No one in the Old or New Testaments ever prayed to or worshiped the Holy Spirit. This practice should therefore set our alarm bells ringing. Perhaps it should be of no surprise then that many claim they have discerned another spirit manifesting when Christians have engaged in this practice; when people have called upon the Holy Spirit to come to their meeting or when people have sung worship songs to the Holy Spirit instead of to the Father or Son.

Many will at first think I am splitting hairs here and inventing a problem where none exists. They will claim that since God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and since the three are one, no harm can come from praying to or worshiping the Holy Spirit. Derek Prince addresses this issue here, half way down this article under the sub title “The Identity of the Holy Spirit.” He states; “ I read a statement recently by some New-Ager in which she said about the "New Age," "When the holy spirit comes, then the New Age will be here." Of course I am sure most of you would understand that when she talks about the holy spirit, she is not talking about the same Holy Spirit that the Bible speaks about. This is one of various indications that there is a counterfeit holy spirit. It is nothing new for Satan to produce a religious counterfeit.”

D. Prince goes on to argue the same thing as I am here, i.e. that we should never address our worship or prayers to the Holy Spirit as this can open one to a demonic counterfeit anointing.

We are made in God’s image so the way we address one another and the way we feel about this should resemble the way in which God wants to be addressed and the way He feels about this. Consider, for example, a man named John Smith. His children may call him father and his friends and acquaintances may call him John or Mr Smith. This is all acceptable. However no one would ever call him “spirit of John Smith,” that would be strange, a bit odd, insulting even. So despite the fact that John Smith does have a spirit we never address his spirit. Instead we always address the person/personality of John Smith not his spirit. The same should be true for when we address God; we should address His persons/personalities, of either the Father or the Son not His Spirit.

God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However in recent decades some charismatics have misunderstood this term and taken it to mean that God has three separate spirits, each with their own separate personality. This isn’t the case. God has only one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit manifest as two people, the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit doesn’t manifest as a third* personality. The Holy Spirit doesn’t have another personality separate from that of the Father or the Son. So there isn’t a third personality called the personality of the Holy Spirit as some today claim.

Please don’t misunderstand me here, the Holy Spirit is a person, He is God, but He is Gods Spirit, not Gods personality. The personality is the manifestation of the spirit and it is this that we should address. So as part of the trinity Gods Spirit only manifests as the persons of the Father or the Son not a separate unnamed third personality. Therefore when people pray to or worship another third personality of God, which some call the person/personality of the Holy Spirit, this is unscriptural and they are acing in error. As Derek Prince point s out this can open a person to another spirit, a deceptive counterfeit of the holy spirit. I believe this spiritual error is one of the main ways in which a counterfeit anointing is going to invade many churches in the last days.

Some people, including one very well known leader in particular, have built their entire ministries on this error. They think they have discovered a secret key, a quick and easy way to gain a greater anointing. They think they can bypass seeking deeper sanctification and immediately gain a power anointing overnight by simply changing who they pray to instead, without them having to submit more to God or gain greater holiness. They claim that anyone can immediately gain a more powerful anointing from God by implementing this technique of praying to the Holy Spirit. If you think about it that just doesn’t make sense. For example, God doesn’t anoint someone more because they pray to Jesus instead of to the Father - and no one in the Old or New Testaments ever even prayed to the Holy Spirit so we shouldn’t either.

By praying in a way that doesn’t exist in the bible the enemy gains an entitlement to have access you. This is because you have moved in the spiritual dimension in a way that is not covered or part of by Gods Kingdom. That is why praying to the Holy Spirit in this way often results in another spirit responding - a counterfeit instead. This other demonic spirit doesn’t care if the person is holy or not so is often willing to empower that person in a way that God would not.

We know occult spirits can move in healing power, even knock people to the ground, and will do so to Christians if this means those believers, and others watching, will be impressed by this and can then be diverted into moving in the wrong spirit. So just because praying to the Holy Spirit results in spiritual power doesn’t necessarily mean that this power is coming from God. In fact it is more than likely that such power it is not of God. [My guess is that most Christians who receive healing through a deceptive occult anointing will lose this healing later on, once they are out of the lime light and their testimony is no longer of any use to the devil in promoting the false counterfeit anointing].

We need to be aware of the devils schemes especially as we move towards the end times. We need to discern all things and operate in the same way as the Christians in the bible did. Directing our prayers or worship to the Holy Spirit, instead of to the Father or Son, will often open a person or meeting to a counterfeit demonic anointing. This is one of the main tactics Satan will use to infiltrate deceptive spirits into the church in the end times. We must beware of any believer who engages in this practice and not allow anyone praying for us to address their prayers to the Holy Spirit because the chances are that another spirit will come upon us instead, especially through they laying on of hands.

One leader in particular has become world famous since he started praying to the Holy Spirit and then moving in the power of a counterfeit anointing. He appears to slay people in a spiritual power at will, with dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of people falling to the ground at his command, as this spirit does his bidding. [That is another key - we cannot control the Holy Spirit or determine through our own will how He will choose to manifest or move upon a person]. This man appears to move in healing power as well, (although he has yet to provide any evidence from doctors to support these claims even after decades in ministry which suggests his healing claims are being vastly exaggerated). We have to ask ourselves, why would God give this man a greater anointing just because he started praying to Gods Spirit instead of to the Father or Son? Why would that practice have suddenly resulted in him receiving a much more powerful anointing straight away, in single day? It doesn’t make sense. The early disciples didn’t practice this. The truth is there is no such quick way or secret key to acquiring a greater anointing from God. This is surely further evidence that another spirit is operating here, that this man has been deceived and has built his ministry upon a false demonic anointing.

It is perhaps not surprising that many are now questioning the strange doctrines this man has developed over the years, most of which he has kept behind the scenes as it were. Other moral issues have also emerged recently as well as concerns, (and overwhelming evidence), of his misuse of ministry resources to fund one the world’s most expensive and lavish lifestyles, equal to that of a rich Arab prince or oil tycoon. Money gained not through trusting in God but through donations given to him in good faith by Christians who attend his healing and power anointing crusades. None of this surprises me. As the Holy Spirit produces good fruit in a person so a counterfeit false anointing will eventually produce bad fruit. The person may keep these things hidden and out of sight for many years, and put on a performance of holiness for the public who fund his ministry, he may even wear white suits on stage in order to appear righteous but all things eventually come into the light. You can check out the evidence of these things online if you have guessed who I am referring to here. As this is only a background article and not one I am sending out I will not name him openly. I felt I had to refer to him as an example though as he has singlehandedly promoted the false doctrine of praying to the Holy Spirit probably more than everyone else in the world put together.

Thousands of Christians have been impressed by the displays of power, (and healing), that accompanies this man’s ministry. Others have read his bestselling book and started engaging in this practice themselves. Many good Christians’ have moved away from their genuine callings in God into moving in the wrong spirit instead as a result of this. Others have straddled the two and been of less use in God than would otherwise have been the case. This was Satan’s strategy all along. By impressing much of the Christian public by knocking over thousands of believers in a spiritual power, and healing others, Satan has managed to undermine the purposes of God for many Christians. They then lead others into deception and this erroneous practice with knock on effects across the body of Christ. Also, when others drift into this error independently and they are challenged by someone about this from scripture they may then ignore these warnings because they know that one of the world’s most popular ministries has endorsed and promotes this practice. This trend is growing so goodness knows where this will lead in the future – away from biblical Christianity in some way, that is almost certain.

Engaging in this error in an ongoing way, (as opposed to occasionally slipping up which may not be too serious), also places a delayed time bomb in those people’s souls which can be brought into play whenever Satan thinks it will have the most impact. I’m referring here to people who frequently pray to the Holy Spirit, especially those who receive and move in that alternative demonic power. There will come a time, maybe several decades down the road, when such a person may be led by the same false anointing into such extreme deception that this threatens their faith. Or alternatively they may eventually realise that it was not Gods Spirit after all. Such a counterfeit spirit/anointing will then usually cease to use and bless that person and become an oppressive demonic influence within them as I experienced. A false anointing will usually titillate a person and give them a sense that they are destined for great things whilst they continue to receive and follow it but then oppress them once they spot it is a deceiving spirit.

Consider it this way; if one addresses God in a way that is not scriptural, in a way that God doesn’t accept and won’t respond to, then you are praying into a vacuum. Satan, or another spirit of darkness, can then come and fill that vacuum and that person will then come under the influence of that other spirit instead. They will come under a demonic influence, a counterfeit anointing. Some will say that God would never allow such a thing to happen to a believer but if that is so then why does God tell us to “test the spirits,” (1 Jn 4; 1), if we cannot be deceived by them? It is clear we can be deceived by counterfeits of the Holy Spirit and this is one of the most common ways in which it is happening today.

The bible doesn’t tell us that we are safe from such deception just because we are in a church building or a Christian meeting, that Satan can’t deceive us whilst we are there. We can’t assume that every spiritual anointing in a church or Christian meeting is, therefore, necessarily of God. We know that Satan can deceive Christians whilst they are at church and we therefore need to test the spirits that manifest in our meetings so we can avoid receiving any counterfeits. It can be harmful just being in the same room as a powerful counterfeit anointing even if one doesn’t accept that it is of God. It can still sometimes cling to, and latch onto, a person. Some people seem to be more susceptible to this than others but it is best for anyone not to go to such places.

In my opinion occasionally singing songs to the Holy Spirit may not lead to a huge amount of lasting harm, although one can never be sure. However allowing someone who is moving in the wrong spirit to pray such an anointing onto you can sometimes have devastating consequences. Many people have experienced terrible oppressions from just short amounts of this type of prayer. The person praying may be free from the oppression themselves, for as long as they remain useful to the enemy in passing that occult anointing onto other believers.

The true nature of the spirit they are moving in may not therefore become apparent to a deceived believer until after they realise their error and start resisting it. Some may never realise their error. Over time it is likely that they will start receiving false teachings from the false anointing and probably counterfeit prophesies and visions too. When tested most of these will not line up with scripture or the way the gifts of the Spirit operate. When checked carefully there is almost always a tale tell sign that will give that counterfeit away, in the same way that a forged five pound note will always differ in some way to the original.

There are many Christians moving in the wrong spirit today due to this and other errors. We therefore need to be very careful about who we allow to pray for us. We also need to address God in a way that is scriptural. As Derek Prince wrote “Any spirit that focuses on the Holy Spirit and glorifies the Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit. It is contrary to His whole nature and purpose. Once you have grasped that, it will open your eyes to many things which are going on in the church that are otherwise difficult to understand.”

*Setting aside the mystery of Melchizedek, (Heb Ch 7), who some believe was Jesus manifesting as a priest in the days of Abraham. Whether this is correct or not though Melchizedek was also addressed as a person and never as the Spirit of God.

S. Dobbs, August 2011. www.wordconnect.org