Slow to post again on this thread. Just got a little busy! First of all, to clarify, I do not think knowledge is implicitly bad or evil. My post may seem to indicate this, so I will try to balance what I was saying to some extent. My balancing may not satisfy because I know I am touching on a potentially sensitive subject. So, I do think that the pursuit of knowing more than what is freely given to us by God can lead to unknowing interactions with seducing spirits. God freely gives the knowledge that is healthy for each one of us through the Holy Spirit. It is when we seek to go beyond what is given that we can get in some trouble.
So, the main point I was referring to is about the boundaries on what we can know and the fact that there can be different sources of the knowledge. When it comes to spiritual knowledge, I believe that the source can be the Holy Spirit and, alternatively, it can be other spirits. I think it is important to be aware of sources other than the Holy Spirit even if the knowledge is coming straight out of the text of the Bible. I believe the Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirit when we are presented with spiritual knowledge. If the source is good, we can learn to hear with both our mind (strong and sound) and with the witness in our spirit.
Paul V is describing those who are struggling to address their current situation in the LC. All of us have experienced bad teaching (including "doctrines of demons") and if we pay attention to the witness in our spirit from the Holy Spirit, then we can reject it. This takes practice and testing to learn how to do it. The testing process has some objective aspects, but also some subjective ones. The objective ones are mostly based on true knowledge of the Word of God. The subjective ones are based on two things God says he gives us in our relating to Him. He gives us "life" and "peace" (Romans 8:6, Malachi 2:5-6). I have learned to reject things based on the witness in my Spirit even before I can explain to my mind why it should not accept it. When this happens to me, I am always left with a question in my mind which I put in front of God asking why I have a bad witness about something. In time, He has always given me the knowledge and understanding of why I had a bad witness in my spirit. It is not always right away.
Many groups claim to have special teachings/authority from God. They bring many other believers under bondage through their approach while the Holy Spirit is faithfully witnessing about the things that are true vs. false that come from others.
I believe there a few verses that address what I am saying.
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1 Thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but examine all things; hold fast to what is good.
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I understand the word "prophecies" here to be the declaration of truths. It can be based on the Word of God. It can also be foretelling things which God has shared. I believe each believer is expected to examine (i.e. test, including spritually) ALL things. Paul did not write this to a special group in the church, but to all siblings in Christ commonly.
These verses freed me up a lot at one point. I realized my responsibility to test everything and to set aside the bad stuff. Since then, I can listen to very good teachers and still reject portions of what they say because the do not pass the "test". The test is both with my mind based on my knowledge and with my spirit based on a witness from the Holy Spirit and the presence of "life" and "peace" in my being. It has to pass both aspects of the "test". Secondly, I have learned that I can even receive from "bad teachers" (i.e. ones who have a lot of problems in their teaching) the good things that they share. In my experience, we have one true teacher, the Holy Spirit. God does use other lesser teachers who are not completely true like the Holy Spirit to communicate truths to us.
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John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name—that one will teach you all things, and will remind you of everything that I said to you.
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So, for me, the boundary on knowledge and seeking knowledge is about what God gives me in the realm of knowledge VS. the knowledge that I seek apart from my relationship with God. There can be a fine line here and it is one that others really can't judge in regards to someone else. It is something that each one of us has to work out in our relationship to God. I will close with a short example.
About 30 years ago, I found and bought a copy of War on the Saints by Jesse Penn Lewis. I wanted to read it. As soon as I started, I realized that something wasn't right. I paused and asked God about this book. It was very clear to me in that moment that I was NOT supposed to read it. I put it on my shelf. Over the next 25 years, I noticed the book several different times. I was still interested in reading it, but I still had a sense (which I believe was from the Holy Spirit) that the answer was "No", don't read it. About 5 years ago, I saw the book on my shelf and had a very different sense. I understood that not only was it a "Yes", but God wanted me to read it. A few months before, God had sent me a brother in Christ with another book. He told me that when he got up that morning, God pointed out the book on the shelf and said to him very clearly. That book is for Matt, give it to him. The book had a strong topical connection to War on the Saints. So, it seemed to me through these two things that God wanted me to gain additional knowledge of some of the matters covered by these books. As I read each of them, I realized why God had said "No" for many years. I wasn't ready and the knowledge in these books was for the right time. Before the right time, my Father in Heaven was saying, "Not yet, son".
This example is what I am talking about in regards to handling knowledge of various kinds of spiritual things. We should receive what we are given and not pluck the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil of our own will OR apart from our relationship with God or else we run the danger of interacting with "other spirits" who I believe are available and ready to teach a "twisted" form of the truth.
Matt