found out his condition, and honestly desires deliverance; one of the greatest hindrances being the effect of an assumed position concerning spiritual experiences, which believers are loath to examine, and part with.
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