The Return of the Glory
Summarising two separate messages, "The Divine Unveiling of the Church" by Rob Wheeler of Aukland, New Zealand, and "Old Testament Promises" by Bill Britton, we can see clearly that the expectation is for the Shekinah Glory of God to return to its spiritual "ark" in the Living Temple of the Church in the last days.
"In Ezekiel 44 we read of the Sons of Zadok who ministered in the Most Holy Place. So shall it be for those who inherit the promises; they shall see God face to face and be the habitation of the living God."
In II Cor 6:16 we read, "For we are the temple of the living God; just as God has said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them and I shall be their God and they shall be my people.
" Thus, we have the promise that God will dwell in us, and the Holy Spirit is given us as the pledge, or firstfruits of that fulness. It is Christ in you that is the hope of glory (Col. 1:25-27). We are approaching the climax--the time at which God will dwell in us that we might be the vehicle of His manifest presence.
The latter-rain sequence has the return of the Shekinah to the Temple (Church) producing the Corporate Christ which then harvests the world by a signs and wonder revival, while simultaneously bringing judgement on the Harlot (disobedient Christians).
The Glory, in their understanding, is the visible manifestation of the Spirit. Now, in light of the satanic nature of this deception, it is not surprising that deceived Christians are being led to expect a manifested SPIRIT and not the visible return of the Lord Jesus.
I believe the way we are headed is into teaching about the return of the "lord" to his church, in glory, BEFORE (or perhaps even instead of?) the physical return of Jesus.
Bible translations that encourage the wrong interpretation
Unfortunately, modern translations of the Bible help in this deception. The Authorised Version has the blessed hope as the appearing of our great God in glory. Many other translations have the return OF THE GLORY!!
KING JAMES: Titus 2:13 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (KJV)
NEW ENGLISH BIBLE: Looking forward to the happy fulfilment of our hopes when the splendour of our great God and saviour Christ Jesus will appear...
REVISED STANDARD VERSION: Awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ....
JERUSALEM BIBLE: while we are waiting in hope for the blessing which will come with the appearing of the glory of our great God and saviour Jesus Christ....
GOOD NEWS BIBLE: as we wait for the blessed day we hope for, whenthe glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ will appear....
Is it any wonder that new Christians are confused on this issue, when the very scriptures they read seem to confirm that we are awaiting the "return of the glory" instead of the return of the Lord Jesus in a physical Body.
False Prophecy of the Return of the Glory
"The Glory of God, my Glory, says the Lord, after a sacrifice had been prepared and offered up, shook the very foundations of Hell as I defeated Death, Hell, and the Grave, I shall bring my Glory once again back into my dwelling place, the heart of a sinless man. Such as this you have become...Haven't I said If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, a new type of man who has never before existed? And this existence, says the Lord, is as my dwelling place and my home. For the Glory of God, my Glory, says the Lord, the Heavy Presence that shook the very foundations of the earth as I proclaimed Goodness and Mercy, has come once again to dwell in a tabernacle of flesh...
"You are temples, you are vessels, you are receptacles, you are containers of the very Fires of Heaven, measured into you as you will receive it. Some taking much, moving from Glory to Glory, changed by the nearness of my Glory, ever growing, ever changing, ever allowing Me more of you.
"Do not be afraid of my Glory, of my Heavy Presence says God, the God of Glory, for a time when I could not allow you to come near Me has passed. No longer must I hide you in the parting of the Rock as Moses was hidden, but today I bring you face to face with my Glory... For the Glory of God, my Glory says the Lord, is soon to come in His fullness, and where once men were shielded as I proclaimed Mercy and Grace, finally I will proclaim righteous judgement.
"Wait..... do you say `rejoice'? NO NO NO...weep and cry out, for then the souls of all who would not hear Me will be devastated, their lives destroyed, for every mans life, every mans work shall be judged by Fire, and only what has been straked and splattered by the Blood of Redemption will stand as a testimony to my Righteousness, and what is wicked, what is sinful, yes, even all that is not of Faith will burn in the very presence of my Glory in you, in you, in you, in you, in you, in you, IN YOU! [Carl Killingsworth on the Vineyard's New Wine BBS.January 1995:]
When Richard Riss wrote to explain his views on the Rapture (an earthly spiritual transformation) Bill Benninghoff replied to comment: (6)
"So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. I believe that this refers to the church, the Israel of God (Galatians 6) which will be purified by the Lord and indwellt by the Glory and Presence of Jesus....The Lord will dwell in His church in a marked and noticeable way as a result of the great outpouring of the Spirit, and the nations will know that Jesus Christ is God Almighty!
The feast of Passover is experienced by the believer at the moment he or she is born again. The individual is brought out of Egypt (the world) and into the Kingdom of God and into covenant relationship with God through Christ. The feast of unleavened bread and the feast of firstfruits are also fulfilled at this time as the new Christian is cleansed of all his/her sins. The feast of Pentecost is experienced by the believer when they are baptized into the power of the Holy Spirit.
The feast of Tabernacles (which actually has three parts: trumpets, day of atonement and tabernacles) is something that to my knowledge has not yet been experienced by individual believers or by the church corporately. Some leaders in the Body of Christ have taught that trumpets will be experienced by the church as the rapture, the day of atonement is the pouring out of God's wrath on the earth while the church is in heaven and that tabernacles represents the return of the church with the Lord to earth to begin the Millenium. I don't believe that the Scriptures teach this at all I believe that the feast of trumpets represents the prophetic flow of God among His people. This is something that the church really began to walk in as a result of the 1948 latter rain revival
The Day of Atonement was a time in which the sins of the covenant nation were cleansed and in which in the year of Jubilee (every 50th year) debts were cancelled, slaves were set free and land was returned to its original owners. It seems that this present move of God is one in which men and women who are already members of the covenant nation of God are being delivered from their sins, healed of their woundings and strengthened by the Spirit of the Lord. It seems to be a time of corporate cleansing and restoration in the Body of Christ.
(So today is the time of the Day of Atonement) I believe that all seven feasts must be experienced by the church on earth before the work is completed and the Lord returns for His bride. He will not return for her until she has completed her mission to become the expression of the Glory of God in the earth and until disciples have been made of all the nations.
YOU are the Antichrist!
I promised to reveal a dangerous aspect to the teaching of Ken Copeland, that the "christ" is the "anointing" upon all believers. This leads him to the belief that all who rebel against the anointing, or the anointed ones, are THE ANTI-CHRIST! Scripture identifies the antichrist as those who deny that Christ "is come in the flesh". If an anointing, or a glory cloud, is believed to be the coming of Christ into a Body of Flesh (his church) then anyone who denies the reality of such a thing could be labelled, scripturally, an antichrist.
Because we deny that Christ has come invisibly into this Body of people - thus we are the antichrist and we must be destroyed. Far-fetched? Unlikely ever to be applied to us? Well, this reasoning has already been applied:Earl Paulk writes in "The Wounded Body of Christ"
"Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world. (1 John 4:3) When John dealt with identifying the antichrist, he said the spirit of antichrist was already at work. This spirit was identifiable by the fact that it...does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is the area in which we must test the spirits. The greatest test of the antichrist is its attitude towards the church - Jesus Christ himself is not a threat to any community unless there is a living thriving church in that community. Therefore, the spirit of antichrist refuses to recognise that GOD IS HERE IN THE FLESH. Attacking such figures as Oral Roberts, Jim Bakker and Kenneth Copeland are attacking the Church of Jesus Christ - such mockery and criticism are the means by which the spirit of antichrist operates."
Ken Copeland makes the same application. He goes to great lengths to try to prove that the word christ means anointing, so every time you come to the word christ in the Bible you should retranslate it, the anointing. Jesus was a man who was christed, he had the anointing. Now that same anointing is coming upon the Church, and if you oppose it you are anti-anointing, and that makes you an anti-christ!
"Once you start re-translating the word christ, as anointing you'll realize how the message of the anointing permeates the entire new testament. Even in those early days, the devil sent people in to steal that message,-------- people with the spirit of anti-christ (anti-anointing). For if you reTranslate the word anti-christ you'll realize it's referring to someone who is opposed to the anointing."(7)
Now we have to consider what this all means for us, and what it means in terms of the events of the endtimes.
Similarities to the Reign of Antichrist
If this were just another heresy it would be doomed to wither and die, like all the others. BUT, this is more than just a heresy by a few isolated groups. It is so widespread that almost every large group and ministry today has been infected by at least a part of the latter rain teachings,We cannot deny that we DO have an outpouring at the moment - this is not just fantasy but fact. So whatever the human thoughts and beliefs behind this, there is a spiritual power that fuels it - a power so great that it is able to influence the entire Church and bring about signs and wonders.
I want you to consider the latter rain teachings in the light of the book of revelation. You will notice some similarities.
1. THE WHITE HORSE: (Rev 6:2)
THEY CLAIM:
That the White Horse is the victorious church going out to conquer the world, at the beginning of the renewal, the beginning of the latter rain revival. (Bob Jones claims he saw a vision of a white horse in 1982, ready to ride - he believed this was the start of the revival.)
WE KNOW:
The white horse is clearly no Jesus Christ, but the spirit of antichrist! It closely resembles the Lord Jesus, but the Lord Jesus doesn't come at the start of the seven years, but at the end! The white horse is one of the four judgements sent out by God - it is the great apostasy that must come before the end.
THUS THEY HAIL THE ANTICHRIST APOSTASY AS THE VICTORIOUS CHURCH.
2. THE RETURN OF THE GLORY TO THE TEMPLE
THEY CLAIM:
that the Spirit of Christ will incarnate into a Body - his church (and maybe one representative of that church, its new head - see Appendix and this is seen as the entrance of the christ spirit into the Temple. And it is also seen as the spiritual marriage of the Bridegroom and his perfected bride.
WE KNOW:
Antichrist comes to a Temple, as God! "he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God".(2 Thess 2:4)He will also have a counterfeit bride - the Harlot, Mystery Babylon.
THUS THE CHURCH IS BEING PREPARED TO ACCEPT ANTICHRIST AS HER LORD AND CHRIST
3.THE TRIBULATION
THEY CLAIM:
The second half of the last seven years will be the reign of the manchild as the corporate christ, ruling over the rest of the Church and the world. It will be a time of purging for the Church and the world of anyone who refuses to bow and worship the glorious Manchild, the corporate christ. They say God will be cleansing out the tares from his church! AND WHILE THIS IS HAPPENING, the manchild company will be ruling over the world, meting out God's judgement, immune to all this suffering and disaster, using their powers to produce signs and wonders to bring the world to christ.
WE KNOW:
On the contrary the last three and a half-years are the reign of antichrist - not of Christ. The Tribulation is a result of satan and his demons coming down to earth, and the Tribulation is not primarily God at work removing wickedness, it is satan at work removing those who are righteous. Anyone who refuses to worship satan will be killed. And his False Prophet will be producing lying signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the very elect.
THUS THE CHURCH IS BEING PREPARED TO WORK ALONGSIDE ANTICHRIST IN SLAUGHTERING THE RIGHTEOUS.
4. SPIRITUAL WARFARE
THEY CLAIM:
that the manchild company have to cleanse the heavens - they have to be raised spiritually so they can war with the evil heavenly powers and cast them out, so they can take their place and rule over the earth territorially. All this teaching about territorial spirits is leading to that moment, which they call the war in heaven (Rev 12:7)
WE KNOW:
that the war in heaven is not conducted by the saints, but by the Archangel Michael and his angelic hosts. And the result is that satan and his fallen angels are cast out onto the earth to create havok there - Notice also they say the spiritual elite, the manchild company will be transformed into spiritual beings with resurrection bodies. So I do wonder if some of these people will so open themselves to the demonic before the end that the fallen angels actually possess them, as in the days of Noah - and you will have spirit beings walking the earth again.
THUS THEY WILL HELP IN THE SET UP OF THE SATANIC KINGDOM AND ACTUALLY PLAY HOST TO THE DEMONS.
CONCLUSION
My intention in writing these articles is not to criticise individuals associated with Toronto or the false revival - for they answer to God. Nor do I intend to tar everyone with the same brush, for many people get involved because they have a zeal for God - they want to see the world and the church changed and improved. They have no idea where these teachings are coming from. (Yet they fail to respond when they are told it is not biblical.
)We do have a responsibility to alert believers to the true nature of these teachings. If God chooses to reveal to us the roots of heresy and the possible outcome of deception, we have the task of exposing these things in order to SAVE PEOPLE FROM A HORRIBLE FATE.
If you saw a kitten about to stumble blindly across a busy main road, would you stand by and do nothing, telling people that it would be unloving to scare the kitten into fleeing to safety? Or would you turn aside, hoping somebody else would go to its rescue? If you would have compassion on a kitten in danger, how much more so should we seek to "rescue the perishing" - in this case, those who are at risk of perishing from the antichrist deception now running rampant in the Church and world.
All who love the truth have a responsibility to denounce these teachings and to avoid all those who teach them - even part of them.
A Little Leaven Leavens the Lump
Once you accept part of the teaching, the rest becomes necessary and inevitable. If this is an antichrist doctrine, it is the doctrine of demons and we should have nothing to do with it. We MUST remain true to the light of scripture - to the basics:
* SALVATION BY FAITH
* THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS ON THE CROSS FOR OUR REDEMPTION
* INDIVIDUAL CONVERSION AND SALVATION
* THE GREAT COMMISSION TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY MAN
* THE EVENTS OF THE END - THE APOSTASY, THE TRIBULATION THE RAPTURE, HEAVEN AS A LOCATION, HELL AS JUDGEMENT FOR THE WICKED
* THE KINGDOM AS THE LITERAL RETURN OF JESUS TO ESTABLISH RIGHTEOUSNESS;
* THE ROLE OF ISRAEL AS A NATION
* THE MILLENNIAL RULE OF CHRIST, NOT THE CHURCH
* THE CHURCH AS THE BODY OF CHRIST, ALREADY UNITED, ONE WITH CHRIST, TO WITNESS, TO ENDURE AND IF NECESSARY TO SUFFER AND DIE - ALWAYS HATED AND REJECTED AND ULTIMATELY TRIUMPHANT IN HER ALLEGIANCE TO CHRIST.
* THE CHRISTIAN HOPE IS THE RETURN OF JESUS PERSONALLY IN GLORY AND OUR INHERITANCE IN HIM ALONE.
We must continue to preach the great truths of the Bible, undeterred, believing that God is with us and will support, inspire and help us - and protect us. He will honour his word, honour those who hold to his word.
We must call on anyone involved in these teachings to abandon them and repent of them.
We must remain open, patient, kind, helpful and forgiving - not become hateful, proud and elitist.
We must remember that we can all be deceived - by all means save some; if they will not hear you, move on.
2 Tim 4:2 I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word, be instant in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine - for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."
http://www.intotruth.org/res/newthing.html
August 24, 2008
August 23, 2008
Spiritual Survival for a Church in Crisis
Discernment
By John MacArthur
"In the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power." 2 Tim. 3:1-5
"There will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words." 2 Pet. 2:1-3
"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" 1 Peter 1:14-16
Today's church is like the religious leaders of Jesus' day, who could tell the difference between superficial things like pleasant and stormy weather, but not between truth and error (Matt. 16:1-3). So many churches have relinquished biblical ethics and doctrine, a deep reverence and worship of God, repentance over sin, humility toward God and fellow believers, and a profound understanding of God's character and work. All that has resulted in a low-level commitment to holy living.
In contrast, God calls all true believers to pursue perfect conformity to the absolute, holy standard of His Word....If you're going to live a holy life that pleases the Lord, it's essential that you be spiritually discerning.
What Is Spiritual Discernment?
Spiritual discernment is the skill of separating divine truth from error. First Thessalonians 5:21 says we are to "examine everything carefully." That speaks of testing something to reveal its genuineness. We as believers are to evaluate everything we come in contact with to distinguish what is true and false, good and bad, or right and wrong. That can be a difficult task. Why? First, we are constantly fighting the sinful desires of our fallen flesh. Second, we face satanic deception. The devil is doing everything he can to confound and confuse us. Third, we are inundated with worldly influences that seek to overpower us.
Opposing the world, the flesh, and the devil requires us to "hold fast to that which is good" (v. 21). We are to embrace wholeheartedly what is inherently genuine and true. We are also to "abstain from every form of evil" (v. 22). That means we are to separate ourselves from every form of perversion as though we were avoiding a deadly plague or poison. One pastor correctly wrote,
"The worst forms of wickedness consist of perversions of the truth, of spiritual lies, although today many look upon these forms with indifference and regard them rather harmless" (R.C. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus and to Philemon [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1961], p. 363).
Many in today's church are indifferent about separating divine truth from error because they lack spiritual discernment.
Why Is There a Lack of Spiritual Discernment?
● Weak Doctrine.... a shallow knowledge of God's Word because the church has yielded the trade and skill of understanding it to people who are ill-equipped to do so.... Because experience and emotion have been elevated above divine revelation, many who call themselves Christians have no biblical basis for doing so....
Some say that doctrine divides. That's true! If you set aside biblical truth and remain silent for fear of offending people, opposition will disappear, but so will some other things like truth, holiness, and God Himself. [Jude 1:3-4]
● Relativistic Thinking.... Much of today's church has a continuum mindset, a continuum being that which has no discernable division into parts. Rather than seeing things as black and white--as right and wrong or true and false--it prefers to see things in infinite shades of gray....
"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night" (Ps. 1:1-2).
● Worldly Methodology.... the church's preoccupation with image and influence as the key to evangelization.
Since today's church believes it must win the lost to Christ by winning their favor, it no longer teaches the biblical doctrines of sin, hell, repentance, or the cross because those would offend the lost or make them feel uncomfortable. Instead it markets itself as a benevolent, non-threatening agency whose primary goal is to achieve prestige, popularity, and intellectual acceptance among the lost. Its premise is, "If they like us, they'll like our Jesus."....
Martyn Lloyd-Jones "saw that the elements of warning and of opposition to error were essential parts of any true commitment to the Bible... Accordingly he expected no approval from those who accepted the prevailing attitude which put 'love' first and treated arguments over doctrine as unchristian...." (The Fight of Faith, p. 650).... True believers are an offense to those who reject the truth. ...[John 15:18-20; Hebrews 10:33]
● Inaccurate Interpretation... indifferent toward God's Word. Some teachers in the church are not trained to study God's Word and end up with a wrong theology. Some are trained, but opt to tell stories or mix man-made ideas with biblical truth.... Still others arrive at what they believe is truth by some mystical intuition, experience, or emotion....
● Lax Discipline... because of the failure to carry out church discipline.... (Matt. 18:15-17)....The church should be sending a message to the lost that says, "We are a holy people."
● Spiritual Immaturity. Many in the church have only a shallow knowledge of God's Word, trust in personal experiences or feelings as truth, or chase personal comfort and success as a way of life...[Ephesians 4:14-15; Hebrews 5:12-14]
How Can I Be Spiritually Discerning?
● Desire It. ...Proverbs 2:2-5 says, "Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord, and discover the knowledge of God." Are you willing to follow the path that leads to spiritual discernment?
● Pray for It.... balance your desire for spiritual discernment by depending on the Lord for it through prayer. ...James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."
● Learn from Others.... 1 John 4:1 says, "Test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world."... It's not a matter of praying in the evening, "Lord, give me discernment," and then waking up the next morning and having it. Spiritual maturity is the result of being nourished by God's Word. ...
Depend on the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the true Discerner who will lead you into all truth (John 16:13). He perfectly knows the mind of God: "The thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural [lost] man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:11-16).
Allow the Holy Spirit to control your life by confessing and forsaking sin and living a pure, holy life. Galatians 5:16 says, "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." As you are obedient to that, He will make you a discerning believer.
Study God's Word
Spiritual discernment flourishes in an environment of intense, faithful Bible study. You will not be spiritually discerning--even though you desire it, pray for it, learn from the gifted and mature, and depend on the Holy Spirit --unless you diligently study His Word. Only there will you find the principles and truths to discern between truth and error. In Acts 17, for example, the Jewish people of Berea received Paul's preaching eagerly, and then tested his gospel message by comparing it to the teachings of the Old Testament. As a result many became believers.
In Acts 20 Paul warned the church leaders at Ephesus about false teachers who would try to infiltrate and devastate the church. His concluding word to them was this: "I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified" (v. 32). Paul knew that their careful study of God's Word was essential for protecting the church from error.
Second Timothy 2:15 says, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth." The laborer who gives maximum effort to the quality of his work will not be ashamed because of any faulty workmanship. That means the believer is to present God's Word accurately to others in contrast to those "wrangle about words" or engage in "worldly and empty chatter" (vv. 14, 16). By doing so, he will receive God's approval and be counted as one worthy to stand alongside Him. The unashamed believer can say, "Lord, I studied and presented Your Word with integrity."
What about you? How do you study God's Word? In a superficial, careless way, or carefully and thoughtfully? Digging deeply into God's Word requires effort, but remember this: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Conclusion
Spiritual discernment requires desire, prayer, learning from the gifted and mature, dependence on the Holy Spirit, and a diligent study of God's Word. If you follow those steps, you will strengthen your doctrinal convictions, think antithetically, be kept from worldly approaches, be a good interpreter of God's Word, and confront sin. All that will help you mature and bring honor to God!
By John MacArthur
"In the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power." 2 Tim. 3:1-5
"There will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words." 2 Pet. 2:1-3
"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" 1 Peter 1:14-16
Today's church is like the religious leaders of Jesus' day, who could tell the difference between superficial things like pleasant and stormy weather, but not between truth and error (Matt. 16:1-3). So many churches have relinquished biblical ethics and doctrine, a deep reverence and worship of God, repentance over sin, humility toward God and fellow believers, and a profound understanding of God's character and work. All that has resulted in a low-level commitment to holy living.
In contrast, God calls all true believers to pursue perfect conformity to the absolute, holy standard of His Word....If you're going to live a holy life that pleases the Lord, it's essential that you be spiritually discerning.
What Is Spiritual Discernment?
Spiritual discernment is the skill of separating divine truth from error. First Thessalonians 5:21 says we are to "examine everything carefully." That speaks of testing something to reveal its genuineness. We as believers are to evaluate everything we come in contact with to distinguish what is true and false, good and bad, or right and wrong. That can be a difficult task. Why? First, we are constantly fighting the sinful desires of our fallen flesh. Second, we face satanic deception. The devil is doing everything he can to confound and confuse us. Third, we are inundated with worldly influences that seek to overpower us.
Opposing the world, the flesh, and the devil requires us to "hold fast to that which is good" (v. 21). We are to embrace wholeheartedly what is inherently genuine and true. We are also to "abstain from every form of evil" (v. 22). That means we are to separate ourselves from every form of perversion as though we were avoiding a deadly plague or poison. One pastor correctly wrote,
"The worst forms of wickedness consist of perversions of the truth, of spiritual lies, although today many look upon these forms with indifference and regard them rather harmless" (R.C. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus and to Philemon [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1961], p. 363).
Many in today's church are indifferent about separating divine truth from error because they lack spiritual discernment.
Why Is There a Lack of Spiritual Discernment?
● Weak Doctrine.... a shallow knowledge of God's Word because the church has yielded the trade and skill of understanding it to people who are ill-equipped to do so.... Because experience and emotion have been elevated above divine revelation, many who call themselves Christians have no biblical basis for doing so....
Some say that doctrine divides. That's true! If you set aside biblical truth and remain silent for fear of offending people, opposition will disappear, but so will some other things like truth, holiness, and God Himself. [Jude 1:3-4]
● Relativistic Thinking.... Much of today's church has a continuum mindset, a continuum being that which has no discernable division into parts. Rather than seeing things as black and white--as right and wrong or true and false--it prefers to see things in infinite shades of gray....
"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night" (Ps. 1:1-2).
● Worldly Methodology.... the church's preoccupation with image and influence as the key to evangelization.
Since today's church believes it must win the lost to Christ by winning their favor, it no longer teaches the biblical doctrines of sin, hell, repentance, or the cross because those would offend the lost or make them feel uncomfortable. Instead it markets itself as a benevolent, non-threatening agency whose primary goal is to achieve prestige, popularity, and intellectual acceptance among the lost. Its premise is, "If they like us, they'll like our Jesus."....
Martyn Lloyd-Jones "saw that the elements of warning and of opposition to error were essential parts of any true commitment to the Bible... Accordingly he expected no approval from those who accepted the prevailing attitude which put 'love' first and treated arguments over doctrine as unchristian...." (The Fight of Faith, p. 650).... True believers are an offense to those who reject the truth. ...[John 15:18-20; Hebrews 10:33]
● Inaccurate Interpretation... indifferent toward God's Word. Some teachers in the church are not trained to study God's Word and end up with a wrong theology. Some are trained, but opt to tell stories or mix man-made ideas with biblical truth.... Still others arrive at what they believe is truth by some mystical intuition, experience, or emotion....
● Lax Discipline... because of the failure to carry out church discipline.... (Matt. 18:15-17)....The church should be sending a message to the lost that says, "We are a holy people."
● Spiritual Immaturity. Many in the church have only a shallow knowledge of God's Word, trust in personal experiences or feelings as truth, or chase personal comfort and success as a way of life...[Ephesians 4:14-15; Hebrews 5:12-14]
How Can I Be Spiritually Discerning?
● Desire It. ...Proverbs 2:2-5 says, "Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord, and discover the knowledge of God." Are you willing to follow the path that leads to spiritual discernment?
● Pray for It.... balance your desire for spiritual discernment by depending on the Lord for it through prayer. ...James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."
● Learn from Others.... 1 John 4:1 says, "Test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world."... It's not a matter of praying in the evening, "Lord, give me discernment," and then waking up the next morning and having it. Spiritual maturity is the result of being nourished by God's Word. ...
Depend on the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the true Discerner who will lead you into all truth (John 16:13). He perfectly knows the mind of God: "The thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural [lost] man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:11-16).
Allow the Holy Spirit to control your life by confessing and forsaking sin and living a pure, holy life. Galatians 5:16 says, "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." As you are obedient to that, He will make you a discerning believer.
Study God's Word
Spiritual discernment flourishes in an environment of intense, faithful Bible study. You will not be spiritually discerning--even though you desire it, pray for it, learn from the gifted and mature, and depend on the Holy Spirit --unless you diligently study His Word. Only there will you find the principles and truths to discern between truth and error. In Acts 17, for example, the Jewish people of Berea received Paul's preaching eagerly, and then tested his gospel message by comparing it to the teachings of the Old Testament. As a result many became believers.
In Acts 20 Paul warned the church leaders at Ephesus about false teachers who would try to infiltrate and devastate the church. His concluding word to them was this: "I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified" (v. 32). Paul knew that their careful study of God's Word was essential for protecting the church from error.
Second Timothy 2:15 says, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth." The laborer who gives maximum effort to the quality of his work will not be ashamed because of any faulty workmanship. That means the believer is to present God's Word accurately to others in contrast to those "wrangle about words" or engage in "worldly and empty chatter" (vv. 14, 16). By doing so, he will receive God's approval and be counted as one worthy to stand alongside Him. The unashamed believer can say, "Lord, I studied and presented Your Word with integrity."
What about you? How do you study God's Word? In a superficial, careless way, or carefully and thoughtfully? Digging deeply into God's Word requires effort, but remember this: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Conclusion
Spiritual discernment requires desire, prayer, learning from the gifted and mature, dependence on the Holy Spirit, and a diligent study of God's Word. If you follow those steps, you will strengthen your doctrinal convictions, think antithetically, be kept from worldly approaches, be a good interpreter of God's Word, and confront sin. All that will help you mature and bring honor to God!
August 20, 2008
Don't be Deceived!
Angels, Deception and a Cry for Biblical Truth
Weird teachings about angels have become the norm in some charismatic circles today. It’s time to demand sanity on the subject.
At a growing Brazilian church in Boston, a pastor told his congregation he was having regular conversations with an angel. Weeks later he set a chair on the stage for the heavenly visitor, whom he said was attending Sunday services even though no one could see him. The pastor eventually wrote a book containing messages he had supposedly received from the angel. The man’s teachings became so bizarre that he was eventually removed from his denomination for promoting heresy.
That scenario may seem extreme, but it is one example of widespread emphasis on angels and angelic encounters in the charismatic movement today. In the case of the Brazilian church, the pastor went off the theological deep end and his church became a cult. It remains to be seen what will happen in other sectors of our movement as leaders promote teachings about angels that range from the mildly weird to downright wacky:
“It remains to be seen what will happen in other sectors of our movement as leaders promote teachings about angels that range from the mildly weird to downright wacky.”
* Evangelist Todd Bentley, leader of the Lakeland Revival, stirred up interest in angels when he wrote about Emma, a female angel he said wears a long white dress, floats above the floor and resembles Kathryn Kuhlman.
* A young evangelist who was preaching in Canada last spring held up a jar with a feather in it and told the congregation it belonged to an angel who visits him. He said the angel was coming to the service to release riches and healing to those who wanted prayer.
* Leaders of the prophetic movement often speak of angels that bring healing, wealth or special anointings. Some have described angels as tall as skyscrapers while others say they have seen tiny angels the size of insects. One prophet spoke of angels who are sleeping inside the walls of churches. Another segment of believers claim that the glowing circles of light that often show up on photographs are angels in the form of “orbs.”
With such exotic teachings on the rise, we desperately need some biblical guidelines. If you believe everything you hear these days, angels can be huge, tiny, spherical, male, female, feathered or non-feathered. What’s next? Yipping dog angels? Mermaid angels with fins? Court jester angels with bells on their hats?
Since my earliest days in the charismatic movement I was always taught that the Bible is our guidebook for doctrine and practice, and that the early church's experience in the Book of Acts should be a pattern for us. This would direct us to assume that if a spiritual experience is not in the Bible, then it should not be considered normative for us today.
When I look at what the New Testament teaches us about angels, and specifically what the book of Acts shows us about them, here’s what I find:
* Angels who looked like men told the early disciples that Jesus would return one day (see Acts 1:11)
* Angels are actively working behind the scenes to minister to the saints, especially to offer protection (see Acts 12:7-11)
* In one case an angel directed Philip where to preach (see Acts 8:26)
* Angels sometimes appeared in visions to give instructions, as one did for Cornelius (see Acts 10:3,7,22)
* An angel came to Paul to strengthen him and to assure him that he would preach to Caesar (see Acts 27:23-24).
If we look at Paul’s epistles, we find only a few references to angels—and most are actually warnings to the early church about a wrong emphasis on angels:
* Paul warned the Galatians that false angels can bring deception (see Gal. 1:8)
* Paul warned the Corinthians about "angels of light" that are messengers of Satan (see 2 Cor. 11:14)
* Paul warned the Colossians about misguided people who worship angels and deceive people with their emphasis on mystical experiences that are rooted in their hyperinflated egos (see Col. 2:18).
The book of Hebrews was written to a group of Christians who were considering going back to Old Covenant worship. In the first chapter the author makes it clear that angels have a lower place in God's economy when compared to Jesus Christ.
Many Bible scholars believe the readers of this epistle were being tempted to go back to an Old Covenant paradigm in which angels played a more significant role. The author of Hebrews warns these believers to focus their attention instead on the Son of God, who is more glorious than angels. We can make some basic assumptions about angels in the New Covenant era:
1. Angels help the church fulfill its mission, and they protect and guide the saints. Every one of us has probably experienced the activity of angels in our lives—often without knowing it because they are usually invisible.
2. Angels sometimes intervene with directive messages. But there is no case in the New Testament church in which an angel gave his name or brought attention to himself.
3. Angels don’t teach or explain doctrine. In our movement today, some leaders have suggested that certain angels (such as “Winds of Change”) have arrived to usher in new movements. Emma has been described as a "nurturing angel" who brings a prophetic movement. But nowhere does the Bible suggest that angels bring moves of God. Jesus commissioned the church to advance the kingdom by preaching the gospel. Angels know this and they are expecting us to do our job.
4. Angels don’t bring healing. The New Testament church was commissioned to bring healing “through the name of Jesus,” and Jesus was always the focus for anyone who was healed miraculously. The story of the Pool of Siloam falls under the Old Covenant system, since this phenomenon occurred before the ministry of Jesus. And when Jesus came to that pool He proved to be a better solution to those who waited for the stirring of the waters.
5. Angels look like people, and in every case in Scripture they appeared to be male. However, in some cases their appearance was frightening because they carry with them the glory of heaven and the fear of God.
6. False angels preach a different gospel. One of the devil's strategies is to send counterfeit angelic messengers who bring teaching that is contrary to biblical truth.
There are many flaky, weird and foolish concepts being circulated in our movement today that must be corrected. If we don't hold tightly to Scripture, we might unknowingly give birth to a cult that could bring great damage and division to churches worldwide. It’s time to get back to the Bible!
J. Lee Grady
Weird teachings about angels have become the norm in some charismatic circles today. It’s time to demand sanity on the subject.
At a growing Brazilian church in Boston, a pastor told his congregation he was having regular conversations with an angel. Weeks later he set a chair on the stage for the heavenly visitor, whom he said was attending Sunday services even though no one could see him. The pastor eventually wrote a book containing messages he had supposedly received from the angel. The man’s teachings became so bizarre that he was eventually removed from his denomination for promoting heresy.
That scenario may seem extreme, but it is one example of widespread emphasis on angels and angelic encounters in the charismatic movement today. In the case of the Brazilian church, the pastor went off the theological deep end and his church became a cult. It remains to be seen what will happen in other sectors of our movement as leaders promote teachings about angels that range from the mildly weird to downright wacky:
“It remains to be seen what will happen in other sectors of our movement as leaders promote teachings about angels that range from the mildly weird to downright wacky.”
* Evangelist Todd Bentley, leader of the Lakeland Revival, stirred up interest in angels when he wrote about Emma, a female angel he said wears a long white dress, floats above the floor and resembles Kathryn Kuhlman.
* A young evangelist who was preaching in Canada last spring held up a jar with a feather in it and told the congregation it belonged to an angel who visits him. He said the angel was coming to the service to release riches and healing to those who wanted prayer.
* Leaders of the prophetic movement often speak of angels that bring healing, wealth or special anointings. Some have described angels as tall as skyscrapers while others say they have seen tiny angels the size of insects. One prophet spoke of angels who are sleeping inside the walls of churches. Another segment of believers claim that the glowing circles of light that often show up on photographs are angels in the form of “orbs.”
With such exotic teachings on the rise, we desperately need some biblical guidelines. If you believe everything you hear these days, angels can be huge, tiny, spherical, male, female, feathered or non-feathered. What’s next? Yipping dog angels? Mermaid angels with fins? Court jester angels with bells on their hats?
Since my earliest days in the charismatic movement I was always taught that the Bible is our guidebook for doctrine and practice, and that the early church's experience in the Book of Acts should be a pattern for us. This would direct us to assume that if a spiritual experience is not in the Bible, then it should not be considered normative for us today.
When I look at what the New Testament teaches us about angels, and specifically what the book of Acts shows us about them, here’s what I find:
* Angels who looked like men told the early disciples that Jesus would return one day (see Acts 1:11)
* Angels are actively working behind the scenes to minister to the saints, especially to offer protection (see Acts 12:7-11)
* In one case an angel directed Philip where to preach (see Acts 8:26)
* Angels sometimes appeared in visions to give instructions, as one did for Cornelius (see Acts 10:3,7,22)
* An angel came to Paul to strengthen him and to assure him that he would preach to Caesar (see Acts 27:23-24).
If we look at Paul’s epistles, we find only a few references to angels—and most are actually warnings to the early church about a wrong emphasis on angels:
* Paul warned the Galatians that false angels can bring deception (see Gal. 1:8)
* Paul warned the Corinthians about "angels of light" that are messengers of Satan (see 2 Cor. 11:14)
* Paul warned the Colossians about misguided people who worship angels and deceive people with their emphasis on mystical experiences that are rooted in their hyperinflated egos (see Col. 2:18).
The book of Hebrews was written to a group of Christians who were considering going back to Old Covenant worship. In the first chapter the author makes it clear that angels have a lower place in God's economy when compared to Jesus Christ.
Many Bible scholars believe the readers of this epistle were being tempted to go back to an Old Covenant paradigm in which angels played a more significant role. The author of Hebrews warns these believers to focus their attention instead on the Son of God, who is more glorious than angels. We can make some basic assumptions about angels in the New Covenant era:
1. Angels help the church fulfill its mission, and they protect and guide the saints. Every one of us has probably experienced the activity of angels in our lives—often without knowing it because they are usually invisible.
2. Angels sometimes intervene with directive messages. But there is no case in the New Testament church in which an angel gave his name or brought attention to himself.
3. Angels don’t teach or explain doctrine. In our movement today, some leaders have suggested that certain angels (such as “Winds of Change”) have arrived to usher in new movements. Emma has been described as a "nurturing angel" who brings a prophetic movement. But nowhere does the Bible suggest that angels bring moves of God. Jesus commissioned the church to advance the kingdom by preaching the gospel. Angels know this and they are expecting us to do our job.
4. Angels don’t bring healing. The New Testament church was commissioned to bring healing “through the name of Jesus,” and Jesus was always the focus for anyone who was healed miraculously. The story of the Pool of Siloam falls under the Old Covenant system, since this phenomenon occurred before the ministry of Jesus. And when Jesus came to that pool He proved to be a better solution to those who waited for the stirring of the waters.
5. Angels look like people, and in every case in Scripture they appeared to be male. However, in some cases their appearance was frightening because they carry with them the glory of heaven and the fear of God.
6. False angels preach a different gospel. One of the devil's strategies is to send counterfeit angelic messengers who bring teaching that is contrary to biblical truth.
There are many flaky, weird and foolish concepts being circulated in our movement today that must be corrected. If we don't hold tightly to Scripture, we might unknowingly give birth to a cult that could bring great damage and division to churches worldwide. It’s time to get back to the Bible!
J. Lee Grady
August 19, 2008
Key Biblical Principals to Recognize False Teachers
Beware of False Teachers
According to the New Testament, the outstanding characteristic of a false teacher is his underrating the necessity of holiness, which is reflected by his teaching and personal life. Numerous scriptures bear this out. For example, consider what Jesus taught about false prophets in His Sermon on the Mount:
Beware of the false prophets [or anyone claiming to speak God’s word], who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:15-23).
Jesus said that false prophets can be known by their fruits, which, within the context of the Sermon on the Mount, are obviously fruits of holiness and obedience. Jesus said that only those who do the will of His Father “will enter the kingdom of heaven” (7:21). They may have prophesied, cast out demons and worked miracles, but if they practiced lawlessness, He will declare that He never knew them (7:23).
A Foreign Grace
It is not only the fruit of people’s deeds that mark them as false teachers, but also the fruit of their words. If they teach what is contrary to essential New Testament doctrine, they are false teachers.
Of course, no teacher in the church is going to stand up and declare that he is teaching what is contrary to the New Testament. Rather, he will neglect certain important scriptures and twist others to persuade his constituency that he is teaching the truth. This is being done today by many very popular and influential teachers who teach about a grace that is foreign to the Bible. The grace they proclaim is not the true grace that leads to holiness, of which Paul, a true grace teacher, wrote:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age (Titus 2:11-12, emphasis added).
Rather, it is the false grace that Jude warned about, a grace that has been radically modified into a license to sin:
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (Jude 3-4, emphasis added).
How is it possible that people who denied the only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ, could have “crept in unnoticed”? The answer is that they were not standing in front of congregations declaring, “I deny Jesus Christ.” Rather, they were denying Jesus Christ through their false teaching about grace, turning it into licentiousness.
Their message could be summarized as follows: “Isn’t God’s grace wonderful? Because our salvation stems from His grace and not from our meritorious works, holiness is not essential for salvation. Because of God’s wonderful grace, adulterers and fornicators who believe in Jesus are saved.”
Forget the scripture that says without holiness, no one will see the Lord (see Heb. 12:14).
Never mind that Jesus taught that we will not enter the kingdom of heaven unless our righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, and that it is only those who do the will of God who will enter the kingdom of heaven (see Matt. 5:20; 7:21).
Don’t be concerned that He told us to strive to enter by the narrow gate, the only gate to life, and that His true brothers are those who “hear the word of God and do it” (see Matt. 7:13-14; Luke 8:21).
Ignore the fact that James taught that faith without works is dead and cannot save us (see Jas. 2:14, 17).
Pay no attention to Paul’s warnings that those who practice the works of the flesh will not inherit God’s kingdom (see Gal. 5:20-21).
Close your eyes to John’s first epistle, all about the identifying marks of true Christians. And ignore the scores of other scriptures in the New Testament that emphasize these same truths.
“No, we are not like the legalists who emphasize works so much. We have discovered the truth about God’s grace.”
Denying the Master
These false teachers literally deny (notice the titles Jude used) the “only Master and Lord” (Jude 4; emphasis added). Because obedience is, in their minds, optional for those on the way to heaven, Jesus need not be one’s Master and Lord. Thus they deny that He is who He is by their teaching and lifestyles.
To the undiscerning, the slogans of the false grace teachers sound scriptural, taken from Paul’s own writings (and ripped from their biblical context): “We’re not under law, but grace!” “Praise God for the liberty we have in Christ!” And, “Even if we are faithless, He remains faithful!” Their twisting of Paul’s words is as old as Paul’s letters. To them and their predecessors, Peter warns:
And regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction (2 Pet. 3:15-16, emphasis added).
Peter had more to say about those who distort Scripture to their own destruction. The entire second chapter of his second epistle warns about the “destructive heresies” that false teachers will “secretly introduce...even denying the Master who bought them” (2 Pet. 2:1).
Again, how could any doctrine that denies the Master be secretly introduced? Obviously, these false teachers were not publicly proclaiming, “We deny the Master!” No, they were denying the Master by denying the Master’s role. They were downplaying the necessity of obedience. Peter wrote that they led people to “follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned” (2:2). These false teachers maintained that one could practice sensuality and be saved. Indulging in the desires of the flesh was perfectly acceptable, even encouraged; thus “the way of the truth” was maligned.
Refuting such grievous error, Peter cited historical examples of God’s dealings with the godly and the ungodly. His point is unmistakable: The holy are saved, the unholy are condemned.
Holiness is essential
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned [unholy], but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world [unholy], but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness [holy], with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah [unholy] to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot [holy], oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men [unholy] (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly [holy] from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous [unholy] under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority... (2 Pet. 2:4-10, emphasis added).
Agreeing wholeheartedly with Paul, in no uncertain terms, Peter labels those who “indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires” as “unrighteous.” They are heading for hell, whether they claim to be Christians or not.
These false teachers have even lured true believers from the path of holiness; thus they are defiled once again, returning to a spiritual condition that is even worse than before they were first saved:
For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire” (2 Pet. 2:18-22).
We gain a better idea of the message of the false teachers from this passage. Peter wrote that they enticed “by fleshly desires, by sensuality,” and promised a freedom that actually resulted in slavery to sin. Their message sounded so much like the messages of the modern false grace teachers who have redefined holiness as being legalism and obedience as “trusting in works.” “Enjoy the freedom you have in Christ” they proclaim. “Don’t listen to these grace-killers with their lists of dos and don’ts.”
The result is that even true believers are deceived, turn from the narrow path, and begin heading down the broad road to destruction. Thinking that they’ve discovered the grace that Jesus offers and Paul preached, they ignore Jesus’ list of dos and don’ts in the Sermon on the Mount and Paul’s lists of exclusionary sins throughout his epistles.
Note that the believers Peter wrote about had “escaped,” although just barely, from those who “live in error” (2:18 ) that is, the unsaved. He said the same thing again in the next sentence, declaring that they had “escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2:20). Make no mistake about this. These were not people who were considering becoming Christians. Neither were they false believers. They were people who had been born again and had been living differently than prior to their salvation.
But they were deceived by false teaching that downplayed the importance of holiness and emphasized a false grace. Consequently, they were once again, “entangled” in the “defilements of the world” and “overcome” (2:20). Now their “last state” had “become worse for them than the first” (2:20). Previously they had “known the way of righteousness,” but now they had turned away from “the holy commandment” (2:21, emphasis added).
Sadly, so many professing Christians today have never “known the way of righteousness,” because they heard a false gospel from the start. They’ve been enjoying their slavery to sin all of their “Christian” lives, thinking they’ve been enjoying the liberty of God’s wonderful grace. In this respect they are different from those about whom Peter wrote. They are not pigs who have returned to the mire after washing; they are pigs who have never left the mire.
“Tickle Our Ears, Please!”
As in Paul’s day, many today flock to listen to false grace teachers who will tell them what they want to hear, just as Paul predicted:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
Clearly, the time which Paul said will come has arrived. People naturally love to hear the message of God’s wonderful love and grace, how their sin has been dealt with by Jesus, how salvation is a free gift, and how it is received by faith and not earned by works, all of which are true. But this is where God’s grace begins to be modified.
Today we are told that repentance is only a change of mind that may result in no change of actions. People can believe in Jesus and continue practicing sin. They can be born again and never give any outward indication of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling. Christians can be adulterers and fornicators, and we certainly don’t want to judge them because we don’t know their hearts. Those who maintain that heaven is only for the holy are legalists. Faith without works can save. Those who don’t do God’s will are still heaven-bound as long as they’ve made a verbal profession of faith in Christ. If a person has faith for one minute of his life, he is eternally secure, regardless of whether he abandons his faith, becomes an atheist, and returns to a life of immorality. Many true Christians are indistinguishable from non-Christians, placed in a special category of believers called “carnal Christians.”
These and many lies like them are being propagated to millions of unsuspecting people. Consider the following quotations from some of the most popular teachers in the church today, people whose names are household words in modern Christian circles:
Shortly after that campaign was held, the evangelist that led him to Christ defected from the faith. His family was broken apart. He wandered across the United States like an animal, finally died a drunkard in the gutter of South Chicago....If you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are still a child of God. You may deny Him, but He will never deny you.
Is this true? Jesus said, “But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:33). Additionally, Paul wrote that no drunkard will inherit God’s kingdom (see 1 Cor. 6:9-10).
We are saved because at a moment in time we expressed faith in our enduring Lord....Even if a believer for all practical purposes becomes an unbeliever, his salvation is not in jeopardy.
Are we eternally secure in our salvation if we believe for just “a moment in time”? Is that what Jesus meant for us to believe when He said, “He who has believed...shall be saved” (Mark 16:16)? If so, then we must also conclude that if we disbelieve for a moment in time, then our damnation is eternally sealed, because Jesus went on to say, “He who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
This same popular grace teacher, desperate to mold Scripture to accommodate his theology, has actually turned hell into heaven:
Where is this place represented by the “outer darkness” in Jesus’ parables? To be in the “outer darkness” is to be in the kingdom of God but outside the circle of men and women whose faithfulness on this earth earned them a special rank or position of authority.
The “outer darkness” represents not so much an actual place as it does a sphere of influence and privilege. It is not a geographical area in the kingdom where certain men and women are consigned to stay. It is simply a figure of speech describing their low rank or status in God’s kingdom (emphasis his).
Amazingly, this teacher also wants us to believe that “gnashing of teeth”....“does not symbolize pain as many have thought.” Rather, it is symbolic for the frustration unfaithful believers will feel in heaven when they realize the rewards they could have earned by earthly obedience:
Just as those who are found faithful will rejoice, so those who suffer loss will weep. As some are celebrated for their faithfulness, others will gnash their teeth in frustration over their own short-sightedness and greed.
We do not know how long this time of rejoicing and sorrow will last. Those whose works are burned will not weep and gnash their teeth for eternity.
Is this all true? When Jesus spoke of the “outer darkness,” was He speaking of a place in heaven where unfaithful and greedy Christians will temporarily weep and gnash their teeth out of regret for the rewards they could have earned for themselves? For the obvious answer, see Matt. 8:10-12; 13:24-30, 36-43; 24:42-51; 25:14-30; Luke 13:22-28. And will there be any greedy people in heaven? See 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Eph. 5:3-6.
It is amazing how far some teachers will go to make allowance for Christians to practice grievous sins and still make it into heaven. In reference to Paul’s warning that those who practice the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God, one popular radio preacher says:
Inheriting the kingdom has to deal with the bonuses that you get in the kingdom. It’s not the same as entering the kingdom. So unless you distinguish between inheriting and entering, you’ll think you’re not gonna get in the kingdom because of these problems [notice he doesn’t even call them sins]. But you can lose benefits from the kingdom because of them.
Is this true? Compare 1 Cor. 6:9-10 with 1 Cor. 15:50-54 and Jesus’ words in Matt. 25:34-41.
While Jesus and Paul both stated that adulterers and fornicators will not gain heaven, one very influential television minister says:
But Christians may still lose rewards in heaven. Indeed, we can only wonder what some Christians will feel like and experience on that day when they lose those heavenly rewards because of the spiritually numbing and other consequences of fornication or adultery while on earth. It will certainly be an infinitely poor exchange—losing eternal rewards in heaven for a few fleeting moments of sexual pleasure on earth (emphasis added).
Another long-standing radio minister is asked by a listener:
Q. I thought that I was born again when I was fifteen years old. I felt happy and secure in Christ. But over time, sin surely crept in, and I went the downward path. Three marriages, adultery, drinking. Was I born again?
A. The very fact that you were disturbed indicates to me that when you say you were born again at fifteen, you are accurate.
Is the test of authentic salvation a person’s guilt? See Romans 2:14-15 for the answer. Are adulterers and drunkards saved? I think you know the answer to that by now.
Why Doesn’t God Stop False Prophets and Teachers?
Under the old covenant, there were also false prophets who arose to mislead God’s people. They, too, could be known by their fruits. Their lives and lips gave testimony of their inward impurity, and as they downplayed the necessity of holiness, they led people away from whole-hearted obedience to the Lord.
We might ask why God doesn’t just stop every false prophet and teacher, or at least somehow silence them when they make unbiblical assertions that turn God’s grace into licentiousness. Perhaps the answer is found in the word of God through one of His true prophets, Moses:
If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you (Deut. 13:1-5, emphasis added).
Could it be that God actually allows false teachers to propagate their false teachings as a means of testing us? What does it say about us when we are attracted to teaching that makes us feel good about our sin and even leads us away from the paths of righteousness? A sobering thought indeed.
What shall the discerning do? Under the old covenant, the discerning were commanded to purge from their midst those who attempted to seduce them “from the way in which the Lord [their] God commanded [them] to walk.” Death was the penalty.
The church, of course, does not have the right of capital punishment, but this does not mean that false teachers should be tolerated by us in the least. They should, at minimum, be lovingly confronted and corrected, in case they might be guilty of error only because of biblical ignorance. Many only parrot what they’ve learned from reading someone’s book. Those who will not cease propagating their heresies should be exposed and not supported in any way so that their “ministries” die (see 3 John 1:9-10). Few would survive long if people stopped giving them money and buying their books and tapes.
You can be certain, however, that no matter what we do, there will be false teachers right up until the end, because the Bible predicts it (see 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:13; 4:3-4). Paul succinctly describes them in a warning to the Roman Christians as being men who are not slaves of “our Lord Jesus Christ,” which marks them as being unsaved. Let us beware.
Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. (Rom. 16:17-18, emphasis added).
http://www.shepherdserve.org/ggd/ggd_10.htm
According to the New Testament, the outstanding characteristic of a false teacher is his underrating the necessity of holiness, which is reflected by his teaching and personal life. Numerous scriptures bear this out. For example, consider what Jesus taught about false prophets in His Sermon on the Mount:
Beware of the false prophets [or anyone claiming to speak God’s word], who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:15-23).
Jesus said that false prophets can be known by their fruits, which, within the context of the Sermon on the Mount, are obviously fruits of holiness and obedience. Jesus said that only those who do the will of His Father “will enter the kingdom of heaven” (7:21). They may have prophesied, cast out demons and worked miracles, but if they practiced lawlessness, He will declare that He never knew them (7:23).
A Foreign Grace
It is not only the fruit of people’s deeds that mark them as false teachers, but also the fruit of their words. If they teach what is contrary to essential New Testament doctrine, they are false teachers.
Of course, no teacher in the church is going to stand up and declare that he is teaching what is contrary to the New Testament. Rather, he will neglect certain important scriptures and twist others to persuade his constituency that he is teaching the truth. This is being done today by many very popular and influential teachers who teach about a grace that is foreign to the Bible. The grace they proclaim is not the true grace that leads to holiness, of which Paul, a true grace teacher, wrote:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age (Titus 2:11-12, emphasis added).
Rather, it is the false grace that Jude warned about, a grace that has been radically modified into a license to sin:
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (Jude 3-4, emphasis added).
How is it possible that people who denied the only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ, could have “crept in unnoticed”? The answer is that they were not standing in front of congregations declaring, “I deny Jesus Christ.” Rather, they were denying Jesus Christ through their false teaching about grace, turning it into licentiousness.
Their message could be summarized as follows: “Isn’t God’s grace wonderful? Because our salvation stems from His grace and not from our meritorious works, holiness is not essential for salvation. Because of God’s wonderful grace, adulterers and fornicators who believe in Jesus are saved.”
Forget the scripture that says without holiness, no one will see the Lord (see Heb. 12:14).
Never mind that Jesus taught that we will not enter the kingdom of heaven unless our righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, and that it is only those who do the will of God who will enter the kingdom of heaven (see Matt. 5:20; 7:21).
Don’t be concerned that He told us to strive to enter by the narrow gate, the only gate to life, and that His true brothers are those who “hear the word of God and do it” (see Matt. 7:13-14; Luke 8:21).
Ignore the fact that James taught that faith without works is dead and cannot save us (see Jas. 2:14, 17).
Pay no attention to Paul’s warnings that those who practice the works of the flesh will not inherit God’s kingdom (see Gal. 5:20-21).
Close your eyes to John’s first epistle, all about the identifying marks of true Christians. And ignore the scores of other scriptures in the New Testament that emphasize these same truths.
“No, we are not like the legalists who emphasize works so much. We have discovered the truth about God’s grace.”
Denying the Master
These false teachers literally deny (notice the titles Jude used) the “only Master and Lord” (Jude 4; emphasis added). Because obedience is, in their minds, optional for those on the way to heaven, Jesus need not be one’s Master and Lord. Thus they deny that He is who He is by their teaching and lifestyles.
To the undiscerning, the slogans of the false grace teachers sound scriptural, taken from Paul’s own writings (and ripped from their biblical context): “We’re not under law, but grace!” “Praise God for the liberty we have in Christ!” And, “Even if we are faithless, He remains faithful!” Their twisting of Paul’s words is as old as Paul’s letters. To them and their predecessors, Peter warns:
And regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction (2 Pet. 3:15-16, emphasis added).
Peter had more to say about those who distort Scripture to their own destruction. The entire second chapter of his second epistle warns about the “destructive heresies” that false teachers will “secretly introduce...even denying the Master who bought them” (2 Pet. 2:1).
Again, how could any doctrine that denies the Master be secretly introduced? Obviously, these false teachers were not publicly proclaiming, “We deny the Master!” No, they were denying the Master by denying the Master’s role. They were downplaying the necessity of obedience. Peter wrote that they led people to “follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned” (2:2). These false teachers maintained that one could practice sensuality and be saved. Indulging in the desires of the flesh was perfectly acceptable, even encouraged; thus “the way of the truth” was maligned.
Refuting such grievous error, Peter cited historical examples of God’s dealings with the godly and the ungodly. His point is unmistakable: The holy are saved, the unholy are condemned.
Holiness is essential
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned [unholy], but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world [unholy], but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness [holy], with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah [unholy] to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot [holy], oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men [unholy] (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly [holy] from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous [unholy] under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority... (2 Pet. 2:4-10, emphasis added).
Agreeing wholeheartedly with Paul, in no uncertain terms, Peter labels those who “indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires” as “unrighteous.” They are heading for hell, whether they claim to be Christians or not.
These false teachers have even lured true believers from the path of holiness; thus they are defiled once again, returning to a spiritual condition that is even worse than before they were first saved:
For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire” (2 Pet. 2:18-22).
We gain a better idea of the message of the false teachers from this passage. Peter wrote that they enticed “by fleshly desires, by sensuality,” and promised a freedom that actually resulted in slavery to sin. Their message sounded so much like the messages of the modern false grace teachers who have redefined holiness as being legalism and obedience as “trusting in works.” “Enjoy the freedom you have in Christ” they proclaim. “Don’t listen to these grace-killers with their lists of dos and don’ts.”
The result is that even true believers are deceived, turn from the narrow path, and begin heading down the broad road to destruction. Thinking that they’ve discovered the grace that Jesus offers and Paul preached, they ignore Jesus’ list of dos and don’ts in the Sermon on the Mount and Paul’s lists of exclusionary sins throughout his epistles.
Note that the believers Peter wrote about had “escaped,” although just barely, from those who “live in error” (2:18 ) that is, the unsaved. He said the same thing again in the next sentence, declaring that they had “escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2:20). Make no mistake about this. These were not people who were considering becoming Christians. Neither were they false believers. They were people who had been born again and had been living differently than prior to their salvation.
But they were deceived by false teaching that downplayed the importance of holiness and emphasized a false grace. Consequently, they were once again, “entangled” in the “defilements of the world” and “overcome” (2:20). Now their “last state” had “become worse for them than the first” (2:20). Previously they had “known the way of righteousness,” but now they had turned away from “the holy commandment” (2:21, emphasis added).
Sadly, so many professing Christians today have never “known the way of righteousness,” because they heard a false gospel from the start. They’ve been enjoying their slavery to sin all of their “Christian” lives, thinking they’ve been enjoying the liberty of God’s wonderful grace. In this respect they are different from those about whom Peter wrote. They are not pigs who have returned to the mire after washing; they are pigs who have never left the mire.
“Tickle Our Ears, Please!”
As in Paul’s day, many today flock to listen to false grace teachers who will tell them what they want to hear, just as Paul predicted:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
Clearly, the time which Paul said will come has arrived. People naturally love to hear the message of God’s wonderful love and grace, how their sin has been dealt with by Jesus, how salvation is a free gift, and how it is received by faith and not earned by works, all of which are true. But this is where God’s grace begins to be modified.
Today we are told that repentance is only a change of mind that may result in no change of actions. People can believe in Jesus and continue practicing sin. They can be born again and never give any outward indication of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling. Christians can be adulterers and fornicators, and we certainly don’t want to judge them because we don’t know their hearts. Those who maintain that heaven is only for the holy are legalists. Faith without works can save. Those who don’t do God’s will are still heaven-bound as long as they’ve made a verbal profession of faith in Christ. If a person has faith for one minute of his life, he is eternally secure, regardless of whether he abandons his faith, becomes an atheist, and returns to a life of immorality. Many true Christians are indistinguishable from non-Christians, placed in a special category of believers called “carnal Christians.”
These and many lies like them are being propagated to millions of unsuspecting people. Consider the following quotations from some of the most popular teachers in the church today, people whose names are household words in modern Christian circles:
Shortly after that campaign was held, the evangelist that led him to Christ defected from the faith. His family was broken apart. He wandered across the United States like an animal, finally died a drunkard in the gutter of South Chicago....If you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are still a child of God. You may deny Him, but He will never deny you.
Is this true? Jesus said, “But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:33). Additionally, Paul wrote that no drunkard will inherit God’s kingdom (see 1 Cor. 6:9-10).
We are saved because at a moment in time we expressed faith in our enduring Lord....Even if a believer for all practical purposes becomes an unbeliever, his salvation is not in jeopardy.
Are we eternally secure in our salvation if we believe for just “a moment in time”? Is that what Jesus meant for us to believe when He said, “He who has believed...shall be saved” (Mark 16:16)? If so, then we must also conclude that if we disbelieve for a moment in time, then our damnation is eternally sealed, because Jesus went on to say, “He who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
This same popular grace teacher, desperate to mold Scripture to accommodate his theology, has actually turned hell into heaven:
Where is this place represented by the “outer darkness” in Jesus’ parables? To be in the “outer darkness” is to be in the kingdom of God but outside the circle of men and women whose faithfulness on this earth earned them a special rank or position of authority.
The “outer darkness” represents not so much an actual place as it does a sphere of influence and privilege. It is not a geographical area in the kingdom where certain men and women are consigned to stay. It is simply a figure of speech describing their low rank or status in God’s kingdom (emphasis his).
Amazingly, this teacher also wants us to believe that “gnashing of teeth”....“does not symbolize pain as many have thought.” Rather, it is symbolic for the frustration unfaithful believers will feel in heaven when they realize the rewards they could have earned by earthly obedience:
Just as those who are found faithful will rejoice, so those who suffer loss will weep. As some are celebrated for their faithfulness, others will gnash their teeth in frustration over their own short-sightedness and greed.
We do not know how long this time of rejoicing and sorrow will last. Those whose works are burned will not weep and gnash their teeth for eternity.
Is this all true? When Jesus spoke of the “outer darkness,” was He speaking of a place in heaven where unfaithful and greedy Christians will temporarily weep and gnash their teeth out of regret for the rewards they could have earned for themselves? For the obvious answer, see Matt. 8:10-12; 13:24-30, 36-43; 24:42-51; 25:14-30; Luke 13:22-28. And will there be any greedy people in heaven? See 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Eph. 5:3-6.
It is amazing how far some teachers will go to make allowance for Christians to practice grievous sins and still make it into heaven. In reference to Paul’s warning that those who practice the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God, one popular radio preacher says:
Inheriting the kingdom has to deal with the bonuses that you get in the kingdom. It’s not the same as entering the kingdom. So unless you distinguish between inheriting and entering, you’ll think you’re not gonna get in the kingdom because of these problems [notice he doesn’t even call them sins]. But you can lose benefits from the kingdom because of them.
Is this true? Compare 1 Cor. 6:9-10 with 1 Cor. 15:50-54 and Jesus’ words in Matt. 25:34-41.
While Jesus and Paul both stated that adulterers and fornicators will not gain heaven, one very influential television minister says:
But Christians may still lose rewards in heaven. Indeed, we can only wonder what some Christians will feel like and experience on that day when they lose those heavenly rewards because of the spiritually numbing and other consequences of fornication or adultery while on earth. It will certainly be an infinitely poor exchange—losing eternal rewards in heaven for a few fleeting moments of sexual pleasure on earth (emphasis added).
Another long-standing radio minister is asked by a listener:
Q. I thought that I was born again when I was fifteen years old. I felt happy and secure in Christ. But over time, sin surely crept in, and I went the downward path. Three marriages, adultery, drinking. Was I born again?
A. The very fact that you were disturbed indicates to me that when you say you were born again at fifteen, you are accurate.
Is the test of authentic salvation a person’s guilt? See Romans 2:14-15 for the answer. Are adulterers and drunkards saved? I think you know the answer to that by now.
Why Doesn’t God Stop False Prophets and Teachers?
Under the old covenant, there were also false prophets who arose to mislead God’s people. They, too, could be known by their fruits. Their lives and lips gave testimony of their inward impurity, and as they downplayed the necessity of holiness, they led people away from whole-hearted obedience to the Lord.
We might ask why God doesn’t just stop every false prophet and teacher, or at least somehow silence them when they make unbiblical assertions that turn God’s grace into licentiousness. Perhaps the answer is found in the word of God through one of His true prophets, Moses:
If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you (Deut. 13:1-5, emphasis added).
Could it be that God actually allows false teachers to propagate their false teachings as a means of testing us? What does it say about us when we are attracted to teaching that makes us feel good about our sin and even leads us away from the paths of righteousness? A sobering thought indeed.
What shall the discerning do? Under the old covenant, the discerning were commanded to purge from their midst those who attempted to seduce them “from the way in which the Lord [their] God commanded [them] to walk.” Death was the penalty.
The church, of course, does not have the right of capital punishment, but this does not mean that false teachers should be tolerated by us in the least. They should, at minimum, be lovingly confronted and corrected, in case they might be guilty of error only because of biblical ignorance. Many only parrot what they’ve learned from reading someone’s book. Those who will not cease propagating their heresies should be exposed and not supported in any way so that their “ministries” die (see 3 John 1:9-10). Few would survive long if people stopped giving them money and buying their books and tapes.
You can be certain, however, that no matter what we do, there will be false teachers right up until the end, because the Bible predicts it (see 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:13; 4:3-4). Paul succinctly describes them in a warning to the Roman Christians as being men who are not slaves of “our Lord Jesus Christ,” which marks them as being unsaved. Let us beware.
Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. (Rom. 16:17-18, emphasis added).
http://www.shepherdserve.org/ggd/ggd_10.htm
August 12, 2008
An 'Open Letter' on Lakeland
A Response to Charges against James Sundquist for “Judging the Bride of Christ”
Very bold and direct Open Letter addressing false teachers and teachings. WTG James, tell it like it is...I absolutely love this guy's courage and backbone!
June 26, 2008 - Open Letter to: Brian Olynick, Stephen R. Strader, Gary S. Greig, Todd Bentley and Fresh Fire Ministries Staff,
I am responding to your charges that we are “judging the Bride of Christ.” If you had bothered to read the testimonies you would see that we are not judging the Bride of the Christ, as only Jesus Christ can do that at the Bema Judgment Seat. But we are commanded to judge the teachings of anyone who claims to be part of the Bride of Christ. So in one broad stroke you have already borne false witness against us. I was expecting that at some point you would retaliate with ad homimum personal attacks, instead refuting the charges against Todd Bentley and his collaborators, with Scripture as the Apostle Paul has mandated. We are required to judge teachings and be good Bereans to test the Scriptures to see if these things be true. You have done none of this. But we will! All of my discernment colleagues have exposed Todd Bentley as a false teacher, not by some emotional appeal, but by purely comparing his teachings as well as the roots of his teachings and teachers to Scripture. When did this commandment become extinct? We are not heretic hunters. In fact, we don't even have to hunt for them, they are in your face, published, and in constant media national and international media coverage.
Anyone can flail accusations, but if you are a Christian, you must prove your charges against us with Scripture, otherwise it is you who have become guilty of bearing false witness against a brother, which God has deemed is an abomination. If you continue to promote and defend Todd Bentley, then you become an accomplice and share in his iniquity. If you think every Christian shouldn't judge the teachings of a so-called Christian or Christian teacher, then you are deceived. If a man calls himself a brother i.e., one of "Christ's bride", but brings teachings contrary to Scripture, then we are commanded to expose him and expel him from the church. The Apostle Paul commands us to name names. So we are compelled to name Stephen R. Strader, Todd Bentley, Gary S. Greig publicly for being false teachers, refusing correction or warning, and for bearing false witness against those who have exposed all of you. We are not attacking the bride, because we are part of the Bride of Christ, rather we are exposing wolves who are attacking the Bride of Christ. Todd Bentley and company are not the Bride of Christ...the Bride of Frankenstein would be a more apt description, spiritually speaking.
If you are a pastor, then you should know that. Your failure to do so and defend your own sheep from wolves in sheep's clothing and Satan's servants masquerading as a servant of righteousness, then you are a false shepherd and derelict in your duty to protect your flock. In this regard, I am compelled to join my colleagues and expose both you and Todd Bentley publicly on the various discernment newsletters and national radio programs we frequent, informing them that you both refuse correction and have failed to repent even upon being confronted, and represent a clear and present danger to the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I have read Todd Bentley's defense of the female Angel Emma posted at: http://sheepyweepy.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/todd-bentley-responds-to-criticism/#comment-730
and quoted from Bentley's site, that the angel would not necessarily be female, just appear female. Response, so now God is the author of confusion, so we are not able to discern? What biblical precedent is there for any angel (male or female) to heal? As to discernment critics needing to think outside their comfort box, I have read Jackie Alnor's, Mike Oppenheimer's, Gary Osbourne's and Jacob Prasch's demolitions of Bentley's stronghold(s). I assure you that their comfort box is in fact Scripture itself. Is it written or is it not written? What Christians should worry about is when they are comfortable outside of the Scripture zone! If we are Christians and good Bereans, our comfort box will be that the fruit of the spirit is "self-control", not "out-of-control"...evil shrieks are the sounds made from evil spirits coming out one someone possessed, not the sounds made by people after they are delivered or for that matter coming from saints who don't even need deliverance or healing!
As to Bentley seeing Jesus physically, this reminds of Paul Yonggi Cho claiming he saw Jesus appear dressed up as a fireman. (Jesus wouldn't be a fireman anyway putting fires out, rather he will be sending the fires of judgment on the earth.) Sound good that Jesus is paying us visits? Big problem! The Book of Acts; 3:21 states that Jesus Christ must physically remain in Heaven until he returns in glory when he will restore all things! Jesus Christ himself warn us in Matthew 26:23-27 (and Mark 13:21-22) that if anyone says Jesus Christ is here or there, don't believe him or even follow after him. Jesus Christ knew people like Bentley would come along, so he made it crystal clear that he would not return to the earth until we all see the entire earth engulfed in the white lightning of his glory with the heavenly hosts following him. There will be no wondering if he came back yet for his Second Coming. There will not be a Third, fourth, 50th or thousandth coming. And no one can summon him. That constitutes conjuring spirits or sorcery. So if anyone says they saw Jesus before his final return, then they saw another Jesus. Are we to believe Jesus Christ over Todd Bentley who said he saw him? Worse, Bentley is telling his followers that they can now summon down Jesus and angels. Mike Oppenheimer reveals that according to Bob Jones, one of Bentley's mentors, Bentley's Lakeland Revival is supposedly part of the Third Wave following the First Wave of the Toronto Blessing, followed by the Second Wave of Pensacola. Mike Oppenheimer also points out that Paul Yonggi Cho falsely prophesied that the Pensacola Revival will last until Jesus comes, but it has been a dismal failure, completely collapsing, ship-wrecking the faith of many. Instead of revering Bob Jones, Todd Bentley should have exposed both Jones and Cho. Dr. Christian Wei, who is the director of a school which trains missionaries to take the gospel into Communist China has written an excellent documentary exposing Paul Yonggi Cho. The persecuted and martyred Church in China is already being alerted to false teachings of Paul Yonggi Cho. Dr. Wei is presently translating both of my books on the false teachings of Rick Warren into Mandarin and Cantonese languages to distribute to the underground church in China to warn them.
Dr. Christian Wei Expose on teachings of Paul Yonggi Cho:
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/cho/general.htm
Paul Yonggi Cho quotes compiled by Jim Fox:
http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=557
Mike Oppenheimer's expose on Todd Bentley: http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/church_issues/let_us_reason_alert_lakeland.htm
Even though Bentley's chief apologist, Gary S. Greig, is an instructor at Jack Hayford's Foursquare denomination Church on the Way, who is a Rick Warren promoter, Bentley is not yet the global clear and present danger to the church at large that Rick Warren is with his Global Peace Plan.
Gary Greig Biography:
http://www.vanguardministries.org/bio-garygreig.asp
Note from his own biography that Greig hotlinks to both Injoy Ministries and Equip, which are headed by John Maxwell who is virtually the E for Equipping in Rick Warren's Global PEACE Plan. I expose John Maxwell's teachings and his unholy alliance with Rick Warren in my second book on Rick Warren entitled: Rick Warren's Global Peace Plan vs. Scriptural Teachings on Peace.
(Once loaded, search for “John Maxwell”)
Todd Bentley's false teachings (and Gary Greig's defense of them) aren't even subtle but glaring. Instead of repenting of defiling the temple of the Holy Spirit with massive and extensive tatoos all over his body and defying Scripture, Todd Bentley boastfully glories in them...a stumbling block to the “least one of these my children” and the poorest witness. Instead of repenting you (Brian Olynick) retaliate against the messengers, as though they are the enemy! No wonder the Apostle Paul said "I am now therefore the enemy because I tell you the truth"! So I must strongly rebuke all of you and pray that you repent while there is still a season to repent. So be assured we will publicly mark you and warn the church.
I had thought I was done with my own report on Todd Bentley and was ready to publish it and expose on the radio nationally and internationally when I read about Jack Hayford's commentary on this revival which is posted on the Foursquare International website as well as at:
Jack Hayford & Foursquare International Official Statement on Todd Bentley:
http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/
jack-hayford-statement-on-the-lakeland-revival-todd-bentley
Therefore, I am now compelled to add the following commentary on Jack Hayford to this article on this "revival!"
The most glaring question I have for Dr. Jack Hayford's formal Foursquare Church statement regarding Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival:
"by any standard of biblical wisdom, it is far too early to assert anything on any terms...We are not called to answer for any other ministry or its report;" is that if this is his position and that of his board of directors at Church on the Way and the Foursquare Church denomination regarding Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival, then why did Gary Greig, one of his teaching pastors and promoters of C. Peter Wagner at his own church, the Church on the Way and Masters Seminary, publish an apologetics defense of Todd Bentley's actions and so-called revival on the very website and church conducting the revivals? The pastor of the church, who is one of those presiding over the Lakeland Revival Stephen R. Strader even directed me to Gary Greig as the apologist defending Todd Bentley. For Jack Hayford to say that we are not called to answer for any other ministry is nothing short of staggering. All Christians are called expose the deeds of darkness and false teachings, whether in their own church or a church down the road. To refrain from speaking out against a wolf in the sheepfold is nothing short of dereliction of duty of a pastor and shepherd! And if this is true, then why does Hayford participate in Rick Warren's Purpose Driven hostile take-overs of other churches and denominations which most certainly do intervene in those churches affairs of other churches, expelling those who oppose Rick Warren's Global Peace Plan.
Second problem with Hayford's defense or failure to speak out against Todd Bentley is his invoking Gamaliel. Gamaliel's statement in the Book of Acts was not prescriptive, but rather descriptive. There is no evidence that Paul took or used the advice that if it is not of God it will go away after his conversion. In fact, Paul taught the opposite as evidence by his fear of what would happen to the Church of Ephesus after he died. The Apostles taught that things would get worse and worse (exactly what we see in Todd Bentley). If what Gamaliel said is true, then Roman Catholicism and Islam would have long disappeared, but both of these religions boast 2+ billion followers. It is precisely because the apostate church did follow Gamaliel's advice that in great part produced the fix we are in today. Following Hayford's kind of unwise counsel is the same kind of advice to refrain from intervention in both the Toronto Blessing and Pensacola nightmare's in the Assemblies of God and Vineyard. We still recovering from this nightmare because these so-called watchmen on the wall who became spectators and worse participants. Had George Wood stepped in at the beginning this nightmare might have been averted in the Assemblies of God. But what does George Wood do in the case of the latest Rosemary's Baby? He issues a statement on June 5, 2008 that does nothing to condemn Todd Bentley's teachings. Had he condemned Thomas Trask, the previous General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, a destroyer of the brethren and God-fearing AG pastors, and promoter of much the very same false teachings promoted by Bentley, the Assemblies of God denomination might not be in the state of apostasy that it finds itself. Had Jack Hayford and George Wood intervened in the case of Rick Warren's teachings and programs, that plague might have been averted in the Foursquare Church and Assemblies of God, respectively. But what does Jack Hayford do? He promotes Rick Warren and Richard Foster who cite some of the same contemplative prayer mystics that are the inspiration behind Todd Bentley.
Speaking of Rick Warren, here is a update on him. I just received a letter from a good brother in South Africa. A Christian broadcast journalist stated on the radio there that Rick Warren is a false teacher. She has now received a threatening phone call from an attorney threatening her with a slander lawsuit. But this is not surprise because I was threatened with legal action by Richard Foster's Renovare organization. In the U.S. a major network Christian radio station censored the longest standing national conservative Christian radio show if they ever again said anything negative about Rick Warren...doesn't matter if what they said was true. The New York City Leadership group which was recently formed will be launching major events this Fall at Madison Square Garden promoting Rick Warren and Ken Blanchard (also exposed in my second book on Rick Warren) and his teachings...EVENT SPONSORS:
Buttafuoco & Associates
Greg Laurie NJ/NY 2008 Crusade So BEWARE: Here is their website for proof of sponsorship:
http://copgny.org/316776.ihtml
So beware of Jack Hayford, Tom Trask, George Wood and those I have cited in this document. You don't even need to use the present documentation of events or fruit in Lakeland Florida Outpouring to demolish this stronghold, though there is plenty going on to already rightfully oppose it. In addition to the fruit of this thorn bush, you can judge him as well as this tree by the root system which is riddled with false teachers and teachings that Todd Bentley is still touting to his audiences.
Finally, one of the most troubling statements of Hayford's official position is this statement:
"With time, whatever is taking place in Lakeland and through activities issuing from its happenings will either verify or discredit the source of the manifestations." (More Gamaliel reasoning)
Comment: Give the wolf time...if given enough time, it can destroy the whole flock. Give leaven enough time it will leaven the whole lump. Give the siren calls of the harlot enough time, she will deceive the multitudes.
Therefore, Jack Hayford is one of the least credible people one should trust.
Mike Oppeneheimer, Director of Let Us Reason's expose on Todd Bentley:
http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/church_issues/let_us_reason_alert_lakeland.htm
Jacob Prash's expose on Gary S. Grieg entitled:
A Review Of Gary S Greig’s Pseudo-Scholarly Apologetic For The Unbiblical Antics Of Todd Bentley And The Lakeland, Florida Sequel To The Failed Revivals Of Kansas City, Toronto, And Pensacola, is now posted internationally on Be Alert and Moriel Ministries at: http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/church_issues/review_of_gary_greigs_apologetic.htm
For Todd Bentley to claim he had a conversation with the Apostle Paul makes him a necromancer, forbidden in Scripture. Todd Bentley is not conducting true worship or true revival but seances. He is exploiting the masses with stories he has made up exactly how Scripture describes people like him in 2 Peter 2:3.
You have made a mockery of Christ and his Bride, and compounded your sin by attacking those saints who have exposed you for this circus. What a reproach! So rest assured, we will sound the alarm on His Holy Hill about you! If anyone had wondered what signs and wonders would be performed to deceive even the elect if that were possible, you are now witnessing it!
Final Warning:
2Jo 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into [your] house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jo 1:11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds
Sincerely in Christ,
James Sundquist
Director
Rock Salt Publishing
http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/False-Teachers.html
Very bold and direct Open Letter addressing false teachers and teachings. WTG James, tell it like it is...I absolutely love this guy's courage and backbone!
June 26, 2008 - Open Letter to: Brian Olynick, Stephen R. Strader, Gary S. Greig, Todd Bentley and Fresh Fire Ministries Staff,
I am responding to your charges that we are “judging the Bride of Christ.” If you had bothered to read the testimonies you would see that we are not judging the Bride of the Christ, as only Jesus Christ can do that at the Bema Judgment Seat. But we are commanded to judge the teachings of anyone who claims to be part of the Bride of Christ. So in one broad stroke you have already borne false witness against us. I was expecting that at some point you would retaliate with ad homimum personal attacks, instead refuting the charges against Todd Bentley and his collaborators, with Scripture as the Apostle Paul has mandated. We are required to judge teachings and be good Bereans to test the Scriptures to see if these things be true. You have done none of this. But we will! All of my discernment colleagues have exposed Todd Bentley as a false teacher, not by some emotional appeal, but by purely comparing his teachings as well as the roots of his teachings and teachers to Scripture. When did this commandment become extinct? We are not heretic hunters. In fact, we don't even have to hunt for them, they are in your face, published, and in constant media national and international media coverage.
Anyone can flail accusations, but if you are a Christian, you must prove your charges against us with Scripture, otherwise it is you who have become guilty of bearing false witness against a brother, which God has deemed is an abomination. If you continue to promote and defend Todd Bentley, then you become an accomplice and share in his iniquity. If you think every Christian shouldn't judge the teachings of a so-called Christian or Christian teacher, then you are deceived. If a man calls himself a brother i.e., one of "Christ's bride", but brings teachings contrary to Scripture, then we are commanded to expose him and expel him from the church. The Apostle Paul commands us to name names. So we are compelled to name Stephen R. Strader, Todd Bentley, Gary S. Greig publicly for being false teachers, refusing correction or warning, and for bearing false witness against those who have exposed all of you. We are not attacking the bride, because we are part of the Bride of Christ, rather we are exposing wolves who are attacking the Bride of Christ. Todd Bentley and company are not the Bride of Christ...the Bride of Frankenstein would be a more apt description, spiritually speaking.
If you are a pastor, then you should know that. Your failure to do so and defend your own sheep from wolves in sheep's clothing and Satan's servants masquerading as a servant of righteousness, then you are a false shepherd and derelict in your duty to protect your flock. In this regard, I am compelled to join my colleagues and expose both you and Todd Bentley publicly on the various discernment newsletters and national radio programs we frequent, informing them that you both refuse correction and have failed to repent even upon being confronted, and represent a clear and present danger to the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I have read Todd Bentley's defense of the female Angel Emma posted at: http://sheepyweepy.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/todd-bentley-responds-to-criticism/#comment-730
and quoted from Bentley's site, that the angel would not necessarily be female, just appear female. Response, so now God is the author of confusion, so we are not able to discern? What biblical precedent is there for any angel (male or female) to heal? As to discernment critics needing to think outside their comfort box, I have read Jackie Alnor's, Mike Oppenheimer's, Gary Osbourne's and Jacob Prasch's demolitions of Bentley's stronghold(s). I assure you that their comfort box is in fact Scripture itself. Is it written or is it not written? What Christians should worry about is when they are comfortable outside of the Scripture zone! If we are Christians and good Bereans, our comfort box will be that the fruit of the spirit is "self-control", not "out-of-control"...evil shrieks are the sounds made from evil spirits coming out one someone possessed, not the sounds made by people after they are delivered or for that matter coming from saints who don't even need deliverance or healing!
As to Bentley seeing Jesus physically, this reminds of Paul Yonggi Cho claiming he saw Jesus appear dressed up as a fireman. (Jesus wouldn't be a fireman anyway putting fires out, rather he will be sending the fires of judgment on the earth.) Sound good that Jesus is paying us visits? Big problem! The Book of Acts; 3:21 states that Jesus Christ must physically remain in Heaven until he returns in glory when he will restore all things! Jesus Christ himself warn us in Matthew 26:23-27 (and Mark 13:21-22) that if anyone says Jesus Christ is here or there, don't believe him or even follow after him. Jesus Christ knew people like Bentley would come along, so he made it crystal clear that he would not return to the earth until we all see the entire earth engulfed in the white lightning of his glory with the heavenly hosts following him. There will be no wondering if he came back yet for his Second Coming. There will not be a Third, fourth, 50th or thousandth coming. And no one can summon him. That constitutes conjuring spirits or sorcery. So if anyone says they saw Jesus before his final return, then they saw another Jesus. Are we to believe Jesus Christ over Todd Bentley who said he saw him? Worse, Bentley is telling his followers that they can now summon down Jesus and angels. Mike Oppenheimer reveals that according to Bob Jones, one of Bentley's mentors, Bentley's Lakeland Revival is supposedly part of the Third Wave following the First Wave of the Toronto Blessing, followed by the Second Wave of Pensacola. Mike Oppenheimer also points out that Paul Yonggi Cho falsely prophesied that the Pensacola Revival will last until Jesus comes, but it has been a dismal failure, completely collapsing, ship-wrecking the faith of many. Instead of revering Bob Jones, Todd Bentley should have exposed both Jones and Cho. Dr. Christian Wei, who is the director of a school which trains missionaries to take the gospel into Communist China has written an excellent documentary exposing Paul Yonggi Cho. The persecuted and martyred Church in China is already being alerted to false teachings of Paul Yonggi Cho. Dr. Wei is presently translating both of my books on the false teachings of Rick Warren into Mandarin and Cantonese languages to distribute to the underground church in China to warn them.
Dr. Christian Wei Expose on teachings of Paul Yonggi Cho:
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/cho/general.htm
Paul Yonggi Cho quotes compiled by Jim Fox:
http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=557
Mike Oppenheimer's expose on Todd Bentley: http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/church_issues/let_us_reason_alert_lakeland.htm
Even though Bentley's chief apologist, Gary S. Greig, is an instructor at Jack Hayford's Foursquare denomination Church on the Way, who is a Rick Warren promoter, Bentley is not yet the global clear and present danger to the church at large that Rick Warren is with his Global Peace Plan.
Gary Greig Biography:
http://www.vanguardministries.org/bio-garygreig.asp
Note from his own biography that Greig hotlinks to both Injoy Ministries and Equip, which are headed by John Maxwell who is virtually the E for Equipping in Rick Warren's Global PEACE Plan. I expose John Maxwell's teachings and his unholy alliance with Rick Warren in my second book on Rick Warren entitled: Rick Warren's Global Peace Plan vs. Scriptural Teachings on Peace.
(Once loaded, search for “John Maxwell”)
Todd Bentley's false teachings (and Gary Greig's defense of them) aren't even subtle but glaring. Instead of repenting of defiling the temple of the Holy Spirit with massive and extensive tatoos all over his body and defying Scripture, Todd Bentley boastfully glories in them...a stumbling block to the “least one of these my children” and the poorest witness. Instead of repenting you (Brian Olynick) retaliate against the messengers, as though they are the enemy! No wonder the Apostle Paul said "I am now therefore the enemy because I tell you the truth"! So I must strongly rebuke all of you and pray that you repent while there is still a season to repent. So be assured we will publicly mark you and warn the church.
I had thought I was done with my own report on Todd Bentley and was ready to publish it and expose on the radio nationally and internationally when I read about Jack Hayford's commentary on this revival which is posted on the Foursquare International website as well as at:
Jack Hayford & Foursquare International Official Statement on Todd Bentley:
http://endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/
jack-hayford-statement-on-the-lakeland-revival-todd-bentley
Therefore, I am now compelled to add the following commentary on Jack Hayford to this article on this "revival!"
The most glaring question I have for Dr. Jack Hayford's formal Foursquare Church statement regarding Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival:
"by any standard of biblical wisdom, it is far too early to assert anything on any terms...We are not called to answer for any other ministry or its report;" is that if this is his position and that of his board of directors at Church on the Way and the Foursquare Church denomination regarding Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival, then why did Gary Greig, one of his teaching pastors and promoters of C. Peter Wagner at his own church, the Church on the Way and Masters Seminary, publish an apologetics defense of Todd Bentley's actions and so-called revival on the very website and church conducting the revivals? The pastor of the church, who is one of those presiding over the Lakeland Revival Stephen R. Strader even directed me to Gary Greig as the apologist defending Todd Bentley. For Jack Hayford to say that we are not called to answer for any other ministry is nothing short of staggering. All Christians are called expose the deeds of darkness and false teachings, whether in their own church or a church down the road. To refrain from speaking out against a wolf in the sheepfold is nothing short of dereliction of duty of a pastor and shepherd! And if this is true, then why does Hayford participate in Rick Warren's Purpose Driven hostile take-overs of other churches and denominations which most certainly do intervene in those churches affairs of other churches, expelling those who oppose Rick Warren's Global Peace Plan.
Second problem with Hayford's defense or failure to speak out against Todd Bentley is his invoking Gamaliel. Gamaliel's statement in the Book of Acts was not prescriptive, but rather descriptive. There is no evidence that Paul took or used the advice that if it is not of God it will go away after his conversion. In fact, Paul taught the opposite as evidence by his fear of what would happen to the Church of Ephesus after he died. The Apostles taught that things would get worse and worse (exactly what we see in Todd Bentley). If what Gamaliel said is true, then Roman Catholicism and Islam would have long disappeared, but both of these religions boast 2+ billion followers. It is precisely because the apostate church did follow Gamaliel's advice that in great part produced the fix we are in today. Following Hayford's kind of unwise counsel is the same kind of advice to refrain from intervention in both the Toronto Blessing and Pensacola nightmare's in the Assemblies of God and Vineyard. We still recovering from this nightmare because these so-called watchmen on the wall who became spectators and worse participants. Had George Wood stepped in at the beginning this nightmare might have been averted in the Assemblies of God. But what does George Wood do in the case of the latest Rosemary's Baby? He issues a statement on June 5, 2008 that does nothing to condemn Todd Bentley's teachings. Had he condemned Thomas Trask, the previous General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, a destroyer of the brethren and God-fearing AG pastors, and promoter of much the very same false teachings promoted by Bentley, the Assemblies of God denomination might not be in the state of apostasy that it finds itself. Had Jack Hayford and George Wood intervened in the case of Rick Warren's teachings and programs, that plague might have been averted in the Foursquare Church and Assemblies of God, respectively. But what does Jack Hayford do? He promotes Rick Warren and Richard Foster who cite some of the same contemplative prayer mystics that are the inspiration behind Todd Bentley.
Speaking of Rick Warren, here is a update on him. I just received a letter from a good brother in South Africa. A Christian broadcast journalist stated on the radio there that Rick Warren is a false teacher. She has now received a threatening phone call from an attorney threatening her with a slander lawsuit. But this is not surprise because I was threatened with legal action by Richard Foster's Renovare organization. In the U.S. a major network Christian radio station censored the longest standing national conservative Christian radio show if they ever again said anything negative about Rick Warren...doesn't matter if what they said was true. The New York City Leadership group which was recently formed will be launching major events this Fall at Madison Square Garden promoting Rick Warren and Ken Blanchard (also exposed in my second book on Rick Warren) and his teachings...EVENT SPONSORS:
Buttafuoco & Associates
Greg Laurie NJ/NY 2008 Crusade So BEWARE: Here is their website for proof of sponsorship:
http://copgny.org/316776.ihtml
So beware of Jack Hayford, Tom Trask, George Wood and those I have cited in this document. You don't even need to use the present documentation of events or fruit in Lakeland Florida Outpouring to demolish this stronghold, though there is plenty going on to already rightfully oppose it. In addition to the fruit of this thorn bush, you can judge him as well as this tree by the root system which is riddled with false teachers and teachings that Todd Bentley is still touting to his audiences.
Finally, one of the most troubling statements of Hayford's official position is this statement:
"With time, whatever is taking place in Lakeland and through activities issuing from its happenings will either verify or discredit the source of the manifestations." (More Gamaliel reasoning)
Comment: Give the wolf time...if given enough time, it can destroy the whole flock. Give leaven enough time it will leaven the whole lump. Give the siren calls of the harlot enough time, she will deceive the multitudes.
Therefore, Jack Hayford is one of the least credible people one should trust.
Mike Oppeneheimer, Director of Let Us Reason's expose on Todd Bentley:
http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/church_issues/let_us_reason_alert_lakeland.htm
Jacob Prash's expose on Gary S. Grieg entitled:
A Review Of Gary S Greig’s Pseudo-Scholarly Apologetic For The Unbiblical Antics Of Todd Bentley And The Lakeland, Florida Sequel To The Failed Revivals Of Kansas City, Toronto, And Pensacola, is now posted internationally on Be Alert and Moriel Ministries at: http://www.moriel.org/articles/discernment/church_issues/review_of_gary_greigs_apologetic.htm
For Todd Bentley to claim he had a conversation with the Apostle Paul makes him a necromancer, forbidden in Scripture. Todd Bentley is not conducting true worship or true revival but seances. He is exploiting the masses with stories he has made up exactly how Scripture describes people like him in 2 Peter 2:3.
You have made a mockery of Christ and his Bride, and compounded your sin by attacking those saints who have exposed you for this circus. What a reproach! So rest assured, we will sound the alarm on His Holy Hill about you! If anyone had wondered what signs and wonders would be performed to deceive even the elect if that were possible, you are now witnessing it!
Final Warning:
2Jo 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into [your] house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jo 1:11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds
Sincerely in Christ,
James Sundquist
Director
Rock Salt Publishing
http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/False-Teachers.html
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