What is the work of evil spirits? How is the work of evil spirits manifested?

Relevant Words of God:

What work comes from Satan? In the work that comes from Satan, the visions in people are vague and abstract, and they are without normal humanity, the motivations behind their actions are wrong, and although they wish to love God, there are always accusations within them, and these accusations and thoughts are always interfering within them, constraining the growth of their life, and stopping them from having normal conditions before God. Which is to say, as soon as there is the work of Satan within people, their hearts can’t be at peace before God, they don’t know what to do with themselves, the sight of an assembly makes them want to run away, and they are unable to close their eyes when others pray.
The work of evil spirits wrecks the normal relationship between man and God, and upsets people’s previous visions and the path that their life has entered upon, in their hearts they can never draw close to God, things always happen that cause disruption to them and enshackle them, and their hearts cannot find peace, leaving no strength to their love of God, and making their spirits sink downward. Such are the manifestations of the work of Satan. The work of Satan is manifested in the following: being unable to stand your ground and stand witness, causing you to become someone who is at fault before God, and who has no faithfulness toward God. At the interference from Satan, you lose the love and loyalty toward God within you, you are stripped of a normal relationship with God, you do not pursue the truth, or the improvement of yourself, you regress, and become passive, you indulge yourself, you give free rein to the spread of sin, and are not hateful of sin; furthermore, the interference of Satan makes you dissolute, it causes God’s touch to disappear within you, and makes you complain about God and oppose Him, leading you to question God, and there is even the risk of you leaving God. All this is of the work of Satan.

from “The Work of the Holy Spirit and the Work of Satan” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

If you say the Holy Spirit is always working within you, that you are enlightened by God and touched by the Holy Spirit at every moment, and gain new knowledge all the time, then this is not normal. It is extremely supernatural! Without a shadow of a doubt, such people are evil spirits! Even when the Spirit of God comes into the flesh, there are times when He must rest, and must eat—to say nothing of you. Those who have been possessed by evil spirits seem to be without the weakness of the flesh. They are able to forsake and give up everything, they are dispassionate, capable of enduring torment, they do not feel the slightest fatigue, as if they have transcended the flesh. Is this not extremely supernatural? The work of the evil spirit is supernatural, and these things are unattainable by man. Those who cannot differentiate are envious when they see such people, and say that their belief in God is so strong, and so good, and that they are never weak. In fact, this is the manifestation of the work of the evil spirit.

from “Practice (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Today there are some evil spirits who work through supernatural things to deceive man; that is nothing but imitation on their part, to deceive man through work that is not presently done by the Holy Spirit. Many evil spirits imitate the working of miracles and healing of sickness; these are nothing but the work of the evil spirits, for the Holy Spirit no longer does such work in the present day, and all those who imitated the work of the Holy Spirit from that time onward—they are evil spirits indeed. All the work carried out in Israel at that time was work of a supernatural nature, only the Holy Spirit does not now work in such a manner, and any more of such work is the doing of Satan, the disturbance of Satan, and comes from evil spirits. But you cannot say that whatsoever is supernatural comes from evil spirits—this would depend on the age of God’s work.

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, and can cast out demons, and heal the sick, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are Jesus who has come, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work.

from “Knowing God’s Work Today” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Satan is still in control of and has mastery over the weaknesses in man, and it can still cause them to suffer. Evil spirits can still work to interfere with them, causing them to be in a confused state of mind, to take leave of their senses, to feel restless in their minds and suffer interference in all things. There are within man still some things of the mind or the soul that can be controlled by Satan and manipulated by it. So it is still possible for you to have illnesses, troubles and to feel suicidal, at times also feeling the desolation of the world, or that life has no meaning. That is to say, this suffering is still under Satan’s mastery—this is a fatal weakness of man. Satan is still able to use those things that it has corrupted and trampled on—they are things Satan can use against man. … Evil spirits are opportunists. They can speak from within you or into your ear, or else they can throw your thoughts and mind into disarray, they push back the moving of the Holy Spirit so that you can’t feel it, after which they begin to interfere with you, making your thinking confused and your brain addled, and leaving you restless and unhinged. Such is the work of evil spirits.

from “The Meaning of God’s Experiencing the Pain of the World” in Records of Christ’s Talks

The Man’s Fellowship:

Following each stage of God’s work, there are all kinds of evil spirits that imitate and fake the work of the Holy Spirit. Satan deceives people by making people “speak in tongues,” “see visions,” “have revelations,” etc., so as to make God’s chosen people deviate from the true way. Speaking in tongues, seeing visions and hearing voices are classified as the work of evil spirits. This is undoubtable. What is “speaking in tongues”? It is speaking a type of “language” that no one understands whilst in prayer. This is so-called speaking in tongues. If someone speaks in a way that is not classified as any language, but the tongue rolls in a way that the words are not clear, then this is a result of the work of evil spirits. “Seeing visions” means that a person, with his eyes open, is able to see something which normal people cannot see, or some strange phenomena. This is a type of phenomenon of the work of evil spirits. What is “hearing voices”? It is that some people can often hear spirits talking to them inside or a voice externally speaking to them. This is also a phenomenon of the work of evil spirits. No matter how many manifestations of the evil spirits’ work people show, they all prove that there are evil spirits at work in them. … When I believed in the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace, I came into contact with some people who often spoke in tongues. Their later outcomes were all very tragic. Some were possessed by demons, some had mental health problems and the majority of them collapsed in the end. All those possessed by demons do not have good outcomes. This is absolute. Therefore, it can be determined that speaking in tongues, seeing visions and hearing voices are entirely the work of evil spirits. It is the evil spirits imitating and faking the Holy Spirit’s work. This must be seen clearly.

from “Those Who Have Been Worked on by Evil Spirits and Those Possessed by Demons Should Be Treated Differently From Each Other” in Selected Annals of the Work Arrangements of the Church of Almighty God

So how should you distinguish whether or not there are evil spirits at work in people? We can determine whether there are evil spirits at work in accordance with the truths of God’s words and the principles of the work of the Holy Spirit.

First, whatever makes people resist God, attack God, blaspheme, deny God, doubt God, keep away from God, betray God and makes people negative, weak and fall into darkness is certainly the work of evil spirits.

Second, anything that people feel supernatural, such as being able to see something, hear voices or have unusual feelings, if it is not occasional but happens many times you can be certain that it is the work of evil spirits.

Third, whatever is inside people urging them to do this and that, which has no positive results and no value and is not classified as doing one’s normal duty, if not an occasional occurrence but continues for a long time, can be determined as the work of evil spirits.

Fourth, whatever makes corrupt people always think that they are God, God’s beloved son, sent by God or entrusted by God to do some work is also certainly the work of evil spirits.

The four circumstances above contradict God’s words. They are not in line with the truth in the slightest, but oppose and go contrary to God in all respects. If any spirit’s work can make people arrive at the four kinds of actions and consequences as above, it can be determined to be the work of evil spirits.

from “Four Principles of Discerning How Evil Spirits Confuse People” in Selected Annals of the Work Arrangements of The Church of Almighty God

The most obvious sign of an evil spirit at work is supernaturalness. When evil spirits work in people, they are extremely dominating in their speech or when they ask others to do things. Some even violate normal human morality, or violate ethical relations. All their speech and actions serve to confuse and annoy people. Their natures are ugly and fiendish, corrupting others, hurting others, and do not have a speck of benefit to others. As soon as an evil spirit appears in people, they feel fearful and afraid. In their actions they are very impatient, like they cannot wait. They are very abnormal in other people’s eyes. They don’t edify or benefit others at all. The main manifestations of the work of evil spirits are: The first kind is that evil spirits tell people to do this and that, or tell someone something, or direct people to speak false prophecies. The second kind is that people speak the so-called “tongues” that no one understands, and even the speaker himself does not understand. Some of the speakers can even “interpret the tongues” themselves. The third kind is that a person often receives revelations, with great frequency, at this moment being directed this way, the next moment being directed that way, in a constant state of anxiety. The fourth kind is that people urgently want to do this or that, too impatient to wait, they don’t consider whether conditions permit, they even run out in the middle of the night and their behavior is particularly abnormal. The fifth kind is that people with the work of evil spirits are wildly arrogant, all of their speech comes from a commanding position, and they are unable to speak out any truth at all. They put people at a loss, and like demons, they force people to do things. The sixth kind is that people who have the work of evil spirits do not understand the work arrangements from the above at all, even less do they understand the principles of the work, and they are defiant of God and act arbitrarily, committing all kinds of outrages to destroy the normal order of the church. The seventh kind is that a person who has the work of evil spirits passes himself off as someone else for no reason, or claims that he was sent by someone and that people should listen to him. No one can figure out where he came from. The eighth kind is that people who have the work of evil spirits usually have no normal sense, nor do they understand truth; they usually do not possess any capacity to receive and also are not enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and what people see is that in receiving things these people are exceptionally absurd and are not the least bit right. The ninth category is that people who have the work of evil spirits are especially arrogant and irrational. They do not exalt God or bear His witness at all, and they can’t fellowship about a single truth. Everything they say and do attacks people, binds up people, and restricts people, such that people are deeply disappointed or hit so hard with negativity that they cannot stand up. Only at this time are they secretly happy. This is the main purpose of the work of evil spirits. The tenth kind is that people possessed by evil spirits live an utterly abnormal life. Their eyes exude a murderous gleam, and the words they speak are extremely gruesome, as if a demon had descended to the world. There is no order to this kind of person’s life, they are very unstable, and are as unpredictable as a wild animal that has not been trained. They are extremely repulsive and odious to others. This is precisely what a person whom the demons have bound looks like. A person possessed by evil spirits often hates and keeps far away from people in whom the Holy Spirit is at work and who can fellowship about the truth. Often, the better someone is, the more he wants to attack and condemn them. The more foolish someone is, the more he tries to fawn upon and flatter them, especially desiring to come in contact with them. When evil spirits work, they always confuse truth with falsehood, saying that the positive is the negative and that the negative is the positive. This is precisely the doings of evil spirits. Nonetheless, as long as we use truth to measure the work of evil spirits, and use truth to identify it, it is easy to see through it.

from the fellowship from the above

All spirits that do obvious supernatural work are evil spirits and all people who have the supernatural work and speech of such spirits in them have the work of evil spirits. The working ways of evil spirits are not normal but supernatural, and there are six main types as follows:

1. Directly speaking through the people under their control, letting other people see that it is clearly spirits talking, not the people speaking normally themselves;

2. Making other people feel that it is spirits controlling people, ordering people to do this and that;

3. People inside a building being able to know that someone is coming outside;

4. A person often being able to hear someone talking to them when others cannot;

5. Being able to see things other people cannot see and hear things that other people cannot hear;

6. A person being always alarmed, bewildered and uneasy, talking to themselves, unable to talk and get along with people normally.

All the work of evil spirits shows these six manifestations. People who have evil spirits at work in them are not in possession of normal sense. Their frame of mind seems disturbed and they are unable to get on with others. It is as if they do not have the milk of human kindness and are otherworldly. Such people are classified as being possessed by evil spirits or having evil spirits at work in them. All the work of evil spirits is so obvious and supernatural. This is the easiest type of evil spirits’ work to distinguish. Evil spirits possess people’s bodies and play tricks on them, so that they are human yet inhuman, ghostlike yet not ghosts, and lose their minds, like zombies. It is enough to prove that evil spirits in essence are to corrupt man and devour man and they’re indeed evil. Evil spirits’ speech is also easy to distinguish. The speech of evil spirits completely represents their evil essence. It is all like stagnant water, muddy stench and full of the breath of death. After reading the words of evil spirits, a person of good caliber would feel that they are empty and flat and unbeneficial. They are all lies and empty words, extravagant and baseless talk and nonsense. These are the deceptive lies of evil spirits that are easiest to distinguish. In order to deceive people, some of the “high-ranking” evil spirits imitate God or Christ speaking and some fake angels or celebrities. These evil spirits are good at imitating some of God’s words, terms or tone. Those who do not understand the truth are easily deceived by such “high-ranking” evil spirits. God’s chosen people must be clear that the essence of evil spirits is evilness and shamelessness. No matter which “high-ranking” evil spirit, there is absolutely no truth in it. Evil spirits are always evil spirits and they in essence are always evil, in the same class as Satan.

from “How to Discern the Demonic Speech and Fallacies of Evil Spirits, False Christs and Antichrists” in Selected Annals of the Work Arrangements of The Church of Almighty God