How exactly should a person respond to accusations in the Church that are false? Many times people who are accusing others are responding from hurts and disappointments. Others times they are lashing out because of unmet expectations. I have been on the receiving end recently of the “accuser spirit” and we must realize we are indeed dealing with a demonic spirit. So when these things come, I know how to walk through them, but right now several in our ministry are having this accuser spirit come after them. So I use these times as teaching moments to help others.
Even our judicial system recognizes the damage accusations can cause: the defaming of character and releasing serious doubt and trust issues into others. Suffering of reputation that has been put in print on an open media forum can be a cause for libel. Slander and libel are serious accusations having the potential for lawsuits to be filed for damages incurred. The main goal in accusations is the damaging of a person’s reputation and character. Most accusations are focused into these areas.
But for the Church, there is a proper process of accusation to be dealt with. If the accusations hold any weight of validity, then the facts can be presented and presented to the spiritual oversight such as a leadership team, board , or the spiritual covering. Accusation is always a time for a re-evaluation and a searching for the Holy Spirit. If there is no conviction, then there is nothing to shift or change or repent of. You keep moving forward knowing that your heart is clean. If facts cannot be presented, then the accusation is more of a private interpretation of events or conversations and this is where the waters really become muddy. These types of accusations are not meant to correct things nor are they sent as warnings. They are simply sent to inflict pain.
I have had many accusations come against me and most of them slide off like water off a duck’s back. Those that seem to bring the biggest struggle come from those that you pour your life into and then they falsely accuse you. But we must remember we are dealing with a spirit and the person is simply the tool the accuser spirit is using. The carrier of this spirit has a real or imagined offense that has not been dealt with. They lash out in their desire to inflict that pain of offense towards someone else. It is usually directed toward a leader of a ministry or their team.
The word ‘offended’ is not so much the action of a person against someone as it is the spoken attitude of the heart of the one bringing the accusation. They never safeguarded their heart or had never been convicted to come into alignment with God’s love. The word ‘offended’ actually means I am willing and going to spread slander about you. It has nothing to do with the words or actions of the one supposedly causing the offense, but has everything to do with the one saying they are offended. It is an attitude of the heart that is unwilling to change so it tries to discredit others to justify their current position. Offenses are held in the place of bitterness in the heart even for months and years before the opportunity is finally seen to unleash it by accusations.
Many times, the accusation is the very thing God is dealing with the accuser in their own lives. They project it outward instead of dealing with it inward. It is definitely a place of being self-deceived and playing right into demonic activity. It is giving yourself to the spirit of the accuser of the brethren. You end up submitting yourself to demonic influences and those demonic forces know right when to unleash the accusations.
The accuser spirit works hand in hand with the religious spirit. The bulk of accusations I hear of come in the Full Gospel circles, rather than the denominational circles. It is a religious spirit that comes against freedom and truth. It is a religious spirit that won’t recognize fivefold gifting and their function opposing specifically apostles and prophets. You see, the accuser spirit comes and convinces a person their actions will save others. It comes masked in godliness but the words have no lasting fruit of the Spirit. It comes to speak not truth but falsehood. Not only does it bind the person doing the accusing but also tries to bring others into the same accusation. It looks for the disgruntled and unhappy ones. It preys upon those not solid in faith. It’s amazing to me the power it holds over a person for such a length of time. A person offended once can be found to be offended again, even years later as it stirs the deposit left behind that was not dealt with.
It is under a religious spirit that it will have a form of godliness and deny God’s power (His nature) to be formed in them. The religious spirit is the principality at work and the accuser spirit is the power to go along with it. It is a religious spirit that is trying to steal the potential from a person and their spiritual inheritance. The religious spirit keeps the person bound by the accuser spirit working through them. Every accusation, every wrong judgmental word keeps freedom from them and the deception is that they believe it is the person/people they are accusing that’s binding them when in reality, it is the bitterness and hurt in their own hearts.
The accuser comes at key pivotal moments of spiritual advance and growth: Times immediately after breakthrough meetings, times of God’s Spirit moving, Spiritual advance in a region, etc. They also come when the future is about to open up before you. They come to discourage and even come against the promises of God and His plan. At the time of this writing, I had four written slanders about me come to my attention. At the same time, the ministry is growing, we have advanced and expanded into new areas, opportunities are opening, new plans are given, we are experiencing healings every service, people are starting new ministries that will impact culture and the Lord spoke to me that it is time to start writing the next book. Why wouldn’t accusations come in written form? I hope you see what I mean. Last week another ministry just had a large breakthrough. Things were shifting and guess what- accusations came, disagreement, a refusal to talk or be teachable. One thing I found to be true, those who leave a ministry without a face- to-face talk will fall into the accuser spirit.
The best example for handling accusations is Nehemiah building the wall. His assignment was sure, the opposition was great, and breakthrough was occurring. The voices rose up against him but he stayed focused on the promises and the task before him. He did not empower the voices by giving them much recognition but recognized them for what they were, a demonic force trying to stop forward motion.
Sadly some who accuse think they are helping others see faults but are actually moving in extreme evil that inflicts deep pain. The devil knows that to simply accuse from afar off has no real effect upon us. But to accuse close to the heart will cause disappointment, discouragement, and hurt. We need to be aware of his devices and not fellowship with the accusing spirit or those who carry it, or those who support them. If we look, we actually see so little fruit (the way we are to judge) and a dissatisfaction of life, it actually saddens me that someone could fall prey to this.
The pain the person feels of being falsely accused is real. It does not come from the accusations themselves. The accusation actually holds no real weight, it only holds weight because it comes from someone we know and love. If the same accusation came from someone we don’t know, we would never even consider it. The pain comes from disappointment in the person we thought we knew. We were walking out life together and investing into each other and then suddenly the accusation comes. It is a pain of feeling deceived. It is what the Bible says: Proverbs 27: 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Friends will point to things in your life but will remain friends, willing to walk out and help correct issues. But the unwillingness to walk out the issues means the wounding was not to help change but to pass judgment and the accuser has moved from being a friend to a place of opposition. So how does a person work through this process?
- First of all, remember this is a spirit at work. The same accusing spirit is making accusation before the throne of God night and day. Meaning it is relentless and accusations will be coming again in the future. The same spirit that wrongfully accused Jesus is the same spirit at work against you. The man, Jesus, understood that He was in a plan of God far more reaching than an accusation. He stayed focused on the course before Him. He did not take the accusations personally, but saw them as an accusation against God Himself and His plan upon the earth. Nehemiah did the same thing refusing to stop the work he was called to do and entertain or fall prey to the accusations requiring a defense. He simply stated the promise of God again and declared the purpose for which caused the accusations to come.
- Secondly, realize God is your defense. He will defend His beloved and He will defend His word and His actions. God does not like being mocked and an accuser spirit is mocking what God is doing. In some forms, it is bordering on blasphemy. Most accusations attack the work of God and call it demonic, wrong, unbiblical, or not doctrinally correct, etc. The Bible says blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the only sin not forgiven. That’s pretty heavy but consider what the word means. ‘Blasphemy’ means ‘to declare that something that God is doing is not from Him but is from the devil’! When you consider the word ‘offended’ meaning ‘slander’, accusation is opposing what God is doing; we are getting very close to blasphemy. So God will defend what He is doing. It might take years before a person runs into the conviction of God to cause change, but conviction will one day come and their eyes will be open and they will see the damage their words have caused to others and the plan of God upon the earth.
- Thirdly, you break fellowship with the person. The Bible says in the last days men will be false accusers (2 Timothy 3:3. The Bible also states in 2 Thes. 3:6 to “draw yourself away from any brother or sister who is walking disorderly.” ‘Disorderly’ means ‘not with the rule of spiritual law, out of rank, out of order, those who do not show up, those who are refusing to do the work’. In other words, we are not to associate with evil. Most of the time we still fellowship with them. When in reality, they should feel shame for their actions and learn to realize the hurt they have done the Body of Christ and will break free from the accuser spirit. You see Apostle Paul when he was still Saul, had the accuser spirit operating under a religious spirit. The only way to be free from this is the Holy Spirit needs to reveal truth while having an encounter with Christ! Our convincing will not do it.
- Fourth, confess daily Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. This is a very powerful promise. When accusation comes to my attention, I confess this daily, several times a day for several weeks. Accusations come to nothing.
- Fifth, if the accusation is given publicly before others, then the accusation needs to be addressed publicly. When we address private accusation publicly, we become victims of the same spirit. Jesus only addressed public accusations publically with truth. He wanted others to see that truth was greater than presumptions.
- Sixth, operate at a higher place of character and honor. Do not lower yourself and come to their level but maintain the standard by which you want to be known. The Bible says in 2 Tim 3:9 that their folly will be made known to all men. The word ‘folly’ is interesting. It comes from two words “son” and “one lacking understanding and madness expressing itself in rage”. The root words of both of these means “the offspring of those incapable or unwilling to understand.” This is how God sees them and this is how we should see them. This is why they end up being numbered with the spiritually poor that we would have with us always.
I have had people call me years after their accusations with such urgency in their voice to talk. They had held things against me in their hearts for years. They had spread slander and now had come under the conviction of God’s Spirit. One poor woman soon realized everything that was going wrong in her life was because of this judgmental attitude she operated in. It finally piled on her and God began to deal and convict. She was in a most miserable place and had to make amends with a long list of people. Once she did, everything turned for her and the blessing began to flow. No one had cursed her; she had cursed herself by her words. You see accusation is a pronounced curse. If not accepted it returns back on the person. Their own words could end up cursing them.
There was another person who spoke slander about me to leaders in my state for years. I did not know what to do and even went to their covering to see if they could step in. They basically refused. I held my voice and continued with the assignment I had been given. A few years passed and people saw my heart was right. Many had been convinced I was like the accusations from this other person. At a corporate gathering of about 120, the conviction of the Holy Spirit fell and the person stood and asked me publicly for forgiveness for the damage done. I forgave them and made sure things were clean before us publicly in front of everyone. Were things delayed? Yes. Did God prevail, YES! With the accusation exposed and removed publicly that had been done publicly, people saw me in anew light as who i was and not through the eyes of accusation.
A person is known more by their actions than their words. How we respond is important. Do we still love? (You can still address things in love). Do we maintain an open door once repentance is seen? Do we cut off the vehicle or the way accusations come? For me, when someone begins to accuse me, I distance myself from them. Many times this can be seen as rejecting a person, when it is rejecting the accusation.
Here is my post from Face book again:
Today I come against every accusation you are experiencing. Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
The weapon of accusation will not produce, advance or have any effect, upon you, your family, your calling, your ministry or what you believe in God! Every person, every voice, every written word that rises, judging your actions, heart, motives, and mandate from God, coming to not just wrong but evil conclusions, we and God have condemned. We say these voices are guilty of coming against the servants of God and God Himself. May God have His vengeance. May God have His defense. May God have His convicting power loosed upon their lives. May God have mercy upon their souls for the harm they have done, the evil they have released and the pain in the heart they have done. May they come to the end of demonic voices and truly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Saints of God hold fast you your convictions. Hold fast to the pure word of God. Hold fast to the assignment given. Hold fast in faith believing. All will be made know and revealed. All will be seen openly. A day of reckoning is coming when some will suffer shame for their actions. Some will suffer reproach, yet the faithful will have the full reward, both here upon the earth and in eternity. We count it all joy to be ridiculed and mocked and despised. We are accepted by God for what we endure. His Glory will be seen upon the saints who have been tried, not accusers of the faith. His glory will be upon the saints who have held fast, unwavering and voices, and not the ones used by demonic influences. I use my authority and LOOSE this word over your LIFE!!! NOW LET GOD BE SEEN AND HEARD!
Greg Crawford 