Shincheonji Perspective
“Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’ “One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked. “‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. “‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’ “So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you.”” 1 Kings 22:19-23
SCJ uses this passage to explain that God is gathered with his angels and they are discussing how to . This appears to be a troubling passage at face value, and SCJ instructors take advantage of this by not understanding or applying the context. To answer this, we need to learn a little background about King Ahab, and also understand something about the sovereignty of God.
God used the Evil Spirits as Punishment
To put it frankly, Ahab was an awful king. He did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel that were before him” (1 Kings 16:33). Ahab loved to listen to false prophets as they told him what they wanted to hear (1 Kings 22:6). God has already announced the death of King Ahab many times through the prophets who were telling the truth. .
When God asked for volunteers to “entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there” (1 Kings 22:20), a spirit (fallen angel/demon) said he would be a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets. God gave the spirit permission to proceed, and Ahab received the message he desired.
God chose to use a lying spirit because Ahab rejected God’s rebukes and warnings all through his life. Since God is sovereign over all of creation, He is not restricted in what or whom He can use to accomplish His holy purposes. All of creation is under His authority, and He chooses to use people and spirits, both good and evil, to bring His divine plans to pass and bring glory to Himself. “He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. In the case of Ahab, God chose to use a lying spirit to accomplish His perfect and righteous plan. The lying spirit will receive its punishment just as Ahab did, and those who repent of their sins will receive forgiveness just like Ahab could have. It is dangerous to compare the sovereignty of God, and use a story of one specific King in the Old Testament to condone lying and deception in evangelism.
To further this argument, we can also see God using Babylon to judge and destroy the Israelites for their rebellion (Jeremiah 51:33-35), and God allows Satan to test Job’s faith, only under God’s permission (Job 1:6-12).
This does not give us the permission to go and physically destroy our enemies, but instead shows God’s sovereignty.