The Effeminate Spirit invading The Church: A Reader Reflects
By Caryl Matrisciana http://www.caryltv.com
 
 
Gathering together with Christians the other night for my first home church experience was most interesting. Cautiously optimistic about this setting, and concerned that something out of the ordinary could happen with this group, I persuaded myself to attend once to see what a home church service was all about.  However, I was not prepared for what the night's events would bring.  <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
After a potluck dinner, the worship leader announced this particular evening would be a departure from the norm, which should have been my first clue that something was astir.  As he read from Acts 2 and Ephesians 5, he encouraged the group to mimic the first century pattern of home gatherings, continuing in the apostles' doctrine, breaking bread together, praying, taking meals in gladness and sincerity of heart, being filled with a sense of awe, and praising God through hymns, psalms and spiritual songs.  While all seemed fine on the surface, something unusual began to emerge.
 
Rather than creating an atmosphere of order to conduct these early church practices in, this leader modeled a very loose, ponderous, and non verbal "let the Spirit lead" cadence for the next few hours.  Standing to show pictures of the universe to inspire awe for God's magnificent creation, this naive gentleman began to tear up and weep. Initially, I thought this show of emotion was touching and heartfelt, but my opinion soon changed.
 
The evening progressed at a painfully slow pace, as various members broke into random songs, scripture reading, and prayer, which still didn't seem that odd until I noticed that nearly all the men cried as they participated! Conversely, only one woman in the group was overcome with emotion, unable to eke out a single word of her prayer request.  She just gave up.  That's when my mind suddenly pelted me with questions!  Why were these men crying, and the women weren't?  Why was this night moving so excruciatingly slow?  Why didn't they tell me the night would run much later than expected?  What exactly were we fellowshipping over that moved the men to tears?  Why was so little scripture exposited?  Why was my heart breaking for God?  Why was my spirit so agitated by all this?  Why did I have the sudden urge to be on the streets witnessing where there is life?!  Exactly what was the problem in all this?  The premise for this little home church seemed innocent enough, yet something was terribly wrong!
 
As I wrestled with these questions, answers from scripture came to mind.  I recalled that while the meeting had the appearance of peace, confusion actually abounded.  "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints" (1 Cor 14:33).  The service lacked order and direction.  "Let all things be done decently and in order" (1 Cor 14:40).  This home group apparently gathered for the purpose of being lost in the moment of worship without any awareness of time, not unlike the euphoria created by the spirit of "pharmakeia" through substance abuse, both of which create room for a variety of experiences to take place.  I was beginning to wonder if this open forum had allowed another spirit to come in causing these men to cry.
 
The Spirit of God leads Christians to worship Christ through obedience to the Word while in full control of their faculties.  There is no need to "let go" and let another spirit take Christians into contemplative or meditative states.  Men, who are created in the image of God and given authority over the woman, should not display effeminate qualities while walking in the Spirit.  If effeminate qualities are manifested, it is a sure sign that the Spirit of God is not in control, but another spirit is afoot. "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:9-10).
 
Consider the Garden of Eden where Adam "let go" of the command of God in exchange for heeding the voice of the woman.  The serpent targeted Eve for deception with the purpose of enticing Adam to disobey. This effectually tricked Adam into reversing roles with Eve.  Man is to be the head of the woman, rather than the woman being the head of the man.  This role reversal not only created a disruption in authority, but also reflected gender confusion of the God to be followed. In effect, Adam overturned the patriarchal authority of God for a matriarchal submission to Eve that brought with it suppression of the knowledge of God, disobedience to His commands, separation from God, and bondage to sin for the whole human race.
 
The intentional suppression of the knowledge of God continues today through the empowerment of the feminine. Men are deliberately feminized through media, peer pressure, corporate sensitivity training, and political agendas. Elevating the "divine feminine" is clearly seen in world religions as various female figures, such as Catholicism's Mary or Hinduism's Gaia, are venerated and worshiped.  Even the Bible records the goddess worship of Ashtoreth (1 Ki 11:5) and the queen of heaven (Jer 7:18: 44:17-25) as the men, knowing full well their women had been burning incense to the queen of heaven, gave up the worship of the true patriarchal God whom they and their fathers had known for the worship of a female idol. "If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;  Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;  Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him" (Dt 13:6-8).
 
Failure to recognize and stand boldly against trends that are feminizing men has eroded the image and worship of the true patriarchal God of the Bible.  Preferring a softer, gentler figure that is more easily entreated, the world pursues goddess worship in opposition to Jesus and His Father.  When the feminine is adopted and the masculine is discarded, the salvation of many is ultimately undermined as the world adds yet another reason for the rejecting of the man, Christ Jesus.  Christians need to stand against these influences so the truth of salvation remains strong and the church isn't conditioned to the corrupting advances of the "maternal."
 
It is the serpent spirit who desires not only role reversals between men and women, but also gender confusion in the spiritual realm by worshiping the matriarch, rather than the patriarchal God of the Bible.  This serpent spirit, known in Hinduism as the Kundalini spirit, reveals itself through involuntary unconsciousness, rapturous states of bliss, visions, shaking, groanings, babbling, animal manifestations, and uncontrollable laughter and weeping!  While it's certainly not wrong for men to weep, for Jesus wept (John 11:35), uncontrolled effeminate behavior is characteristic of another spiritual presence.
 
While this home church group was waiting for the Spirit of God to show up, I fear that another spirit was present instead.  My heart ached for the Lord as I realized these dear people were partaking of a different spirit, while thinking they were honoring the Holy Spirit.  The Word of God grounds both our minds and emotions in truth, whereas pious feelings of "living for the Spirit" can easily move our focus away from Truth. The Holy Spirit magnifies Christ and His Word, and directs all worship toward the Son, not taking any worship for Himself. "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come" (John 16:13).  All prayer is directed toward God, (Acts 10:12; 12:5; Rom 10:1; Col 1:3; 1 Thess 5:23). Therefore, if one focuses their worship on the Spirit, it is quite possible to worship a different spirit under the guise of the true.