Understanding The Mind of God:

A Message To The 'Charismatic Church'

4

Getting Specific

When Jesus came, He brought ‘new’ understanding and revelation from God. His teaching exposed the errors of religious leaders with all their hypocrisy and warped tradition.

After Jesus, the apostles and other believers continued in His footsteps. They turned their world upside down! (Acts 17:6, NKJV.)

Such shaking continues. It has never ceased. Wherever God’s Spirit moves, radical reformation and restoration occurs. Where it is resisted, judgement follows.

Malachi prophesied of restoration reaching its climax in this end time, in a counterpart of Elijah’s prophetic work (Mal 4:5,6). Elijah challenged false belief, idolatry and apostate religion head on (1 Ki 18). He restored the truth and knowledge of God.

Opposition against him was immense. He bluntly contested apostate leadership, who accused him of being the problem:

‘I have not made trouble for Israel,’ Elijah replied. ‘But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals...’ (1 Ki 18:18).

God’s prophets today are likewise falsely accused by leaders. The light bringer is always repulsed by the comfortable established churches or groups. They are well-off and don’t want their convenient stability undermined. But to God, restoration of truth is right. The preservation of what is expedient is wrong!

Truth That Must Be Restored

Satan does not want truth restored. He opposes it at every turn. And, he knows how to infiltrate moves of God to destroy what God has begun. The more such moves grow in physical terms, the more the devil is able to make inroads within. Heresy and apostasy spread like cancer. Once false teachings become established traditions, it is virtually impossible to replace them with truth.

Church leaders generally put physical stability before spiritual purity. They don’t want their little world turned upside down!

It is no wonder the established churches resist what God is now doing! They are riddled with false ministers – charismatic churches, too. Men of ability and charisma have risen high. They have drawn away people after themselves, true to Paul’s prophecy:

I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after themselves (Acts 20:29,30).

That distortion of truth is evident in charismatic, evangelical and pentecostal churches throughout the world! It is the fruit of false ministers in the Church! Heretical teachings are rife and apostasy is ripe! In fact, these fruits are now so over-ripe they are rotten! Their mush breeds maggots and is not fit to feed the Bride of Christ! The time has come to discard worthless tripe and receive fresh revelation for a new crop to be borne.

It is time for ‘Elijah’ to do His Work. Here is the fresh revelation of ‘new’ teachings to revive the Bride:

1. The Plan of God and His Festivals

I have already mentioned that if the Church had a proper understanding of the plan of God, as outlined in His festivals, she would not misunderstand His agenda for today. Because this is misconstrued, there is a feverish rush to evangelise, proselytise or convert the masses. But it’s not God’s time to try and convert everyone now. Mass conversion is on Satan’s agenda, and it is manifest in Islam, to cite one example.

God’s purpose now is to preach the Gospel of Jesus to the world ‘as a witness.’ A witness does not convert, nor even try to. He presents the facts of the case before the court and leaves the court to make its own decision. The outcome is not his responsibility.

OK, a witness may also present the facts in such a way that the guilty is seen to be condemned, but he does not try to make the guilty party change his ways. That is not his prerogative.

Much of the Church, in its evangelism, has been missing it because it has not appreciated that this is not the only day of salvation.[5] It is the time for the FIRSTfruits to be converted – as the early summer Feast of Pentecost, or Feast of Firstfruits, depicts. But the time of the greater harvest comes in the autumn, depicted by The Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month. It is during the seventh millennium from Adam when this occurs, after Jesus’ return to rule the entire world from Jerusalem. His triumphant return is portrayed in The Festival of Trumpets, on the first day of the seventh month in God’s calendar.[6]

These are memorials in God’s calendar for man, outlining God’s purposes and timing. They help to put prophecies of the book of Revelation into perspective and are a skeleton onto which the ‘flesh’ of contemporary prophecies can be contextualised.

To the open-minded and curious, a detailed study of the book of Acts reveals that the early Church was keeping these feasts. They didn’t cease after Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus did not annul them by His death. He caused alterations to the law of Moses about animal sacrifices, ritual washings and offerings conducted by the Levitical priesthood. The priesthood changed hands, too, and became an entirely different ‘organism’. (As the letter to the Hebrews outlines.) But nowhere can you find anything in the New Testament showing that Jesus abandoned or cancelled these festivals. He just didn’t! Like the Decalogue, they have continued on as a basis for Church practice. And, as I say, if you have an open mind, you can easily see that from a study of Acts.[7]

The Church should be returning to its ‘Hebrew’ roots, observing these days which God ordained for true worship, instead of keeping idolatrous nonsense borrowed from paganism, such as Christmas, Easter, and other non-biblical heathen customs.

God considers these widespread false ‘Christian’ customs as abominations! His express command in His Word for us is NOT to borrow pagan festivities and ‘Christianise’ them (Deut 12:30-31).  Christmas and Easter are two such abominations of subtle syncretism.[8]

How can a holy God be properly worshipped using unholy days, that give more honour to pagans and their gods?! I ask you!!

2. The Sabbath

Just as Luke recorded that the apostolic Church was meeting on festival days which God institut- ed in Israel, so too he described coming together on the Sabbath for fellowship and worship as a correct and accepted custom. Acts 13:14, 13:42-44, 14:1, 16:13, 17:2, and 18:4 are a few examples.

Paul, likewise, authenticated the validity of the Sabbaths, festivals, and new moons as times for the Church to get together. He wrote to the Colossians, to encourage them in their correct observance of these occasions, so they would give no cause for others to find fault with them for the way they were observing these holy times:

Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to [the particulars of] a religious festival, a new moon celebration or a Sabbath day (Col 2:16).

Ironically, this text has been wrested out of context, and turned on its head! Those who hate God’s instituted Sabbaths and holy days have tried to make it say that it doesn’t matter what days you keep, that no one is to judge you for what you keep. It doesn’t say that! And Paul did not mean that. Wicked false ‘apostles’ may like to throw it around to try and justify their rebellion and self-will, but they will be judged by that very text in the presence of Christ one day very soon!

Sunday should not be the weekly day of rest and worship for Christians. Nor can we decide to keep the Sabbath any day of the week (‘one day in seven’). God has decreed which day it is (Ex 20:8-11).

You are not free to decide when to keep the Sabbath. Yours is to decide whether to. That’s all. And you are being weighed in the balances now, to see whether you will.

Keeping the Sabbath is an act of worship. It is part of your willingness to lay down your life, and obey what God says. To the carnal it ‘goes against the grain’. But to the spiritually-minded it is a time for wonderful spiritual rejuvenation and rest.[9]

Despite all the endless philosophising, the spiritual ‘rest in Christ’ does not supersede or annul the keeping of the Sabbath day, as has been widely taught. That is one of the most subtle doctrines of demons![10]

When Jesus warned “Watch out that no one deceives you” (Matt 24:4), He was including you as well as the first disciples. He knew that highly deceptive heresies would arise to delude the most ‘clever’ and ‘spiritual’ believers. He knew that Satan would foist Sunday on Christendom by a deviously orchestrated conspiracy, and then ‘back it up’ with Scripture, misquoted and misapplied. Jesus knew that the devil would be successful in that, because the Sunday alternative is more appealing to the human mind in this world than God’s original truth!

In various revelations, God has spoken about His insistence upon adhering strictly to what He has ordained. Many preachers and elevated ‘Bible teachers’ pervert the truth of His Word with a subtlety that belies their motives. In one dream, God labelled them as PAEDOPHILES! (This is recounted in Sunday Versus Sabbath – & The Final World Crisis.) Why? Because they claim that God’s love over-rides the letter of His law, despite the fact that God made the Sabbath for all mankind and that it is the true ‘Lord’s day’ (Mark 2:27,28). They might just as well commit adultery and say that their privileges ‘in Christ’ permit them this latitude! (Some even do that!)

The majority of Christians don’t want to accept and obey the fourth commandment because it’s not easy in our society. Doing so, for some, risks the loss of job or career, friends or family, church or fellowship. They are not prepared to give these things up in order to obey God’s simple instruction to keep the Sabbath when He decrees that it should be kept. (On the seventh day of the week from Friday evening to Saturday evening. Ex 20:8-11. Lev 23:32.)⁹

When all your friends keep Sunday, and society accepts Sunday as the day off in the week, it is natural to want to do as they do. But at the heart of this response is pride, habit, tradition and fear of man. Habit and tradition are fine so long as they are based on the Word of God, but fear of man is always dangerous. And pride is the satanic root behind it and the resistance to God’s truth.

The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be safe (Prov 29:25).

03. The Biblical Calendar

God has not changed (Mal 3:6), nor have God’s festivals for His people. Jesus did not alter what God gave to Israel to commemorate His plan of redemption for mankind. Nor has He watered down His standards of holiness. 

The apostolic Church observ- ed new moons and celebrated the time of their appearance (Col 2:16). This was essential in preserving the calendar God had ordained.

The calendar which Israel observed was little like ours today, which has been designed by Rome to honour Roman Emperors and fictitious pagan gods. Jesus observed the biblical calendar along with the Jewish people. That is one reason He could not come in our time, and had to come then, because He had to be obedient to all the law of God.

It’s a pity the Church today doesn’t see the same obligation! But, it should. We are called to walk in Jesus’ footsteps, and obey everything in ‘the law’ (Old Testament) other than the Levitical rituals and sacrificial ordinances which pointed to Christ and were exclusively a feature of the Levitical Aaronic priesthood (Heb 7-10).

Without the knowledge of this calendar, the Church misses the mark of God’s holiness in one vital respect: it does not know the time of His visitation. The Feast of Trumpets, which depicts the time of Jesus’ return, occurs on the first day of the seventh month in God’s calendar. If you are not watching for new moons, you won’t know when this should be observed. Could you also miss the time of His appearing? There is a parallel between the physical and the spiritual.

The times when God commanded Israel to come together to worship Him – His festivals – were determined by the appearing of the new moon to mark the first day of the month. These appointed times (Heb. moedim), were not merely symbolic. They were ‘holy convocations’ (NKJV) or ‘sacred assemblies’ (NIV) (Lev 23:2,4,37), and were times when God’s people would come to appear before Him. They were literally times when God would manifest His presence if His people were truly seeking Him.

It is no different today.  Frequently, on these occasions, in our meetings we have experienced the power of God come through more intensely, with a greater outpouring in tongues and prophetic utterance on these holy days.

They ARE markers in God’s calendar for His people, and they ARE holy times. If you are to continue to be part of His holy people, you should keep them, too. While they don’t make you holy, not keeping them will rob you of that privilege of continued union with Him.

4. The Faith Once Delivered

This faith is one which makes today’s Church look totally alien! Keeping the Sabbaths of God, ordained for humanity at Creation (Gen 2:2-3); celebrating the Festivals listed in Leviticus 23 (without the physical sacrificial rituals which were fulfilled by Jesus’ atoning death), such as Pentecost (Acts 2), Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread (1 Cor 5:7,8) and the Day of Atonement or the Fast (Acts 27:9); observing new moons (Col 2:16); not eating unclean foods, including fat, blood and strangled animals (Acts 15:20), all these were an integral part of that faith which Jesus bequeathed to His Church – besides the knowledge of His atoning death, the recognition of justification by grace through faith alone, not by human works, and of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for sanctification.

While justification by faith is accepted and preached, the more practical matters of observance have been overlooked. While the latter do not save by themselves, they add an important dimension to spiritual understanding and to disciplined Christian living – an aspect pitifully neglected by much of the Church, duped by devilish lies that keeping the Sabbaths and Festivals of God is ‘legalism’. It is no more legalistic to give honour to the Creator on those days and worship Him in spirit and truth, as it is to refrain from committing adultery or stealing.

If you claim, because you are ‘in Christ’ and are enjoying ‘His rest’ now through His Spirit in you, that you are free to violate the strict and precise wording of the fourth commandment, you are sorely deceived! Jesus doesn’t give you licence to break His law.

If you think His love gives you that licence, and that the love of Christ is a ‘higher’ love than that which promotes obedience to God’s law of love in His Decalogue, you have been hooked by the devil’s most deceitful bait. You are a spiritual paedophile! It is the same demented reasoning which ‘allows’ a paedophile to justify his abuse of his hapless victims!

While Jesus’ imputed righteousness (2 Cor 5:21) is an essential understanding for salvation, equally essential is the practical righteousness of working out our own salvation by living a holy life. You can’t knowingly break God’s commandments (that is sin – 1 John 3:4) and claim Jesus’ blood covers you (Rom 6:1.2). That violates the most fundamental biblical principle of obedience to God’s commands (Mt 19:17; 1 Jn 5:3). Jesus’ love living in you will lead you into obedience to His law of love, the Decalogue.

If you break one part of that PERFECT law of liberty (Jas 1:25), you are as guilty as if you had broken it all (Jas 2:10).

Teaching that one of the Ten Commandments has been done away or altered to accommodate Church tradition of Sunday keeping – albeit in such a subtle guise that most fail to discern – is no better than that of the Catholic Church which has dispensed with the second command (about idols), and subdivided the last one to make up for the illicit deletion!

You are not to add to, or take away from, the Word of God (Deut 12:32). If you do so deliberately, you will forfeit your eternal life! (Rev 22:19.) And any pastor who deliberately foists heresy on unsuspecting sheep to cause them to stumble or offend to the point that they also lose their salvation, it would be better for him to have suffered the awful fate Jesus described (Matt 18:6).

The Church needs to restore the faith once for all delivered to the saints! [11] Jude fought for it (Jude 3). So should you. Don’t compromise with Thyatira and suffer her dreadful fate! (Rev 2:22.)

5. Church Authority

Hierarchic authority, as in secular government, is wrong in the Church! It is an abuse and corruption of what Jesus ordained (Matt 23:8; 20:25-27). Men get elevated and take Jesus’ place.

If you could single out one custom in the Church that has contributed most to the inroads of heresy and apostasy, it is hierarchic Church authority. It consolidates the position of false ministers, and dictates against little ones who are able to move on in the Spirit beyond the level of their mentors. No wonder Jesus outlawed hierarchy in His Body on earth!

Yet, here we have a Church today that is based upon this profane secular model! Where there is élitism, there is pride.

God gave me a vivid dream one night about this profanity. He depicted the overbearing leadership structure, as a pernicious pyramid, oppressive and stultifying. I will not detail all that here. It is recounted in God’s Church – Whose Authority?

When Jesus turns up in meetings, does He need the leaders to summon Him? Does He have a ‘pecking order’? Does He regard church leaders as His favourites? Of course not! He is non partisan and responds to all who call upon Him from a pure heart, regardless of their station in life or in the Church.

However, in all too many churches today, a corrupt hierarchic system is in place, where the little person is put down and denied the same privileges that are reserved for ‘leadership’ personnel. Leadership by man has replaced leadership by the Spirit, and Jesus more and more has been shut outside the door! Men have taken over His Church!

What can He do? He is now calling out His faithful ones from amidst this ecclesiastical Babylon to fellowship with Him in spirit and in truth. (See vision on page 67.) He is forming them into home fellowship groups, as in the early Church, which soon found it could not meet in the established places of worship, because there was too much resistance to the truth of God and the moving of the Spirit.

6. The Law of God

Antinomianism is a big word, but it is taught by those of small spiritual standing (Matt 5:19). It is the philosophy that opposes obedience to God’s law. Antinomianism in the Church was a trend that developed late in the first century AD (Jude 4, 10), and which gained considerable momentum in the second century alongside anti-Semitism.

After the Roman crushing of Jerusalem a vicious persecution arose against Jews. A distinguishing mark in Judaic behaviour was that they kept the Sabbath day (and they refused to worship the Roman Emperor). Jew and Sabbath had become inextricably intertwined. But faithful Christians also kept the Sabbath. So, when persecution mounted against the Jews, many Christians suffered too. Penalties included imprisonment, confiscation of property, torture and death.

In that atmosphere of oppression, the seeds of antinomianism could germinate rapidly. False teachers arose in the Church teaching that observance of the Sabbath was not binding upon Christians. To provide more impetus to this new doctrine, the Sabbath was dubbed ‘Jewish’. This was part of the conspiracy mounted by Satan through ‘Church Fathers’ whom Jude alluded to:

For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a licence for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord (Jude 4).

They deny Him in several ways. Besides denying His lordship over the Sabbath day (Mark 2:28), they also deny the only sign He gave of His Messiahship (see Timing of Jesus’ Death on page 62).

Many distorted pseudo-spiritual teachings arose, to justify the breaking of the Sabbath command, to enable believers to be more acceptable in a Gentile (and now increasingly) very anti-Semitic society. Another wicked lie was fostered that the Jews were responsible for Jesus’ death, so they should be persecuted and hated. (All people are responsible for His death, because all have sinned. Jesus paid the price of your sins and mine. And it was not the Jews, but the Roman governor Pilate, who had the final say on whether Jesus should live or die.)

The satanic trend in antinomianism developed further against any laws which had ‘Hebrew’ origins (the entire Bible has ‘Hebrew’ origins, but most Christians forget or overlook that), until an entirely ‘un-Hebrew’ Church emerged in the Dark Ages, which modified the Ten Commandments to suit their own purposes. This Catholic Church hounded true Christians and Jews, killing millions of them, and persecuted and displaced all who would not accept Catholic teachings or submit to their authority.

The legacy of this corruption remains in the Church today, in:

a)     Sunday-keeping (or the acceptance of any day replacing the Sabbath) justified by the pseudo-spiritual teaching that our rest is in Christ now.

b)     The replacement of God’s festivals, originally given to Israel, by ones that have pagan origin (Christmas, Easter, etc.).

c)     Ignoring God’s calendar, and the observance of new moons, by which dates for these festivals are determined.

d)     The arising of more subtle antinomian teachings to justify the present apostasy, chief among which is that so long as you love others you are fulfilling the law of God (a distortion of what Paul meant in Romans 13:8).

e)     Disregarding the food laws of Leviticus 11, which warn against harmful meat.

At the root of all these is self-will, selfish interest, and rebellion. It was what fuelled the apostate teachings in the first place. Many believers today prefer to continue down the same route and compromise truth for the sake of expedience and self- interest. God provides justification if you want it. You must choose. Through it, many are choosing perdition by taking the easy way out!

God said through Paul:

The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognised as sin, it produced death in me through what was good [God’s law] so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful (Rom 7:12,13).

God gave us His law to point out how wrong our breaking of it is! It is utterly sinful! But deceitful or misguided antinomians disregard these plain statements of Scripture for their own ends. Paul put himself in their place when he wrote:

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin (Rom 7:14).

The Controversy Concerning Law and Grace exposes what is wrong with the prevalent view of what Paul wrote in his epistles.[12]

7. Spiritual Manifestations

Satan is very active in the Church to prevent you accepting God’s Spirit and the power of God. You may have been delivered from the lies of dispensationalism, so to destabilise you, Satan mounts other tactics. He sends deceptive manifestations in the midst of those that are true. ‘The Toronto Blessing’ has seen this mixture, as have other revivals such as Brownsville, and almost any other you can name.

God’s people who want His righteousness and holiness have a degree of protection from deception according to their degree of submission to God. But false believers who have merely come along for a ‘good time’ end up receiving counterfeit (evil) spirits and counterfeit (evil) manifestations of spiritual power. The receipt of spiritual power is no game, but some people treat it as such, and the devil makes a mockery of the Church through it.

Seeking sensual gratification and fun are at the root of these delusions (Jude 10 and 12). Ministers without discerning of spirits allow – and even encourage – these perversions to take place. Instead of delivering the sick and casting out demons, they are casting out the sick and delivering them to demons!

Our book Testing The Spirits goes into some of the devil’s manifestations which have deluded many in charismatic churches, and provides the principles by which you can be delivered from Satan’s traps.[13]

8. Women in the Church

Women, from the time of Adam, have been put down, their abilities undervalued, and their spiritual gifts under-utilised. It was part of the curse suffered when mankind chose the way of disobedience against God.

Jesus has now ‘reversed’ the curse. He paid the price for reconciliation with God. But for women to be enjoy their rightful place of privilege, disciples today must fully accept His teachings:

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32).

You can only be set free as you know and obey God’s truth. Most believers don’t yet know the whole truth, so they are not completely set free. There is still much more truth to be restored. And the place of women in the Body of Christ is one aspect of that. It is covered in much more depth in the publication entitled The Woman Question.[14]

This is ‘Elijah’s’ time of restoration. God, through His Spirit, is restoring what is needful to those who will accept these revelations.

9. The Godhead and the Holy Spirit

The concept that God is one in three persons is more widely held than any other view of the Godhead. But it is wrong. It is no coincidence that several pagan cultures hold to this view in their religions. Hinduism is one example.

If the supposed third personage of the Godhead were co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and Son, Jesus would have been the Son of the Holy Spirit, not the Son of the Father, according to Luke’s account (Luke 1:35).

Moreover, Paul would have blasphemed the Holy Spirit by default. He failed to mention Him on a par with the Father and Son in all the introductions to his letters.

To many people, the revelation that God is not one in three persons is a devastating blow, because the supposed Trinity is such an accepted facet of long-established theology. Their minds are sent reeling. But this truth is part of the restoration at this time. It is fully covered in the booklet What The Bible Says About The Holy Spirit and also in Why The Holy Spirit?

10. The Rapture

A man recently asked me about the rapture. What did I think it was and how will it happen? I told him briefly what I knew from the Bible, but a subject like this requires more detailed study in God’s Word to perceive the truth, so I gave him our booklet on the subject, The Rapture Theory – Is It True?

The populist teaching in Pentecostal circles provides a nice, comfortable, appealing ‘answer’ to this issue. But Paul prophesied about the trend in false doctrines, that they would appeal to ‘itching’ ears (2 Tim 4:3). This is one that does.

The Church is not going to be raptured away en masse.[15] There is coming a trial of monumental proportions worldwide which is going to test everyone alive. Notice:

...the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth (Rev 3:10, NKJV). For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time... (Matt 24:21), and unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved [alive]; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened (24:22).

There would be no need to shorten these coming days of suffering for the elect’s sake (true believers), if all the elect had already been whisked away from it all in the rapture. There will be small pockets of believers protected physically from the worst of this onslaught but equally there will be many Christians who die (Matt 24:9; Luke 21:12-17; Rev 2:10; 2:13, 16,22; 3:16; 6:9-11; 7:14; 12:11; 13:7,15; 14:12,13; 16:6; 17:6; 19:2).

Jesus says to each one who must suffer and die for Him:

Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer (Rev 2:10, NKJV). Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul [your life, i.e. take away your eternal life]. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul [life] and body in hell [Gehenna] (Matt 10:28).[16]

11. Judgement

The correct understanding of the rapture is tied in closely with the matter of judgement. This is another sorely misunderstood subject. Most are unaware that the entire Church will face its time of severest judgement in the holocaust to come.

Jesus prophesied of this in allegory when He foretold of every stone of the Temple being torn down (Matt 24:2). What man has constructed in the Church is not pleasing to God. Where men have elevated themselves (see point 13), and established churches for their own glorification, God will utterly destroy these idolatrous edifices.

Where the Word of God has been defiled through false teaching, and Christ’s image has been tarnished, everyone responsible will be brought into severe judgement, unless they repent of their deeds (Rev 2:22).

The entire established Church in all its sectors is going to be completely crushed. Daniel prophesied of it in these words:

...when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered... (Dan 12:7, NKJV).

The modern Israelitish nations of America and Britain will also come under severe judgement because of the escalation and promotion of sin. This horrific judgement is described in Why Britain Will Fall Soon and The Imminent Fall of America. The latter contains many contemporary prophecies from God pronouncing judgement upon the Church for various sins. To escape this fierce judgement of God, you must repent of the sins God outlines.

12. Witnessing For Christ

The most successful Pentecostal and charismatic preachers tend to promote the modernist philosophy of taking cities and nations for Christ. They diametrically contradict Jesus’ declaration that His Kingdom is not of this world (Jn 18:36). But they don’t care about that. They want to be popular and highly acclaimed.  So they teach that through intercession and witnessing for Christ, they can cause the Kingdom of God to advance in this age with very physical implications, some even claiming that they are making it possible for Jesus’ return! (‘Kingdom Now’ theology.)

Those who know what Jesus said will realise that this is mere hype at best, and outright lies at worst. This very philosophy was denied by Paul in Romans 10:6. But it is subtle, so it fools many. Witnessing For Christ addresses this serious error.

13. Elevation and Exaltation of Leaders

Church leaders who promote humanistically appealing concepts may not see the motive which underlies their actions. But it is none other than Satan’s!

In his pride he wanted recognition. He coveted worship. He sought elevation and exaltation (Is 14; Ezek 28).

The trouble is, he went about it the wrong way. Anyone who seeks it won’t have it. But those who don’t seek it will have it. That’s the way God works.

It’s the humble who will be exalted (Is 66:2; Matt 23:12). But the proud will be brought to nothing (Is 2:11,12,17; Luke 1:51,52).

There is much pride in charismatic preaching and teaching. The exercise of the gifts of the Spirit, the receipt of manifold revelations has fostered a harvest of pride. That pride has led to spiritual blindness and much wrong doctrine.

It started with church leaders who thought that by jumping on the populist bandwagon, they could further their aims along with those of Christ. But it won’t work. Jesus will not share His glory with another who seeks it for himself. But He will share it with those who are self-effacing, who have no pride in themselves, who are totally empty of vainglory – in short, those who are humble and don’t want glory for themselves.

There is a vile display of arrogance on evangelical TV. It is most prominent in America.[17] Evangelists gather around them other famous names, where they promote each other on the screen, in front of their audiences of millions. They scratch one another’s backs and exalt each other with flattery and adulation.

New believers are often brought into a church environment where such evangelists are revered, where it would be wrong to contest their teachings or opinions, and where subservience of the laity to these spiritual overlords is regarded as essential ‘humility’.

Reverencing men is also still practised in the well established mainline churches, where they are given blasphemous titles such as ‘Reverend’, ‘Most Reverend’, ‘Very Reverend’, etc.. But the ‘biscuit’ must surely go to charismatic leaders, who have exceeded such arrogance. Their faces festoon their glossy colour magazines, in idolatrous pomp, while their magazines’ value as commercial catalogues far outweigh their worth in spiritual terms!

In a vivid dream, my wife was shown one of these ministries corrupted by monetary considerations (and this was Derek Prince Ministries, one of the much more conservative, worthwhile ones!). God portrayed them as a great big shop front with all their goods on display in their window. The trend of commercialisation within the Church, trying to ‘market your commodity’ with human appeal, has brought its own corruption and spiritual decay. Worse still, above this impressive shop window was the name of the ministry, which was drawing attention to itself and to the man who founded it. Instead of being a frontage to the world for the gospel of Christ, it has become an affront to Him, bringing attention and glory to the man (see p 68).

Among the many dreams God has given us about spiritual abuse, He singled out as an example to all others corrupting His ways, one other very prominent ministry – that of Morris Cerullo.[17]

With such abominations masquerading before the world as God’s way, is it any wonder that God will allow it all to be destroyed? Time is short for the Church! Very short!

14. The Timing of Jesus’ Death

Appallingly, the Church promotes a massive lie in the timing of Jesus’ death and resurrection. For most it is unintentional – they have just swallowed the errors they have been taught which were started by heretics. But, it is unforgivable to carry on preaching such heresy when the real truth is presented. It is this:

After Jesus died on the cross, His body was taken down and placed in a tomb, where it lay for three days and three nights, just as He foretold (Matt 12:40). THIS WAS THE ONLY SIGN HE GAVE OF HIS MESSIAHSHIP! (Matt 12:39.) So it is critical. Sceptics can justifiably claim Jesus was not the Messiah – that He was a hoaxer – if He did not fulfil this one sign!

But that’s just what most of the Church teaches! They say Jesus died on a Friday afternoon and arose on a Sunday morning, merely some 36-39 hours later. That’s not 3 days and 3 nights, which is 72 hours. It’s only about half that.

The real truth that Jesus died on a Tuesday and rose on a Friday (exactly 72 hours, or 3 days later) can be deduced from Scripture, when you thoroughly understand the relevant texts.[19] And you can. It’s not that difficult to understand, when explained.

“How could such a flagrant error ever find its way into Church belief?” you may wonder. Simple. Peter explained, and prophesied – it was introduced through false teachers:

They will secretly [people don’t recognise or know it has happened] introduce destructive heresies, EVEN DENYING THE SOVEREIGN LORD who bought them... (2 Pet 2:1).

You and I were bought by Jesus’ death, and saved by His resurrected life. No wonder Jesus said it was the most important sign of His Messianic status!

15. The Prayer of Agreement

One of Jesus’ most commonly misused promises is this:

If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven (Matt 18:19).

Charismatic ministries customarily send out ‘begging’ letters exploiting their supporters and ‘extracting’ finance. The evangelist encourages them, at the same time, to send in their written prayer requests on reply coupons (insinuating that their giving to him will open the door of God’s response to them – a subtle, “If you give to me, you can get from God” philosophy which is blasphemous!). The evangelist later prays over them (often in a public ceremony on TV), ostensibly ‘agreeing’ with every request. The outcome is, supposedly, that God answers the requests, while the evangelist rakes in the filthy lucre.

This is all a farce! How can the evangelist possibly agree with thousands of prayer requests he has not had time to read? And, if he hasn’t read them – and therefore can’t know whether he agrees with them – his ‘prayer’ is merely for show, a vain performance! What if some requests are blatantly unbiblical? Should he be saying ‘Amen’ to what he should never sanction or agree with? Would he be held accountable in the Day of Judgement for these words if they are not righteous?

To anyone with any sense, this practice of praying over a mountain of written prayer requests is dishonest as well as farcical.

More seriously, what if the prayer request offer is a clever ruse to persuade the respondent to part with money: like the Catholic Church did regarding ‘indulgences’? Popes would claim that they could rescind penalties for sin upon payment. They had a ‘price list’ for various sins. The worse the sin was considered to be, the greater the price of the ‘indulgence’. The practice was out- rageously blasphemous. But the Church got stinking rich!

The hidden agenda behind this charismatic tradition is one which links the giving of money to the promise of answering people’s prayers! It is obscene, unbiblical, and should cease immediately!

Besides, Jesus never meant His words to be abused so.

Jesus was talking, in context, about internal disciplinary matters in the congregation, to restore harmony in order to be sanctified. Where two had previously fallen out after one had sinned against another, unity could be restored by following the procedure Jesus advised, and if necessary by presenting the facts before the whole church (Matt 18:15-17). In such a situation, where people can be reconciled and forgiveness shared, the prayer of agreement in the church finalises the reconciliation, which Jesus assures He will honour in heaven, even if only two or three people pray. Thus, the whole assembly is protected from satanic attack that can enter through disharmony.

Remember Jesus' words:

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained (Jn 20:23, NKJV).

The prayer of agreement concerns this spiritual discipline, not trying to get what you want from God!

Charismatic preachers have distorted Scripture and exploited God’s people. It’s now time to repay what they have stolen! (See page 69. Making Merchandise of God!)  

16. Not All Speak in Tongues

This point may seem small by comparison with others, but it’s very important. It’s an imbalance in traditional charismatic or Pent- ecostal teaching on tongues. And it opens the door for the devil.

It is commonly taught that the sign of the baptism in the Spirit is speaking in tongues. In other words, if you don’t speak in tongues, you are not baptised in the Spirit.

While it certainly is a sign, it is not the sign. It is probably the most frequent first sign of the Holy Spirit baptism, but it is not always essential.

I do not have that gift, although I operate frequently in others: prophecy, interpretation of tongues, discerning of spirits, etc. Kathryn Kuhlman, the well known healing evangelist, is another that I can recall who did not receive tongues either. And there were others, equally powerfully used by God and immersed in His Spirit.

Furthermore, the greatest person who has ever lived, who was totally baptised in the Spirit – Jesus – didn’t speak in tongues.

Those who have taught wrongly that you MUST speak in tongues to be baptised in the Spirit have brought condemnation on some who were not given this gift. It has brought them under feelings of guilt, doubt, and loss of self confidence. And even caused them to be looked down upon, ‘judged’ by others.

Others, in order to avert these feelings of inferiority or lack, have been coerced into contriving to speak in false ‘tongues’, a manufactured counterfeit. This is staccato, repetitive, mechanical gibberish, which is either something produced by the intellect or induced by demons, or a combination of both. But it is certainly NOT inspired by the Holy Spirit, and is devoid of the wonderful freedom that the Spirit of the Lord brings (2 Cor 3:17).

17. Spirit Soul and Body

The teaching on this subject[20] in charismatic circles has become such a dogma that, to many, the three-fold make-up of man is an unchallengeable concept! But, it’s just when you think that something man-made has become engraved in stone that God decides to erase it. The lofty traditions of the Pharisees were not felled until they had reached their full height!

There is something incredibly sacrosanct about human traditions in the Church. They become more inviolable than those which God has ordained! Doctrines should never become idols!

Everything that is lifted up or exalts itself against the wonderful nature and purity of God will be brought down. That is the message of the prophets, and ‘Elijah’ is doing His Work today.

Summary

Before Jesus’ first coming, John the Baptist was sent to challenge the religious status quo. He wielded the divine axe, to prepare the way at that time.

Now we are in the time of the end-time ‘Elijah’,[21] and other prophets have been called to wield the divine axe. Their work is necessary to prepare the way for Jesus’ final triumphant return. The Church must be readied. The Bride must put on her robes of righteousness to be accepted by her heavenly Groom. The 10 virgins must awake! [22]

In all the above 17 areas of teaching or practice, the axe must unerringly attack the root of the trees.

John the Baptist wielded the axe against all the hypocrisy and religious sham of his time, and Jesus hailed him as the greatest man who ever lived (Matt 11:11), a prophet of all prophets. John didn’t do it for vainglory, but because of the anointing which was upon him from birth (Luke 1:15). Despite his cutting outbursts, which his proud victims regarded as unacceptably truculent, he was not arrogant like they thought him. He was most humble (Matt 3:11,14). God uses the humble in this work of ‘Elijah’.

So, be aware:

The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Matt 3:10).

 Footnotes

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