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I had a very difficult situation arise in the wake of my father’s death. A person in a position of authority, who by all accounts was filled with light and joy, led us astray. I knew it was false. I battled against it alone. The difficulty for me was the seemingly radiant light and joy emanating from this person. The things they said were half-truths and reminiscent of Pilate, which is why I left the situation deeply troubled in spirit. I was left to fend for myself spiritually, and I was made the villain for defending the truth. I have spent over a year working through what I now believe was false light coming from this person.
In Ignatian discernment of spirits, the hardest spirits to discern are those of false light. They propose seeming good to us so we can easily be led astray or become confused in decision making. We live in an age of false light. The debates in the Church that seek to destroy moral teachings are a good example. Those who propose changing the Church’s sexual morality, for instance, do it from a form of false light. They claim it is loving to do so. The clergy and others who propose these changes are personable and charismatic, so people easily fall under their sway.
The Lord warned us of false prophets. It is easy to fall prey to these leaders because they exude an attractive light. Most Catholics have not been taught how to properly discern spirits. All of us are being influenced by good and evil spirits on a daily basis. The enemy of our souls wants to lead us away from Christ. In the beginning of the spiritual journey, the enemy uses worldly pleasures that keep us trapped in patterns of mortal sin, but as we spiritually progress, the tactics change and become harder to discern. False light becomes the main tactic.
Most people are not attracted to evil for evil’s sake. There are socio- or psychopaths who enjoy evil for the sake of evil, but the majority of people fall into evil because they are attracted to a good that is lacking in a given situation. In the case of sexual morality, they are attracted to the good of sex created by God, but they are engaging in it in an illicit manner, i.e. outside of marriage, homosexual relations, contraception, etc.
Discernment gets trickier when people placed in authority over us propose teachings in a manner that doesn’t fully contradict Church teaching but plays both sides of the issue. They end up becoming Pilate because they wash their hands of the truth who is Christ in the process. There is in fact a deep spirit of Pilate infecting the Church at present.
For those of us seeking to be obedient to the Church and who desire to remain with Christ in His Church, it can be deeply disconcerting to encounter this issue. It leaves us confused as we listen to someone who seems to love Christ and who exudes a certain radiant joy in their presence. The light in the person is palpable. I found the experience extremely disorienting and painful.
After much prayer and thought, I started to realize that people like who I encountered have embraced a false Luciferian light. It is one of the most difficult forms of light to spot in our day, especially in an age that is grounded in basing everything on feelings and emotions rather than the truth and the firm foundation of Church teaching. “If it feels good, then it must be right” is the mantra of the day. Combining false light and emotions is a powerful elixir to be used for deception.
As I spent time in prayer, the Lord guided me through the difficult situation. He helped me understand why the false light was so confusing. That is the purpose of this type of light. To create confusion and doubt in the soul. Even though I defended the Church’s teachings in a difficult and problematic situation, I left feeling like I was the one at fault. I was made the enemy in the situation. The deep doubt sewed within me was not from the Holy Spirit. It was from the enemy.
In Ephesians 6:10-17, the Lord, through St. Paul, tells us how to prepare for spiritual battle:
Finally, grow strong in the Lord, with the strength of his power. Put on the full armour of God so as to be able to resist the devil’s tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens. That is why you must take up all God’s armour, or you will not be able to put up any resistance on the evil day, or stand your ground even though you exert yourselves to the full. So stand your ground, with truth a belt round your waist, and uprightness a breastplate, wearing for shoes on your feet the eagerness to spread the gospel of peace and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to quench the burning arrows of the Evil One. And then you must take salvation as your helmet and the sword of the Spirit, that is, the word of God.
This is how we are to live as we battle “powers and principalities” in this life. The situation I found myself in was one such battle.
To navigate this false light, the Lord reminded me to stay close to Him through the supernatural gift of faith, but also through the Faith that is handed on in the Church. I trust completely that what the Church teaches is the fullness of truth. Second, I had to remember that the authentic light of Christ can only be seen if it conforms to the truth. In this situation, the truth was not present. It was half-truth for the sake of a false appeasement and accompaniment. This person’s embrace of partial truths led them to embrace Luciferian light, which was emanating out of them. This created spiritual blindness in the person and in others led astray by their false teachings.
In an age like ours, it is essential that we cling to the truth. The truth can be found in the Church’s perennial teachings. These do not change regardless of the zeitgeist of any given period in history. The current heresies of our day center around the human person, family, and sexuality. False forms of light and love are everywhere, including within the Church. As the lay faithful, we must constantly remember that false light abounds around us and the only way to see that false light is through the lens of truth guided by faith. Through faith in Christ and His Church, we can trust in the truth of the Church’s teachings that are unchangeable.
There are countless people who have found themselves in the same situation as I did who walk away confused and disoriented. The seeming light emanating from these individuals is undeniable, and oftentimes, blinding. People have left the Church after experiencing what I did because it causes such deep pain and doubt. We must don the spiritual weapons given to us by Christ so we can rightly discern the presence of Luciferian light. If the truth is lacking, it is the enemy who is operating. There is no need for self-doubt because Christ is Light and Truth.
Photo by Miguel Alcântara on Unsplash
