The Spirit of Error: When Gratitude Turns to Contempt

In church today, I listened carefully to what my Pastor preached. It was one of those rare sessions that forces you to unlearn, relearn, and learn, a message that pierces the heart and exposes the quiet things we often ignore. He spoke about the Spirit of Error, and as I sat there, I couldn’t help but realize how dangerous, silent, and deceptive that spirit truly is.

It’s when the spirit of error enters a man that he begins to see his benefactor as nothing. The same person who once prayed for his success now looks like a threat. The voice that once guided him now sounds like control. The path that once felt divine suddenly feels restrictive. That’s what the spirit of error does, it twists perception, making light look like darkness and wisdom feel like manipulation.

The Bible captures this deception clearly in 1 John 4:6, where the Apostle John wrote, “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” The spirit of error makes a person deaf to truth. They no longer hear correction as love, but as condemnation. Their heart becomes hardened, not because truth has changed, but because their perception has been corrupted.

It’s a slow drift, subtle but deadly. A man doesn’t wake up and rebel overnight; he gradually grows offended, becomes proud, and starts misinterpreting everything around him. Offense becomes the open door for deception. That’s why 2 Thessalonians 2:10–11 warns, “Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”

The spirit of error is not just an emotional reaction; it’s a spiritual infection. It enters through offense, pride, or familiarity, and once it does, it changes how you see everything. You begin to fight what was sent to help you. You start doubting your mentors, questioning divine order, and building arguments against the same truths that once built you.

Cain fell to it when envy clouded his heart. Balaam fell when greed blinded his sight. Korah fell when rebellion disguised itself as equality. Jude 1:11 paints their story vividly: “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” Each of them began with good intentions, but the spirit of error turned them against God’s order.

The tragedy is that the spirit of error often feels like revelation. It convinces you that you’ve suddenly “seen the truth,” while in reality, you’ve drifted away from it. That’s why Proverbs 14:12 warns, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Deliverance from this spirit begins with humility, the willingness to admit, “Maybe I’m wrong.” It takes a humble spirit to be guided by the Spirit of Truth, whom Jesus described in John 16:13: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.” When you let truth lead you, error loses its hold.

So today, as I reflected on that message, I prayed quietly: “Lord, deliver me from the spirit of error. Don’t let pride blind me. Don’t let offense mislead me. Don’t let familiarity close my eyes to truth.” Because many people didn’t fall because they were weak, they fell because they couldn’t discern when the spirit of error entered their heart.

And that’s the lesson I carried home: when you begin to despise what once blessed you, it’s not just frustration, it might be the spirit of error at work. Guard your heart. Stay teachable. Stay humble. Because in this journey of life and faith, it’s not enough to start well, you must finish free from the spirit of error.

Written By @OBAAdeyemiO