A FALSE Pentecost

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A FALSE

Pentecost

London, 9th-11th May 2008

By Malcolm B Heap, Midnight Ministries

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We all know what happened on the first New Testament Pentecost. Acts 2 tells us.

It’s just as well Peter did what Jesus said, and with the other disciples, didn’t leave Jerusalem, but stayed there until His promise (Lk 24:49; Acts 1:4) was fulfilled.

What if Peter had been ‘flaky’? What if he had decided to ‘follow his nose’ and gone a route of his own? God could not have used him as the mouthpiece for that occasion. Jesus would have had to use some- one else, or abandon the plan.

It is unthinkable to postulate what would have been the outcome if Peter was like most ‘avant-garde’ church leaders today. What if he had decided to try and call down fire from heaven his own way, instead of waiting for God’s timing? Some muse:

Why not get together with other ‘spiritual’ leaders and see what we can do together? Perhaps we can generate revival by convincing others (and ourselves!) that God will come down if we only do something?! If we make a big performance, surely that will impress people and cause God to come?!

Sounds more like the false prophets on Mount Carmel than the work of Elijah! (1 Kings 18:26.) Those deceived ‘prophets’ had their bull prepared for a great feast, but their god didn’t show up. In the end, all their vigorous pursuit merited nothing but failure.

With hindsight, we know why.

Because it wasn’t led by the Spirit. They weren’t hearing from God, but from their own sources.

They were not in the right Way like Elijah was.

The ‘Pentecost’ Event In 2008

If you look on the web at www.pentecostfestival. co.uk you will see this event planned for 9-11 May 08.

A printed flyer circulated, introduces this event:

Pentecost is a massive weekend party in central London with hundreds of free events and high impact performances...

The Spirit should cause you to question: Since when has human appeal through human performance or personality or glamour, been the means by which God calls people and convicts them of sin? Was that God’s approach in Acts 2? No!

What was God’s means that reached the people back then? Human performance? Entertain- ment? Music, celebration, the latest ‘in-things’? No.

What had preceded revival? What set the stage for that to occur? The suffering and death of Jesus. The threat of total wipe-out of all that Jesus began. The disciples feared they would be next.

Peter did not use human appeal. He didn’t try to attract people by giving them what they liked or wanted to hear. Rather, his discourse was the exact opposite!

You can read it for yourself in Acts 2:23 where he castigated and condemned the crowd. He wasn’t appealing to human nature; he was offending it!

The ‘Pentecost’ flyer continues:

Come and discover more of the life, the colour, the breadth and depth of the Christian faith...

Then you read of all the events planned to – hopefully – make an impact on people and draw them to the Church. (More of that in a moment.)

However, I would caution you to beware of imitations. If you want to know more of the life and depth of the Christian faith, go to China and live under repression, where true believers live with the threat of imprisonment, torture or death hanging over them for their acceptance of Christ. Worship in a house church, not a megachurch, and read your Bible to check all that others claim it says (Acts 17:11).

For, there are:

...false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you... And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words... (2 Peter 2:1-3.)

More About This ‘Pentecost’

The flyer goes on:

Over Pentecost weekend, 9th-11th May 2008, across central London, Pentecost Festival will fill hundreds of venues – coffee shops, parks, pubs streets, boats, churches, clubs, hotels, halls, restaur- ants, theatres, and shops – located close to ten Northern Line stations, from Camden Town to Waterloo.

The Big 10

Friday and Saturday Evening

Ten of the best.

Some of the biggest and best Christian artists, agencies and charities in the UK are coming to serve the capital by putting on inspiring and challenging evening concerts and events. These are designed with you in mind!

Tickets on www.pentecostfestival/tickets from 17th September 2007.

w Survivor and OTR presents Start Something.

A dynamic musical event combining Worship, Rock, Hip Hop and Pop, bringing you some of the best from the Survivor and OTR family. Don’t miss this unique mix of sounds.

w Emerging Culture presents The Comedy Superstore.

Get a taste of the finest Christian comedians in the UK. It’ll be a laugh a minute with Andy Kind, Tony Vino and Paul Karensa from The Isaac Project, as well as John Archer, Milton Jones and Jo Enright.

w Open Doors and Saltmine are pioneering The Hope Academy.

This performance competition to discover new Christian talent holds its two finals in the Pentecost Festival. Following auditions for this exciting opportunity, early in spring 2008, the weekend winners will find themselves propelled onto a tour of the UK. The Hope Academy will also showcase “Heroes of Faith”, providing firsthand testimonies of the need for a real hope amid a world of persecution and suffering...

Analysing The Agenda

Apart from the last aspect (the testimonies), most of this is an appeal to human nature, humanistic in its design, and copying worldly activities.

Not all of the proceedings, of course, are what you might call ‘suspect’. What you see ‘across the board’ is a mixture of good and bad, truth and error.

But there are serious flaws in the agenda. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians (chs 1-2), criticised greatly the appeal to human nature which was drawing those early believers away from Christ, and towards human personalities and focussing on talents and abilities.

The subtle traps of Satan, infiltrating the Church, are being repeated today with contemporary window dressing.

The New Testament emphasis from beginning to end is on the work of the Spirit. The human element is very much secondary and subordinate. God’s work is not about personalities or what people can do. It’s not about how humans can influence others by their natural abilities and talents, or by winning others over by what is attractive, appealing or impressive to man.

That’s fleshly. It’s laced with pride. Paul was all things to all men (1 Cor 9:22), but he didn’t cross that line to compromise what is right by the Spirit.

But the emphasis in the Pentecost Event is very much humanistic in its appeal, and relies upon human abilities primarily, and only secondarily upon the Spirit.

It’s got things back to front!

And worse still, it is allowing degenerate and worldly influences to infiltrate the Church as if they are acceptable and even praiseworthy. Some activities are influenced more by Satan than by God because they lift up the performers more than God or Jesus:

w Authentic Music presents Live at The Court. The hottest UK and American Christian artists around in these 2 unique showcase concerts. Rock, Funk, Hip Hop, Pop and Soul will combine in a fusion of great music featuring a number of artists each night. UK artists include thebandwithnoname, Shell, Four Kornerz, Replenish and tbc, plus many more! Look out for new artist additions...

Then, we have this deception:

w Christian Aid presents Climate Changed!

Climate change isn’t a threat to our future. It’s today’s reality, wrecking lives in the developing world through floods, famine, drought, disease and the conflicts these cause. The question is, what are you going to do to stop it?...

The answer to that question lies, not in humanity’s hands, but in God’s. That’s one reason He is going to send Jesus back to earth soon, to restore all that mankind has destroyed. Has the Church forgotten that Jesus’ return is the ONLY hope for the salvation of mankind? Why is it replacing that biblical truism with a humanistic substitute?!

Why don’t these ‘Christian leaders’ know their Bibles?

Isaiah 24 reveals that the degradation of earth has a spiritual cause, not merely physical. So its solution can only be spiritual also. The Green Snake of the contemporary Religion of Environmentalism has beguiled the world to replace that spiritual solution with a humanistic antichrist substitute that can’t save.

Do you want to be ‘with it’ by accepting this deception, or going against the flow by believing in the only answer, which hinges upon Christ’s coming?

And that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3:20,21).

w CARE presents Faith in a Collapsing Culture.

A practical vision of how to make a Christian difference for the sake of the future. Join MPs and leading public figures in Westminster for an interactive examination of a holistic worldview and the importance of faith in public life.

I am not against making a Christian difference, as each believer should. But it is not right to try and influence society through political association or other human means. Remember: it is the Spirit that counts, the flesh profits nothing (Jn 6:63). So said Jesus.

Yet these ‘Christian’ leaders are becoming so far removed from Jesus’ words and teaching that they are leading people astray. They reverse His emphasis.

w Release International presents Party Bolly- wood. An evening of South Asian culture, music and food, with dancing and creative arts...

Release International’s blocking of God’s Work is exposed in an article entitled Release International In Bondage! I need say no more here.

w Bible Society presents Fashion: Home.

This super stylish catwalk event, showcasing 4 fast-moving styles and telling a story of forgiveness and love comes in 4 snappy episodes. Expect the unexpected, a host of glamorous models and the party to end all parties.

Does that sound like the sort of thing Jesus would promote? Or John the Baptist? Camel’s hair clothing (Mark 1:6) wouldn’t look that glamorous on a catwalk, would it?

w Premier presents The Festival’s Festival.

Outside in a major London space, a stage is set to present music, speakers and visual presentations. Join thousands and be enthralled by an impressive display of Premier’s media abilities, artists and audio.

I hope you can see from all the above that the emphasis is not spiritual, but physical. These are humanistic substitutes for the moving of the power of God, for the work of God’s Spirit.

I am not saying that God’s Spirit is not present in anything that takes place in the ‘Pentecost Event’. God does get involved in various aspects according to whether people’s hearts are right and whether recipients are hungry for Him. But the problem is that His Spirit and His agenda has been made to take second place. And that is unacceptable to Him. I speak for him as a prophet, according to the revelations He gives (Num 12:6).

The first commandment (Ex 20:3), which Jesus expanded (Matt 22:37), gives the guideline. God does not play second fiddle to anyone. He is to be made number one. He does not share His glory (Is 42:8).

In The Bible Speaks Volume 2, I wrote a piece entitled Substitution Is Antichrist. Few understand this principle. Antichrist is not solely opposition to Christ. It is supplementing Him. And where that takes place ever so subtly – in the Church, by Christians, many of whom are well-meaning but deluded and misguided – it is devastatingly ruinous. It neutralises the power of God at your disposal.

Jesus told you how to promote His name:

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons... (Matt 10:8).

These are all works of the Spirit. You can’t do them by yourself, by your own abilities, or expertise.

He didn’t say:

Put on musical events, concerts, impressive displays of human achievement and cleverness...

Where do you read in the book of Acts, of the apostles all pooling their natural talents to make a big splash? Where in Acts do you find that they organised big functions to get the attention of people? Never.

The Spirit set the agenda. The Spirit organised events. The Spirit created the wonders that caused people to listen. The Spirit convicted the heart of sin.

That is how God worked. He hasn’t changed.

It is a blasphemy to take the place of the Spirit. It is perfidious.

The Spirit’s Agenda

Many will vehemently object to these words. But those who do, do not realise God’s agenda for this hour. His agenda centres on truth and its restoration.

Do you think the crowd that gathered on that first NT Pentecost wanted to hear condemnation from Peter’s lips? He castigated them all:

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom YOU crucified, both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36).

Where people are not in the will of God, the declaration of God’s truth treads on toes. It hurts.

The restoration of truth today likewise treads on toes and offends many hearts and minds. But:

Blessed is he who is not offended because of me (Matt 11:6).

Jesus magnified the law and made it honourable. He does so today also. But the law of God, and our need to be obedient to it, and live by every word that proceeds from His mouth, is not acceptable to the majority who fill modern churches.

Can you imagine a Pentecost Event deliberately designed to confront hearers’ ears?! Offending some, insulting others?! Yet that is what the Spirit did.

Peter bluntly declared:

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know – Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, YOU HAVE TAKEN BY LAWLESS HANDS, have crucified, and put to death... (Acts 2:22,23).

The Spirit is today restoring ‘lost’ and hidden Truth, as prophesied of old (Mal 4:4-6). This subject is covered in other publications:

Who Is The End-Time Elijah?

More Than A Prophet

Apostasy In God’s Church!

God’s Church – Whose Authority?

The Controversy Concerning Law and Grace

Our Sabbath Rest

The Festivals Of God

The Faith Once Delivered To The Saints, etc., and in other publications from Midnight Ministries.

But the false agenda of churches – who resist and oppose the truths which God is restoring – occludes the Spirit by human activity.

Antichrist is a powerful false spirit of our time. It takes the place of, and supplants Christ. Anti does not simply mean against. The most subtle opposing force is one that is cleverly concealed by counterfeiting the activity of God’s Spirit. It supplants it.

God’s Spirit is HOLY. He is restoring truth that exalts His holiness. He wants a holy Church, not a compromised Church. He wants a Church with pure truth, not a mixture. He wants the faith once delivered to the saints restored and observed.

Do you want it? I doubt it. Few do.

Correcting Error

Fittingly, the Pentecost Event organisers have chosen the wrong date. The true date for Pentecost is actually May 18th 2008.

The correct time is not decided by Church determinants, but by God’s heavenly signposts – by the configuration of sun and moon (explained in God’s Calendar Revealed To Man), and it is linked to Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread in the spring. (Explained in Passover and Pentecost: Answers To Basic Questions.)

Pentecost is calculated by counting 50 days from the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread week. But the Church doesn’t keep those festivals of God: the weekly Sabbath, the festival of Unleavened Bread (UB), nor Passover (Matt 26:18; Luke 22:15), which Jesus COMMANDED His own to observe (John 13:17; 1 Cor 5:7-8; 1 Cor 11:23-25).

If you don’t keep Passover and the seven days of UB, you invalidate your ‘keeping’ of ‘Pentecost’. You cannot pick and choose with the law of God. If you break one point, it is as if you are guilty of contravening all of it (Jas 2:10).

God holds people responsible to discover His truth. You are to search for true knowledge and understanding (Prov 2:1-6). Very few really do. Most are content with a watered-down version of the faith, one which leaves Jesus still knocking on your door, just as was prophesied (Rev 3:20). And if you try and give them more, they reject it and resent you for it.

Hence, Jesus’ words to His disciples are again being fulfilled in our day:

All of you will be made to stumble [become offended] because of Me this night... (Matt 26:31).

Jesus still speaks through prophets, but:

I do not receive honour from men. But I know you that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honour from one another and do not seek the honour that comes from the only God? (Jn 5:41-44.)

Half the Church will not be saved (Matt 25:2):

...you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep (Jn 10:26).

And Jesus adjures all:

He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him – the word that I have spoken ... (Jn 12:48).

This is part of that word. It’s your time to heed.

Many will question what authority I have to say these harsh things. My credentials are revealed in:

w What God Says About Midnight Ministries

w Revelations From God About Midnight Ministries

w More Than A Prophet

w WAKING The Dead

w The raft of MM publications which restore the faith once delivered to the saints.

w MM’s Dream Diary of revelations from God.

w Raising the dead.

Malcolm B Heap, December 2007