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Don't Be Deceived By Malcolm B Heap, Midnight Ministries Copyright © Midnight Ministries Copyright of Midnight Ministries may be waived and this publication duplicated without asking permission, if full credit is given to the source (with the address) and if the contents are not altered. Likewise, publications of Midnight Ministries may be translated into any other language without asking permission, provided that the translation is as accurate as possible to the meaning of the original text, and full credit is given to the source (with the address). The distribution of God's truth should not be restricted by copyright.. |
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Deception is the poison of the Church!
I’m sure you know that Jesus explicitly warned the first disciples – and all others, by extension – NOT to be deceived (Matt 24:4,11,24). Many Christians are!
You try telling them about something they have got wrong, and they either resent you for it or think you are the one very much mistaken!
Look at what God says through this dream:
21st February 2008. M. 2) 2nd-hand teachings. A large lorry was dragging a load of 2nd-hand timber along the road. It wasn’t ON the vehicle, but being dragged behind it on the ground. It was full of nails, and was highly dangerous. It was tearing the road apart, which was rough enough already! I was wanting to drive at speed along this road, trying to avoid getting a puncture. There was a small car in front, hogging the road, blocking the way. It was a nuisance. Meaning: An allegory of the mess created by secondhand Church teachings that large ministries – like Reinhard Bonnke’s, Benny Hinn’s, and Morris Cerullo’s; and the major denominations – drag behind them. They are a mixture and contain dangerous man-made elements (of falsity) that were used in the past to hold things together. The small car represents another ministry I contacted recently, who failed to move on with the truth I presented. By failing to move on, or move out of the way, they block what God is doing.
It is very ingenious how God portrays, in allegory, the folly of human behaviour. Would you be fool enough to drag a great big load of timber along the road, instead of loading it ON the vehicle? Would you leave dangerous nails sticking out of it where they could inflict serious harm on people nearby?
Yet this is what church leaders, ministry leaders and theologians are doing by dragging along all the old theological hand-me-downs that are not biblical. They don’t even see what they are doing. The load of ‘crap’ – nonsense, rubbish, junk – follows them.
In Wielding The Divine Axe I present eleven major areas where Church teaching is in error:
Each matter is covered in detail by specific MM publications, restoring the purer biblical truths with complete biblical exegesis.
So, there is no excuse now to people to whom we have gone and offered these truths. God now holds them accountable and they will come under God’s judgement for refusal to investigate them.
God’s Judgement
Christians assume that they are exempt from God’s judgement. They assume that they are Romans 8:1 candidates – that there is no condemnation against them because they have ‘accepted’ Christ. But they overlook the second part of that verse.
Most can’t see where they are still in rebellion against God. The subtleties of human psychology blind them to spiritual reality. So they are deceived.
In this state of false security, they carry on down their own self-willed route, with Jesus merely an appendage to their minds which are centred on self. Judgement inevitably follows to try to wake them up.
After the conflict in Kenya in 2008 I received some mail from desperate people begging for help. These people all had the truth. I had sent them MM literature, which explains how to put your trust in God, how to build faith, and receive help when you need it. But they didn’t listen. They went their own way.
They weren’t living what they were reading – if they even read it properly in the first place! I hadn’t heard from them for years. Then, out of the blue, they write to say that they have lost everything – their homes, wives, children – all! They beg for help, but they seek ‘mammon’ not truth.
They’re begging the wrong person. God is the One whom they should beg, not me. He supported Elijah in the wilderness (1 Ki 17:5); and some in our day have had angel visitations bringing sustenance.
When trouble befalls the wicked, it’s a fulfilment of Proverbs 1:20-32. God mocks them in their calamity because they didn’t care about what God cares about. God is not cold, but He is very just. They rejected what HE asked of them, so He reciprocates.
Therefore take heed how you hear, for whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him (Luke 8:18).
All things work together for good to those who love God... (Rom 8:28).
They don’t work together for good to those who don’t love God; who love themselves!
The Greatest Deceptions
I explain in Apostasy in God’s Church! that the greatest deception is one which causes the love of God in you to be quenched, or grow cold.
Hence the need for introspection (1 Cor 11:28).
For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged (1 Cor 11:31).
You can’t afford to be complacent!
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall (1 Cor 10:12).
However, the signs of the times are inseparable from selfish pursuit and complacency. Such sins lead to spiritual blindness...
Which brings us to another massive deception – SELF-deception.
How many times have you read in the Word: Be not deceived...?
Why do you think those words are t here? Because people ARE easily misled! And the person who so easily misleads them is Mr Self or Miss Self.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life (Gal 6:7,8).
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, DECEIVING YOURSELVES (Jas 1:21,22).
People who hear the truth THINK that they are living the truth, very often when they are not. Because it is in your head, you can tend to deceive yourself that you have done what God said.
A man stayed with us once while he was on his travels. He mouthed support for our work and made effusive promises of big financial support, so that we could achieve much more. It turned out to be mere hype. He walked away from us and from the truth God has commissioned us to promote. His life was all bound up in self. So, self deceived him.
Psychologists have fancy terms for such psychological conditions. Gross Delusional Syndrome may be one. The source is, of course, demons. When you pander to yourself overmuch, you are giving heed to seducing spirits.
He had delusions of self-importance, which led to other deceptions in his mind. And, I believe he even thought he HAD given us money simply because he had promised it. He was that deceived!
It’s a common strategy of the devil to distract people, so that they forget about, or neglect giving us the money or support that we deserve for ministering to them, and need, to provide them with MM literature.
Another man wrote to me, asking for the bank co-ordinates so he could send money into our account to reimburse us for the literature we had sent him. Months passed, but no money arrived.
I guess he deceived himself that he had assuaged his conscience by the offer. He convinced himself that he meant well, and that’s all that mattered to him. He observed his natural face in the mirror, and then went away, immediately forgetting what manner of man he is inside (Jas 1:24).
They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. What have you failed to do that you should have done?
It’s not just a question of money. That is merely one symptom of where your heart is. There are others. The main root of all is self-will – doing what you want instead of what God wants.
Take a look at the article Bless The Lord, O My Soul to see eight areas in which God wants you to train your spirit, and Do You Confront Evil, Or Do You Tolerate It? God requires change.
People who are self-willed deceive themselves that they are pleasing to God, that they are OK, when they are not. They are content to stay the way they are, but God isn’t! He wants your improvement.
Believers Whom God Vomits Out
Several times in Revelation 2 and 3, God adjures His chosen ones to repent, or, if they will not, they will forfeit what they don’t want to lose.
The lukewarm church – the prevalent syndrome today – thinks she is OK before God. But she makes Him vomit! (Rev 3:16.)
Because you say, "I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing" – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked (Rev 3:17).
Why are these people blind? Because they are self-satisfied. They’ve got what they want. They don’t want more of God.
When you challenge them on points of further truth, on aspects of teaching or practice in their part of the Church, or on areas of their conduct that need upgrading, they just tune you out. God will tune them out, for their contempt for righteous purity!
He wants a holy Church, a Bride without spot or wrinkle (Eph 5:27), not a compromising lukewarm lot.
People who are full of themselves are devoid of the things of God. They are not poor in spirit (humble); not meek (teachable); they don’t hunger and thirst for righteousness; they don’t care for more of God, except the nice ‘bits’ that please themselves.
We are all called to lay down our lives, so that we can accept His. But for too many believers, their own pride and self-will keep Him distant. They don’t love Him with all their heart, soul and mind. They deceive themselves that they are good enough the way they are, with all their sins and imperfections, and while they adhere to convenient false teachings.
If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy Him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Let no one deceive himself... (1 Cor 3:17,18).
‘Elijah’ Today Contests Falsity
God raised up Elijah to contest the wickedness of king Ahab and queen Jezebel, who had promoted all sorts of false worship in Israel. The worship of pagan gods, and all the corrupt practices that accompanied it, were tolerated in the nation that was meant to be God’s model nation. God commissioned Elijah to contend with the evils. And he did – magnificently!
Today, God’s model spiritual ‘nation’ – His Church – is equally corrupt, although the falsity is not seen by most Christians. The widespread tolerance of false teachings, false ministers, and false practices such as Christmas, Easter, and Sunday observance to replace God’s Sabbaths, provokes God’s ire.
It’s time for another ‘Elijah’ to do his task!
Though the Church (at least some of it) has expected Elijah’s coming – to fulfil Malachi’s words of restoration at this end time (Mal 4:5,6) – it has not anticipated the barrage of confrontation that must accompany it! Almost totally out of touch with the true prophetic, it regards godly correction as hostile criticism, and true redirection as unwarranted, unjust- ified and unwelcome interference.
But look at what Elijah did! He contested with all the false prophets in Israel, and made a public, humiliating show of their falsity (1 Ki 18). Why should ‘Elijah’ in our day do any differently?
Where there is public acclaim there is pride. God brings down the lofty and destroys what is false.
Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility (Prov 18:12).
The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day (Is 2:17).
Don’t think that mega-evangelists are exempt from this assault. The size of their operations, or the mass ‘conversions’ at their rallies, or the miracles of healing there, are not proof of God’s satisfaction with all that is happening. God has an agenda that ALL the large ministries and evangelists are unaware of.
Not only are they unaware, most of them are uncaring about it. They don’t care for God’s agenda. Remember Billy Graham? He had his agenda which everyone thought was God’s, and it was – for a time. But later, when his operation became so big that it glorified him more than Jesus, and when he didn’t move on with the Spirit and accept further truth, that’s when the little of God’s Spirit he had, departed from him. Effectively, he became false:
For [only] as many as are LED BY the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (Rom 8:14).
The following dream was given to Kassahun Ayele, a prophet in Ethiopia, revealing what most would not have known about that ‘man of God’:
Dec. 26/06. Billy Graham. I met a friend of mine from the USA whom I hadn’t seen for a long time. We chatted together about the good old days. When we turned our discussion to religion he told me that Billy Graham is a member of the underground Freemasons. I couldn’t believe what I heard [the response of most believers]. Meaning: Billy Graham is not converted. Comment: I remember telling someone that Billy Graham was a false minister, because what he established was a large institution to glorify his name.
The man I told didn't believe me. He thought Billy Graham was a good man with laudable motives. But the telltale sign of falsity was when Billy G didn't move on and accept the healing ministries, and didn't go on to accept faith for God to heal. All he preached was a halfway house gospel of salvation only, and that was for his own self-glorification as much as Christ's.
Whenever someone draws back from accepting more truth, and refuses to come into the full will of God, they backslide. The eventual outcome of that is to even lose what they think they have – salvation.
Popularity Can Be A Hindrance
There were few (if any?!) miraculous wonders with Billy Graham’s ministry – just big crowds at his meetings. Don’t forget Jesus’ words about popularity:
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets (Luke 6:26).
God has an agenda for those who are lifted up, and who become idols in the minds of people:
The idols He shall utterly abolish (Is 3:18).
All the notable mega-evangelists today, like Benny Hinn, Morris Cerullo, Reinhard Bonnke, et al, have become celebrities – idols – to many. And, it would seem they like the acclaim. I doubt if Reinhard sought popularity, but now that he has it, he is making the best use of it for his own agenda – to try and raise money for his further ‘crusades’. This is, however, only a human approach.
It is human to want to be popular, to be listened to, or to be accepted. Prophets of God are rejected, not accepted. The biblical prophets did their tasks, and a few like Jonah and Elijah were listened to for a while. But most were not, and although Elijah was the most celebrated, he was soon running for his life!
Fire Of God’s Judgement
Elijah declared that there would be no dew or rain, for years, except at his command (1 Ki 17:1). Only a prophet, speaking with God’s authority, can specify such a punishment. That was Elijah’s opening gambit. God backed him up. There was no rain! In the third year of this devastating drought, God told Elijah to go to king Ahab, to inform him that rain would soon be coming (1 Ki 18:1).
In Elijah’s uncompromising approach to Ahab, he told him that the dreadful drought was due to Ahab’s disobedience of God’s commandments (18:18). There is a similar spiritual drought decreed upon God’s people today because of disobedience to God’s will. With no further ado, Elijah, with God’s authority, then required Ahab to summon all the false prophets for a public showdown on Mount Carmel (18:19). You know the story, I’m sure. Elijah called down supernatural fire, confirming the veracity of Elijah’s words, and routing the falsity (18:36-40). Falsity in our day is going to be similarly trounced, and truth verified, by miraculous power – by the long-dead being raised, as explained in Waking The Dead. But that does not banish opposition. Elijah’s life was under threat from Jezebel after his victory (19:2). He fled, despondent (19:4). Why was he discouraged? Because he thought his exploits should have changed things more than they did. John the Baptist was equally discouraged and perplexed (Matt 11:3). God’s ideas and goals are rarely ours. People tend to look for a physical victory or positive outcome, while God often defers it for greater spiritual reasons. Elijah could not understand why what God had done had not completely ousted the wicked rulers, and why the repentance and reform were short-lived. In our time God has poured out His ‘fire’ from heaven, killing the wicked and their livestock, and confirming the veracity of the words of His servants (see When God’s Judgement Falls and Terror At Midnight). Though God does these astounding things, His mind is still not easy to fathom. We have seen deceivers first given a chance by God, then misuse what God gives, turn against us and the truth, and nearly ruin all that we had begun. God portrayed it like this in a dream: 25th February 2008. M. The devourer devours. We were growing plants, but as fast as the plants could grow, they were being devoured. I couldn’t see what was devouring them. They were being totally eaten away like caterpillars eat lovely soft fleshy Brassicas.
In MM’s outreach in Africa, people have been given chances to advance this restoration of truth. But like Elisha’s servant Gehazi was overcome by greed for money (2 Ki 5:20-27), so have others. Money that was sent to enable God’s work to go forward has been misused, and our ‘plant’ suffered great loss. It was not only ours; it was God’s! But no one who defies God, does so for long! Someone had bought ten cows with embezzled money. A few months later I was informed that one morning they were found all lying dead where they were tethered, their tongues hanging out! There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; and one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches (Prov 13:7). Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished... (Prov 13:11).
...the lamp of the wicked will be put out (Prov 13:9). For our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29). ...we shall not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven (Heb 12:25).
Like Elijah, it would be easy to get discouraged without understanding of God’s involvement in all that takes place. But God reassures us in dreams. He allows these things so people can learn. Elijah called down fire from heaven upon an army captain and his troop of 50 soldiers. They were incinerated alive for attempting to arrest him. When a second deployment came to arrest him, they suffered the same fate! (2 Ki 1.) The third captain was not so arrogant, and pleaded in humility for his life. God honoured that genuine attitude (2 Ki 1:13-15). God awaits the same humble response from people today. Pronouncement Against Rebellion
The prophet pronounced judgement upon the king and all who defied God in their idolatry (1:17), and the ignominious end of Jezebel (1 Ki 21:23). True prophets pronounce the same condemnation upon church leaders and believers today who refuse to turn away from syncretism and idolatry which are depicted by the metaphor of Jezebel (Rev 2:20). The prophet’s words do not fall to the ground. Judgement will fall! Elijah’s final supernatural feat was to separate the waters of the Jordan river. Elijah ...struck the water; and it was divided this way and that... (2 Ki 2:8).
‘Elijah’ also supernaturally separates the waters of God’s Word, rightly dividing them (2 Tim 2:15) as part of the Last Restoration, making a way to cross over to the other side. & Malcolm B Heap Bible quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise stated
Further Reading: More Than A Prophet (MTP) The Controversy Concerning Law and Grace (LG) The Faith Once Delivered To The Saints (FOD) Apostasy In God’s Church! (Apo)
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