Tag Archives: False Teachers and Prophets

COVID-19 Seems To Prove Cessationism

Cessationsim is the idea that more tangible, visible, gifts of The Holy Spirit are no longer given to believers. That, after the completion of scripture, they are only reserved, by God, as He sees fit to use. The outbreak of COVID-19 seems to discredit just about all those who claim to have these such gifts. We will look at two predominate gifts, The Gift of Prophesy and the Gift of Healing, in the season of COVID-19.

The Gift of Prophesy

The Greek word translated “prophesying” or “prophecy” in both passages properly means: to “speak forth” or declare the divine will, to interpret the purposes of God, or to make known in any way the truth of God. Predictive prophesy has been used in scripture on several occasions, most notably, all the prophecies about the coming messiah.

But false prophesying and false prophets exist too. Ezekiel 13:1-7 tells us they “prophesy out of their own imagination” and “who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!.. Even though the Lord has not sentp them, they say, “The Lord declares,” and expect him to fulfill their words.” Brutal.

So, how can we know if someone is a true prophet of God or has the gift of prophesy?

Numbers 12:6 makes it clear that God will prove him true and anything the prophet claims will be in perfect alignment with the nature and character of God and His will. A true prophet does not validate himself, but will be validated by God. If a prophet claims that they “decided” to become one, or was “appointed by man” to be one, they are false (1 Corinthians 12:11; John 5:31-33). God alone decides who will speak for him and how (1 Samuel 19). To validate them and their message, God empowered them to do miracles (Acts 14:3), BUT the miracles are not to be solely relied on but the consistency and unity of the message with God’s nature, character, and will.

A false prophet will be known by their contradictions to Holy Scripture (Revelation 2:20-21). Which is why they HATE being questioned or tested. But, this also reveals them as false too because we are commanded, by God, to “test everything, hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22) and “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1). They WILL produce spiritual fruit, good or bad. THEY will produce a fruit that is rotten and stinks of hypocrisy and contradictions. A fruit of disunity with God’s Word and will. And we CAN see it if we look (Matthew 7:19-20).

Thirdly, if the “prophesy” fails, the prophet is false. That means if the claim falls short in ANY WAY, its a lie, and the person is a liar (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). Signs and Wonders do NOT prove a prophet to be of God, even false prophets will be able to do them (Revelation 13:13-14; Matthew 7:22-23). We also look at the examples in scripture. They are specific. Very specific locations, persons, events, in such detail, they are undeniably true. Like, the birth place of the messiah, Micah 5:2. The virgin birth, Isaiah 7:14. Jesus’ return from Egypt to Nazareth as a child, Hosea 11:1. He will be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver! (Psalm 41:9; Zechariah 11:12).

A prophesy will cut so deep that it will effect the spirit of the hearers. We see all through scripture that true prophets were murdered because of the spiritual power of their words, from God. Jesus even points this out in Matthew 23:37. Jesus, himself, was murdered because his words are like a sword; and are divisive and offensive (Matthew 10:34-37). And we can go on and on about the amazing details of these prophesies, HUNDREDS of years before the events.

So, in keeping these four simple, biblical truths of discernment in mind, let’s look at validated true prophets.

True Prophets and prophesies.

Moses spoke forth God’s warnings about plagues (Exodus 9:14; 11:1; Leviticus 26:25). Deuteronomy 28:59 is brutal: “Then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.” Another predictive prophesy from Moses. Ezekiel 14:21, Jeremiah 14:12, 19:8, 24:10, 49:17; 2 Chronicles 7:13, all predictive prophesy about plagues. And there’s more.

All the prophesies about Jesus, fulfilled (see cited verses above).

Isaiah prophesied in 700 BC that the Kingdom of Babylon will be overthrown and never recover (Isaiah 13:19). This happened in 539 BC, and Babylon never recovered. But, he didn’t stop there. He also revealed it would be reduced not nothing more than a swampland (Isaiah 14:23). When archaeologists excavated Babylon during the 1800s, they discovered that some parts of the city could not be dug up because they were under a water table that had risen over the years.

Ezekiel prophesied in 587 BC that the city of Tyre will be sacked AND that it will be completely destroyed, dissembled, and thrown into the sea (Ezekiel 26:12). Alexander The Great, did exactly that. He took the rubble from Tyre’s mainland ruins and tossed it – stones, timber and soil – into the sea, to build the land bridge so he could attacked in 333-332 BC.

By far, one of the greatest prophesies of all time; Daniel 9:25. This gives the literal time frame from a certain point all the way to the appearance of The Messiah. Beginning year of the prophesy is 444 BC. Now, we must keep in mind that the Jewish prophetic year was composed of twelve 30 day months; that means the Jewish prophetic year had 360 days, not 365 days. Daniel states 69 weeks of seven years each, and each year has 360 days, the equation is as follows: 69 x 7 x 360 = 173,880 days. So, 173,880 days, or 476 years, from 444 BC brings us to… 33 AD… when Jesus publicly begins his ministry… Now THAT is a divine validation!

So, there lies the issue. IF the gift of prophesy is fully functional, the same way it was in the biblical era:

Did anyone prophesy the coming COVID-19 pandemic?

Here we have a Pastor, Marlon Bolton, of Praise Experience Church of North Lauderdale in Florida, claiming to have prophesied it “weeks before Chinese authorities even identified the novel coronavirus strain.” then stated, “We prophesied about the stock market crashing. We even prophesied about the shortage of food in this season. Very accurate.” BUT, his “prophesy” accompanied a call for donations and the heretical “Seed donations” idea. He then said God showed him that seven plagues are “destined for our land. If you give seed offerings, I believe you’ll be covered for these plagues,” There are other really wild heretical things he does too [1, 2].

So, how do we know this guy is a false prophet? He’s greedy (2 Corinthians 2:17, Titus 1:7, 1 Timothy 3:3) and demands money in exchange for “spiritual blessings” (1 Corinthians 3:5-7, 1 Corinthians 4:6-7, Acts 8:18-23). And, his nonspecific simple “claim” has been exposed as false. The stock market didn’t crash, in fact, it is still higher than it was 5 years ago. There isn’t a shortage of food really, I can go into Walmart, today, right now, and buy food. I may be limited to how much I can purchase at one time, but food is there for me to buy. Then comes the “seven plagues that are destined for our land.” Time will tell how true this is but given all the evidence, his disunity with God’s nature and character and poor accuracy reveals he is false when tested.

Then, you have the biggest heretic and fraud of our time, Kenneth Copeland. Prophesying that the end of COVID-19 was a last week. On April 2nd he stated: “It is finished. It is over. And the United States of America is healed and well again.” [3]. Welp, that failed. It is still spreading and people are still dying and today is April 11th. But, he even gets more blasphemous. He states: “In the name of Jesus, standing in the office of the prophet of God, I execute judgment on you COVID-19. I execute judgment on you, satan, you destroyer, you killer. You get out. I break your power. You get off this nation. I demand judgment on you. I demand. I demand.” That’s a bold statement. Let’s test that against scripture. “Yet Michael the archangel, when he was disputing with the Devil in a debate about Moses’ body, did not dare bring an abusive condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Jude 1:9. Hu, so this authority is reserved for The Lord. James 4:12 says “There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy.” and Psalm 50:6 “The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge! Selah” And I’m guessing that ONE judge, isn’t Kenneth. He has ZERO authority to “execute judgment” on anything. This narcissistic, self-idolatry, God’s Word contradictions are the fruit of a false prophet. Also, notice, he hates God’s will and God’s just judgements on the world through his creation, such as COVID-19. So, he’s a false prophet and heretic.

Here’s the deal, Time Magazine [5] and some psychic named Sylvia Browne [4] seemed to have just as effectively predicted COVID-19 as all those who claim to be receiving prophesies from God. That brings shame on the name of the Lord. That belittles the majesty of our Holy God. Why are there no truly deep and detailed prophecies like the ones in the Bible, about COVID-19? Simple answer:

The Gift of Prophesy and Office of Prophet are NOT functioning.

Because if they were, they failed miserably, invalidating themselves anyway. When you test these prophesies and the prophets against God’s Word, they fail. There is a reason why their prophesies can not rise above the level of a atheist psychic…

Okay, so the Gift of Prophesy and Office of Prophet are not functioning, as revealed by God’s ordained will through COVID-19. What about the Gift of Healing? Why not just heal everyone sick?

The Gift of Healing

The spiritual gift of healing is the supernatural manifestation of the Spirit of God that miraculously brings healing and deliverance from disease and/or infirmity (Matthew 4:24; 15:30; Acts 5:15-16; 28:8-9). So what did true divine healing look like in the Bible?

Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law sick with a serious high fever (Luke 38:39). Jesus heals Leprosy (Luke 5:12-14, 17:11-19). Jesus heals people who are paralyzed (Luke 5:17-26, 7:1-10). Jesus heals the blind (Matthew 9:27-31; Mark 8:22-26; John 9:1-12; Luke 11:14-23, 18:35-43). Jesus instantly transforms physical deformities (Luke 6:6-11, 13:10-17, 22:50-51; John 5:1-15). Jesus literally raised people from the dead (Luke 7:11-17; 8:40-42, 49-56; John 11:1-45).

Now all that was done by Jesus. But what did the Apostles, or those with the gift of healing do? 1 Corinthians 12:28 gives a progression of church maturity. First, of course, the apostles, then prophets that speak fourth God’s word because The Bible wasn’t completed yet. Then, the disciples of the Apostles, the teachers. Miracles to validate the Apostles and prophets before the completion of scripture. Then, the gifts of healing, helping, church organizing and leading in all sorts or languages and cultures. And then what? That’s it. Everything is all set up, the church is made, Apostles are validated by God, and Holy Scripture written and complete.

So, the Apostles, the selected few, went around and healed the sick (Luke 9:2-6; Mark 6:13; Acts 4:30, 5:16, 19:11-12, 28:7-9) But not just the “sick,” these dudes were raising the DEAD and instantly curing obvious physical deformities and undeniable physical conditions! (Matthew 10:8; Acts 3:1-10, 8:7, 9:36-41, 14:8-10, 20:9-12).

It is important to first note that Matthew 10:1, Jesus only gives this “authority” to heal, to only his closest disciples. 1 Corinthians 12:9,30 also shows that gifts of healing were not given to everyone. But do you notice something: only the Apostles are described as doing all these healings, even stated in Acts 5:12: “by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders…” And again, in Acts 8:18: “saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given.” Then, in the writings of the Disciples of the Apostles, such as Clement of Rome, Papias, and the authentic writings of Ignatius; they are not performing miraculous healings. So, we can, in fact, conclude that the gift of healing was given only to a select few. And after they passed away, we stop seeing people being raised from the dead and instant physical deformities and conditions being instantly healed.

With the spread of COVID-19, Where did all the charismatic pastors with the gift of healing go?

Why would they need to quarantine themselves? The Apostles didn’t. They went TO the sick, not concerned about themselves becoming sick. Why don’t they, the modern healers, GO TO those who are sick with COVID-19 and heal them?

A prominent Northern California mega-church, Bethel Church, whose members believe their prayers heal the sick and raise the dead is advising the faithful to wash their hands, urging those who feel sick to stay home, canceling missionary trips and advising its faith healers to stay away from local hospitals [7]. And this quote from the church says it all: “Though we believe in a God who actively heals today, students are not being encouraged to visit healthcare settings at this time, and moreover, are taught that even under normal circumstances, they must receive permission from both the facility and the individual before engaging in prayer,” Why are they not being encouraged to heal those in need? The Apostles WENT TO WHERE the sick were if the sick weren’t brought to them. And WHY would they need “permission” to engage in prayer? Who is their master, Bethel Church, or God?

Even Bill Johnson has subtle contradictions in his own statement: “Many visit Redding weekly, hoping that God will touch them. I am happy to report that many leave well and whole,” Johnson wrote. “But many others leave in the same condition in which they came. I refuse to blame God for this, as though He has a purpose in their disease. While Jesus did not heal everyone alive in His time, He did heal everyone who came to Him. His is the only standard worth following.” But, these people come to Jesus, through Bill Johnson, in faith, to be healed! He flat out admits that his gift of healing, fails. Is The Holy Spirit a failure? No! Therefore, their “gift” is not of the Holy Spirit, if it can fail. Then, he says this: “Healing happens, but it’s foolish to take unnecessary risks with your health and the health of others,” Hu, I guess the Apostles were foolish…

Considering the predominate church that claims to have the gift of healing, Bethel Church in Redding California; you would think they would be healing their community. Interestingly, As of April 9, 2020, there are a total of 19,472 positive cases and 541 deaths in California [9]. So… why aren’t these 19,472 infected being healed and why aren’t the 541 dead being raised back to life? In their very own county, there are 24 confirmed cases [10]. 18 people in isolation and 47 in quarantine, in their own region. Can they not send just one of their elders with the gift of healing to go heal those people? Apparently not.

Either their [Bethel Church] Holy Spirit is weaker than in the times of the Apostles, or it’s not the same thing. God’ doesn’t change, Holy Scripture is our guide and test; therefore, it’s not The Holy Spirit they claim to be “gifted” by. In fact, their own gifts seem to be powerless against a REAL TRUE health issue such as COVID-19.

Then we hear the excuse, “Well, there were things even the Apostles couldn’t do” referring to Matthew 17:16. But, Jesus didn’t say they couldn’t. Jesus first rebuked them for the lack of faith, and then flat out tells the Apostles it was due to their lack of faith (Matthew 17:17, 20). This sort of admission to justify why their gifts of healing fail is admitting they, themselves, don’t have enough faith in their own gifts; laughable.

The amazing amount of disunity and contradiction to God’s Word; and it become more clear the more you compare their actions and claims to Holy Scripture. God’s use of COVID-19 is a clear judgement on all these prophets and healers and their devoted followers. This seemingly “bad” virus is actually exposing the false prophets and false teachers. God is using it to shine light and expose evil deeds. And for those who continue in their faith in the false teachings and teachers, this is a judgment on them (Romans 1).

re here: https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/religion/article241044316.html#storylink=cpy”

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Steven Furtick and What God Can’t Do

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The lead pastor over at Elevation Church in North Carolina, Steven Furtick, is a rock star. He is a big personality with high dollar speaking engagements. He gets his audience all ralled up with his engaging public speaking style and use bold words and statements. He even got his masters in divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Even Oprah added him to her top list of spiritual leaders (John 15:19)… With all that said, lets get into what really matters; TRUTH.

THE PATTERN OF TEACHINGS:

A) Does not understand the SOURCE of the doctrines of Grace.

In a video posted in 2008, Steve states his church is about ‘kingdom multiplication’ which is good, but then continues on to state “…if that doesn’t get you excited and you need the doctrines of grace as defined by John Calvin to excite you, you in the wrong church. Let me get a phone book. There are 720 churches in Charlotte. I am sure we can find one where you can stuff your face until you’re so obese spiritually that you can’t even move.” That’s an interesting statement to make. Is Steven’s definition of the doctrines of grace true or is John Calvin’s? Are they both true? Are they both wrong? See, he already misses the mark. He assumes the doctrines of grace is defined by man whether its him, or John Calvin… This is due to the ultimate problem with him.

Quick tangent, the doctrines of grace affirm that man is completely lost in his sin and it is only by the grace of God through the person of Jesus that salvation is possible. It is not up to man’s sinful free will, but God’s sovereignty over his creation (Rom. 9:22-23; Eph. 1:4-5). It further states that because of man’s enslavement to sin he is unable to freely choose God (1 Cor. 2:14). Therefore, the doctrines of grace include God’s electing and predestining people to salvation (2 Thess. 2:13), which is by God’s choice, not man’s (John 1:13; Rom. 9:16), and that the saved are eternally secure because their salvation rests in Christ’s work, not man’s faithfulness (John 10:27-28). This is defined by the Bible.

Matt Slick said it well: “Mr. Furtick is entitled to not agree with the doctrines of grace, but to mock them as he did is uncalled for and is potentially a serious spiritual error on his part. It seems that he is not only ridiculing those who hold to the doctrines of grace, but that he is also mocking the very doctrines which the scriptures teach. Is not God a God of grace? Of course he is (Rom. 3:24; 11:6, Eph. 2:8; 2 Thess. 1:12). Mr. Furtick’s mockery divides the body of Christ, helps to create a holier-than-thou attitude and potentially risks a direct violation of scripture.“

B) Does not understand that true Leaders are Servants.

In 2014, a discussion regarding a Children’s Coloring book from his church arose. The text in the coloring book reads, “We are united under the visionary,” and “Elevation Church is built on the vision God gave Pastor Steven. We will protect our Unity in Supporting His Vision.” Who’s vision? Pastor Seven. Children are taught to “protect” and “support” Pastor Seven. Sounds odd to be teaching children to be loyal to their Pastor and what he in-visions instead of Christ and his completed works. Again, another issue his church that is man focused rather than Christ focused. But, no big deal right?

Around that same year, there was an info-graph produced by Elevation Church that made the following statements

1. We serve a Lead Pastor who seeks and hears from God.
3. We serve a Lead Pastor we can trust.
7. We serve a Lead Pastor who pours into us spiritually and professionally.
16. We serve a Lead Pastor who goes first.

The interesting thing about these statements is that they are Pastor Steven focused. Who do they serve? Jesus did not come to be served but to serve (Matt 20:28). Why would a ‘godly’ pastor want to be served and “go first”? (Matt 20:16) Again, no big deal, just another instance of a narcissistic leadership.

This brings us to the premise of his problem: Narcigesis – A biblical hermeneutic where one reads themselves into the bible and writes God out of it.

C) Does not know how to find the TRUE meaning of the passages.

In 2016 Steven gave a message and used the temptation of Jesus as his biblical justification for his message (https://www.facebook.com/StevenFurtick/videos/1139336036087810/). He understood the scripture to be speaking about HIM and how HE can defeat temptation. The problem is that Satan was specifically talking TO and ABOUT Jesus… not us. “If you really are the Son of God…“. THE reason for this story to be in the gospels is that WE can understand who JESUS is. Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded. Adam was created good but not perfect, Jesus is the perfect eternal Son of God. Where Steven Furtick WILL fail, Jesus Will NOT. This passage is ABOUT JESUS and helps us get to know Jesus in a deeper way.

Steven Furtick is The Son of God?

In that same sermon, Steven applies the title “The Son of God” to himself. This may have been a mistake, but, it would fit the context of his message… Another instance where Steven applies The Son of God title to himself is when Furtick claims the “Father” spoke to him that morning, reminding “me that He loves me and that He’s pleased with me”. So Furtick is NOT talking about Jesus here – he is talking about himself. The exact words that God The Father literally spoke to Jesus at this baptism (as prophesied in the OT). He stated ““If you are the son of god? You don’t have to tell me who I am! I know who I am. I’ve always been the Son of god. I’ve always been a child of god. In fact I just spoke with my Father this morning and He reminded me that He loves me and that He’s pleased with me!” Does he not know the difference between being a child of God and who THE Son of God is? Because they aren’t the same. He continues on to attempt to explain what he just said “I’m not the ‘son of god of god+’ that you say I am! I’m a son of god because god says I am. I’m not confident because of what I can do, I am confident because of what god says He WILL do!” He starts to recover and then starts heading down a good road to proclaiming the Gospel Message, the most important message mankind needs to hear… “I’m not forgiven because I’ve earned acceptance, I’m forgiven because god says He has forgi- help me preach!” And then, he changes the topic… he fails to proclaim the Gospel message to millions around the world watching and listening. “Help me preach!“?? He’s the one given, by God, the platform to preach the most important message in all eternity… and doesn’t.

Steven Furtick gets pointers from Satan?

One of the most shocking examples of Stevens failed narcissistic interpretations is when he uses the instruction from Satan, the turn stones into bread and states “I’m not going to do it because I think I can, I am doing it because God says I can!”. Jesus rejected Satan’s instruction because it was NOT the will of God at that time Satan instructed Jesus to do it. It was never in God’s will for Jesus to turn stone into bread during this temptation… Not sure where Steven thinks God is telling him to. Steven isn’t even part of the equation at this portion of scripture. Its all about Jesus.

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me [Jesus]…” John 5:39-40

D) Does not understand that Jesus Is God and that HE is not.

Icing on the cake of his Narcigesis regarding salvation and the sovereignty of God. In 2018, good ol’Stevie posted a video where he made some heretical shameful sinful belief claims. The heresy of Pelagianism is named after its founder, Pelagius of the (354-420). The inherent sin of Pelagianism is that, with an inflated view of man, they have a deflated view of God. A man who is powerful enough to save himself does not need a God powerful enough to save him unilaterally and without assistance.

Stevie attempts to explain Mark 6:5 through Narcigesis interpretation. Steven focuses on the phrase, “could do no” (or “can’t”), in an attempt to explain that Jesus is less powerful than your unbelief. Jesus, The Son of God, GOD HIMSELF, is less powerful than… you. Your unbelief is so strong, that the God, WHO CREATED IT ALL, can’t overcome it. This is the greatest form of Narcissism. When YOU are more sovereign than God. Steven has successfully disgustingly misinterpreted the true meaning of the passage and disgraced the deity of Christ. This is a big deal. This goes to the HEART of Knowing WHO GOD IS! Christ cannot be fully God if He is thwarted by man’s unbelief.

John Gill explained it best: “Or miracle; not that Christ had no power in himself to work miracles, though their unbelief and contempt of him were very great; but it was not fit and proper that he should do any there, since such were their prejudices against him: it is an usual way of speaking with the Hebrews, when either it is not “fit” and proper that a thing should be done, or they “will” not do it, to say it cannot be done; see Genesis 19:22; and even it is said of God himself, “So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of your evil doings”, Jeremiah 44:22. Not but that he could if he would, but he would not; nor was it fit and proper that he should; the same is the sense here: besides, in Matthew 13:58 it is said, “he did not many mighty works there”; and so the Arabic version here, “and he did not many mighty works there”; he did not think it proper to do any of any great consequence, nor did he. Wherefore the Jew (u) has no reason to object this to the divinity of Christ, as if there was a want of power in him. Christ is omnipotent, and he has given proof of his almighty power, by the miracles which he has wrought; and though he wrought no mighty work “there”, yet he wrought many elsewhere, which sufficiently attest the truth of his proper deity: the emphasis lies upon the word there; though he did not work any considerable miracle in that place, he did in others; which shows, that it was not a defect of power in him, that was the reason of it, but something else; and Matthew gives the reason of it, and says, it was “because of their unbelief”: not that their unbelief was an over match for his power; he could have removed that, if he had thought fit, but he did not do it; he, who is the author and finisher of faith, could have took away their unbelief, as the man that brought his dumb child to Christ, concluded he could; and therefore said to him, “Lord, help my unbelief”, Mark 9:24.”

The Totality of Scripture

We must consider the TOTALITY of what the whole of scripture teaches. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). It is God who grants belief (Ephesians 2:8). John 2 completely refutes Steven’s notion as well, for both Mary and Martha conceived of His ability in proximity (vv. 21, 32). Martha confuses Christ’s promise to raise Lazarus as an eschatological promise (v. 24) and still objected to Him rolling the stone away after He corrects her (v. 39). Combine this with other instances of healing the multitudes and demoniacs who were restored without even the prior ability to ask, and we see faith is not a prerequisite for Christ’s miracles. The Lord does as He pleases – and people throughout the span of the Scripture acknowledge this without hesitancy (Psalm 115:3, 135:6; Daniel 4:35; Jonah 1:14). It is God who will specifically violate one’s unbelief; if this were not so, why would any individual cry out to the Lord, “Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). Furthermore, there would be no hope for any sinner if Christ could not override unbelief, for we know that Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the glorious gospel (2 Cor. 4:4).

CONCLUSION

Over the past 10 plus years, Steven Furtick has shown that he doesn’t really know how to properly interpret scripture due to this narcissistic tendencies which is why he seemingly agrees with the 5th century heresy Pelagianism. The lack of church discipline is incredible.

It is a shame that none of his followers seem to have discernment nor does it seem that the South Baptist Convention has a problem with his sinful approach to teaching Holy Scripture. But, none of this comes as a shock either, human sinful nature and scripture has already warned us about wolfs and goats.

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John of God, The Spiritual Healer from Brazil

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John of God is a fairly well known spiritual healer based out of Brazil. He has been interviewed by Oprah and featured on ABC News, Newsweek, and other international news outlets. He is a medium and spiritual healer that performs odd ‘surgeries’ that heal the individuals illness and spirit. He claims to be possessed by ‘entities’ such as dead saints and doctors. He claims that all his spiritual encounters and healings are done by God’s will. Given his region of the world is predominately catholic and mentions the ‘saints’ it would seem that the God he is referring to is The God of The Bible. BUT is he serving God’s will? Is allowing himself to be possessed by ‘entities’ God’s doing? Is he OF God?

The first major problem for John of God, to be actually ‘of God’, is when we read in God’s actual word, Deut. 18:10-12,14; he straight up contradicts The God of The Bible. Within the nation of Israel, the offense of medium or necromancer was punishable by death. Although that physical consequence is no longer required thanks to Jesus and his mercy, the spiritual death remains without repentance (Lev. 20:27). Despite explicitly contradicting God’s own word, which exposes him as a false prophet and teacher, people flock to him.

DOES HE ACTUALLY HEAL?

According to testimonies on his website and on the websites of his followers, of course, he does in fact heal. To validate some healings, the Australian 60 Minutes, followed 40 Australians who traveled to see John of God to be healed. They went through the healing process. John of God channeled an entity who then healed them. He would stick forceps deep into the nose of some and scrape the eye for others. Though none of their illnesses related to the nose or eyes, the ‘operation’ seemed to be conducted carefully. BUT, as James Randi and Joe Nickell who are investigators of such type of supernatural healings point out, these are nothing more than shock and awe acts. It only SEEMS hardcore when he uses knife to scrape someones eyeball or to stick surgical forceps deep in someones nose. The most extreme act that can be done by anyone to seem professionally surgical. The Australian 60 Minutes followed up with the 40 Australians who went to John of God to be healed, and found out that none of them were. In his interview with Oprah he then states that the healing is up to God, implying that some people he tries to heal, even after channeling spirits and scraping their eyes, still may not get healed. That’s an easy cop out considering all the time, money, and actions spent- only to have nothing happen. ABC News Primetime had a biased program special of John of God. They limited the skeptics time to just 19 seconds while boosting the time of Dr. Oz who was more sympathetic to John of God. There were 5 noted attempted healings. A man’s brain tumor shrank. BUT he also had medical treatments before going to see John of God. Why couldn’t the God of the universe make his brain tumor vanish? A second “healing” is someone who felt as though they suffered from chronic fatigue; who, after visiting John of God, feels better. Really? A third is of a man who HAS ALS; and he had no change. A fourth, an actress who had breast cancer, had no effect. A fifth is a paralyzed woman, who “walked” using braces to hold her self up. She can still not walk but “feels” something is improving, except her ability to walk. NOW let us consider the healings of THE SON of GOD and the Apostles.

Jesus fully healed people close to death (John 4:47-50) and raised people form the dead (John 7:11-17, 8:40-42, 49-56, 11:1-45). He instantly drove out possessed people (Matthew 15:21-28, 17:14-20; Luke 4:33-34; John 8:26-39). He healed those with high fevers, but not just any fever, it was high enough for it to be obvious and everyone to be concerned; not just a feeling (Luke 4:38-39). And these weren’t hurt feelings Jesus was curing, they were obvious DISEASES (Mark 1:32-34), like Leprosy (John 5:12-14; Luke 17:11-19) and blood diseases (John 8:42-48). He without a doubt, at that moment, healed people who were paralyzed (John 5:17-26, 7:1-10), literally and obviously blind (Matthew 9:27-31, 12:22-23; Mark 8:22-26; Luke 18:35-43; John 9:1-12), mute (Matthew 9:32-34), deaf (Mark 7:31-37), and crippled (Luke 13:10-17). Other OBVIOUS physical deformities undeniably instantly healed (John 6:6-11). The Apostle Peter heals a crippled person (Acts 3:1-11), Palsy (Acts 9:33-34) and raises people from the dead (Acts 9:36-41). The Apostle Paul heals a crippled person (Acts 14:8-10), casts out demons (Acts 16:16-18) and raises the dead (Acts 20:9-12).

Now, simply comparing, we see that John of God is NOT healing in the same way THE SON of God is healing or the Apostles. Its difficult to tell if he is actually healing anyone at all. IF John of God IS OF God, then why is he not able to heal like the Apostles? NOTICE, that he claims his healing powers come from other ‘entities’ that enter him. The Apostles’ healing power came from God himself.

IS HE ACTUALLY POSSESSED BY OTHER ENTITIES?

It is interesting to note that he does not drive out demons or people possessed by other spirits. That may have something to do with the fact that he claims himself to be possessed by other spirits. As we see in God’s Word, spirit possession does and can occur. The question is DO people gifted with the supernatural gift of healing need to be possessed by other entities (besides The Holy Spirit) in order to heal? There is ZERO accounts of angels possessing believers to perform miracles. So we can rule out godly angel possession. What does that leave us with now? Have you ever stopped to wonder why God forbid mediums in the first place? See, when people come to faith, and know the true living God, they are filled by HIS Spirit (Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). Leaving no room for other spirit possession. Plus, why would you even need another spirit to enter you when you have GOD HIMSELF in you? BUT Hey, if John of God claims to be possessed by other entities besides The Holy Spirit (and can’t be godly angels either) than we can take his word for it because that is supported by God’s Word, just maybe not the kind of entities he thinks they are. In fact, we would concur that he is filled with non-godly entities because why else could he confidently contradict God’s Word and be deceived?

IS HE A CON-ARTIST?

There are some key points to consider. (1) He uses pseudo-medical operations unrelated to the area of issue and the same ‘operations’ used by previous exposed healing con-artists in the past. If he CAN heal AND is OF GOD, why not actually perform a real operation IF he is in fact OF GOD? The Apostles healed cripples and raised people from the dead; IF he is a supernatural healer of God, he should be able to as well? The major rhetorical question is, why doesn’t he? (2) He set up his own compound called the CASA where people from around the world spend thousands of dollars to go; if he is OF GOD, why doesn’t he heal from a distance like Jesus did or go to where the sick are, like hospitals? WHY does he have people spend thousands of dollars to travel and accept even more money from people once they get there (after spending thousands on traveling costs already)? Jesus not only healed while he was traveling but he ALSO went to places where the sick congregated; for free (same with the Apostles). Something interesting to point out here, there was a slave girl who told fortunes and made her master rich, but was possessed by demons (Acts 16:16-18). Have you heard of Simon Magus or Simon The Sorcerer? The people who followed this guy proclaimed “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God”, sounds familiar right? This guy was even baptized by Philip. BUT he did not have the Holy Spirit. Instead, he wanted to BUY the power and use it for material gain. But Peter sharply rebuked him (Acts 8:9-23). (3) The most obvious point to consider, if he is OF GOD, why does contradict God? (4) Satan, and demons have the abilities to do signs, wonders, and what seem to be miraculous things. Some who DID miracles in the name of Jesus, Jesus himself didn’t even know them (Matthew 7:21-23). Jesus warns us of false people who can do great signs and wonders (Matthew 24:11,24). Even in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was warned about false people who can do amazing things (Deuteronomy 13:1-3). Thus, miracles are not proof that he is OF GOD.

WHAT MAKES HIM ANY DIFFERENT?

When considering the slave girl (Acts 16:16-18) and Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-23), what makes John of God any different? Nothing really. They all performed amazing acts and gained a following of believers that made them wealthy and they all were not OF GOD. Simply calling your self John of God does not make you of God. Well, maybe it does in a different way; it identifies him as of God and ruler of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19; John 12:31). The god who masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). But being OF GOD, the eternal creator of the universe, that is clearly a big no. And all one has to do is study The Bible to see.

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When Someone Says "The Lord told me…"

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Some people will claim God spoke to them directly, either verbally, in a vision, in a dream, on their private air plane, or they were lifted up to heaven and met God face to face. But are their claims true? If these claims are true, what are the implications? If they are not true, what does that mean for the person making that claim? How can we know the trustfulness of their claims? We need to seek God’s actual word to test these type of claims.

Face Value

Why are we not to take their claims at face value? The Apostles (The Holy Spirit) explain why in a very clear way. Paul (The Holy Spirit) encouraged and praised the Berean church when they tested what they were taught against Holy Scripture (Acts 17:11). John (The Holy Spirit) does not just suggest but commands us to test teachings and its teachers to determine if they are from God or not (1 John 4:1). People claiming the same things the Apostles claimed, personal encounters and experiences with the risen Jesus, are to be put to the test (Rev. 2:2). And we are called to have righteous judgement (John 7:24) because Jesus tells us that we CAN and WILL know them to be true or false (Matthew 7:16). When rightly judged, we are even called to refute and expose those who contradict God’s actual word (Titus 1:9; Eph. 5:11). THAT is why we do not take something at face value if it seems different from the true gospel message.

WHEN someone quotes God’s new (extra biblical) sayings:

When God spoke to the Prophets of the old Testament, they recorded exactly what God wanted them to record. When the Apostles spoke with Jesus and had visions from heaven, they recorded exactly what God wanted them to record. BUT somethings were not meant to be recorded (2 Cor. 12:2-4; John 20:30; Rev. 10:4). The point is that specific chosen individuals, The Prophets and Apostles, were tasked with writing Holy Scripture and the very Words of God.

Kenneth Copeland gave a claimed prophecy in which Jesus allegedly said, “They crucified Me for claiming that I was God. But I didn’t claim I was God; I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was in Me.”(Kenneth Copeland, “Take Time to Pray,” Believer’s Voice of Victory, February 1987, 9.) THAT IS HUGE! He did he just quote the very words of God?! If so, is this not the same as Holy Scripture?
Paul Yonggi Cho, pastor of the world’s largest church, located in Seoul, South Korea claims to have received his call to preach from Jesus Christ Himself, who supposedly appeared to him dressed like a fireman. (Dwight J. Wilson, “Cho, Paul Yonggi,” Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 161.). THAT IS HUGE! Did he just meet the risen Christ?! Then Cho recently made the news by changing his name from Paul to David. As Cho tells the story, God showed him that Paul Cho had to die and David Cho was to be resurrected in his place. According to Cho, God Himself came up with his new name.(Paul Yonggi Cho interviewed by C. Peter Wagner, “Yonggi Cho Changes His Name,” Charisma & Christian Life, November 1992, 80.). THAT IS HUGE! He must be an Apostle like Paul!
Morris Cerullo purports to have first met God at the tender age of eight. Since then his life has been one mind-blowing experience after another: he says he was taught by leading rabbis;(“God’s Faithful, Anointed Servant, Morris Cerullo” (promotional literature, on file). led out of a Jewish orphanage by two angelic beings; (Cerullo, The Miracle Book, ix; and 7 Point Outreach — World Evangelism and You (pamphlet), 4.) transported to heaven for a face-to-face meeting with God;(Cerullo, The Miracle Book, xi.) and told he would be capable of revealing the future. WHAT? NO WAY, he met God face to face and lived!
On the Something Good Tonight programs of Tuesday and Wednesday, October 26th and 27th, 2004, Oral Roberts related a second vision or conversation he allegedly had with God the Father recently. God supposedly revealed to Oral that the second coming of Jesus is delayed, and being blocked because of the indebtedness of God’s people, and by the fact that most of them are not returning a faithful tithe. OH SNAP, Better give more money!
Benny Hinn posted on twitter stating: “I saw Jesus walk in my bed room”. THAT IS HUGE! He witnessed personally and literally the risen Lord and Savior, present in his bed room!

Given the role of the offices of Prophet and Apostle, these men would then be Prophets and Apostles! Thus, they write Holy Scripture, apart from the bible! Or… at least that’s what the implications ARE for them to be true. All someone has to do is listen to their broadcasts and at some point they will tell a story about how they have seen the risen Lord and quote from him in some form or fashion.

If anyone says “The Lord told me…” and then they proceed to quote the Lord in their books or blogs, they are recording God’s Word, except its new, and not in God’s Word, the Bible. If we compiled all those quotes from these type of people, we could generate the Word of Faith Prosperity Bible and we could all have the new additional words of god. See, that’s the crux of it all. If you believe that these people actually heard God speak to them, how can you pick and choose which modern ‘prophet’ is of God?

TRUE OR NOT

Their claims are either true and thus carry with them the authority of God because, after all, they are his words right? Or their claims are not the actual words of God and they are liars and deceivers, even if they believe their own claims. People who believe these teachers MUST then believe that God’s real Word, the complete bible, can be added to and supplemented. That is exactly what Kenneth Copeland, Cho, Paul Yonggi, Morris Cerullo, Oral Roberts, and all the others like them teach and DO. That is a slippery slope that leads only one way. Because, then, how could Word of Faith followers denounce Islam? or Mormonism? or Jehovah’s Witnesses?

THE HYPOCRISY

As Word of Faith teachers continue to have more visions and prophetic utterances of God’s actual Words or messages from angels, it is then hypocritical to say that Muhammad, Joseph Smith, or Charles Russell are false prophets. All of which claim special revelations from God and make claims of truth from God outside of the bible. If they deny Muhammad’s, Joseph Smith’s, or Charles Russell’s visions and prophecies than they are hypocrites, but if they accept them than they are in direct contradiction of what Jesus said in John 14:6.

THE IMPLICATIONS:

They are Prophets of God
They record God’s Words to them
They have witnessed the risen Lord and Savior
They are Apostles
They write Holy Scripture outside of The Bible.
The Bible is not sufficient.
Muhammad, Joseph Smith, and Charles Russell must also be true

WHEN SOMEONE SAYS “THE LORD TOLD ME…”

When someone, anyone, claims that the Lord told them something, anything, we must ask them (1) how do they know Muhammad’s, Joseph Smith’s, or Charles Russell’s visions and prophecies aren’t from God either then. When someone, anyone, claims that the Lord told them something, anything, we must ask them (2) why it was not recorded in the Bible and why they should not write an addition to the bible with those new revelations. Yes the Bible does not specifically talk about Internet Pornography but we CAN understand how it is sin through what scripture has revealed. We must also ask (3) why John’s written testimony in The Bible is not sufficient (see John 20:31). We must ask why (4) all that was once delivered from the OT Prophets and NT Apostles is not enough (see Jude 1:3). We must ask them WHY because we are called to! To protect us from being deceived and believing a false teacher and false prophet.

Even if the prophetic utterance is so basic as to tell someone something personal like “God told me he wants you to be happy”. We must ask why The Holy Spirit did not reveal that to them already through The Bible (Heb. 4:12; 2 Tim. 3:16-17). They even say things like “God wants you to walk up to someone in jeans and a blue shirt and speak blessings over them”. The question is WHY you are not approaching people with the gospel to begin with as it has already been made know that it is your duty to as a follower of Jesus? Secondly, the details like that, are so general that eventually, it will fulfill itself even if it was not from God.

If Scripture (The Bible) is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work, than what else is lacking? That’s the point, God’s Word renders these additional revelations as pointless and unnecessary.

THE OBVIOUS FAILURE:

The most obvious failure is that people who believe in the Word of Faith teachers do not KNOW God’s Word well enough to TRUST IT completely; if they need these guys to make them feel as though it is more complete. They feel the need to hear these extra biblical messages because they are not satisfied with ALL that God has actually revealed in scripture already. These Word of Faith teachers would not have such a large audience if the people of God truly sought God’s Word already. But this could also be because it is a heart issue.

THE HEART ISSUE:

The Word of Faith teachers justify themselves through their own teachings which justifies their lifestyles of self happiness and wealth. Their audience desire the same thing. Its natural. They want to be happy in their lifestyles and desire wealth (blessings) as well. Taking it deeper, the ultimate reasoning is to be like God; and some Word of Faith teachers are not scared to admit it. The popular Word of Faith teachers even teach that they and their followers are like ‘little gods’ and thus can make themselves wealthy (blessed) because of their own divinity. Kenneth Hagin has asserted, “man…was created on terms of equality with God, and he could stand in God’s presence without any consciousness of inferiority (which is a blatant lie given what is revealed in actual Holy Scripture Gen. 18:27; Isaiah 6:5; Rev. 1:17)…. He made us the same class of being that He is Himself…. He lived on terms equal with God…. The believer is called Christ, that’s who we are; we’re Christ” (which again is a blatant lie: Matthew 24:23) (Zoe: The God Kind of Life, pp. 35-36, 41). Morris Cerillo says “the whole purpose of God was to reproduce Himself. …you’re not looking at Morris Cerillo, you’re looking at God, you’re looking at Jesus” (The End Time Manifestation of the Sons of God, Audio Tape 1, Sides 1 &;2). Kenneth Copeland’s remarks, “You are not a spiritual schizophrenic — half-God and half-Satan — you are all-God”(Ibid., 16-17.) and “You don’t have a God in you; you are one, When I read in the Bible where God tells Moses, ‘I AM,’ I say, ‘Yah, I am too!‘”(This is straight up blasphemy! see Isaiah 45:5) (Kenneth Copeland, The Force of Love (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1987, audiotape #02-0028), side 1.). Welp there it is. THIS IS the very first temptation from Satan in Gen. 3:5. First he distorts God’s Word, like the Word of Faith teachers do, and then he tells them they will “be like God”; exactly as the Word of Faith teachers say. How ironic. Yet, they have followers who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ who think they are like God and little gods.

Conclusion

When someone claims that God literally told them something; test it! Do not automatically denounce it as false because who knows, maybe God did talk to them. BUT do not automatically believe it either! Do what The Holy Spirit instructs us to do and TEST them. See TEST OF PROPHECIES page for Biblical ways to test and rightly judge what which is from God or not. If we are to believe what they claim at face value, the implications are huge and can lead us to blaspheming God’s Holy name and truth and believe in heresies.

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Are There Prophets Today?

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Much like Apostles, there is the Office of The Prophet and gifts of prophecy; two separate things. We know both existed and used in the days of The Bible but did they continue on after all the Apostles of Christ died? The word itself, prophecy can mean various things. We need to see the biblical definitions and uses of the word, then analyze the character of its use in scripture, research church history and compare with modern claims.

The Office of Prophet

We can peice together the bibical definition of the Office of Prophet in the information put forth in Exodus 6:28-7:2, Numbers 12:1-8, and Deuteronomy 18:9-22. These verses make it clear that The Prophet is one who is chosen by God and speaks forth the message to people which God has revealed to him. Forthtelling and foretelling are two different types of messages. The later is less frequent. Forthtelling involved insight into the will of God; it was exhortative, challenging men to obey. On the other hand, foretelling entailed foresight into the plan of God; it was predictive, either encouraging the righteous in view of God’s promises or warning in view of coming judgment. The divinely chosen person would be charged with God’s message, proclaimed it in oral, visual, or written form to the people on God’s behalf. It was their duty to admonish, reprove, denounce sin, threaten with the terrors of judgment, call to repentance, and bring consolation and pardon (Jonah 3:4). Predicting the future was never intended merely to satisfy man’s curiosity, but was designed to demonstrate that God knows and controls the future, and to give purposeful revelation. The prediction given by a true prophet would be visibly fulfilled.

Old Testament History of Prophets

Now considering the historical perspective of this Office, it was rare. Noah was technically the first Prophet post Adam. God spoke directly to him and he attempted to relay the warnings of the coming judgement to the people of the world; but of course they didn’t listen to him. Him as prophet was validated by God flood. Then God spoke directly to Abraham and the was validated by God faithfully proving what he had revealed to Abraham (Genesis 12:2–3). Next was Jacob, whom God spoke to in visions and later foretold the future that also was faithfully validated (Genesis 49). Then there was Joseph which God spoke to him through visions of the future and allowed him to interpret dreams (Genesis 37, 40, 41). Then there is Moses. No doubt God spoke to him directly and validated him as a Prophet. God even made his brother, Aaron, a Prophet, and mouth peice of Moses (Exodus 7:1–7). Moses’ sister was also revealed to be a Prophet but nothing is recorded of what she declared besides the fact that eventually, her and Aaron spoke out of their own accord and not of God (Numbers 12). The office of Prophet was temporarily given to The seventy elders of Israel during Moses’ time as well (Numbers 11:25). Got not only allows people to temporarily fill the office but also allowed for evil men to be Prophets as well. Balaam was such a prophet (Numbers 22–24) who’s sin Jude warns about (Jude 1:11). After Moses died, Joshua took over and God spoke to him and validated him as well (Joshua 1:1–9). Then came Deborah, the only recorded female judge of Israel (Judges 4:4). In Judges 4:6–7, Deborah either passed on God’s message to the military commander Barak or enforced it; in Judges 4:9, she related a prophecy of future events. Then came Samuel. Samuel received his first message from God in 1 Samuel 3:4 when he was a small boy. He spent his life as God’s messenger; two of his most significant acts were anointing Saul (1 Samuel 9) and David (1 Samuel 1:13) to be king. Samuel’s words of God’s wisdom to Saul went mostly unheeded, and Samuel even returned from the grave to announce God’s punishment for Saul’s disobedience (1 Samuel 28:15–19). Again, another instance where God called another seventy prophets (1 Samuel 10:10). Gad was a prophet to received a message from God to give to David (1 Samuel 22:5). Nathan seems to have been David’s primary link to God’s words. In 2 Samuel 7:4–17, Nathan told David that Solomon would build the temple. In 2 Samuel 12:1–15, Nathan rebuked David for committing adultery with Bathsheba and killing her husband. God spoke to King David revealing details about the coming Messiah (Psalm 8; 22; 110). The Tabernacle musicians in First Chronicles 25:1–7 who were appointed by King David prophesied through their music. In 1 Kings 3, God asked Solomon in a dream if there was anything Solomon would like from Him. Solomon chose wisdom. Elijah was probably the most significant prophet who didn’t write his own book. He proclaimed God’s word in the northern kingdom of Israel at the time of the evil King Ahab. It was he who ensured a widow was always supplied with oil and flour (1 Kings 17:8–16), who had a showdown with the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:17–40), and who was strengthened by God’s still voice in his fatigue and depression (2 Kings 2:1–11). At the end of his life, a chariot of fire took him to heaven, and his mantle fell to Elisha as his successor (2 Kings 2:1–12). Ahab had four hundred false prophets who told them God was with them, but Jehoshaphat insisted on a prophet who actually heard from God. Ahab knew of one, but was reluctant to call him, since he never had anything good to say. Micaiah revealed that God had sent a lying spirit to the four hundred prophets in order to lure Ahab to his death. Ahab went to battle anyway and was struck and killed by a random arrow (1 Kings 22:13–28). Elisha was Elijah’s successor and the second-most important prophet without a book. He spent seven or eight years as Elijah’s apprentice before Elijah was taken to heaven. He then helped wipe out organized Baal worship (2 Kings 10:28), brought a widow’s son back to life (2 Kings 4:18–37), and cured Naaman’s leprosy (2 Kings 5). His power and authority through God was so great that, when a dead man was thrown into Elisha’s grave, the man sprang back to life (2 Kings 13:2–21). After Judah’s crops were obliterated by a swarm of locusts, Joel compared the devastation to what God would do if the people didn’t return to Him. Joel also predicted the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Joel 2:28; cf. Acts 2:16–21). Amos was a Judean shepherd who was tasked with prophesying against Israel. His warnings were ignored, and Israel was taken into captivity by Assyria some time later. God had Hosea marry a prostitute who remained unfaithful after they married. To show how God longed to forgive His people, He told Hosea to take Gomer back. In addition to the message to Israel of God’s faithfulness, Hosea includes a prophecy that Gentiles would one day follow God (Hosea 2:23). Isaiah holds the record for being the prophet who is most quoted in the New Testament. He was an advisor to King Hezekiah of Judah but also had to walk barefoot and naked for three years as a portent against Egypt and Cush. His book contains prophecies of Jesus and John the Baptist, and Jesus used Isaiah 61:1–2 to begin His ministry in Nazareth. It’s possible that Isaiah was also a priest (Isaiah 6:4). Micah served as a prophet during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah. His message mixed condemnation of sin with the promise of the coming Messiah. His book contains the only mention of Bethlehem as the place of the Messiah’s birth. Jeremiah was one of the last prophets of the Kingdom of Judah and watched helplessly as it was picked apart by the Babylonians. Known as “the weeping prophet” because of how his words from God affected him, Jeremiah also gave the people a word of hope that they would return from captivity in 70 years. His counsel to submit to God’s judgment was ignored, and he was eventually taken to Egypt with the remnant of the royal family (2 Kings 25:26). Jeremiah also wrote the book of Lamentations, a lament for the fall of Jerusalem. Habakkuk covered a lot of ground in such a short book. He prophesied Assyria’s fall, the Babylonian exile, and the future victory of the Persians. His prophecies were revealed in the context of a conversation with God, wherein Habakkuk asked God questions, and God responded. In the visions and angelic encounters of Daniel 7–12, Daniel revealed more about the end times than any other book besides Revelation. Ezekiel’s book of prophecy appears somewhat psychedelic, with its strange visions. Ezekiel was a priest exiled to Babylon in the second wave of deportations and relayed God’s judgment to the rebellious people. He also made several prophesies about the future, including the coming of Jesus, the New Jerusalem (Ezekiel 48:30–35), and the millennial kingdom (Ezekiel 44). Ezekiel was one of the few prophets who eagerly spread God’s message no matter what the resistance he encountered—although that may have been because God told him if he didn’t prophesy he would be held accountable for the souls of those he didn’t warn (Ezekiel 33). Malachi was the last prophet to prophecy in Israel until an angel visited Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. As such, Malachi’s message was a call to obedience and a promise of the coming Messiah. Following Malachi’s oracle were 400 years of divine silence. Not every single person who heard from God is named here but given the population of the world over these thousands of years, a Prophet of God was very rare. [1]

In the New Testament, there are only 24 named Prophets of God or gifted with prophesy and 4 named false prophets. Given the early church history; the 12 Apostles, 70 disciples, 500 eye witnesses of Jesus, and thousands of people who came to faith at Pentecost and thousands more during the ministries of the early church; again, a Prophet of God in the early church was also rare.

Now considering the history from Noah, all the way to John, there were only a couple hundred prophets in scripture over the thousands of years. The Office of The Prophet was every exclusive and rare; even after The Holy Spirit descended upon the church.

Did The Office of Prophet Continue?

In Ephesians 4:11 Paul notes the designations of Apostles and Prophets. Some jump to the conclusion that because he notes this after Pentecost that this must mean they continued. But considering the history and time of his statement, we see that many of the Apostles and Prophets in the NT were still alive; thus the chosen office holders were still alive, still holding the office. Those positions were still in present tense at the time of his writing. This does not say anyone will be following after them. Also, The Office of Prophet is not the same as the gift of prophecy.

The Gift of Prophecy

Paul then explains how the gift is different from the office. In 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 he addresses the gift. 1 Corinthians 12:3 opens up and states “…no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.” Does this then make every professing Christian hold the office of Prophet? No. He then reveals the ‘gift’ rather than the office when he states “Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.” in the next verse. 1 Corinthians 12:10 notes the gift of prophecy which is more specific and different than just professing simply Jesus is Lord. In 1 Corinthians 14:1-3 he elaborates on this gift. “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and above all that you may prophesy. ²For the person who speaks in another language is not speaking to men but to God, since no one understands him; however, he speaks mysteries in the Spirit. ³But the person who prophesies speaks to people for edification, encouragement, and consolation.” He then continues “I wish all of you spoke in other languages, but even more that you prophesied. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in languages, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up.“. Why is this kind of prophecy greater than speaking and interpreting languages? He then goes in into 1 Corinthians 12:22-25 “But prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. ²³Therefore, if the whole church assembles together and all are speaking in other languages and people who are uninformed or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds? ²⁴But if all are prophesying and some unbeliever or uninformed person comes in, he is convicted by all and is judged by all. ²⁵The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is really among you.”. The big question here WHAT is being prophesied and what makes it greater than being able to translate and speak other langauges? We see that The Prophets spoke the word of God to the people. Paul declares in 2 Timothy 3:16 that “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness“. Hebrews 4:12 declares “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.“.

And there it is. The Gift of Prophecy declares The Word of God; and THAT is greater than knowing more than one language. The Word of God is for believers in that it teaches, rebukes, corrects, and trains in righteousness. The Word of God convicts and judges the hearts of unbelievers and when it penetrates their soul, they fall facedown and worship God! REMEMBER the time period. In most cases, during this time, not all the writings of the New Testament have been written. The Apostles did a lot of traveling and were not always present at the churches. How then did these early churches hear God’s Word? Through those who were gifted with prophecy in the absence of The Apostles. Just as in the Old Testament, those who were gifted with prophecy could also be validated by those whom were gifted with miracles and healing; just as the Apostles themselves were validated. This is why the gift of prophecy existed in the early church, during the time of the Apostles as Paul noted. The big question is:

Where there gifts of prophecy in the church post-apostolic age?

Again, we must take into consideration the time. By that time, after John, all the Apostles wrote Holy Scripture. We can then look at the writings of the generations of the disciples of the Apostles to see if they record a continuance of the gift of prophecy. Clement of Rome, appointed by Peter and disciple of John wrote pointing to the previous writings as his authority and did not exorcise any gift of prophecy. Papias of Hierapolis, a disciple of John and friend of Polycarp who was also a disciple of John also did not note any continuance of the gift. Ignatius of Antioch, appointed by Peter and a disciple of John, who was also friends with Polycarp does not note a continuance of the gift. Polycarp of Smyrna, a friend of Papias and Ignatius, and disciple of John also does not in any of his writings note a continuance of the gift. Irenaeus of Lyon, who was a disciple of Polycarp wrote extensively against heresies in his day, always referred back to what had been written by The Apostles and does not note any true continuance of the gift.

Irenaeus does however give an account of a Marcus who claims to prophesy. It is very interesting how this self proclaimed prophet teaches another woman to prophesy, because it sounds very familiar to the efforts of Word of Faith and Charismatic people now. “It appears probable enough that this man possesses a demon as his familiar spirit, by means of whom he seems able to prophesy, and also enables as many as he counts worthy to be partakers of his Charis themselves to prophesy… he frequently seeks to draw after him, by addressing them in such seductive words as these: “I am eager to make thee a partaker of my Charis, since the Father of all doth continually behold thy angel before His face. Now the place of thy angel is among us: it behoves us to become one. Receive first from me and by me [the gift of] Charis. Adorn thyself as a bride who is expecting her bridegroom, that thou mayest be what I am, and I what thou art. Establish the germ of light in thy nuptial chamber. Receive from me a spouse, and become receptive of him, while thou art received by him. Behold Charis has descended upon thee; open thy mouth and prophesy.” On the woman replying, “I have never at any time prophesied, nor do I know how to prophesy;” then engaging, for the second time, in certain invocations, so as to astound his deluded victim, he says to her, “Open thy mouth, speak whatsoever occurs to thee, and thou shalt prophesy.” She then, vainly puffed up and elated by these words, and greatly excited in soul by the expectation that it is herself who is to prophesy, her heart beating violently [from emotion], reaches the requisite pitch of audacity, and idly as well as impudently utters some nonsense as it happens to occur to her, such as might be expected from one heated by an empty spirit. (Referring to this, one superior to me has observed, that the soul is both audacious and impudent when heated with empty air.) Henceforth she reckons herself a prophetess, and expresses her thanks to Marcus for having imparted to her of his own Charis. She then makes the effort to reward him, not only by the gift of her possessions (in which way he has collected a very large fortune), but also by yielding up to him her person, desiring in every way to be united to him, that she may become altogether one with him.” (Against Heresies: Book I, Chapter XIII).

How does Irenaeus know that this prophet and the gift of prophecy is false? He is dedicated to the teachings of the Apostles “read with earnest care that Gospel which has been conveyed to us by the apostles, and read with earnest care the prophets, and you will find that the whole conduct, and all the doctrine, and all the sufferings of our Lord, were predicted through them.” (Against Heresies: Book IV, Chapter XXXIV)

In 314AD, Miltiades, bishiop of Rome, wrote about the Montanist movement and their inability to validate their claims. He paraphrases their claims: “For if after Quadratus and Ammia in Philadelphia, as they assert, the women with Montanus received the prophetic gift, let them show who among them received it from Montanus and the women. [they claim] For the apostle thought it necessary that the prophetic gift should continue in all the Church until the final coming. But they cannot show it [in scripture], though this is the fourteenth year since the death of Maximilla.” Only 14 years after one of Montanist’s prophetess passes away and they still can not validate their claims. Eusebius then adds “Miltiades to whom he refers has left other monuments of his own zeal for the Divine Scriptures“. Miltiades is focused on scripture and seeks to only validate claims through divine scripture; of which Montanist’s can not.

The early church tests the prophets of Montanus of the mid 2nd centery and expose it. Eusebius records Apollonius’ writings of the 2nd century refuting them. It is again ironic, how it seems as though he is describing the Word of Faith movement now. He is quoted “[Montanus] to be making additions to the doctrines or precepts of the Gospel of the New Testament, which it is impossible for one who has chosen to live according to the Gospel, either to increase or to diminish.“

Already knowing Holy Scripture, Apollonius points out that these new prophets are “making additions” to the gospel. Something Paul and John both warned about (Galatians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 11:4; Rev. 22:19).

“... he [Montanus] became beside himself, and being suddenly in a sort of frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to babble and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner contrary to the constant custom of the Church handed down by tradition from the beginning… Some of those who heard his spurious utterances at that time were indignant, and they rebuked him as one that was possessed, and that was under the control of a demon, and was led by a deceitful spirit, and was distracting the multitude; and they forbade him to talk, remembering the distinction drawn by the Lord and his warning to guard watchfully against the coming of false prophets. But others imagining themselves possessed of the Holy Spirit and of a prophetic gift, were elated and not a little puffed up; and forgetting the distinction of the Lord, they challenged the mad and insidious and seducing spirit, and were cheated and deceived by him… secretly excited and inflamed their understandings which had already become estranged from the true faith… and filled them with the false spirit, so that they talked wildly and unreasonably and strangely, like the person already mentioned….“

Very interesting how these prophets, who violate what the Apostles taught, act like those who claim to be “slain in the spirit” or how they phrase ‘in the spirit’ now. The church even met to consider their claims and actions to determine if they are in fact true or not. When tested against Holy Scripture, it is easy to determine that they were not, but false prophets.

For the faithful in Asia met often in many places throughout Asia to consider this matter, and examined the novel utterances and pronounced them profane, and rejected the heresy…

Just as Paul encouraged (Acts 17:11) and John required (1 John 4:1). They remained faithful the Word of God and rightly judged these prophets as heretics.

His [Montanus] actions and his teaching show who this new teacher is. This is he who taught the dissolution of marriage; who made laws for fasting; who named Pepuza and Tymion,small towns in Phrygia, Jerusalem, wishing to gather people to them from all directions; who appointed collectors of money; who contrived the receiving of gifts under the name of offerings; who provided salaries for those who preached his doctrine, that its teaching might prevail through gluttony… We show that these first prophetesses themselves, as soon as they were filled with the Spirit, abandoned their husbands…Does not all Scripture seem to you to forbid a prophet to receive gifts and money? When therefore I see the prophetess receiving gold and silver and costly garments, how can I avoid reproving her?…For although the Lord said, ‘Provide neither gold, nor silver, neither two coats,’(Matthew 10:9) these men, in complete opposition, transgress in respect to the possession of the forbidden things. For we will show that those whom they call prophets and martyrs gather their gain not only from rich men, but also from the poor, and orphans, and widows…But if they are confident, let them stand up and discuss these matters, that if convicted they may hereafter cease transgressing. For the fruits of the prophet must be tried; ‘for the tree is known by its fruit.’ (Luke 6:43-45)… Exposing him, through him we expose also the pretense of the prophet [Montanus]. We could show the same thing of many others. But if they are confident, let them endure the test… when Maximilla was pretending to prophesy in Pepuza, resisted her and endeavored to refute the spirit that was working in her; but was prevented by those who agreed with her.” (Book V).

Is it ironic that the Word of Faith movement and the Prosperity Gospel seem to go hand and hand? Interestingly here, we see the same thing, only 1,830 years earlier. What the Word of Faith and prosperity teachers claim now, is nothing new. They claim to see visions, prophesy, and ask for monetary blessings as they live in mansions, wear expensive clothing, drive luxury cars, and brag about owning private jets and luxury boats. All the while misquote, twist, and add to Holy Scripture and profit off of doing so.

There are two extremely important factors here: (1) None of the disciples of the apostles, and their disciples, note the real continuation of the gift of prophecy, and (2) those who did claim be gifted with prophecy after the apostolic age fail when tested against Holy Scripture. We CAN come to the conclusion that the gift of prophecy was not existent in the same fashion from the Apostles after they passed. And that is just a fact of early church History.

It is CRITICAL to note what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.“

He also states in Matthew 24:11,24:

“and many false prophets will arise and mislead many.… False messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”

Even Deuteronomy 13:1-3 makes known that false prophets can give signs and wonders THAT CAN COME TRUE. That still does not make them a true prophet of God though. A True prophet is seen in the message. They make know the Will and Word’s of God that will NEVER contradict each other or purposefully lead anyone to idolize anything. Their message is supremely the Glory of God alone and no other Gospel than the one the Apostles preached.

CAN There be a gifted prophet in our time?

All the discussion above is about history up to this point. CAN God gift someone prophecy ? OF COURSE! God does as he pleases for his divine will. Can a missionary go to a far away land where there is no source of scripture, and boom, the Holy Spirit grants him the gift of prophecy to deliver to them God’s Word? OF COURSE! The issue at hand is, are there CURRENT prophets or people who have the gift of prophesy? Given the scriptural and historical evidences and testing the claims of popular modern teachers who claim it; not so far. Current Prophets and those who have claimed the gift of prophesy have been nothing more than modern Montanists who either add to God’s Word and/or flat out contradict it. Who knows, there very well may be very humble faithful believers who are gifted with prophesy who are not widely known.

What About Acts 2:17-18?

“In the last days, God said, ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.‘” This is a fun verse that Word of Faith and Charismatic people love to point to. Here, Peter is quoting from Joel 2:28-32. Keep in mind, prophesying can mean simply proclaiming God’s truths. Notice after quoting Joel, Peter then gives them the Gospel message. A message that can not be believed without having the The Holy Spirit in you. So, God pours out his spirit and empowers anyone to receive and believe the gospel message, then, enabling them to prophesy the truth of the gospel message. The Apostles and all the disciples were doing signs and wonders that validated their prophesying this gospel message; just as Joel stated hundreds of years before. In the FULL CONTEXT of Acts 2:14-41, we see that Peter is pointing out that the time that Joel is predicting is for their age (“in those days”) in history and does not say “for the rest of history” or “in all the days to come” or “until the end of the age”. Do not forget that preaching the gospel message, is, in a simple sense, prophesying. It would be wrong to read into what is not said. Peter and Joel do not say this continues but it also does not say it will stop. It DOES however say that “in those days” of Peter, the Spirit pours out on “all people” (Jews and gentiles) and they will prophesy; exactly as recorded in Acts and in the age of the Apostles. Using this verse to justify modern day prophesy is dishonest and implying what is not stated.

Conclusion

The Office of Prophet is chosen by God, ordained by God, in direct communication with God, the claims are in harmony with God, and validated by God. The gift of prophecy was given by The Holy Spirit to those to proclaim God’s Word in the absence of the Apostles before the completion of Holy Scripture. After the passing of all the Apostles, there is no evidence outside of scripture of any Disciple of an Apostle or their disciples, in their own writings, prophesying or stating the continuation of the gift or office. Any claim or attempted of post-apostolic prophesy has been disproven by the false prophets own contradictory claims or their contradictions of God’s Word. It is a historical and modern fact that the gift or prophesy does not exist the same way it did in the age of Apostles; or at least the known self proclaimed gifted prophets are not the same. However, God, if he so chooses, could grant anyone at any time the gift. Proof of the true gift is the prophesies faithfulness to all that God has already declared and consistency within itself. There may be true gifted prophets out in the world but the ones on TV selling New York Times Best Sellers books are nothing more than modern Montanists for the digital age.

Because we can not state that the gift of prophesy has fully and completely ceased or that God will never gift it in the future, here is a biblical test to determine if prophetic claims are of God – The Eight point Prophecy Test

1. https://www.gotquestions.org/prophets-in-the-Bible.html

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Gnosticism in the Modern Era

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Gnosticism is a divers system of spiritual beliefs that incorporated pagan, Greek, and Christian ideals to formulate its own system. Each Gnostic teacher added or changed the Gnostic beliefs to fit their own individualized ideals. The first mentions of some of these Gnostic ideals were developed from the 2nd to 4th century AD. The Church exposed these ideals as unorthodox and unchristian but sadly, even today, we can still see some of the ideals being taught. There are a few primary teachers that developed ideals that are familiar still today: Marcion of Sinope, Valentinus, Theodotus of Byzantium, Arius of Alexandar, Pelagiu, Cerinthus, Menander, Sabellius, Basilides, and Montanus. There are other early Gnostic teachers but their forms of Gnosticism are far more separated from orthodoxy Christianity. These same teachings influence modern religions and movements such as the Word of Faith movement, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, and Islam.

The Gnostic Doctrine of God

God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament (Marcion of Sinope 120AD)
God did not create the universe, but a lesser being created it (Cerinthus 120AD; Valentinus 140AD; Basilides 125AD; Arius of Alexandar 320AD)

Dualism/Manichaeism
Arianism

Jehovah’s Witnesses

The world was created by angels (Menander 2nd Century; Cerinthus 120AD)

Menanderism

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Denies God The Father as creator

God is one being that reveals himself chronologically in three modes through history (Sabellius 210AD; Paul of Samosata 250AD)

Modalism/Monarchianism (Sabellianism)

Oneness Pentecostalism

Denies The Triune God

God is not sovereign and is limited by Man’s free will (Pelagius 5th century AD)

Semi-Pelagianism

Word of Faith movement

Arianism
Denies God’s sovereignty and omniscience.

The Gnostic Doctrine of Jesus

Jesus was not actually physical but only appeared to be (Marcion of Sinope 120AD; Valentinus 140AD)

Docetism

Islam (the crucifixion)

Jesus did not actually physically die on the cross and thus did not physical resurrect from the dead.
Jesus did not actually have a physical body, thus was not the incarnate God.
Denies Jesus’ physical death and resurrection.

Jesus was just a created human until baptism where he was then granted supernatural powers and then adopted by God (Cerinthus 120AD; Theodotus of Byzantium 190AD; Paul of Samosata 250AD; Arius of Alexandar 320AD)

Jesus is not the eternal Son of God
Jesus is not God incarnate

Adoptionism

Word of Faith movement

Arianism

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Subordinationism

Islam

Christ left Jesus at the crusifixtion (Cerinthus 120AD)

Word of Faith movement

Denies Jesus’ eternal existence
Denies Jesus’ divinity as God the Son.
Denies the Triune God

The Gnostic Doctrine of The Bible

Only selected portions of the Bible are true (Marcion of Sinope 120AD; Cerinthus 120AD)

Jehovah’s Witnesses
Islam

True knowledge of God only comes through secret revelations (Valentinus 140AD; Basilides 125AD)

Word of Faith movement

Extra biblical prophetic revelations (Basilides 125AD; Montanus 177AD)

Montanism

Word of Faith movement

Divine revelations from Angels (Cerinthus 120AD)

Word of Faith movement
Islam
Mormonism

The Church exposing Gnosticism

As exposed above, these modern teachings are not new. Despite the modern continuation of Gnostic teachings, the church addressed and exposed these teachings as heresy a long time ago. You can read the early writings of the church teachers bellow at: https://www.ccel.org/fathers.html.

The last words of Paul in his First Epistle to Timothy are usually taken as referring to Gnosticism, which is described as “Profane novelties of words and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called [antitheseis tes pseudonomou gnoseos — the antitheses of so-called Gnosis] which some professing have erred concerning the faith”. Most probably Paul’s use of the terms pleroma, the æon of this world, the archon of the power of the air, in Ephesians and Colossians, was suggested by the abuse of these terms by the Gnostics. Other allusions to Gnosticism in the New Testament are possible, such as Titus 3:9; 1 Timothy 4:3; 1 John 4:1-3.
The first anti-Gnostic writer was Justin Martyr (d. c. 165). His “Syntagma” (Syntagma kata pason ton gegenemenon aireseon), substantially contained in the “Libellus adv. omn. haeres.”, usually attached to Tertullian’s “De Praescriptione”; Justin’s anti-Gnostic treatise on the Resurrection (Peri anastaseos) considerable fragments are extant in Methodius’ “Dialogue on the Resurrection” and in John Damascene’s “Sacra Parellela”. Justin’s “Comendium against Marcion”, quoted by Irenæus (IV.6.2 and V.26.2), is possibly identical with his Syntagma”. Immediately after Justin, Miltiades, a Christian philosopher of Asia Minor, is mentioned by Tertullian and Hippolytus (Against the Valentinians 5, and Eusebius, Church History V.28) as having combated the Gnostics and especially the Valentinians.
Theophilus of Antioch (d. c. 185) wrote against the heresy of Hermogenes, and also an excellent treatise against Marcion (kata Markionos Logos). The book against Marcion is probably extant in the “Dialogus de rectâ in Deum fide” of Pseudo-Origen. For Agrippa Castor see BASILIDES.
Hegesippus, a Palestinian, traveled by way of Corinth to Rome, where he arrived under Anicetus (155-166), to ascertain the sound and orthodox faith from Apostolic tradition. In consequence he wrote five books of Memoirs (Upomnemata) “in a most simple style, giving the tradition of Apostolic doctrine”, becoming “a champion of the truth against the godless heresies” (Eusebius, Church History IV.7 sqq. and IV.21 sqq.). Rhodon, a disciple of Tatian, Philip, Bishop of Gortyna in Crete, and a certain Modestus wrote against Marcion
The greatest anti-Gnostic controversialist of the early Christian Church is Tertullian (b. 169), who practically devoted his life to combating this dreadful sum of all heresies. We need but mention the titles of his anti-Gnostic works: “De Praescriptione haereticorum”; “Adversus Marcionem”; a book “Adversus Valentinianos”; “Scorpiace”; “De Carne Christi”; “De Resurrectione Carnis”; and finally “Adversus Praxeam”.
Irenaeus (Against Heresies I.15.6) and Epiphanius (xxxiv, 11) quote a short poem against the Oriental Valentinians and the conjuror Marcus by “an aged” but unknown author; and Zachaeus, Bishop of Caesarea, is said to have written against the Valentinians and especially Ptolemy. Beyond all comparison most important is the great anti-Gnostic work of Irenæus, Elegchos kai anatrope tes psudonymou gnoseos, usually called “Adversus Haereses”. It consists of five books, evidently not written at one time; the first three books about A.D. 180; the last two about a dozen years later. Irenæus knew the Gnostics from personal intercourse and from their own writings and gives minute descriptions of their systems, especially of the Valentinians and Barbelo-Gnostics. A good test of how Irenæus employed his Gnostic sources can be made by comparing the newly found “Evangelium Mariae” with Against Heresies I.24. Besides his great work, Irenaeus wrote an open letter to the Roman priest Florinus, who thought of joining the Valentinians; and when the unfortunate priest had apostatized, and had become a Gnostic, Irenaeus wrote on his account a treatise “On the Ogdoad”, and also a letter to Pope Victor, begging him to use his authority against him.
Eusebius (Church History IV.23.4) mentions a letter of Dionysius of Corinth (c. 170) to the Nicomedians, in which he attacks the heresy of Marcion.
Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 215) only indirectly combated Gnosticism by defending the true Christian Gnosis, especially in The Pedagogue I, Stromata II, III, V, and in the so-called eighth book or “Excerpta ex Theodoto”.
Origen devoted no work exclusively to the refutation of Gnosticism but his four books “On First Principles” (Peri archon), written about the year 230, and preserved to us only in some Greek fragments and a free Latin translation by Rufinus, is practically a refutation of Gnostic dualism, Docetism, and Emanationism.
Amongst anti-Gnostic writers we must finally mention the neo-Platonist Plotinus (d. A.D. 270), who wrote a treatise “Against the Gnostics”.
About the year 300 an unknown Syrian author, often called by the literary pseudonym Adamantius, or “The Man of Steel”, wrote a long dialogue of which the title is lost, but which is usually designated by the words, “De rectâ in Deum fide”. This dialogue, usually divided into five books, contains discussions with representatives of two sects of Marcionism, of Valentinianism, and of Bardesanism. The writer plagiarizes extensively from Theophilus of Antioch and Methodius of Olympus, especially the latter’s anti-Gnostic dialogue “On Free Will” (Peri tou autexousiou).
First Council of Nicaea 325AD (May 20-June 19) addressed Arianism, the nature of Christ, and validity of baptism by heretics.
First Council of Constantinople381AD (May-July) addressed Arianism, Apollinarism, Sabellianism, and the Holy Spirit.
Philastrius of Brescia, a few years later (383), gave to the Latin Church what Epiphanius had given to the Greek. He counted and described no fewer than one hundred and twenty-eight heresies, but took the word in a somewhat wide and vague sense. Though dependent on the “Syntagma” of Hippolytus, his account is entirely independent of that of Epiphanius. Another Latin writer, who probably lived in the middle of the fifth century in Southern Gaul, and who is probably identical with Arnobius the Younger, left a work, commonly called “Praedestinatus”, consisting of three books, in the first of which he describes ninety heresies from Simon Magus to the Praedestinationists.
Council of Ephesus431 (June 22-July 31) addressed Theotokos, and Pelagianism.
Council of Chalcedon (451) Theodoret wrote a “Compendium of Heretical Fables” which is of considerable value for the history of Gnosticism, because it gives in a very concise and objective way the history of the heresies since the time of Simon Magus.
Council of Orange (529AD) made numerous proclamations against what later would come to be known as semi-Pelagian doctrine.
Third Council of Constantinople680-681AD (November 7-September 16) addressed Monothelitism, the human and divine wills of Jesu
The Belgic Confession (1567AD) addressed the Arminian Controversy
The Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy (1978AD) addressed montanism and the Word of Faith movement.

Despite the centuries of exposing Gnostic ideals as heresy and unorthodox Christianity, modern charismatic evangelical Christian teachers fail to learn what has been exposed and addressed throughout church history. Instead, through ignorance or willful selfishness, they continue to perpetuate heresy under the false claim of Christianity that corrupts essential truths that impact the salvation of their followers.

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Word of Faith Hermeneutics

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Word of Faith Hermeneutics. There is no one central teacher or organizational ministry but a collection that feed off each other adding in their own unique idea, which is usually accepted by the others. The primary teachers that form the collection of Word of Faith doctrine are: Kenneth Copeland, Fred Price, Joyce Meyer, Paul Crouch, Kenneth E. Hagin, Charles Capps, Marilyn Hickey, Benny Hinn, Paul Yonggi Cho, Morris Cerullo, Creflo Dollar, Jesse Duplantis, and E.W.Kenyon. What do they teach?

The primary influencer of these doctrines is Kenneth Hagin who was ordained by the Assemblies of God Pentecostal church in 1967. He had a weekly television program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network owned by Paul Crouch. He was known my may other Word of Faith teachers as “Dad Hagin”. Also, what makes him a primary influencer of the collective doctrines of the Word of Faith movement is the fact that none of the other major teachers in the Word of Faith movement denounce or deny his teachings. Another reason why his teachings are not rejected or denounced is the fact that a majorty of his teachings come from ‘personal revelations’ which he claimed came directly from God himself. Sense a majority of the Word of Faith teachers also claim these type of personal revelations, it makes it hypocritical and contradictory to denounce others.

This article will quote from the primary Word of Faith teachers and organize their doctrines systematically. These teachings will the be compared to what God has made known in his Holy Scripture.

Summery of Word of Faith Doctrine

God created human beings in His literal, physical image as little gods. Before the fall, humans had the potential to call things into existence by using the faith-force. After the fall, humans took on Satan’s nature and lost the ability to call things into existence. In order to correct this situation, Jesus Christ gave up His divinity and became a man, died spiritually, took Satan’s nature upon Himself, in hell, was born again, and rose from the dead with God’s nature. After this, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to replicate the Incarnation in believers so they could become little gods as God had originally intended. As little gods we again have the ability to manipulate the faith-force and become prosperous in all areas of life. Illness, sin, and failure are the result of a lack of faith, and are remedied by confession—claiming God’s promises for oneself into existence. Personal revelation, not Scripture, is highly relied upon. When a believer speaks positive confessions with the use of bible verses, God is compelled to comply, given that the believer has enough faith. Health, wealth, and happiness are a common positive confession taught and encouraged for believers to seek.

Doctrine of God

God is a material being with measurable human features who has to have faith in order to create. He was not content within himself and desired to replicate himself in the form of man. God thus needed to establish an agreement with Man in order to be able to help man other wise, with out man’s permission and agreement, God could not act out his faith on the earth. Because God’s replicate, i.e. man, rejected him, God was limited to what he could and could not do for his creation; thus God was a failure. But, when man, allows God to act in their life, God makes them wealthy (Kenneth Copleland, Fred Price).

God is material

Kenneth Copeland describes God as someone “very much like you and me….A being that stands somewhere around 6’2,” 6’3,” that weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of a couple of hundred pounds, little better, [and] has a [hand]span nine inches across.”⁽^{Copeland, Spirit, Soul and Body I, side 1.)}

Truth: God is a spirit (John 4:24). God the Son has a immaterial spiritual body (the resurrected Christ body, the transfiguration). No physical measurements of God is found anywhere in the bible.

God has Faith (in himself?)

Copeland adds that “God used words when He created the heaven and the earth….Each time God spoke, He released His faith — the creative power to bring His words to pass.”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, The Power of the Tongue (Fort Worth: KCP Publications, 1980), 4.)} and the “force of faith is released by words.”⁽^{Ibid., 17.)}.

Truth: God does not need faith, He sees all and knows all for all eternity. God alone is the Sovereign Creator of the Universe (Genesis 1:3; 1 Timothy 6:15) and does not need faith.

God desired to replicate himself

Copeland emphasizes similarities between God and man to the point where any distinction becomes virtually nil: “God’s reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself….Adam is as much like God as you could get, just the same as Jesus….Adam, in the Garden of Eden, was God manifested in the flesh” (emphasis added).⁽^{Copeland, Following the Faith of Abraham I, side 1.)}

Truth: (1) No where in God’s Word does he say he desired to reproduce himself. God was perfectly complete with himself from all eternity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (2) Adam was not God because he could sin, and did sin. God can not sin. He is not like Jesus because Jesus can not sin and did not sin. God the Son existed with God the Father in eternity, Adam did not and was created in the beginning of time.

God’s Limitations and Not Sovereign

Kenneth Copeland affirms that “God cannot do anything for you apart or separate from faith,”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, Freedom from Fear (Fort Worth: KCP Publications, 1983), 11.)} . Copeland’s deflation of God is best exemplified by his comment that “the biggest failure in the Bible…is God.”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, Praise-a-Thon, TBN, 1988. Copeland has, in another instance, stated that God “is not a failure” (Kenneth Copeland, The Troublemaker [Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Publications, n.d.], 23).} According to Copeland, “God had no avenue of lasting faith or moving in the earth. He had to have covenant with somebody….He had to be invited in, in other words, or He couldn’t come.”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, God’s Covenant with Man II (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1985, audiotape #01-4404), side 1.)} In fact, “the reason that He’s making covenant is to get into the earth…God is on the outside looking in,” says Copeland. “In order to have any say-so in the earth, He’s gonna have to be in agreement with a man here.”

Truth: God can not sin or do anything that is not real. God does not have faith because he sees all and knows all from all eternity. God is the absolute perfect and holy source of what is good and right. God’s will and plan is perfect. Calling God a failure, is blasphemy. God does whatever he pleases (Ps. 115:3, 135:6). He has already declared the end from the beginning and he WILL accomplish his GOOD will (Isaiah 46:10). Man can not stop God’s will or have any right to question his will (Daniel 4:35; Romans 9:19-21; Job 42:2).

Fred Price – “Yeah, God has pleasure in the prosperity. So he must have displeasure in the poverty .So if he does, then poverty couldn’t be from God. Yeah, but Brother Price, but God allows it. God lets it happen. You’re right, he does. He does, because you do. He can’t do anything about it” (“Ever Increasing Faith” recorded 11/16/90).

Truth: “Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20). Satan tempted Jesus with vast prosperity, wealth, and status; Jesus rejected the opportunity (Matthew 4:8-11). Logically, according to Fred Price, God must be pleased with major drug dealers and rich criminals and displeased with the most faithful Christians in 3rd world countries. God does whatever he pleases (Ps. 115:3, 135:6). He has already declared the end from the beginning and he WILL accomplish his GOOD will (Isaiah 46:10). Man can not stop God’s will or have any right to question his will (Daniel 4:35; Romans 9:19-21; Job 42:2).

The Word of Faith teachings of Kenneth Copeland and Fred Price in regards to their doctrine of God is flat out heresy. Their teachings belittle and disgrace God and attempting to increase the status of man to that which is greater than God. If God needs man’s permission for anything; it is man that is sovereign over God. These teachings should be so shameful and degrading, it should grieve the hearts of those who love the Lord God. Yet, these teachers are supported by the Word of Faith community at large.

Doctrine of Sin

Sinlessness

“I’m going to tell you something folks, I didn’t stop sinning until I finally got it through my thick head I wasn’t a sinner anymore. And the religious world thinks that’s heresy and they want to hang you for it. But the Bible says that I’m righteous and I can’t be righteous and be a sinner at the same time…All I was ever taught to say was, ‘I’m a poor, miserable sinner.’ I am not poor, I am not miserable and I am not a sinner. That is a lie from the pit of hell. That is what I was and if I still am then Jesus died in vain. Amen” (Doctrinal
Ambiguity of a Wandering Star-The Changing views of Joyce Meyer , G. Richard Fisher and Paul R. Belli).

Truth: The Apostle John (The Holy Spirit) knew she or someone will claim this, so he simply says “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us…If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. ” (1 John 1:8, 10). Christians are imputed with Christ’s righteousness, because they are not righteous in and of themselves. We are seen as righteous because, for believers, when God sees us, he sees his Son covering us. The Apostles, authors of Holy Scripture, were not sinless. Galatians 2:11-13, Paul rebuked Peter for showing favoritism, a sin. 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul himself admits that he is currently a sinner. The greek word he used for “am” means “to be, to exist, to happen, to be present” in relation to him as a sinner. In Romans 7:24 Paul also states “what a wretched man I AM”. Yet they wrote Holy Scripture and were believers and saved. Needless to say, Joyce Meyer is a sinner but because she claims she is not, the truth is not in her (1 John 1:8).

Doctrine of Man

Mankind are ‘little gods’

Man has the ability to speak things into existence and that their faith is like a spiritual force. Because believers are Children of God, they are considered ‘little gods’. “Every man who has been ‘born again’ is an Incarnation, and Christianity is a miracle. The believer is as much an Incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth.” (E. W. Kenyon, The Father and His Family, 17th ed. (Lynnwood, WA: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, 1964), 100; cf. Kenneth E. Hagin, “The Incarnation,” The Word of Faith, December 1980, 14.)
“you are to think the way Jesus thought. He didn’t think it robbery to be equal with God.”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, Now We Are in Christ Jesus (Fort Worth: KCP Publications, 1980), 23-24.)} Copeland’s remarks, “You are not a spiritual schizophrenic — half-God and half-Satan — you are all-God”(Ibid., 16-17.) and “You don’t have a God in you; you are one, When I read in the Bible where God tells Moses, ‘I AM,’ I say, ‘Yah, I am too!’”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, The Force of Love (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1987, audiotape #02-0028), side 1.)}((“Believers Voice of Victory” broadcast, TBN 7/9/87).)
Paul Crouch is a little god

“Do you know what else that has settled then tonight? This hue and cry and controversy that has been spawned by the devil to try and bring dissension within the Body of Christ. That we are gods. I am a little god . I have his name. I’m one with him. I’m in covenant relationship. I am a little god. (Kenneth Copeland: “You are anything that he is.”) Yes.” (“Praise the Lord” TBN, recorded 07/07/86).

“You have the same creative faith and ability on the inside of you that God used when he created the heavens and the earth.”⁽^{Copeland, Inner Image of the Covenant, side 2.)} However, he adds that most believers are not able to make full use of their inner power because “our imagination…has been so fouled up and fathered up with wasted useless words [and] wasted useless images.”

Mankind become identical to Jesus

At the moment of spiritual birth “the spirit of God hovered over you, and there was conceived in your body a holy thing identical to Jesus….And there was imparted into you zoe, the life of God” (emphases added).⁽^{Copeland, The Abrahamic Covenant, side 2.)}

Its hard to determine where to start with so much blasphemy and heresy contained in these teachings of Mankind. (1) There is zero indication in God’s Holy Word that man could ever and can ever just creation something from nothing. The references used for prayer will be discussed later. This is an attribute that only the divine creator of all realty possesses. But, this teaching then must lead to the next (2) that Mankind is “as much an Incarnation as was Jesus” and even more blunt, “You don’t have a God in you; you are one, When I read in the Bible where God tells Moses, ‘I AM,’ I say, ‘Yah, I am too!’”. Even Paul Crouch claimed to be a god! (see quote above) The claim then must also include being “identical to Jesus” because, after all, he is God. Claiming the divine attribute of God, the nature of God, and being equal to Jesus as God is disgusting. First of all, this idea came from Satan’s first temptation! To be like God! (Gen. 3:5). Secondly, NONE of the Prophets or Apostles EVER dared to make the the claim that Jesus made; in fact, they were sinners (see Doctrine of Sin rebuttal). Third, God himself declares there are NO other real gods “I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God.” (Isaiah 45:5). Essentially, Paul Crouch, Kenneth E. Hagin, and Kenneth Copeland bought into Satan’s lie about being “like God” and idolized themselves. AGAIN these teachings should be so shameful and degrading, it should grieve the hearts of those who love the Lord God. Yet, these teachers are supported by the Word of Faith community at large. Only God alone has a divine nature (Galatians 4:8; Isaiah 1:6-11, 43:10, 44:6; Ezekiel 28:2; Psalm 8:6-8).

Doctrine of Jesus

Their teachings about Jesus reflect a lot of Gnostic teachings of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, Arianism, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses now. That Jesus was a created being, just a man initially, who was God like, but not actually God himself. Jesus was wealthy. Jesus was only empowered by the Holy Spirit at his baptism to perform his miracles. He only physically died on the cross but then went to hell where he spiritually died too. Satan conquered Jesus. In hell he took on the nature of Satan. At his resurrection he took on the nature of God. These teachings imply the denial of the absolute divinity of Jesus being God and deny the Triune God of Christianity.

Jesus was a created being

Charles Capps has gone so far as to teach that Jesus was the product of God’s positive confession: “This is the key to understanding the virgin birth. God’s Word is full of faith and spirit power. God spoke it. God transmitted that image to Mary. She received the image inside of her….The embryo that was in Mary’s womb was nothing more than the Word of God….She conceived the Word of God.” (Charles Capps, Dynamics of Faith and Confession (Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1987), 86-87; cf. Charles Capps, Authority in Three Worlds (Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1982), 76-85.).

Truth: The incarnation of God in the Flesh is just simply, God The Son coming to earth in the form or man. He eternally existed prior to the virgin birth (John 1:1,3; Gen. 3:13–15, Gen. 49:10, Job 19:25–29, Num. 24:5–7, Jos. 5:13–15, Ps. 2:7–12, Ps. 22, Ps. 110:1, Pro. 30:1, Isa. 9:6–7, Isa. 53, Dan. 3:24–25, and Dan. 9:24–27). Christ is Eternal, the Only Begotten Son, and the only incarnation of God (John 1:1, 2, 14, 15, 18; 3:16; 1 John 4:1).

Jesus did not claim to be God

Kenneth Copeland also gave a “prophecy” in which Jesus allegedly said, “They crucified Me for claiming that I was God. But I didn’t claim I was God; I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was in Me.”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, “Take Time to Pray,” Believer’s Voice of Victory, February 1987, 9.)}.

Truth: This is a crazy lie. Jesus makes himself equal to God (John 10:30) and the reaction of the religious leaders makes this clear that is how he meant it (John 10:33). They respond “being man, make yourself God“. One of the clearest claims of deity of Jesus is when he made the claim of the title that only God can have (John 8:58). “I AM”. This was known as “the name” of God (Ex 3:14). So holy of a title and name that anyone who blasphemes it is killed (Lev 24:16). Jesus goes right ahead and calls himself “the name”, I AM (John 8:58). The apostle John fully understood the identity of Jesus, He makes it perfectly clear who Jesus is and straight up says “the word was God” (John 1:1). That God himself clothed himself in flesh, but was still God (John 1:14). We see that Luke expresses that God bought the church with his own blood, the blood of Jesus. That makes Jesus God (Acts 20:28). Testimony of others in scripture also reveals how people understood Jesus as. Thomas bluntly declared Jesus as “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Peter declares in 2 Peter 1:1 that we obtain righteousness from “our God and savior Jesus Christ”. Throughout scripture we see instances of people worshiping Jesus and Jesus accepts their worship (Matthew 2:11; 14:33; 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38). This is a flat our denial of The Trinity and divinity of Jesus as The God the Son.

Jesus was just a human

Copeland asserts Jesus did not openly claim to be God because “He hadn’t come to earth as God, He’d come as man. He’d set aside His divine power.”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, “Question & Answer,” Believer’s Voice of Victory, August 1988, 8.)} Citing Philippians 2:5-7, he states that the incarnate Christ “had no innate supernatural powers. He had no ability to perform miracles until after He was anointed by the Holy Spirit.”

Truth: Clearly this can not be true since Jesus per-existed in eternity with God the Father (John 1:1,3; Gen. 3:13–15, Gen. 49:10, Job 19:25–29, Num. 24:5–7, Jos. 5:13–15, Ps. 2:7–12, Ps. 22, Ps. 110:1, Pro. 30:1, Isa. 9:6–7, Isa. 53, Dan. 3:24–25, and Dan. 9:24–27). And since Jesus IS God, He thus HAD the power of God (see Jesus did not claim to be God rebuttal). Jesus gave up the glory of heaven but not His divinity (Philippians 2:6-7), though He did choose to withhold His power while walking the earth as man.

Jesus was wealthy.

Truth: This relates to the Doctrine of Prosperity but we will address it here too. As the second person of the Trinity, Jesus is as rich as God is rich. Indeed, our Lord owns everything and possesses all power, authority, sovereignty, glory, honor, and majesty (Isaiah 9:6; Micah 5:2; John 1:1, 8:58, 10:30, 17:5; Colossians 1:15–18, 2:9–10; Hebrews 1:3). BUT humbling himself in the form of man, he voluntarily allowed himself to be a lowly humble servant (Zechariah 9:9; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 2:6–8). His earthly possessions amounted to no more than the clothes on His back that were divided up by the soldiers who crucified Him. He didn’t even have his own grave. Christ and His disciples depended entirely on the hospitality of others as they ministered from town to town (Matthew 10:9–10). As Jesus told a would-be follower “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head” (Luke 9:58). Jesus chides the rich and praises the poor. He taught us to “be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). And to not store up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew 6:19–21).

Jesus not only died physically on the cross but he also died spiritually in hell and was spiritually born again at his resurrection.

Truth: Jesus prayed His last public prayer, asking the Father to glorify Him, just as Jesus had glorified the Father on earth, having “finished the work you have given me to do” (John 17:4). Jesus’ last words meant that His suffering was over and the whole work His Father had given Him to do, which was to preach the Gospel, work miracles, and obtain eternal salvation for His people, was done, accomplished, fulfilled. The debt of sin was paid. (John 19:30). Then, before he died he told the criminal on the cross “And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43). Then, at the moment of death, Jesus declares “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last.” (Luke 23:46). His spirit went to paradise, not hell, with the Father, not Satan.

Jesus took on the nature of Satan

Fred Price has added his own unique twists to Faith theology by asserting that Jesus took on the nature of Satan prior to the crucifixion (Frederick K. C. Price, “Identification #3” (Inglewood, CA: Ever Increasing Faith Ministries, 1980), audio tape #FP545, side 1.).

Truth: This contradicts what God the Son declared at his bodily death (see rebuttal above).

Regarding the Atonement, Copeland says, “It wasn’t a physical death on the cross that paid the price for sin…anybody can do that.”⁽^{Copeland, Our Covenant with God, 21.)} Jesus supposedly “put Himself into the hands of Satan when He went to that cross, and took that same nature that Adam did [when he sinned].”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, What Satan Saw on the Day of Pentecost (Fort Worth: Messages by Kenneth Copeland, n.d., audiotape #BCC-19), side 1.)}

Truth: Jesus paid the just price of sin on the cross. No one can do that because only Jesus was the perfect sinless sacrificial lamb of God who was without blemish. No one else can do that because everyone else are sinners (see Sinlessness rebuttal). This was God’s plan from eternity. Satan was merely involved since he was used by God to bring about absolute Justice for sinners through Jesus Christ. He NEVER took on the corrupted sinful nature of Adam because He, by nature, was God, perfect and holy.

Jesus goes to hell

“There is no hope of anyone going to heaven unless they believe this truth I am presenting. You cannot go to heaven unless you believe with all your heart that Jesus took your place in hell” (The Most important Decision You will Ever Make, 1991, Joyce Meyer).

Truth: Jesus did not go to hell according to God’s own Word: before he died he told the criminal on the cross “And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43). Then, at the moment of death, Jesus declares “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said this, He breathed His last.” (Luke 23:46). His spirit went to paradise, not hell, with the Father, not Satan. Thus this false truth that Joyce Meyer’s claims is actual heresy.

Satan is conquered Jesus

Copeland brashly pronounces God to be the greatest failure of all time, boldly proclaims that “Satan conquered Jesus on the Cross” (emphasis in original),⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, Holy Bible: Kenneth Copeland Reference Edition (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1991), 129.)} and describes Christ in hell as an “emaciated, poured out, little, wormy spirit.” (Kenneth Copeland, Believer’s Voice of Victory (television program), TBN, 21 April 1991.).

Truth: The ignorance here is that God planned all along to redeem mankind through the perfect sacrifice of God the Son in the incarnate flesh. Satan did not conquer Jesus because this was the plan from eternity. Also, Christ did not go to hell, nor did he need to (see Jesus Goes to Hell rebuttal).

Doctrine of Faith

Faith is a supernatural energy force

The strength of ones faith produces what is desired and asked for. Kenneth Copeland focuses primarily on an understanding of faith as a force. “Faith is a power force,” he claims. “It is a tangible force. It is a conductive force.”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, The Force of Faith (Fort Worth: KCP Publications, 1989), 10.)} Moreover, “faith is a spiritual force….It is substance. Faith has the ability to effect natural substance.”⁽^{Forces of the Recreated Human Spirit (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1982), 8.)} As “the force of gravity…makes the law of gravity work…this force of faith…makes the laws of the spirit world function.”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1974), 18-19.)}

Truth: God’s Word contains a clear definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Simply put, the biblical definition of faith is “trusting in something you cannot explicitly prove.”. Faith contains two aspects: intellectual assent and trust. Intellectual assent is believing something to be true. Trust is actually relying on the fact that the something is true. A chair is often used to help illustrate this. Intellectual assent is recognizing that a chair is a chair and agreeing that it is designed to support a person who sits on it. Trust is actually sitting in the chair. Hebrews (The Holy Spirit) does NOT say that IT is a force. God is the object of faith (Mark 11:22; Hebrews 11:3).

Doctrine of Satan

Satan is at war with believers trying to steal joy and focus away from their faith. Satan is the cause of suffering and difficulties. One must rebuke Satan in the name of Jesus and verbally claim the promises of God to fight back Satan. Satan is actually in absolute control of earth and God was evicted from earth where he is only outside looking in and has no right to enter the earth unless we give him the permission through our positive confessions.

Satan has authority over God

Kenneth Copeland also claims that Adam’s transgression empowered Satan to evict God from the earth. “God’s on the outside looking in,” says Copeland. “He doesn’t have any legal entree into the earth. The thing don’t belong to Him.”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, The Image of God in You III (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1989, audiotape #01-1403), side 1.)}

Truth: God does whatever he pleases (Ps. 115:3, 135:6). He has already declared the end from the beginning and he WILL accomplish his GOOD will (Isaiah 46:10). Man can not stop God’s will or have any right to question his will (Daniel 4:35; Romans 9:19-21; Job 42:2). Job 1 shows that Satan was not able to afflict Job without God’s permission. Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32). Thus claiming that God needs Satan’s permission or even Man’s permission is a lie.

Doctrine of Heaven

The Holy of Holies in Heaven became impure and unholy

since “the sin of Adam went all the way up to, but not including, the throne of God…[even] the Heavenly Holy of Holies had to be purified.”⁽^{Kenneth Copeland, Inner Image of the Covenant (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1985, audiotape #01-4406), side 1.)}

Truth: The presence of God is absolute perfect holiness. The Holiness of God is so perfect that no one can see God and live (Exodus 33:20) and there is only pure joy and pleasure in the presence of God in eternity (Psalm 16:11). The chosen priests of the people of Israel had to purify themselves before entering, not purify the presence of God. Mankind must be purified before entering the presence of God, through life after coming to faith we become sacrificed and then at death we become glorified- thus purifying us before entering into God’s presence. When Adam sinned, the holy presence of God left him. God left the temple in Ezekiel 8:12. God is never corrupted by sin. But the human buildings and the elements that God allowed for his presence were purified but once corrupted, God simply left. God’s holiness was unaffected by sin.

Doctrine of Healing

All physical and spiritual illnesses can be healed through faith and prayer. Sickness and deformities are viewed as attempts by Satan to rob one of joy. A case in point are the thousands of “documented” healings claimed by Hinn. Recently, he sent me three examples — presumably, the cream of the crop — as proof of his miracle-working power. One of the cases involved a man who was supposedly healed of colon cancer. A medically naive person reading the pathology report may well see the notation “no evidence of malignancy” and be duped into thinking that a bona fide healing had indeed taken place. CRI’s medical consultant, Dr. Preston Simpson, however, was not fooled by the report. His investigation revealed that the colon tumor in question was surgically removed rather than miraculously healed. (See the concluding section, Christianity in Crisis.)

Copeland also claims that “when you get to the place where you take the Word of God and build an image on the inside of you of not having crippled legs and not having blind eyes, but when you close your eyes you just see yourself just leap out of that wheelchair, it will picture that in the Holy of Holies and you will come out of there.”(Copeland, Inner Image of the Covenant, side 2.)
How To Heal

Kenneth Hagin – “The Lord said to me, ‘This is the primary way you are to minister, with the healing anointing. However, the healing anointing will not work unless you tell the people exactly what I told you. That is, you tell the people exactly what I told you. Tell them that you saw me. Tell them that I spoke to you. Tell them that I laid the finger of my right hand in the palm of each of your hands.’ Then Jesus smiled and added, ‘The anointing is not in your feet-I did not tell you to lay your feet on anybody. The anointing is not in your head-I did not tell you to lay your head on anybody. It is in your hands. Tell the people that I told you to tell them that if they belief that-that is, you are anointed-and will receive that anointing, that power will flow from your hands into their bodies, and it will drive out their sickness or their disease, and it will affect a healing and a cure in them’ (The Toronto Blessing, Slaying in the Spirit-The Telling Wonder, Nader Mikhaeil, Southwood Press Pty Limited, Australia, pg. 175)

Truth: It is sad to note that Kenneth Hagin teaches that God’s power does not work unless YOU do something. Hagin’s formula for healing is not found anywhere in God’s word. Secondly, when the Apostles healed, they pointed the The Gospel and people believed in Jesus. Here Hagin tells people to believe HIM “Tell them that I spoke to you”. A huge statement from God to keep in mind is in Matthew 7:21-23. “…”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.’ True healing lead people to faith in God the Son and not the person performing the miracles.

Healing that doesn’t heal?

Kenneth Hagin – “During the great healing revival, evangelists would hold short meetings, and I’d come along behind them with longer meetings. By the time I got there, I often found people who had been healed in those meetings already had lost their healing. That happened in my meetings too..That is why I changed my ministry and did more teaching. Yes, I could advertise my vision, fill up an auditorium, and get many people healed- but they wouldn’t keep their healing…” (The Toronto Blessing, Slaying in the Spirit-The Telling Wonder, Nader Mikhaeil, Southwood Press Pty Limited, Australia, pg. 176)

Truth: It is not a healing from God if it fails. Those who were blind but made to see, did not lose their sight. Those who could not walk but made to walk, did not lose their ability to walk. There are ZERO instances in God’s Word where a healing that took place, later failed.

Doctrine of Prosperity

God wants his people to be prosperous in health, wealth, and status in this life. When one proves their faith to God, he in turn blesses them.

Pursue wealth because Jesus was wealthy

Fred Price says the reason he drives a Rolls Royce is that he is following in Jesus’ steps. (Frederick K. C. Price, Ever Increasing Faith (television program), TBN, 9 December 1990, available from Crenshaw Christian Center, Inglewood, CA (audio tape #CR-A2).). According to John Avanzini, if Jesus was rich, we should be rich as well. Thus, he recasts Christ into a mirror image of himself — complete with designer clothes, a big house, and a wealthy, well-financed advance team.(John Avanzini, “Was Jesus Poor?” Believer’s Voice of Victory, July/August 1991, 6-7; cf. Believer’s Voice of Victory (television program), TBN, 20 January 1991, and Praise the Lord, TBN, 1 August 1989.)

Truth: Jesus did not have designer cloths, a house, or wealth. His earthly possessions amounted to no more than the clothes on His back that were divided up by the soldiers who crucified Him. Christ and His disciples depended entirely on the hospitality of others as they ministered from town to town (Matthew 10:9–10). As Jesus told a would-be follower “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head” (Luke 9:58). Jesus chides the rich and praises the poor. He taught us to “be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). And to not store up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew 6:19–21).

Create money

Marilyn Hickey – “What do you need? Start creating it. Start speaking about it. Start speaking it into being. Speak to your billfold. Say, ‘You big, thick billfold full of money.” Speak to your checkbook. Say, ‘You checkbook, you. You’ve never been so prosperous since I owned you. You’re just jammed full of money” (Christianity in Crisis , Hank Hanegraaff, Harvest House, Oregon, pg. 351).

Truth: But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene– walk!” (Acts 3:6). Notice the Apostles did not have any money with them. Secondly, notice, they offered the Gospel message instead of praying for money. The Gospel is worth more than all amounts of money. Giving the gospel is worth more than giving money. Worshiping Jesus is worth more than receiving money.

All one needs to do is study what God talks about as Coveting. This reveals the heart of the sin and why people WANT to believe what these teachers teach and WHY they ask for what they do. Jesus says “he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”(Luke 12:15, 23). Paul, (The Holy Spirit) teaches about contentment in this life, another issue to face with these sort of teachings (1 Timothy 6:5-10)

Doctrine of Confession and Prayer

Prayer of words bring into existence what is prayed for. By declaring or claiming a want or need, one evokes the power of The Holy Spirit. One must speak positive things into their life but negative confessions bring about negative things in ones life.

“As a born-again believer, you are equipped with the Word. You have the power of God at your disposal. By getting the Word deep into your spirit and speaking it boldly out your mouth, you release spiritual power to change things in the natural circumstances.”⁽^{Copeland, The Power of the Tongue, 15.)}

Truth: “the power of God at your disposal”? What if you do not use it? Does God’s Will still not take place? All those healed by Jesus were not believers initially. The blind guy could not even see Jesus. “You release spiritual power”? What if you do not release it? Does God’s Will never work? What if every believer just decided not to pray, does the God of the universe stop being God?

Marilyn Hickey – “What do you need? Start creating it. Start speaking about it. Start speaking it into being. Speak to your billfold. Say, ‘You big, thick billfold full of money.” Speak to your checkbook. Say, ‘You checkbook, you. You’ve never been so prosperous since I owned you. You’re just jammed full of money” (Christianity in Crisis , Hank Hanegraaff, Harvest House, Oregon, pg. 351).

Truth: Besides believing that you are god and idolizing yourself, why pray for a billfold full of money when billions of people world wide need healing and need to hear the gospel? Why not pray for what is most important, like speaking into being the reality that every person on the planet hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ? What comes from the mouth reveals what is in the heart. “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.” (Matthew 15:18)

Copeland instructs believers to “go to the New Testament, get the words of the covenant that cover the situation that you hope to bring to pass. Build the image of that hope inside of you….Keep the word before your eyes.”⁽^{Copeland, The Power of the Tongue, 15.)} As examples, he uses an inner picture of an 82-foot yacht that will transform into reality in the Holy of Holies in heaven, along with a “picture [of a Bible] that came right out of me and went into the Holy of Holies,” where it developed into an actual, physical object.

Truth: “build an image” is the correct word choice for idolatry. The idol if which is imagined is of material wealth and gain. Why not “build an image” of saving the souls of the lost and of anything that brings complete focus on God’s glory and not personal gain?

Jesus called God a fool (see Luke 11:2)

Fred Price – “When I first get saved, they didn’t tell me I could do anything. What they told me to do is whenever I prayed I should say “The will of the Lord be done.” Now doesn’t that sound humble? It does. Sounds like humility. It’s really stupidity. I mean you know, really, we insult God. We really insult our heavenly father. We really insult him without even realizing it. If you have to say, ‘If it be thy will’ or ‘Thy will be done.’ If you have to say that, you are calling God a fool.

Truth: Jesus states “‘So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-10). I guess Jesus is a fool according to Fred Price.

Doctrine of Divine Revelation

God speaks directly to individuals through visions, dreams, personal encounters, and feelings. Rationality and logical reasoning are obstacles to true spiritual understanding. There are some spiritual truths that can only be understood when “in the spirit” and outside of rational logical thought. These teachers receive these visions and experiences when they are “in the spirit” or “under anointing”.

Anointing from the dead

Benny Hinn also admits to frequenting the graves of both Kathryn Kuhlman and Aimee Semple McPherson to get the “anointing” from their bones.(Benny Hinn, “Double Portion Anointing, Part #3” (Orlando Christian Center, n.d.), audio tape #A031791-3, sides 1 and 2. This sermon was also aired on TBN (7 April 1991).)

Direct Appearances of the Risen Christ in person

Paul Yonggi Cho — pastor of the world’s largest church, located in Seoul, South Korea — claims to have received his call to preach from Jesus Christ Himself, who supposedly appeared to him dressed like a fireman. (Dwight J. Wilson, “Cho, Paul Yonggi,” Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 161.).

Direct Personal Words from God

Cho recently made the news by changing his name from Paul to David. As Cho tells the story, God showed him that Paul Cho had to die and David Cho was to be resurrected in his place. According to Cho, God Himself came up with his new name.(Paul Yonggi Cho interviewed by C. Peter Wagner, “Yonggi Cho Changes His Name,” Charisma & Christian Life, November 1992, 80.).

Personal transports to the actual presence of God himself

Morris Cerullo purports to have first met God at the tender age of eight. Since then his life has been one mind-blowing experience after another: he says he was taught by leading rabbis;⁽^{“God’s Faithful, Anointed Servant, Morris Cerullo” (promotional literature, on file).)} led out of a Jewish orphanage by two angelic beings; (Cerullo, The Miracle Book, ix; and 7 Point Outreach — World Evangelism and You (pamphlet), 4.) transported to heaven for a face-to-face meeting with God;⁽^{Cerullo, The Miracle Book, xi.)} and told he would be capable of revealing the future.

Extra Biblical Truth

Benny Hinn has uttered the claim that the Holy Spirit revealed to him that women were originally designed to give birth out of their sides.(Benny Hinn, “Our Position In Christ #5 — An Heir of God” (Orlando, FL: Orlando Christian Center, 1990), audio tape #A031190-5, side 2.).

Time Travel

Hagin claims he was in the middle of a sermon when, suddenly, he was transported back in time. He ended up in the back seat of a car and watched as a young woman from his church committed adultery with the driver. The entire experience lasted about fifteen minutes, after which Hagin abruptly found himself back in church, summoning his parishioners to prayer. (Kenneth E. Hagin, The Glory of God (Tulsa, OK: Kenneth Hagin Ministries, 1987), 13-15.).

Notice that all these claims of visions are completely unverifiable. Secondly, some of these visions contradict what God’s Word reveals about those who had visions or were in the presence of God. The Prophet Isaiah had to be purified. He felt completely unworthy and cried out “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5). John The Apostle, in his vision, “fell at his feet as though dead” (Rev. 1:17). Abraham even stated that he felt like nothing more than dust and ashes before God (Gen. 18:27). These Word of Faith teachers have casual entertaining conversations with a being they claim is God. Seeing as how much of their teachings are heresy, it is impossible for them to be in the presence of God himself and live to tell about it.

The issue is, in order for them to have their outlandish teachings they must claim something that is outside of scripture and unverifiable. Their followers have no choice but to accept what they teach. These teachers can not condemn each other because if they do so, they contradict themselves.

Also, since they quote God or Jesus, that makes their quotations Holy Scripture. According to the claims this must be. When they say “God said ____ to me” it is then God’s Word. If not, then they are a liar. Again, their claims must be accepted as truth or they are a horrendous blasphemous liar. Yet, when their teachings, which were revealed to them, do contradict God’s actual Word, what then?

Doctrine of The Bible

the Bible “is the wisdom of God placed in covenant contract….Everything in it is mine….You just keep looking at it, and keep reading it, and that covenant will turn you into that kind of person — whatever it is you decide to be.”⁽^{Copeland, The Abrahamic Covenant, side 1.)}

Truth: The Bible is NOT ABOUT YOU. The entire Bible is about JESUS “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;” (John 5:39). “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:31). “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)

CONCLUSION

It may seem that with all the variety of teachers and teachings that the Word of Faith doctrines are complicated but in fact they are not. They can be summed up like this:

God is more like man and man is more like God. Jesus is like God, but not God, yet man can be like Jesus and thus can be like God. Because of this, man can create and speak nothing into something by using their words and projecting their faith force. This is revealed because of a handful of people claimed to have visions and experiences with whom they perceived to be God. In a simple nutshell: Man can be God and use godlike powers to be happy, wealthy, and healthy in this world. This is not a complete summation of all that the collective Word of Faith teachers claim, but enough to see that they are false prophets who are leading MANY astray.

But any honest and genuine believer who tests what they are told (1 John 4:1) against God’s divine Holy Word can easily see how they are false prophets who deceive for material gain and status power.

Heads up from The Holy Spirit:

But realize this, that 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; Avoid such men as these. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Also read The Errors of The Modern Prosperity Gospel and Health, Wealth, Happiness, and Prosperity Teaching

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When An Angel Teaches A Different Gospel

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Since the foundation of the Church, there have been many claims of supposed truth that has come down from heaven after what Jesus, and The Apostles of Jesus have made known in scripture. Three most notable is what founded Islam, Mormonism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. All of these claim an Angel revealed something to their founders, different from the gospel that was proclaimed in scripture; either attempting to correct or add to it. But, interestingly, The Holy Spirit knew this would happen and thus specifically said something about it.

Galatians 1:6-9

“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; ⁷which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! ⁹As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”

Papyrus 46 is the oldest manuscript of Galatians currently discovered. It is dated around the end of the 2nd century. It contains significant portions of Galatians. With it is Romans, Hebrews, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, and possibly others. The reliability of this is unquestionable. It is important to note the date and relation Galatians has with the other scriptures discovered with it. Though the original was written before this manuscript, the date of this specific manuscript is only two of three generations from Jesus himself. Secondly, it is also in agreement with all that which is revealed in the other letters discovered with it. This is important later.

People, at the time of this writing, were ‘deserting’ the true gospel message preached by the Apostles to a ‘different’, ‘distorted’, and ‘contrary’ gospel. The source of the ‘different’, ‘distorted’, and ‘contrary’ gospels came either from men or even spirits. The Holy Spirit, through Paul, declares that even if the Apostles themselves begin distorting the original gospel preached, they are wrong. Even if an Angel from heaven came and taught a distorted gospel, they are also wrong. In other words, there is no other gospel no matter the source; natural (men) or supernatural (spirits) besides the original gospel that was first proclaimed.

The True Gospel

This is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ which includes the person and work of Jesus. Jesus, The Son of God and God Himself, willingly, humbly, and voluntarily came down from heaven, to be born of a virgin, lived a perfect sinless life, and was the perfect sacrificial lamb to once and for all atone for the sins of all those who believe. He then rose from the dead three days later validating his power over death and the power as the source of eternal life. This is The Gospel message proclaimed by Jesus and The Apostles. But, as time went on, human nature lead some to teaching something different, distorted, and contrary to this.

Gnosticism

This is a general term given to different early teachings. Some of these early ideas are still apparent in cults and other religions today. There are similar ideas in all these teachings. They deny the foundational aspects of The Gospel message: The sufficiency of scripture, the incarnation of God as The Son and the sufficiency of Jesus death on the cross. Some even deny the death of Jesus on the cross all together. These Gnostics claimed that the source for their teachings came from divine sources and heightened states of spiritual awareness. When people fail to understand and believe Galatians 1:6-9, their hearts and minds are open to just about any claim.

Islam

Around 610AD Mohammed, in a cave on Mt. Hira, hears the an angel who he believes to be Gabriel tell him that Allah is the only true God. Right off the bat, this conflicts with what The Holy Spirit made known 500 years earlier (Galatians 1:8). This belief system is different and contrary to what which was made known by Jesus and the Apostles. It denies that Jesus was the Son of God and God in the flesh. It denies that Jesus even died on the cross. It denies Jesus’ sufficient atoning death for sin and denies the sufficiency of scripture. In 746AD John of Damascus wrote about the claims of Islam where he said that Mohammad’s ideas of what Christianity believed derived from an Arian monk; of which Arianism is a distortion of the The Gospel as well. Not only would Mohammad’s understanding of Christianity be influenced by a distorted gospel to begin with, but he then created his own system from there. Regardless, at the premise, the birth of Islam conflicts with Galatians 1:8. Either Galatians is false, or Muhammad’s teaching of a ‘different’, ‘distorted’, and ‘contrary’ gospel is false, both can not be true.

Mormonism

On Sept. 21, 1823 an angel revealed to Joseph Smith of the location of golden tablets and told him that he had been chosen to translate the book of Mormon. The book of Mormon created an entire new system of religious beliefs that splintered off from Christianity. A basic problem of the book of Mormon is that there are no archeological evidences to support any of its extreme historical claims. Mormonism denies that Jesus is the One Triune God, in fact, Mormonism teaches that there is more than one god. They deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus and the sufficiency of his death to forgive all sins once and for all. They also deny the sufficiency of scripture alone and require other divine writings to aid in ‘correctly’ interpreting scripture. Just like in Muhammad’s situation, Either Galatians is false, or Mormonism’s teaching of a ‘different’, ‘distorted’, and ‘contrary’ gospel is false, both can not be true.

The Easy Way Out

When an unverifiable person jumps up and declares that he has been given a vision or told by an angel to write a divine writing; it is then easy for them to explain away any true contradictions with scripture. In the case with Galatians, it is then easy to say something like “God isn’t talk about me, but others after me”. Or, even, claim that Galatians is a corruption of the original. And people have no choice but to accept this unverifiable claim. The major difference between Muhammad, Joseph Smith, and others who make this argument is that God never actually verified their claim for others to see. Muhammad never performed any miracles and his prophecies failed. Joseph Smith never performed any visible verifiable miracles. The prophecies of the Jehovha’s Witnesses are continually failed and have been re-explained and failed again. The Apostles were healing the blind and crippled and raising the dead to life. Aside from the biblical recorded accounts, early church teacher, Papias, validated this as he knew of people who were raised from the dead in his day. Membership growth and wining Wars do not validate someone’s spiritual truth claim. Atheist church membership is growing and atheists have caused and won many wars. Declaring “I will raise myself from the dead three days after I die” and then doing just that is validation. Declaring that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, then raising people from the dead is validating the source of power. Anyone can claim that Galatians is wrong. A 12 year old can just make that sort of claim just to reject the authority and justify themselves, but again, that does not make is so. Its easy to make any claim, deny facts, and avoid being verifiable.

Not a Forgery

So how do we know that Galatians is not a later forgery with the name of Paul as the author later inserted? Well, its quite simple actually. We just compare the vocabulary, writing style, theological point of view, cultural first hand knowledge, and presupposed historical situation to all the other Pauline writings. Clement of Rome (and other early ancient church teachers) quoted from Romans and he wrote around 90 AD. So we have outside sources to validate Paul’s Letter to the Romans. When comparing such validated letters we see the commonalities of the letters from one author style. Such is with Galatians, it is the same in vocabulary, writing style, theological point of view, and presupposed historical situation as the other validated Pauline writings. Now of course no one now saw Paul pen the letters first hand; just like all other ancient writings, yet, given the evidences, we can be certain that this letter is in fact from Paul. Even in Islam, Muhammad never wrote anything; Joseph Smith never showed the supposed Gold Tablets to anyone; Jehovah’s Witnesses only have the unverifiable claims (and failed prophecies) of their founders.

This is a major problem for Islam, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are forced to claim that the words in Galatians are not of Paul but must be later insertions and corruptions. They are forced to go against the certainty of evidence support for the authenticity of Galatians. Because if they admit the truth of Galatians, they are then exposed to the truth stated by Paul in Galatians 1:6-9. So, of course, they take the easy way out and just flat out deny it.

Conclusion

Sense we can be certain that Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ validated by the other Apostles (Galatians 1:18-19, 2:9; Acts 9:26-29), wrote Galatians and a copy exists from the 2nd century we can conclude that his statement in Galatians 1:6-9 is from an Apostle of Jesus Christ validated by the other Apostles. Therefore, the Apostolic statement must be true. That if anyone and even an angel preaches a different gospel message, it is wrong. Islam, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses do just that, preach a different gospel from other angels. But unlike them, he is validated by Apostolic support and miracles through preaching the true gospel and declaring Jesus as Christ and eternal Son of God. Sense Galatians 1:6-9 is true, the claims of Islam, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses can not be.

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Commonalities of Cults

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There are many subgroups of the Christian faith. These subgroups tailor their teachings and focuses in different ways. That is exactly how the Body of Christ functions BUT there are some groups that claim to be ‘Christian’ when in fact, they are not. Some deny being ‘Christian’ but claim to have similar beliefs and ‘more correct’ views than that of orthodox Christianity; but how can you identify a cult?

The Teachings

Cults proclaim a NEW teaching or a more correct teaching revealed by a NEW prophet or writing. Regardless of the source for their teaching, it is new a part from Christian orthodox. They may even teaching an old teaching that was NEW in prior history but which is still outside of orthodox Christianity. New writings are generated by the new prophet or group and followers are obligated to rely on the new writing along with or instead of The Bible. Essentially, Cults teach that The Bible is not enough, cherry picked sections are only ones correct, or over all incomplete.

Doubt or discredit the primary source (The Bible) as sole authority
Generate secondary source(s) of authority to make new/morphed teachings authoritative
Only approved teachings come from secondary sources.

The Rituals

Cults push followers to focus on their works by adhering to certain rituals or even abstaining from certain Christian orthodox acts such as communion and baptism. Some even morph these acts and teachings of the acts to fit their new or more correct revelations. Some rituals include financial indebtedness and status gains. Essentially, they become controlling, isolating, and works based.

Self centered rituals- “do this yourself to be good in yourself”
Materialistic or worldly focus rituals- “give something tangible to get something tangible in return”
Pseudo love- A false sense of loving others that which actually gratifies and justifies the self.
End goal is deity of the self- “work hard and become a greater self or best self”

Verifiable

Their revelations and teachings tend to be non-verifiable and use circular reasoning to justify them. A prophet is a prophet because it was revealed to him that he was. Or the writings are divine because they were written by someone who said his writings are divine. Some claim that they were given revelations in visions or by angels, and that’s that. Essentially, the founder and their writings are unverifiable and have to be believed simply based on claim alone.

Unable to verify or not supported with known history or testable natural phenomena
Circular justification – “It is true because it is said to be true”

Morality

Cults typically strive to be ‘good’ and do good. They attempt to satisfy psychological, emotional, and intellectual issues of their followers. They make their followers feel accepted and feel as though they have a purpose. Some even provide financial security and promises of material and spiritual rewards. But, this begins to fall apart once someone starts to question the groups teachings and wants to leave the group for what ever reason. Those who question and desire to leave are guilt tripped, become more isolated, and more controlled by the group and its leadership. The threat of destruction from God or their version of holy judgement is often deployed. Those who do leave are shunned, and persecuted. Those who remain in the group are caused to be depend greatly on the group.

Emotional or materialistic moral justifications – “I feel or have therefore it is or should be”
Right and Wrong is defined through the secondary source of authority; which teaches how adherents should think and feel.
Selective encouragement/ social conditioning- “You did good because you did what the organization/religion approves of; you did bad because you did what the organization/religion does not approve of”
Decent or questioning the organized religion is a moral absolute evil.

Limit Learning

Cults often limit the source of their followers studies. The groups that use the bible as part of their system discourage studying the bible alone and require the use of their writings. This indoctrination allows for the cult to interpret how they want the bible to be interpreted to match their new teachings while at the same time allow the follower to feel as though they are learning what the bible says; even when they are not. This is another form of manipulation and control.

Instructed how to think only through secondary sources of authority as primary means to understand.
Studying sources outside of the secondary authoritative source is discouraged by the organization or religious leaders and approved teachers. Some may even actively restrict access to outside sources.
Self teaching and self study is discouraged without the use of approved teachers or materials.
Isolation is imposed to limit reaching outside sources of information.

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Being A Confessional Church

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What does it mean to be a confessional church and why is it important? In this day and age most people do not even know what being a confessional church is, in any shape or form. This article will address a very important issue in the Body of Christ that most Christian leaders have neglected for generations. We will review what ‘confessional’ is referring to, why it is important, discuss statements of faith, and clear up common misconceptions about historic Creeds and Confessions.

What is a Confessional Church?

Being a confessional church is actually pretty simple. It is simply what the church believes to be true that which has been handed down from the Apostles. Then you might ask, ‘but we have the bible, we don’t need anything else’. That sounds good but if that was true, than we would not have Mormonism, Roman Catholicism, and other splinter chrstianish -‘isms’ that have branched off from the Christian faith- all of whom use ‘the bible’ as their source. Confessions keep the church unified in its understanding of what the Apostles taught in scripture. It solidifies true and sound doctrines but also guides the future generations into these same doctrines. Confessions also helps the church resist and expose false doctrines before they corrupt the church as a whole. Not only does it resist false teachings but also maintains the supreme value and authority of the truth in holy scripture. Also read What is ‘Doctrine’ and does it matter?

What is “confessional” referring to?

Throughout Church history, there have been a number of times where the church body from around the world have come together to discuss exactly what scripture is saying and what it means specifically. The Council of Jerusalem in 50AD was called and the Apostles attended where the debate of circumcision was addressed. Thus, formulating a fundamental, universal, unifying truth, for the body of Christ. Then in 325AD The Council of Nicaea met to address the three persons of the one God and addressed, what is now called, the Trinity. The Nicaea council, together, unified, then authored a ‘creed’ describing the fundamental, universal, unifying truth, for the body of Christ. These two councils set the church apart from heretical unchristian teachings and more clearly made known what the Apostles taught. “Confessional Churches” refers to churches that agree with and adhere to the ‘creeds’ and ‘confessions’ declared that define exactly what they believe the Bible teaches.

What makes confessions important?

The Apostles had Jesus’ example. The Disciples of the Apostles had the Apostles examples through the Holy Spirit. The Disciples of the Disciples of the Apostles had all the explanations, elaborations, from the first hand eye witness accounts. The 4th and 5th generation Church only had the divinely inspired writings from the Apostles and the writings from the disciples of the apostles who elaborated what the Apostles taught them. As time went on, some people from with in the church started teaching their own version of what the apostles meant. False teachings sprang up everywhere. The councils came together and detailed exactly what the Apostles meant in a confession to keep the true church on track in sound doctrine. The same is true for the church now. “No creed, but the bible” is an ignorant phrase that opens the door for misinterpretations of the bible, thus leading to believing false doctrines about the bible. Also read Why The Disciples of The Apostles Matter Today

Its Bigger Than Just You

Confessions link you to all the brothers and sisters of the past. It links your church community the all the previous churches throughout history. It is a continuation all the way to the 70 apostles themselves. It is you and your modern church community contending for the faith that was once delivered form the saints (Jude 3). It is you and your modern church community following the pattern of sound words given by the Apostles (1 Tim 1:13-14). It is you and your modern church community being rooted and established in the true faith that was taught by the Apostles (Col 2:6-7). So that It is you and your modern church community will always remember what was taught from the very beginning from the Apostles themselves (1 John 1:1). When a church wants to do its own thing, teach is own thing, in its own way, they fail to remember the church is not theirs but Christ’s and the corruption of the human heart has already began leading them away. Confessions continually remind the church as a whole where it came from what was passed down to them.

What are the core Christian confessions?

The Council of Jerusalem in 50AD denounced legalism and established Apostolic authority in Acts 15:7-29.
The Council of Nicaea drafted the Nicene Creed in 325AD which simplistically summarizes exactly what Christianity believes as a whole (The Nicaea Creed ).
First Council of Constantinople in 381AD affirmed the Nicaea Creed and Athanasian Creed to further detail Christianity and distinguish itself from common false teachings of that time.
The Council of Chalcedon in 451AD explained Jesus’ two natures of being fully God and fully man (The Chalcedonian Creed).
The Belgic Confession, written in 1567AD to clarify what Christianity is in relation to the Arminius heresy. It consists of 37 articles which deal with the doctrines of God (1-2, 8-13), Scripture (3-7), humanity (14), sin (15), Christ (18-21), salvation (16-17, 22-26), the Church (27-36), and the end times (37). It is known as One of the Three Forms of Unity. (Read it here)
The Heidelberg Catechism written in 1563AD is the Second of Three Forms of Unity. It is a teaching tool which also addressed false teachings in the Roman Catholic church. It consists of 129 questions and answers with proof Bible references that span over all major areas of Christian teachings. (read it here)
The Canons of The Synod of Dort, completed in 1619AD is known as the Third of Three Forms of Unity. It settled the heresy of Arminianism and unite the international Protestant church. It affirmed The Heidelberg Catechism and The Belgic Confession. The Canons incorporate them and address false teachings of Roman Catholicism and Arminianism. (read it here)

“Non-denominational”, Non-confessional churches

With the rise of non-confessional churches, we have also seen a rise of false teachings developed in our modern time. The Word of Faith movement and the Prosperity Gospel teaching churches are all non-confessional. They teach things that were not taught by the Apostles and attempt to use the Bible to justify their teachings; the exact reason and need for churches to affirm the past confessions.

Now not all non-denominational churches are teaching corrupted doctrines. Some are not affiliated with any one denomination but are confessional affirming. But when a church rejects being confessional the heart of the church leadership comes into question. Are they scared to ‘scare’ people away from their church or offend anyone? Church, is for believers. That is a time and place where believers come together to worship God. Is the church leadership attempting to appease man instead of God to fill seats and get more donations? All these questions come up when a churches leadership reject affirming historical confessions of what exactly the Apostles taught. If a church is unwilling to make it publicly known what they believe, do they even teach what the Apostles taught openly and publicly leading to their martyrdom? What is the source for their hesitation, fear of the opinions of man? To be fair, some churches just keep it simple, and generate “Statements of Faith”.

Statements of Faith

Another thing more modern churches are doing is crafting their own “Confession” or making a public ‘statement of faith’. They will have it posted on their websites or give out booklets at their churches. Scanning through the statements of faith you can see some times the church actually affirms a traditional confession (but too ashamed to openly admit it some times). When they state they believe in the Trinity or Jesus having two unique but separate natures, fully God and Fully man; they are affirming what was detailed at The Council of Nicaea and The Council of Chalcedon. If they state they believe that we are saved by Grace through Faith, they are affirming parts of the Canons of Dort and the Three Forms of Unity. The unnecessary thing of it all, is churches don’t need to continually write their own Statement of Faith if all they are doing is rewriting what has already been written in previous historic universal confessions. Christ4All.com makes a statement of faith with proof verses and ties in a supporting universal Christian confessions and church father; as multiple verified statements supporting the truth from Apostolic teachings. The Bible makes absolute statements of truth, traditional confessions and church father support help make sure the biblical statements of truth are correctly understood the way they were meant to be.

The Apostles Creed

This is the most simple and famous of Creeds for the Christian Faith. It contains the fundamental teachings from the Apostles. Irenaeus wrote what is known as the ‘rule of faith’ around 180AD after false teachings were springing up distorting what the late Apostles taught (read it here). It continually developed as Christianity became more uniform and set apart from all the centuries of false teachings. As the Arian Heresy grew, it developed closer to the form we have today.

1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell:
5. The third day he rose again from the dead:
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:
7. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:
8. I believe in the Holy Ghost:
9. I believe in the holy catholic [universal] church: the communion of saints:
10. The forgiveness of sins:
1l. The resurrection of the body:
12. And the life everlasting. Amen.

Set The Record Straight

First of all, these Creeds and Confessions are NOT equal to scripture. Second, they are NOT divinely inspired by God directly. They are NOT a dos and do not list and is NOT legalistic. They are NOT meant to be divisive! These are all misconceptions put forth by those in the church who want to teach things that the Apostles did not teach.

These Creeds and Confessions DO aid the universal church to ‘rightly divide‘ (2 Tim 2:15) what was taught at the beginning. They DO help the universal church stay in the unified pattern of sound doctrine that which was taught by the Apostles (1 Tim 1:13-14). By knowing what the Apostles meant in their writings, the church can contend for the faith (Jude 3). We can hold fast to what has been taught and expose what is false (Titus 1:9). Truth brings people in to the church because Jesus Christ is truth. Thus, by knowing and maintaining what is true that which was taught by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles; the creeds and confessions lead to unity and community edification.

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2016 Ligonier Lifeway Research Study

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In 2014 and 2016 Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research conducted a study that surveyed participates nation wide of their theological beliefs. The participates ranged from Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical, ‘mainline christian’, and ‘other’ in the christian faith. Age, gender, ethnicity, region, education, marital status, income and church attendance data was also collected. The questions asked are huge and fundamental to the identity of the Christian Faith. The questions analyzed the participants understanding of who God is, who they are before God, how they view the Bible and sin. The results are stunning. So shocking in fact, Gospel4all.com feels it is critical to address these topics in a more clear fashion. We will look at those who attend church one or more times a month and how they understand the questions asked. We will also focus on the 18-34 year old age group. The results are eye opening on what the Church body in 2016 believes.

1. “God is a perfect being and cannot make a mistake”

Ages 18-34 who attend church one or more times a month: 4% disagree, 11% somewhat disagree, 2% are not sure. 17% of young adults who attend church do not believe God is perfect. That’s almost 1 in 5 church attending Christians think God makes mistakes. This hits at the heart of God’s Holiness.

4. “God is the author of Scripture”

Ages 18-34 who attend church one or more times a month: 7% disagree, 9% somewhat disagree, 4% are not sure. 20% of young adults who attend church do not trust that God is the author of Scripture. That’s 1 in 5 church attending Christians who do not wholly trust the Bible as the absolute source for spiritual truth.

5. “There is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.”

Ages 18-34 who attend church one or more times a month: 6% disagree, 6% somewhat disagree, 4% are not sure. 16% of young adults who attend church do not believe in The Triune God; or understand God as in The Trinity. That’s 1 in 6 church attending Christians who do not know or understand God in light of the Trinity. This ultimately goes to the heart of Jesus and his divine nature.

7. “Biblical accounts of the physical (bodily) resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate. This event actually occurred”

Ages 18-34 who attend church one or more times a month: 4% disagree, 7% somewhat disagree, 6% are not sure. 17% of young adults who attend church do not believe the bodily resurrection of Jesus actually occurred. That’s almost 1 in 5 church attending Christians do not believe in the Gospel message! This ultimately goes to the heart salvation!

10. “Jesus is truly God and has a divine nature, and Jesus is truly man and has a human nature.”

Ages 18-34 who attend church one or more times a month: 8% disagree, 7% somewhat disagree, 6% are not sure. 21% of young adults who attend church do not believe either Jesus is God or Jesus was also fully man. That’s 1 in 5 church attending Christians do not believe or understand the identity of Jesus This goes to the heart of who Jesus is!

11. “The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.”

Ages 18-34 who attend church one or more times a month: 15% disagree, 11% somewhat disagree, 12% are not sure. 38% of young adults who attend church do not believe The Holy Spirit is the unique third person of the Triune God or that he is a being at all. That’s a little over 1 in 3 church attending Christians do not believe in or know the Holy Spirit! This goes to the heart of The Trinue God and the being, the Holy Spirit!

15. “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.”

Ages 18-34 who attend church one or more times a month: 15% disagree, 17% somewhat disagree, 5% are not sure. 37% of young adults who attend church do not believe in or understand their sinful nature from birth. That’s a little over 1 in 3 church attending Christians do not know themselves in the deepest level. This goes to the heart of why Jesus had to die on the cross and what his sacrifice meant and did for us.

18. “By the good deeds that I do, I partly contribute to earning my place in heaven.”

Ages 18-34 who attend church one or more times a month: 22% disagree, 13% somewhat disagree, 6% are not sure. 59% of young adults who attend church believe their hard work earns them a place in heaven and contributes to their self-righteousness. That’s a little over 1 in 2 church attending Christians think they can earn a spot in heaven through their works. This goes to the heart of legalism and God’s Grace. When we remove the Catholic participants in the percentage we still see that 52% of non-Catholic church attending Christians still believe their deeds earn them a place in heaven.

46. “Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.”

Ages 18-34 who attend church one or more times a month: 7% disagree, 12% somewhat disagree, 0% are not sure. 19% of young adults who attend church do not believe or trust completely in Jesus’ sacrifice for sin. That’s at 1 in 5 church attending Christians do not believe the Gospel Message and absolute reason for Jesus being the Lamb of God. This goes to the heart of the saving message of The Gospel!

When looking at just these 9 questions and their responses, we can see some serious problems within the church:

Knowing God: Averaged 23.6% of 18 to 34 year old Christians who attend church one or more times a month do not correctly understood who God is.

The Gospel: Averaged 23.25% of 18 to 34 year old Christians who attend church one or more times a month do not believe in The Gospel Message!

Legalistic and Self-Righteous: Averaged 38.6% of 18 to 34 year old Christians who attend church one or more times a month have legalistic self-righteous beliefs about themselves.

In the church, in 2016, we see the belittling of God, corruption of the gospel message, and growth of self-righteous attitudes; all within the church in this current time; validated by this study.

Even though this study and these statistics are scary, it also points us in areas that the church needs to focus on, study, discuss, and more accurately address and teach. Gospel4all.com sees these statistics as an opportunity to focus on the truths that are needed the most and address the ‘weightier of matters’ as Jesus put it.

If you would like to see the study and its findings, go to TheStateOfTheology.com

If you have any questions or comments about this article please contact us or join our discussion forms

Test, Discern, and Righteous Judgement

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Everything we are taught about the Holy Scripture needs to be tested against Holy Scripture. We do not blindly believe everything every preacher or religious teacher states; but why? God calls us to test everything and rightly judge. This leads us to truth and emboldens our faith; but how? This article will go over all the who, what, when, where, and why of testing, discerning, and rightly judging.

What is testing, discerning, and rightly judging?

This is where Christians are given the liberty to come to understand what is right and wrong, truth and lie, when compared to what God has declared. Matthew 7:1 is the most abused out of context verse in modern culture. It is used to silence people to appease other people living in sin and teaching things that contradict what God has declared. We have all heard the phrase “don’t judge me”. In its entire context, it is about hypocritically judging (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16; 7:3–5). Where you place yourself in a righteous seat over someone else when both are sinners before God in a particular situation. That would be like a Christian pointing out someone is in the wrong for getting drunk, when they themselves get drunk. That’s hypocritical judgement. But what if that Christian is a recovering alcoholic who does not drink anymore?

In that same chapter, Jesus goes on to tell us to discern ‘dogs’, ‘pigs’, and false prophets. How can we do that if we can not make a judgement call? Clearly we are called to make a right judgement and not a hypocritical judgement. If that does not make sense, Jesus declares in John 7:24 to not judge hypocritically but to judge rightly. The correct way to judge is to compare the subject against what God declares and not by yours or anyone else standards.

Essentially, when not judging hypocritically, all we are called to do is compare the worlds teachings and actions against God’s Word. We are not inventing a standard but only agreeing and reiterating what God has already declared.

Also read Don’t Judge Me | God’s Truths are Not a Matter of Opinions | Your Feelings Do Not Determine Truth | Follow Your Heart?

How do we rightly and correctly test, discern, and judge?

First, we do not judge based on appearance (John 7:24). God judges the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). We may not be able to see the heart but Jesus makes it clear that we can still recognize a heart for the Lord, or a heart not for the Lord. The heart produces good or bad fruit. Jesus declares we can recognize the fruit produced by the heart (Matthew 7:16).

To recognize the fruit, we must test and investigate and not jump to ignorant prejudice conclusions and assumptions (Proverbs 18:13). We look at the whole counsel of God which is the completeness of Holy Scripture (Acts 20:27; 2 Timothy 4:2). We must understand that good fruit of the spirit are the characteristics of God and reflections of Christ Jesus; forgiving, merciful, selfless love, abundant giving, kindness, gracious, honest, peace seeking, patience, self control, and faithful (Galatians 5:22-23). In contrast are bad fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:19-21). To rightly judge is to compare what is being tested against God and his Word.

The recovering alcoholic who quit drinking simply reiterates what God has already declared about getting drunk. The point is to address the heart problem of why some feel the need to get drunk and not the drinking itself. Getting drunk is the bad fruit of the heart and like a double edged sword, God’s word can pierce the heart (Hebrews 4:12). The standard of a righteous judgement is God’s Word and the motives for the judgement is heart change, love, and God’s Glory.

Also read Can Someone Come to Faith by Apologetics? | The Test of Visions and Dreams | How “Love is Love” is Unloving.

Why do we rightly and correctly test, discern, and judge?

To restore those whom we love and for spiritual growth, maturity, and soundness in teachings. In gentleness we are to confront and restore (Galatians 6:1). Jesus himself lays out a disciplinary process for trying to restore someone who is in sin (Matthew 18:15–17). In everything we do in our Christian lives, truth must always be present. Whether we are showing truth with love (Ephesians 4:15) or when we see truth and Grace (John 1:17). Even when we worship God, it is in truth and spirit (John 4:24). We see that in EVERY situation in life, truth must be there because Christ is truth (John 14:6). Truth is the absolute necessity in all reality. This is why we must test claims, discern it, judge it so we can rightly know truth. In the process of rightly discerning truth; we expose lies (Ephesians 5:11).

Disputable matters

When an issues is tested and scripture is silent on that issue, than the right judgement is to agree to disagree and to follow your own conscious. It would be wrong to judge other people over a disputable matter because you would be using YOUR standard and not God’s. But if scripture is explicit and the issue can be known in scripture, than it is not disputable and we can rightly judge what God has declared and desires.

Also read Disputable Matters | The “Jesus didn’t say it” Reasoning

Where do we rightly and correctly test, discern, and judge?

We DO NOT test and rightly judge to humiliate or belittle people! We do not do it to shame them. The humiliation and shaming will come from God in his time and by his will. After testing the issue and determining it to be contrary to Holy Scripture, the person should be gently and lovingly approached privately. If the person is not a believer than just a gospel presentation is needed. We can not expect nonbelievers to understand spiritual truths when they are spiritually blind. We must always remember they are victims of sin. This is why we do not apply spiritual disciplines to non-believers (1 Corinthians 5:12). If they profess to be a believer in Jesus Christ, than Jesus himself lays out what he expects for Church Discipline.

When a believer is found to contradict Holy Scripture and in sin Jesus gives the following process for an absolute attempt at repentance and restoration (Matthew 18:15-20):

go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone (v15)
if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses (v16)
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church (v17a)
if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector (17b).

Paul applied this church discipline and due to continued sexual sin in a member of the Corinthian church and their rejection of the efforts of Paul and church members they were ultimately excommunicated (1 Corinthians 5:1–13). Just as Jesus instructed (Matthew 18:17). BUT the excommunication then ultimately lead to his repentance and Paul encouraged the church to bring him back in (2 Corinthians 2:5–8). In our society this seems ‘harsh’ and is labeled ‘unloving’ but remember, this comes from our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.

The purpose of these steps of discipline is to lead sinners to repentance in a tangible way accompanied by the convictions of the Holy Spirit. It is NOT hateful or unloving. Rebuking, correcting, and excommunication done in truth and love Glorifies God. It is not easy, and does not always look pretty, but neither did Jesus hanging on the cross. Yet, that is the greatest display of love. It really comes down to if you fear the opinions of man and let your feelings and emotions lead you; or if you stand by the principles and truths in Holy Scripture despite how you feel and others opinions.

Also read The Absolute Greatest Message To Tell Everyone

When Truth Hurts

When we test, discern, and rightly judge something that is contrary to truth; sometimes people’s feelings get hurt. You may expose the fact they have been believing a lie or maybe they even enjoy living in the lie. And no matter your efforts to be loving and gentle, they will still get hurt or offended. Is that wrong? No. In 1 Kings 19:10 and Nehemiah 9:26 it is recorded that the prophets were murdered because they were calling out the people for believing in lies. Jeremiah was sought to be put to death for making people feel guilty (Jeremiah 38:4). The absolute most loving person, Jesus, was murdered by his own people. Only one Apostle died at an old age, the rest were murdered. All of this because of truth. When we can avoid offending someone, we should (Matthew 17:27); but when it comes to righteous judgements and truth, some times it is unavoidable (Matthew 6:60-66). Hurt feelings and feelings of being offended are not because of your righteous judgement but are actually because of their rejection of God’s truths. Those who righteously judge will be hated and persecuted (Matthew 10:22, 24:9) because the truth of Jesus came as a sword that divides (Matthew 10:34-35).

Also read Negative Name Dropping and Calling Out | The Beauty of Accountability | The Other Side of The Real Jesus

The Process of Righteous Judgement;

Listen to the issue
Understand the issue
Look at the fruit the issue produces
Compare the issue to Holy Scripture

Is the Issue explicitly addressed?
Is Holy Scripture Silent on the issue?

Determine the issues comparability to Holy Scripture

What is declared about the issue and its fruit?

Is Holy Scripture contradicted?

Make a right judgement

Is it a disputable matter?
Is it contradictory to Holy Scripture?
What is Holy Scripture’s judgement on the issue?

Privately Correct the person about the issue
If they are not a Christian:

Explain why you believe what you believe
Present the gospel

If they claim to be a Christian: Apply Church Discipline process.

Also read What is ‘Doctrine’ and does it matter? | Correctly Interpret and Understand The Bible | Why The Disciples of The Apostles Matter Today | How To Fight Your Sin | Scripture Alone

The Systematic Tests to help lead people to rightly judge truth:

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Open Letter to Faith Healers and their followers

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To all whom it may concern,

I am writing this to all those who claim to supernaturally heal in Jesus’ name and to all those who believe in these faith healers. I have three key areas of questions.

I want to start off and state that I do not believe the gift of healing has ceased absolutely. I absolutely believe God heals still to this day in the same ways he healed in biblical times as He sees fit when he wills it (1 Corinthians 12:9). My purpose for writing to you is to hopefully get you to see if what you are doing is actually of God for God, even if you feel or think it may be. I pray that I edify you, convict those whom the Holy Spirit convicts of misrepresenting God, and offer solutions.

(1) My first area of question is the type of healing performed. As I personally witness ‘healing sessions’ and hear from those who feel as if they have been healed I notice something important. Why are terminal illnesses not healed? I see a commonality in healers. They “rebuke” the sickness in “Jesus’ name” which is scriptural, and by all accounts in scripture, the sickness is instantly healed. Why are the majority of healers not rebuking cancer in hospitals? My second issue is type of healing of physical deformities. Why are the blind not given vision and the deaf not able to hear, instantly? A major question is why are healers not raising people from the dead?

The Apostles were given this gift and they performed all these specific healings. They healed terminal illnesses, gave the blind sight and hearing to the deaf; made the crippled walk and even raised people from the dead. If this is the same gift given by the Holy Spirit, why are modern healers not doing the same? And in just about every case, why are they not healed instantly? Is the gift not as powerful as it once was? Is rebuking and claiming in the name of Jesus less effective now than it used to be?

(2) My second area of question is the location of the healings. Most people will inevitably have a family member or friend go to the emergency room for an incident or health issue (of which why was it not healed to begin with if already known?). Why do the healers not go to the hospital and instantly heal them? A lot of these healers will also preach financial prosperity, what better way to save someone from financial hardship than by getting them out of the hospital sooner. The healer that is a friend of the family or even a family member can visit the individual in the hospital and heal them. Why don’t they? It does not even need to be a spectacular public event, it can be done just for that family.

If healers truly desire to glorify God and serve those in drastic need through healing, why do they not spend a majority of their time walking the halls of hospitals where a majority of those in drastic need are? A recent issue I noticed, was one healing session which was done privately at a home, healing aches and pains; while a family member was in the ICU at the hospital at the same time. It struck me as odd that they would ‘heal’ those who were willing to believe in the healing with less pressing issues, but did not go heal the individual who desperately needed it with obvious and serious health complications.

(3) My third area of concern is the healers themselves. Why do some wear glasses, have high blood pressure, diabetes, and other health issues that can be healed? I see training videos from healers that show how to heal your self, yet, they are wearing glasses because of their degrading vision. Why did they not heal their vision using the self healing technique they are teaching?

All these questions shed light on the real cumulative issue: Are these true healings performed by persons actually gifted by The Holy Spirit to heal? Followers of these healers will say that they know it is true because they were healed from aches and pains or witnessed someones pain go away, but my follow up question is this: Do they know anyone that was blind, crippled, on the verge of death, or was actually dead and raised back to life by this healer? If not, why only subtle less drastic healings?

The absolute purpose of biblical healing is to be such an undeniable miracle that people who witnessed it, and those who were healed, are absolutely compelled to worship God. It is done for people, in front of people, for all to know and see the absolute power of God. How powerful is that to talk to someone who was raised from the dead or to go to the gym with someone whom was born crippled but now can dead-lift heavy weights; Or even talk with someone who was born mute, or go to a concert with someone who was born deaf. What about going to the movies with someone who was born blind. Would that not be a daily powerful reminder of the power of God? Jesus rebuked people who depended on his miracles and not HIM because trusting in HIM is greater than needing to witness miracles in order to believe (John 4:48). (study: Acts 2:22; 14:3, Luke 9:1-2)

Let me make some important statements that puts healing in a real context. The Holy Spirit is not the only one who can and will heal people. Scripture makes it clear that people who don’t even know Jesus, can do miracles (Matthew 7:21-23). The Bible says that even some of these healers, who do not know Jesus, will claim it in Jesus name! (Matthew 24:24). So my question to you is, how do you know the difference? Now let me edify you and help everyone see the difference (1 John 2:18).

The type of healing is not the absolute indicator, the location is not the absolute indicator, and the claiming in Jesus’ name is not the absolute indicator; for all these can be done by another spirit whom comes as someone appealing and positive (2 Cor 11:14). The absolute indicator of healings from God, are these:

The true desire to heal desperately sick people- like in hospitals. People who knowingly have the gift of healing would desire to go where the most need is! In our modern world, the hospital is that place. In the Apostles’ day the community would bring out all the sick in the streets, in public. Jesus would go to where the sick were specifically as well.

The true faith that heals the greatest illnesses and disfigurements. People who knowingly have the power of God through their gift would be fearless in healing the blind, crippled, paralyzed, mute, deaf, and why not even raise people from the dead for God’s absolute undeniable glory and power!

The true message behind the healing. People who knowingly exercise their God given gift will be embolden by it. They will proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all they heal and to all those who witness the healing just as Jesus and the Apostles did. They, themselves, would know the source of their gift and the power of The Gospel when made visible in the works of healing.
The true backing of scripture. People who heal, would heal in the same way as Jesus, The Apostles, and the Apostles’ disciples; because it is the same gift from the same Spirit. Thus it will be congruent to the healings recorded in scripture. Nothing more (nothing greater than raising the dead), nothing less.
The true humility of the gift. People who heal do it for God. The Apostles did not take money or compensation for their free gift from God. They did not make money off of the families and people they healed. They did not want to take any credit or any gain for what God did through them.

God does desire to heal, but it is not always a physical healing that he does. Moses was not allowed to see the promised land and died soon after (Numbers 20:12). God allowed Satan to inflict illnesses and death on Job’s whole family (Job 1:1-22). Jesus even told the Apostles that some healings can only be done by prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29). This shows us that God’s desire of healing is of Spiritual healing which can be sometimes done through physical healing or even allowing sickness.

A blind man was born blind. He lived his whole life blind. He faithfully had people bring him to a pool in the hopes that something from the pool would heal him. The Apostles asked Jesus what sin his father committed for him to be born this way and live this way. Jesus stated that it was God’s Will that he was born this way and for God’s glory that he would be healed in this moment. Boom! Healed! and God was glorified (John 9). But don’t forget, this guy lived his whole life unhealed, begging to be healed, and that God purposely made him blind to begin with. (study: 1 John 5:14-15, 2 Timothy 4:20, 2 Corinthians 12:7–9, John 5, 1 Timothy 5:23)

My recommendation is for everyone to study the healings preformed by Jesus and the Apostles and compare them to modern claims. Then think about whether or not The Gospel Message was proclaimed as a result of the healing. Even ask yourself, if you believe in modern healers, do you know The Gospel message youself? If not, why has the healer not proclaimed it to you? We are commanded to TEST the spirits to know if they are from God. Do you test the healings and healers? (study: Matthew 4:24; 15:30; Acts 5:12-16; 28:8-9, 1 John 4:1-2)

True eternal healing comes by receiving and believing The Gospel message. This is why Jesus is the Great Physician because he is the only one who heals the soul from its sickness of sin. Any healing done without proclaiming the Gospel message is only superficial. It is possible that it could be from another spirit to keep you distracted from focusing and hearing on The Gospel. Healing is temporary anyway because we are all going to physically die. Only the supernatural healing of souls will give us eternal life. (study: 1 Peter 2:24, Revelation 21:4, Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 4:23, 1 Cor 15:2, Eph 2:8)

My prayer is that everyone who reads this reflects on where they place their trust and focus. Do you seek the signs and wonders (which can be deceptive) or The Word (John 1:1). I pray that everyone receives and believes The Gospel of Jesus Christ and is not distracted or deceived by any other spirit or individual who tries to imitate the signs and wonders of God. I pray that the healing power of God, heals souls; and if deemed necessary by God, used through healing the flesh. But that the primary end is proclaiming the Power of The Gospel for God’s Glory alone for all eternity and not just in this life.

If you are a witness of someone instantly healed or is someone who has been healed from a terminal illness, blindness, deaf, mute, birth defects, other physical deformities, on the verge of death, or raised from the dead by someone exercising their God given Gift of Healing; please, I want to hear your testimony!

Please know, receive and trust in the greatest healing message of all: The Gospel Message

If you have any questions or comments about this article please contact us or join our discussion forms

The Gift of Supernatural Healing

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What does God say about divine supernatural healing and the gift of healing? What is the bible’s stance on ‘inner-healings’ like the Sozo Prayers? And are healings today the same as healing of the Apostles and the disciples of the apostles? It is important to state that it is not the position of The Gospel 4All that the gift of healing has completely ceased; however, due to recent history we do believe that it has changed but God reserves the right to gift it as he pleases, even to this day. This article will address the biblical understanding of divine healing and why this gift has changed to this date.

Jesus and The Apostles

The moment Jesus began his ministry work, he was teaching and healing (Matthew 4:23). It is very important to notice that The Gospel message accompanied his healings. Then Jesus gave the authority to heal to his Apostles and the gospel message was part of their healings as well (Luke 9:1-2). After Jesus ascended to heaven, the Apostles retained the authority and power to heal
(Acts 5:12-16). Then the gift of healing was given to other disciples as well (1 Corinthians 12:9).

Other Religions and Healing

Islam teaches incantations to heal bad jinn. Buddhist use meditation and mantra for inner healing. New Age and mystic healings use physical ritual to coerce a deity (or Universal Energy) into action or to manipulate an impersonal healing force. The biblical healing is much greater than what all the other religions try to imitate. Shamefully modern Christianity wants instant results and gratification so they will use new age rituals and ideas to ‘help’ the process of healing. What those Christians and everyone a part from Christianity who heal fail to see is that The Holy Spirit is not the only spirit that will use people and do amazing things.

Also read Supernatural Positive Thinking

The Other Spirits who ‘heal’

2 Thess 2:9

“that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,

Before the Holy Spirit descended after Jesus, even Egyptian scourers could mimic powers of God (Exodus 7:11-12). The people of God were even warned of people who could preform miracles that were not from God (Deuteronomy 13:1-3). Jesus even says that some will come doing miracles that don’t even know Jesus (Matthew 7:15-23). Jesus makes it clear there will be miracle workers who are not from God in the coming future (Matthew 24:24). Therefore a miracle healing IS NOT PROOF OF GOD if false prophets and false miracle workers can do it without God. Satan WILL disguise his efforts to lead people away making it appear they were from God (2 Corinthians 11:14)

The Holy Spirit’s Healing

Looking at what Jesus and the Apostles did, helps us see a difference between healings now and healing then.

Matthew 4:24; 15:30

“So his fame spread throughout all hSyria, and gthey brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and ipains [paralyzed with pain], jthose oppressed by demons, kepileptics, and lparalytics, and he healed them.”

And great crowds came to him, bringing with them uthe lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them,

Acts 5:16

“The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, pbringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.”

There are many other examples but there is one common detail about all these healings; they were chronic, undeniable, in some cases terminal.

Paralized
Possessed with Demons
Epileptics
Lame (mental retardation)
Blind
Crippled
Deaf
Mute
Verge of death
Actually dead

“Chronic and undeniable” can be understood as an health issue that causes dramatic and clear complications in physical mobility or appearance. Serious physical afflictions that cause impairment of proper body movement and use.

For headaches and stomachaches, the Apostle prescribed medical treatment; but why not a dramatic healing? Because it was not a visible affliction that people would undeniably see as an absolute healing from God. It could be treated without a miraculous healing (1 Tim 5:23).

Also read God, The Holy Spirit | By Christ’s Work Alone

What are the differences between Satan’s healing and God’s healing?

Since other spirits besides The Holy Spirit will do miraculous things, how are believers suppose to know when the Holy Spirit acts and when an ungodly spirit tries to do things to deceive people. The Holy Spirit makes it clear what HE will make known:

1 Peter 1:24

“ eHe himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we fmight die to sin and glive to righteousness. hBy his wounds you have been healed.”

Isaiah 53:3

“oBut he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

pand with his wounds we are healed.

Luke 9:2

“²And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing.”

Matthew 4:23

“teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.”

The healings of Satan WILL NOT proclaim the gospel. His (Satan’s) healings will not accompany the gospel message! They will lead people into believing anything -even seeming spiritual in every way- so that those who buy into his healing, do not hear the gospel message WITH and IN the healing. That they eventually believe they do not need the gospel message to be healed.

When the Holy Spirit heals or uses a believer to heal another person; the healing WILL have these 5 elements:

It will proclaim the Gospel message and bring glory of the healing and from the healing to Christ Jesus and what he did on the cross.
It will heal a chronic and undeniable health issue that will be obvious to all so that God will be glorified by everyone who witness the transformation.
The individuals are fully and completely healed. People are not half way healed but fully restored. Exorcisms were and are also instant; and not a long drawn out process.
The healing process does not require chants, rituals, or any means outside of prayer and fasting.
The healing is a permanent SPIRITUAL healing which is the primary reason for the bodily healing (Romans 12:1-2).

What Do Ungodly Healings look like?

Ultimately ungodly heaings will make the person feel like THEY have the power based on what THEY do and how hard they try. They will not proclaim the gospel message in association with the healing and will focus primarily on the phyiscal/emotional aspects. Emotional satisfaction is the goal and the feeling of self fulfillment is the confused sensation of being healed.

1 John 4:1

“Beloved, tdo not believe every spirit, but utest the spirits to see whether they are from God, for vmany wfalse prophets xhave gone out into the world.“

Due to this easy confusion and easy deception we are commanded by God to TEST the Spirits. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is not the only spirit doing healings and miracles.

Also read The Self and The Center of Everything

Modern “Healings”

The common and modern phenomena of ‘healings’ are those who ‘feel’ they have been healed from ‘pains’ in their body in certain areas whether it is the neck, back, or other places. These modern healings are not obvious, not viable, not tangible, and not undeniable like the healings recorded in the Bible. They claim to be healed from shoulder pains, migraines, stomach aches, headaches, and so on.

The healer will apply physical pressure in the painful areas, babble a special chant and use phrases like “in the name of Jesus” and perform nonbibical rituals. The person would feel a rush of adrenaline and have a flood of optimistic feelings allowing them to feel ‘healed’ thus believing they are healed. The rush of excitement and inspirational feelings empower them enough to change habits in their life. But without the gospel message understood and associated to the purpose and reason for the healing; it is nothing more than emotionalism with no spiritual value.

Also read Your Feelings Do Not Determine Truth | Health, Wealth, Happiness, and Prosperity Teaching | Follow Your Heart?

The Sozo Prayer (Inner Healing)

This ritualistic psychological prayer system of ‘healing’ can be defined as “a unique inner healing and deliverance ministry in which the main aim is to get to the root of those things hindering your personal connection with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

The Sozo Prayer requires the presence of a certified mediator or guide who is trained to walk participants through a time of prayer and reflection that is supposed to facilitate intimacy with God. Intimacy with God is definitely something to be sought; however, the method of attaining intimacy via “a journey through the subconscious” is highly questionable extra-biblical concept. Intimacy with God is truly achieved by Bible study, prayer, fasting, regular church attendance, and obedience; not by a mystical “journey” through our past. Sozo Prayer attempts to enable participants to “heal your relationship with God to enable you to fulfill your destiny.”[1]

Our own sinful mind, sinful thoughts, and how we imperfectly perceive ourselves and listening to our corrupted subconscious is NOT intimacy with God. This is looking inward to ourselves for guidance and ‘truth’. It is a attempted to take the control of the healing for ourselves by ourselves without God. The source of truth and control for our lives and for our spiritual growth and healing is: God’s Word, which is holy scripture alone.

John 16:13; 17:17

“17 lSanctify them2 in the truth; myour word is truth.“

13 When tthe Spirit of truth comes, uhe will vguide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but wwhatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Without focusing on The Gospel and abiding in the Lord, we can do nothing (spiritual). We can influence and encourage a change of behavior or habits but our spirits go nowhere without abiding in Jesus (John 15:5).

Hebrews 12:1-2

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and wsin which clings so closely, and xlet us run ywith endurance the race that is zset before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, awho for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising bthe shame, and cis seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Eph 4:14

“ so that we may no longer be children, wtossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

Only focusing on the words of Jesus and knowing, studying, and understanding his truths can heal us from our past mistakes, traumas, and emotional scars. Any idea, doctrine, and scheme derived from mankind, is nothing without coming from Jesus for Jesus and by Jesus.

Also read Scripture Alone | The Holy Spirit or Emotionalism? | The issue of the Prosperity Gospel

The Gift of Healing
God did not explicitly state that the gift of healing has ceased. Do we see people raising from the dead? No. Do we still see people with extreme physical deformities, being physically regenerated and completely healed? No. So we DO see a change in the gift of healing. But God reserves the right and authority to give and not give the gifts of healing as He alone sees fit.

1 Cor 12:6-9

“9 ⁶There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. ⁷But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; ⁹to another faith <sup class="footnote" data-fn="#fen-NASB-28644a" data-link="[a]”>[a]by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of <sup class="footnote" data-fn="#fen-NASB-28644b" data-link="[b]”>[b]healing <sup class="footnote" data-fn="#fen-NASB-28644c" data-link="[c]”>[c]by the one Spirit,”

There are different kinds of healing gifts but they are all for the common good. There is no ‘healing yourself privately’ as some healers claim; The Holy Spirit can work through people WHEN it benefits everyone for God’s Glory alone. The gift is willed by The Holy Spirit, and not the individual who tries hard to will it themselves.

Notice the plural gifts of healing. People can have the gift to heal emotionally and or physically but all of them come by The Holy Spirit to benefit everyone.

The Real Healing We Truly Should Long For

2 Cor 5:17

“17 Therefore, if anyone is iin Christ, he is ja new creation.2 kThe old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Rev 21:4

“4hHe will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and ideath shall be no more, jneither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

The true awesome and amazing healing is being completely healed from our old selves and our slavery to sin; being reborn as a new creation to become slaves to righteousness. The ultimate healing will come when EVERY pain, emotional and physical, will “be no more” and will pass away forever, the whole world, for all eternity!

Paul stated it best:

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.“ (Romans 8:18)

Also read The New You Forever | The Glorious and Blessed Hope

SUMMERY

Miraculous healing can be preformed by both godly and ungodly sources but only the godly source will proclaim the gospel with and in the miracle. The miracles are not willed by mankind but only come by and from The Holy Spirit and some times through mankind.

The healing we should be focusing on is not a carnal healing but a eternal spiritual healing and the coming absolute and ultimate feeling at the end of the age. The carnal healings in the Bible were to point us to the power and authority of Jesus Christ which was later given to the apostles. The healings now should still point us to the spiritual reality of our need for spiritual regeneration and the gospel message and not a carnal end result.

Miraculous healings are alive and well and have not ceased. Satan and evil spirits perform these every day around the world. The Holy Spirit will heal and use people to heal in different more subtle ways today as well. Would you know the difference? Do you know the gospel?

Supernatural Positive Thinking

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Life can get hard and people can be mean. Does thinking positive and speaking positively have a supernatural effect on the negative world around us? Does being positive only invite more positive things to occur? Is there such a thing called “Law of Attraction”? Where does all this positivism come from and what does history prove and God say about it?

Our Will and Deeds

God makes it clear, that our own ‘good’ deeds are corrupted and polluted with sin (Isaiah 64:6). No matter how hard we try, how deep we think, or how good sounding phrases and words we say; it all comes from a corrupted and polluted heart and mind. So where does the ‘positive’ and ‘good’ then come from?

Jeremiah 17:9

““The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;”

Also read Born This Way | Follow Your Heart?

‘Good’ and ‘Positive’

All good things come from God, not us (James 1:17). In 1 Cor 8:6 we see that all things, including all that is good and positive, comes from God, for God; not from us or for us.

Also read Have you been deceived by The World? | The Joy of TRUTH

Universal Energy Force

This is a new age concept that secretly bleeds into health wealth happiness and prosperity teachers. The Law of Attraction is a pseudo-science pseudo-religious idea that can be easily hidden in word usage but the idea remains.

The idea that because of the human consciousness and its connection with a “universal energy force,” its thoughts and feelings have the ability to manipulate and influence the energy force to their want and desire. Human thoughts and feelings attract a corresponding energy. If a persons thoughts are negative, they attract negative things. If a persons feelings are positive, they attract positive things. It is a new reformed version of karma that attempts to sound scientific.

This idea simply attempts to replace God and make mankind feel like a jedi god.

Also read Your Feelings Do Not Determine Truth | The Holy Spirit or Emotionalism?

The Source

The good that does come from us, comes from God in us (Luke 11:13) which comes to us through faith in Jesus Christ and HIS WORK, not ours (Ephesians 2:1–5; Philippians 3:9). Then it is The Holy Spirit in us that makes us more like Christ. Through this whole process, we are not the source of true good.

We are not made into mini-gods despite what Joice Meyers claims. In fact, what Satan told to Adam and Eve to lead them into idolitry is this:

“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”(Gen 3:5)

Even the heart of Satan is the unfiltered claim of godhood and godlike power (Isaiah 14:13-14). But God has a response to all those who believe they have the godlike power to use some kind of universal energy force by thinking and speaking positive words to manipulate God’s will for the purpose of worldly health, wealth, and happiness is this:

“I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.”
(Psalm 82:6-7).

The absolute source of all that is good is of God and from God by God. Thus when we think like he does and see the world like he does and understand ourselves like he does; then we seek things that he has ordained. He ask for things that he was already willing to gracefully give. We desire things that he desires (Psalm 37:4-6). Because we are in line with HIM; the source.

Also read The Self and The Center of Everything | God, The Holy Spirit

The Means

The Gospel message is the most positive life changing message that can ever be explained. There is no other religious book or psycho-feel-good self-help guru who can change anyones eternity. The means of true change, true goodness, and authentic genuine positivity is the person and work of Jesus Christ; not you. Those who do good and change lives eternally do it out of not their will but the will of God through having the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Also read The Beauty of Accountability | By Christ’s Work Alone

God’s Opinion

God does want us to be filled with hope and optimism of his promises and our future. Excessive worrying and stress can impact our bodily health (Proverbs 15:30; 17:22; Psalm 32:3). But where Positive Thinking goes wrong is that the bad effects on our bodies is due to how we were created and not some force causing the bad effects.

Wealth is also another component of teachers of Positive Thinking. It attempts to get people to supernaturally use the force with positive thinking to gain more wealth. God does want us to be good stewards of the wealth that he gives and wants us to make decisions with that wealth that which glorifies him (Proverbs 13:11; 17:16; 22:7), but where Positive Thinking teachers fail without Christ is that achieving greater wealth and self gain is not what God intends (Ecclesiastes 5:10). We are warned of striving for self gain and wealth (Luke 12:15;1Timothy 6:10) and its effects on our natural sinful selves.

Lastly Positive Thinking encourages people to think they (if they believe in God) can manipulate God’s will and change God’s mind. Like their power of supernatural persuasion can force God to send more ‘positive’ things their way because of their extra positive effort and self-will. That is hidden self-righteousness and self idolatry. God’s simple response to this is:

“Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.”
(Psalm 139:16).

History is God’s Proof

Job is the prime example that disproves the supernatural positive thinking. One day ALL his wealth was lost in an attack! Then another day all his necessities were all lost in a natural disaster. Then another natural disaster killed his family! If that wasn’t enough he was given leprosy! Why didn’t he just think positive thoughts and say positive things? He did. Yet, these disasters kept happening. Complete contradiction of The Law of Attraction and Positive Thinking.
The prophets of God were murdered after being social ostracized (1 Kings 18:4, 14; 19:10; Jeremiah 11:12; Matthew 23:35; Acts 7:52). These guys spoke the words of God! Yet, how come they faced such negative effects?
JESUS never sinned. Yet he was hated, beaten, tortured, and murdered because of his teachings. The the universe energy force failed big time here.
The Apostles were servants of God proclaiming the Gospel, yet, they were all persecuted and murdered. For hundreds of years, Christians were martyred.
All the way to our day. The church in China and North Korea are heavily persecuted. And I’m pretty sure at least 1 person over there has spoken positive words for support and had positive thoughts of the hope in Christ.

All this only proves that Positive Thinking is a nice gimmick in a comfortable stable spoiled society. And all the hungry and material poor Christians in other parts of the world who faithfully proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ disprove its energy force.

The End Times P1: Jesus’ Outline

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The highly discussed and debated issue with in the church and between other religions is the study of The End Times also known as Eschatology. The Apostles ask Jesus directly. Right after Jesus tells them Jerusalem will be destroyed (happened in 70AD), they then start to wonder and ask in Matthew 24:3 “…what is the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”. There are four predominate theories of how The End Time will happen and in this article we will look at what Jesus revealed first. Jesus graciously gives us an outline of what will take place before The End Time happen and how it will unfold.

Matthew 24:5-31

“For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many.”

First Jesus makes it absolutely clear that MANY people will come after him claiming to be HIM, The Son of God, Messiah, and God himself. He is proven correct. It did not take long for these “many” to spring up and begin “deceiving many”. Below are only a fraction of all those throughout history that made this claim Jesus predicted.

Simon Magus (early 1st century), was a Samaritan, and a native of Gitta; he was considered a god in Simonianism; he “darkly hinted” that he himself was Christ, calling himself the Standing One. Simon bar Kokhba (died c. 135), founded a short-lived Jewish state before being defeated in the Second Jewish-Roman War. He claimed to be the second coming.

Ann Lee (1736–1784) founded the Shakers and claimed to be the female incarnate of Jesus. Arnold Potter (1804–1872), Schismatic Latter Day Saint leader; he claimed the spirit of Jesus Christ entered into his body and he became “Potter Christ” Son of the living God. He died in an attempt to “ascend into heaven” by jumping off a cliff. His body was later retrieved and buried by his followers. Bahá’u’lláh (1817–1892), He founded the Bahá’í Faith in 1863. Followers of the Bahá’í Faith believe that the fulfillment of the prophecies of the second coming of Jesus.

Ahn Sahng-Hong (1918–1985), a South Korean who founded the New Covenant Passover Church of God in 1964 and who is considered by the World Mission Society Church of God as the Second Coming of Jesus. Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012), believed by members of the Unification Church to be the Messiah and the Second Coming of Christ, fulfilling Jesus’ unfinished mission.

Alan John Miller (1962–), more commonly known as A.J. Miller, a former Jehovah’s Witness elder and current leader of the Australia-based Divine Truth movement. Miller claims to be Jesus Christ reincarnated with others in the 20th century to spread messages that he calls the “Divine Truth.”

“You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet.” (Matthew 24:6)

The number of wars and “rumors” of wars throughout history is extensive as well. From later Roman conflicts to European and Islamic wars; all the way to world war 1, 2, Korea, Vietnam, and major cold wars like US/Russia, and India/Pakistan. Also notice that there is not going to be world peace no matter how hard humanity tries; Jesus, who is God, said so knowing the heart of man.

“For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” (Matthew 24:7)

In 1960 Chile had a 9.5 earthquake; highest in recorded history. Another massive earthquake known as the 1868 Arica earthquake. The massive 9th century earthquake in Japan known as the 869 Sanriku earthquake. And the 365 Crete earthquake was estimated to be close to a 9 by today’s standard. The Great Chines famine of 1958 killed an estimated 43 million people. The Chalisa Famine in 1783 in Inda killed an estimated 11 million people. In 441AD Rome had a devastating famine that weakened the empire severely. An extensive list of earthquakes and famines through human history can be made BUT Jesus then states:

“All these events are the beginning of birth pains.” (Matthew 24:8)

When Jesus compares the building up to his second coming like child birth; that means there will be more and more of these events more frequently and more fierce. This ‘build up’ is also called the tribulation period. During this period, it gets even worse for Christians.

“Then they will hand you over for persecution,and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of My name. ¹⁰Then many will take offense, betray one another and hate one another.”

Christians will become hated, persecuted, and even killed by all countries. All the nations will be offended by Jesus and the gospel message. The absolutes here are astounding. We will be killed, will be hated and they will take offense. AND:

“Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹²Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold”

People will rise and claim to speak Gods truths and they will deceive many. Lawlessness (according to God) will grow and true love will fade. Godly absolute morality and sacrificial selfless love will fade away. THEN:

“This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.“

More wars, worse famines and earthquakes, death and persecution everywhere, and compromising false teachers will encourage the fading true love for worldly carnal love and fading obedience to Christ Jesus. The times will be very harsh. THEN the end will come. Then Jesus will return. But the question is:

Are We In Those “End Times”?

Given known history since the time of Jesus it is not obvious yet. Some will argue that we see more than in the past but this is not exactly true. We have mass media, internet, TV, and mass transit so we can learn of more events that occurred than ever before. But just because we ‘learn’ of more events does not mean more events are happening.

The same events that have happened in the past are happening today. From what Jesus described will happen before his second coming, of course, we are still in that time frame; obviously the ‘end times’ clock started ticking since Jesus ascended to heaven because it was revealed to Daniel and John, God has already ordained it to occur in the future. Logically speaking; yes it is closer since ~1,980 years have lapsed from when Jesus answered the Apostles question.

Also read: False Teachings and Heresies | Cults & Other Religions

Are they (the signs of the times) worse then before?

This is very hard to tell. It seems as if there were more loss of life closer to our time than Jesus’ time but there were far more conflicts from Jesus’ time half way to us. Thus looking it from a death toll perspective it has not significantly increased; except the fewer events causes more death.

Hyper-Grace theology

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The amazing Grace of God is so amazing it changes lives for eternity. Even the reformers stressed that we are saved by Grace Alone but does this amazing grace negate repentance and confession? Wouldn’t you want to live how-ever you wanted and not worry if it is sinful? The reality is that hyper-grace is nothing more than new age positivism and emotionalism disguised in churchy words that focuses on one subject of truth (Grace) while avoiding another (Obedience). Thus it does not teach the truth of God in its entirety and just want man wants to hear and avoids what man does not want to hear.

What are the key points of Hyper Grace teachings?

Not bound by The Law
Confession of sin is unnecessary
Continual Repentance of sin is unnecessary
Not responsible for current sin
Confession, Repentance, and application of The Law constitutes Pharisaical Legalism

These key teaching points largely agree with Antinomianism and “easy believism”; thus Hyper Grace is Semi-Antinomianism and leads to ‘easy believism’. To better understand Hyper-Grace, it helps to understand what heresy it leads to:

What is Antinomianism?

“The word antinomianism comes from two Greek words, anti, meaning “against”; and nomos, meaning “law.” Antinomianism means “against the law.” Theologically, antinomianism is the belief that there are no moral laws God expects Christians to obey”[1] because through Christ they are not responsible for their sins rendering the need to confess and repent of any sin a legalistic act.

Paul tackles the issue of Antinomianism in Romans 6:1-2 and Romans 12:1-2. The Law as not abolished but fulfilled. Jesus sums up The fulfilled Law that we are expected to obey in Matthew 22:37-40. It is hypocritical and a lie to keep God’s commands, and live in sin. This is addressed in 1 John 2:3-6.

Even Semi-Antinomianism clearly a willfully ignorant approach to what Jesus states in John 14:15

“¹⁵“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.“

What are the things we are commanded to do?

James 5:16, 1 John 1:9

“¹⁶Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Revelations 3:3

³So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent.

Notice the context is future confession and the subject, sin, is plural. And these letters were written to believers (1 John 2:1). Why would the apostles of Jesus be telling whom are already saved and believers, to confess their sins? In Revelations 3:3, Jesus is talking to CHURCHES and commanding them to REPENT.

We are commanded to confess and repent when we sin (though it is in fact already forgiven) because it is part of our growing and conforming to be more like Christ in this world (sanctification) and preparing for our glorification when we are taken out of this world. Confession and Repentance is part of spiritual growth.

“Hyper-grace preachers also claim the Holy Spirit will never convict Christians of their sin. Mature Christians should recognize this fallacy right away. Every disciple of Christ has felt the overwhelming conviction of the Holy Spirit when he or she has sinned. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of Truth” (John 15:26). Truth, by its very definition, will not tolerate anything false. When the Spirit of Truth abides in a believing heart (1 Corinthians 6:19), He brings conviction about anything that is not truth.”[2]

Hyper-Grace is half true:

Hyper grace teachers do teach that we saved by grace through faith. This is true and extremely essential to teach. But that is where their truth ends and were their deception begins. The issue they do not correctly address (maliciously or ignorantly) is that which is compelled by genuine faith.

That which is compelled by faith is the commanded confession, and repentance, which is required for the process of sanctification. Without obedience to Jesus’ commandments under the fulfilled law; it is nothing more than “easy believism” and living as a “carnal Christian”. But what exactly compels genuine believers to desire to confess and repent?

God’s Will is For our Repentance

Paul makes it clear that it is God’s grace that compels us to repent! (Romans 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). You can not separate Grace from Repentance; though repentance does not bring salvation; salvation leads to repentance.

Compelled Works (confession and repentance)

James 2:26 hits this on the head. Faith WITHOUT works are DEAD. Why? Because true saving faith compels our desire and effort for good works that is pleasing to the Lord and done for His glory. This is NOT legalism. The works are not depended on for salvation nor are they done for anyone besides God. Acts of confession and repentance is a NATURAL response to being saved and Born again.

Paul states the same in a negative form. 1 Corinthians 6:9–10 Paul states that his examples are compelled works from the desire and enjoyment of those who are not saved. Why not these? Because those who ARE going to inherit the kingdom, are compelled to not continue in all that Paul listed. This does not say those who are saved will not sin (perfectionism is not being argued). It is staying that WHEN a Saved individual does sin; they do not enjoy or rejoice in it and are compelled to confess and repent.

Both James and Paul agree with Jesus when Jesus stated in Matthew 7:16-23

“16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit…”

Those who are saved by Grace alone through Faith alone are born again and are made a new creation. They are given a new heart of which desires God’s will and longs to give him glory. Thus; this compels them to obey his commandments because of their love and trust in his fulfilled law.

Under Fulfilled Law

After being freed from sin, we become “slaves to righteousness” and are under the “Law of Life”! The Law of Life is obedience and trust in The Word, Christ Jesus. That which compels us to confess and repent is the Law of Life-God’s Grace; because we are saved and born again. Because we are forever and eternally saved, we are grateful slaves to it. This is the Law that is fulfilled, not abolished, only in Christ.

Romans 6:17–18, 8:2

¹⁷But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were transferredto, ¹⁸and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness… because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

Why Teach Hyper-Grace?

In this day and age, positivism and ear tickling have crept into the American Churches. Focusing on and only teaching about God’s Grace and freedom from The Law of sin is highly uplifting! It is a very good and necessary spiritual pep talk! But neglecting other realities and other more ‘negative’ feeling topics is a humanistic thinking error.

Jude warned of this in Jude 1:4

“⁴For some men, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into promiscuity and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.”

Paul told Timothy of these coming teachers in 2 Timothy 3:1-5

1 But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days. ²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, ⁴traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people!

It is a failure in teaching the WHOLE counsel of God’s truths (Acts 20:23) and failing to rightly handle ALL of God’s truths revealed to us in all Holy Scripture (2 Tim 2:15). They go down a road that does not keep their sinful nature in check. Their natural desire to be like god begins to infect their minds and what they teach. They then focus on what is pleasing to people; what makes people feel all warm and bubbly and is only positive and avoid what is culturally deemed to be negative.

Very similar to the health, wealth, happiness, and prosperity movement; this leads to emotionalistic idolatry as it attempts to justify living in sin while “holding to the form of godliness”.

Teaching the ENTIRE Bible CORRECTLY, even when it ‘seems’ negative is for the eternal benefit of all the hearers for God’s ultimate glory.

Sources:
1: http://www.gotquestions.org/antinomianism.html
2: http://www.gotquestions.org/hyper-grace.html

More Valuable than Money

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What are the most important things? A house, car and job? Clothing on your back? Food and water? What if all those things were not the most important things. What if God valued something more? Things that are not tangible but eternal in value?

Fasting helps us put this and our hearts in perspective. The symbolism of absolute fasting shows us this exact thing. God’s Glory and his character and attributes far exceed the value of food and water.

Matthew 23:23

“”Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy, and faith. These things should have been done without neglecting the others.”

Trying to keep the Law (which is impossible) and trying hard to ‘be a good person’ is not the most important thing. Justice, Mercy and Faith are. Why is that?

Justice reveals to us that we need a savior.
Mercy reveals to us that we receive mercy through the savior
Faith reveals to us that we are saved by the savior.

The Gospel message is greater than trying hard to be a moral person. Moralism and “trying to be a good person” never saved a single soul.

Contentment:

Hebrews 13:5

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Can we be content? Of course. The Gospel message and Jesus Christ is so valuable, that when we have HIM we do not need anything else. We can live at peace with God and be content with what he has given us and what he has not. The ‘things’ in this world are of less value to those who seek Christ.

What is your treasure?

Matthew 6:19-21

““Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Treasure on earth is less valuable than the treasure in heaven. The treasure in heaven is the Justice, Mercy and faithfulness of God. The greatest valuable ‘thing’ in all reality is God’s Glory. So valuable we do not get any of it. We dare not claim any for ourselves.

The Errors of The Modern Prosperity Gospel

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C. Dollar, a teacher of the modern teaching of health, wealth, happiness, and prosperity movement said it best. At least he was explicit when it comes to what they all subtly teach. Later this tweet was removed from his twitter account. Now why would he do that if he speaks God’s truths? hum. But 99% of these modern teaching of health, wealth, happiness, and prosperity teachers are not explicit like he was. But regardless of their obvious or hidden agendas, there are some fundamental errors and heresies in this modern ‘theology’.

Also read What is Health, Wealth, Happiness, and Prosperity Teaching? and Wealth, Status, and encouragement to get a good grasp on this topic.

IT IS SELF CENTERED

The first underlying problem with the generic modern teaching of health, wealth, happiness, and prosperity is that it is ultimately focused on… you. YOU are the focus. It focuses its teachings on what you want, what you desire, what you feel like you need, what you feel like God owes you or should give you. You. It is a YOU centered YOU focused way of viewing spirituality. The Prosperity Gospel is bad because it is man centered theology instead of Christ centered. The exact sort of focus Satan implanted in Adam and Eve and the exact same desires Satan attempted to trigger in Jesus. The Bible and all reality are not about you; it is about Jesus. God is focused on his Son. This is why God does not see your sins when you come to faith in Jesus. Self-centered preaching belittles God and the work of Jesus. Of course this teaching is so enticing, its about you, for you, by you!

Also read The Self and The Center of Everything | Me, Myself, And I and “Doing Me”

REVEALS YOUR TRUE IDOL

The second hidden problem with the modern teaching of health, wealth, happiness, and prosperity is that it actually reveals the idols of our heart. Our idol is the thing that we desire most. The thing we think about, want, ask for, focus on, and seek. We use all kinds of means to help us reach our idol; even God. The Prosperity Gospel attempts to use God as the means to help us reach our idol of health, wealth, happiness, and prosperity. Yes, materialism and superficial things like status, the feeling of happiness, and healthy looks and appearances is the idol of the Prosperity Gospel adherents (Eph 5:5).

God is nothing more than a servant that is expected and commanded to give them their idols. Materialism and Superficialism is the end result; thus it reveals their true god. When God’s on Son and what he did and who he is; is not enough and is not want you are seeking than he is not your idol. Jesus Christ is our end desire. If he wills for us to be unhealthy, poor, and frustrated in this life (read the book of Job) that does NOT mean we are not blessed. In fact, holding on to faith and hope WITH poverty and sufferings only makes us MORE wealthy in the next life. Jesus Christ needs to be the end result and God’s Glory is what we need to seek.

TEACHES YOU TO COVET

The third obvious heresy with the modern teaching of health, wealth, happiness, and prosperity is its blatant acceptance of sin; to covet. The Law shows us our hearts. The Law is the witness against us. The Law reveals our need for Jesus. The Law is not a bad thing but it is what it is. One of God’s Laws that help show us the sin in our hearts is the command not to covet (Romans 7:7-12). What is “to covet”? We see in Exodus 20:17, Deuteronomy 5:21, and Colossians 3:5 that to covet is to desire something that someone else has that you were not given. You want to make something that is not yours, yours. It is this law that declares coveting sin. Coveting is dis-satisfaction in what God has already provided. To desire what is not given to you is sin! To seek and desire health, wealth, happiness, and prosperity over The Gospel proves dis-satisfaction with God. Jesus even warned of this (Luke 12:15).

Negative Name Dropping and Calling Out

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It has become common in American society to view name dropping and calling people out in regards to something negative as ‘wrong’ even a ‘sin’. The question(s) we dive into are: Is it ever ‘okay’ (right and not a sin) to name dropping and calling people out? If and when it is appropriate? To come to the answers to these questions, we need to first look at Jesus Christ and his apostles.

Our first question is:

Did Jesus name drop and call people out in regards to something negative?

To answer this question we turn to Matthew 11:21-22. Jesus specifically calls out whole towns and its population. He points out their problem and states what will happen to them because of their problem. Nothing positive about Jesus’ statement. If an entire town is not enough, in Matthew 16:23 Jesus calls out Peter in front of the other apostles very sharply. Again, not a positive statement and most likely hurt his feelings. In Luke 9:54 Jesus directly and openly rebukes the disciples for their thinking errors which most likely offended them. Now these are all done with and in front of the disciples and followers of Jesus. The next logical question is:

Does Jesus name drop and call out non-believers in regards to something negative?

We see in Matthew 15:1-9 that while Jesus was with the public healing people, the Pharisees and scribes came to talk to him. He calls them out and says “you say…” and “why do you…” in a negative manner. He calls them out on their false and hypocritical teachings and actions in a highly negative way. This would have defiantly offended them as it was done in front of others.

Even in conversations with ‘crowds’ and his disciples, he names drops in Matthew 23:1-36. He speaks about the Pharisees and scribes in a negative manner, in front of them, but not to them; that is offensive. His name dropping and calling out is for the crowd and disciples about the Pharisees and scribes. He then turns to the Pharisees and scribe and calls them out in front of the crowd and disciples. This was incredibility insulting and offensive. Yes, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, was insulting and offensive. Some of the language he used is extremely offensive in that culture; thus he could even be understood to be cursing. The FCC would have censored him on national TV in America.

In Matthew 16:6, 12 Jesus talks specifically about the Pharisees and scribes in a negative manner when they are not around. Essentially, he talks ‘behind their back’ to the apostles. Negative comments about them and not in front of them.

He name dropped and called out non-believers in a negative manner in public, in private, when they were and were not around. From this point some will say; ‘Well he is God so he can do that but we are not God’ But this leads to 1 problem and another question.

Problem: If God can not sin and Jesus is God; therefore calling out and name dropping believers and non-believers in a negative manner in public, in private, when they are and are not around is not sin. Why? Because Jesus did, he is God, and God does not sin.

Also read The Other Side of The Real Jesus

Did the Apostles name drop and call people out in regards to something negative?

In 3 John 9 we see John name drop an individual in regards to something negative he was doing. He calls him by name for the reader to know and states what the issue is.

In 2 Timothy 2:17-19 we see Paul name drop an individual in regards to something negative they were teaching. Just like John he calls him by name for Timothy to know and for all the other readers to know. His statement about this person is not positive.

We are instructed (commanded) to even “avoid THESE people” (2 Timothy 3:5). Who are ‘these people’? Well, we are told to rightly judge and determine individuals that need to be rebuked and avoided due to their sinfulness.

Paul continues in 2 Timothy to name drop (2 Timothy 4:9, 14) and instructs (commands) Timothy to “watch out for him” (2 Timothy 4:15). How is Timothy suppose to know who to avoid and watch out for if it is a sin to specifically name people?

Even the disciples of the Apostles name drop persons who teach heresies in their later writings.

Just like all things humanity does, even name dropping and calling out can be done in such a way it becomes slanderous and sinful.

At what point does name dropping and calling people out in regards to something negative become sin?

This is just as basic as righteous judgement. We want to name drop and call people out in a gentle loving way. A way that is not done with malice in your heart. Where you genuinely care for them and others who listen to them. You care if the Lord is slandered or dishonored and if others are lead astray and further lost due to the teachings of the individual.

Jesus offended and hurt feelings. The Apostles offended and hurt feelings. The disciple of the Apostles offended and hurt feelings. Hurt feelings do not define sin and what is ‘wrong’.

Please also read: Your Feelings Do Not Determine Truth | Don’t Judge Me | How “Love is Love” is Unloving. | The Joy of TRUTH | Christians that are ‘too christian’

In Conclusion:

Jesus name dropped and called believers and non-believers out in their sin in public and private.
The Apostles and disciples of the Apostles name dropped and called believers and non-believers out in their sin in public.
Must be done in such a way that it is not with malice or slanderous intent but remain gentle and true.
It may or may not offend or hurt feelings; but that is not the deciding factor of whether or not to name dropped and called believers and non-believers out in their sin in public and private.
It is love and to seek the greatest good for the individual and those who listen to the individual. It is a loving act to name dropped and called believers and non-believers out in their sin in public and private when rightly done.

To those who Disagree:

It IS AN ERROR to make people feel bad or to slander those who DO name dropped and called believers and non-believers out in their sin in public and private who do it rightly just as Jesus and the Apostles did. By saying it is wrong, is to say Jesus and the Apostles were in sin when they did it.

Holy scripture is in agreement that it IS RIGHT to name dropped and called believers and non-believers out in their sin in public and private whom do it rightly just as Jesus and the Apostles did. To disagree is to disagree with scripture and the verses listed above. A study on “to rebuke”, “righteous judgement”, “edification” and “church discipline” is highly recommended.

Also read: Scripture Alone | God’s Truths are Not a Matter of Opinions | Me, Myself, And I and “Doing Me” | Don’t Judge Me

THE AMERICAN LIFE JOURNAL

Just Americans living the American way

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