Here is a great article using the Book of Jude to warn us about false teachers. They have always existed and are prolific today. Are you testing who you are listening to against Acts 17:11? The Bereans even tested Paul the Apostle when he arrived at Berea. It says “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.”
Spend time in the Word daily and hide the Word of God in your heart. One of the great chapters in our Bible is Psalms 119. Verse 11 says, “Thy word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against Thee.”
Please read the word of God, till it becomes part of your mind and heart. As you grow in His Word you will begin to think and act biblically.
“Memorizing is precisely what is called for, since it is only when the Word of God is readily available in our minds that we are able to recall it in moments of need and profit by it.” (Boice)
Please read the following article. HERE
Below is the personal testimony of one who became involved with the practice of “Belief Coding.” After reading my article about “SOZO” she determined that the practices were similar and equally dangerous. These practices cause spiritual damage and can set a person back. It stems from seeking help in the wrong places.
Please read the following personal testimony.
After a lifetime of trauma, I became involved in a system called ‘Belief Coding’. I was attracted to this system because it was said to be able to heal traumas, get to the root cause of limitations and code in new beliefs. This was said to be done by regressing the mind or sub conscious to past memories to create new emotional experiences or memories.
So, for example if a person was suffering from self-consciousness, they could be regressed back to a time in their childhood where they had been made to feel self-conscious and change the belief at that point, thus creating a new positive belief about this issue. I latched onto this system attracted to the possibility of being able heal traumas and be a more healed person.
It was described at the time as being either spiritual or non-spiritual depending on your beliefs. I do not believe however that there is a way to separate the spiritual implications of this system.
When I first watched a belief coding facilitation taking place, I recall feeling wary because when a belief was being coded in it was done by creating a pyramid symbol with your hands on your forehead, on your so called ‘third eye’. I recognized this symbol as being an occult symbol and felt confused as to why this symbol was being used. I blindly ignored my concerns however and proceeded on with multiple belief coding facilitations.
One of the methods used in belief coding is the human compass. This was used to get answers from the subconscious. The body was used to sway forward or backwards to get a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. This is basically the same as using your body as a pendulum, and in fact you can use a pendulum instead of your body in belief coding.
The human pendulum is a technique which is used in spiritualism and is practiced by individuals seeking to connect with the spiritual realm. One exorcist said to have that using your body in this way was one of the quickest ways for a person to become possessed.
As with SOZO healing is rated from 1-10. The founder of the Belief Coding movement also regularly mentioned how this knowledge was downloaded to her from spirit. From which spirit, however?
Other occult tools used in belief coding included using an imaginary magic wand and imagining a spirit animal or spirit guide.
Memories in Belief Coding can be said to be from so called past lives and I was indeed regressed to numerous false past lives. I realize now however that there are no such thing as past lives, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”, (ESV, Hebrews 9:27).
In belief coding dead people can be brought to the subconscious memory by asking the person having the session to call on and speak to the spirit of the dead person. This is necromancy and is very spiritually dangerous.
As with the stories of false memories being retrieved in SOZO sessions a false memory suggestion of abuse was put in to my mind. I knew immediately that this suggestion was not true, and that this thought was not from me. I was horrified when I realised that there was a voice speaking to me in my mind that was not mine. I believe Belief coding opened me up to evil spirits and I am still recovering.
When I looked further into the pyramid symbol made on the forehead to seal in the belief, I was shocked to see that this was an occult symbol which was also used by people such as the satanist Anton Lavey and Adolph Hitler.
I would strongly urge anyone not to become involved in a system that uses the same symbol as the satanist Anton Levay and Adolph Hitler! Occult Symbols have meanings with real spiritual implications.
The Belief Coding vision statement states that their “mission is to make Belief Coding® a household name. Working with a growing movement of facilitators, our aim is to make Belief Coding® as accessible to people.”
This movement is becoming very popular and thousands of people and in particular women and even children are involved in this movement and are facilitating each other. These are often very vulnerable women who are in emotional pain.
I write this to warn others of this system. A once cradle Christian, I am now trusting in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and instead of ‘coding’ my mind I now renew it with the bible, the Word of God. I am very grateful to God for revealing to me the deception I was in.
The hour is late. Turn from the false light and to the true, “light of the world,” Jesus (ESV, John 8:12).
Jesus is, “the way, and the truth, and the life,” (ESV, John 14:6) and “No one comes to the Father except through, Him (NKJV, John, 14:6)
“All things were created by him and through him” (ESV, John 14:6); and “Salvation is found in no one else (NKJV, Acts 4:12).”
Belief coding facilitator
These are the days in which we desire to worship God but there are those who instead lead us to worship feelings that cause us to elevate ourselves. Truly we need to humble ourselves and worship in spirit and truth.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” 2 Timothy 4:3
From Berean Research
Should a church use worship music from sources that are proven to be part of the spirit of error and falsehood Jesus warns about? What if the song itself is biblical? Does the source matter? Shouldn’t a song be judged on its own merits and not the source?
These are questions that many church leaders struggle with, along with their congregants. That’s because most of the music licenses churches purchase for Sunday morning worship services originate from the “Big Three:” Bethel Church in Redding California, Hillsong United in Australia, and Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
All three of these organizations and their leaders have proven over and over again to teach a completely different Gospel than the doctrine taught by Jesus and His Apostles. (More on that below.) Their music is emotionally manipulative to create manufactured religious experiences. And all three of these organizations take the focus off of Jesus and onto you.
Finish HERE
NOTE: This article isn’t about whether the sign gifts are still in operation today, or if they ceased after the first century. That’s a separate discussion. My focus is on the context and meaning of a specific passage of Scripture that has been misinterpreted and erroneously applied. ~ SM
“Greater” Works Than These? 
By Steven Mark
The context in which Yeshua-Jesus was teaching in John 14:12 was referring to the “quantity” of the works His followers would do after His departure — not the “Quality” of the works. The rest of the verse explains why: “Because I go to My Father.”
In other words, when Yeshua returned to His rightful place in Heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit to indwell His followers, to lead and guide them, and to remind them of the truth He had taught them. The Gospel would no longer be limited to the Jewish people within the borders of Israel, but would now be preached throughout the entire world.
To reiterate, when Yeshua was speaking of “greater” works, He meant quantitatively — not Qualitatively.
And when the topic of “greater” works comes up, I don’t pounce on the person who said it and immediately present the context in which Yeshua was speaking. There’s a much simpler way to respond, and it prompts the person to think about what they’re saying, which is always a good thing. I simply ask them, “What greater works has anyone ever done that were ‘greater’ than the works and miracles Yeshua did?” (I’ve asked that question numerous times over the past 30 years and have yet to receive a reasonable answer.)
It’s also important to point out that people who claimed to know Yeshua did perform miracles in His name, but Yeshua told them He didn’t know them, to depart from Him, and called them workers of iniquity (i.e., those who “practice Lawlessness” and live contrary to His teachings.
(Matthew 7:21-29)
Regardless of which theological position you adhere to, one thing that all true followers of Jesus should agree on is that while the gifts of the spirit will eventually fade away, the Fruit of the Spirit will abide forever. And if authentically born again followers of Yeshua were producing the “Fruit of the Spirit” in their lives, the “gifts” would flow naturally and wouldn’t be a divisive issue in the Body.
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, and Self-control.
Those attributes lift up and build up one another without drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves.
Someone who manifests the fruit of the Spirit may also have spiritual gifts; but if the spiritual gifts aren’t accompanied by genuine fruit, we should stop and evaluate what’s being produced.
Most importantly, the gifts should always be used in humility before the Lord. (Something that is sorely lacking in the people I know who claim to speak in tongues, prophesy, have the gift of healing or any of the other gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 & 14.)
Theologically speaking, the Pentecostal and Charismatic
movements produce a lot of emotional heat, but very little light. And the gift that is most essential for the Church at large — the one that would produce unity instead of division — is the gift of DISCERNMENT.
Subjective feelings, experiences and personal anecdotes by definition are just that — subjective and experiential. And if personal experiences are contrary to, or go beyond the clear teachings of Scripture (which they often do), they should be rejected.
From a Messianic Jewish perspective, the “signs and wonders” during Shavuot/Pentecost in the first century had a dual purpose. It was a reversal of the curse at Babel; and the fulfillment of God’s promise to write His Law on circumcised hearts. (Ref. Deuteronomy 10:16, and 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4, 9:25-26, and 31:31-34; Ezekiel 11:19-20, and 36:24-27)
The parallels between the first Shavuot at Sinai, and the Shavuot of fulfillment in Jerusalem should not be missed. (Compare Exodus 20:18-21 and 32:28-29, to Acts 2:1-41*)
In a nutshell, God is glorified when we allow Him to produce the Fruit of His Spirit in the lives of His people. That’s a sign and a wonder that no one can deny or refute, and it produces unity — not discord and division.
Unfortunately, there’s a very disturbing movement that has grown exponentially in the past few years that has caused extreme discord and division in the Body of Messiah, and I would be remiss if I failed to mention it. There are influential pastors and teachers who would have us believe that the gifts of the Spirit can be procured by anyone who professes to be a follower of Jesus — as long as they’re willing to pay money to attend their ”School of Supernatural Ministry” in Redding, California; where their ”annointed” instructors claim to be able to teach spiritual techniques that can allegedly train people to prophesy; to heal people of infirmities and diseases, and a host of totally bazaar practices that have no precedent in Scripture whatsoever, and are in fact extremely deceptive and dangerous.
There is, however, a passage of Scripture that addresses something eerily similar to what I’m referring to, so I’ll let the Word speak for itself, and you can draw your own conclusions.
“But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.
A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great. Everyone, from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as “the Great One—the Power of God.” They listened closely to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic.
But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went, and he was amazed by the signs and great miracles Philip performed.
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.
When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power. “Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!”
But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought! You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God. Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts, for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”
“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things you’ve said won’t happen to me!”
(Acts 8:4-24)
Being a musician and an apologist, I’ll leave you with an analogy most people could relate to.
If you’ve been listening to one of your favorite songs for many years without realizing it wasn’t the original version — and then someone comes along and plays the original version by the person who wrote it, it might sound very different to you, because you’ve grown accustomed to the version your ears are used to hearing. You might not even like the original version because it lacks some of the embellishments you associate with the song.
That’s often how it is with Bible teachers who teach false doctrines. You’ve become accustomed to their interpretation of Scripture, which is often far removed from sound, Biblical theology. But you like that particular pastor and teacher, and when you hear someone else teaching sound theology that contradicts what you’ve been taught, it sounds strange to you. You might even become angry and defensive and reject sound doctrine simply because you’ve been taught something else, it’s what you’re used to, and that’s what you prefer.
But that’s a very dangerous position to take, and is clearly in opposition to what the Bible teaches concerning how we should respond to false teachings and the people who promote them.
We are admonished to avoid them and expose them. (Romans 16:17:18; Philippians 3:17-19; 2 Timothy 2:15-18; Titus 3:10-11, 2 Peter 2:1-3)
There is certainly a difference between how we’re to approach primary, essential doctrines; and secondary, peripheral doctrines. The former should always be protected and defended; the latter should be allowed more latitude, and oftentimes aren’t worth arguing or fighting over.
Concerning aberrant teachings, heterodox teachings, heretical teachings, and outright blasphemous teachings (which, tragically, are more prevalent than you might think), we should make every attempt to correct those teachers in the hope that they will see the error in their teaching and publicly renounce it. That’s the Biblical model we are to follow, regardless of how nice the teacher is or how much you may like them personally.
“Let God be true, and every man a liar.” (Romans 3:4)
© 2021 Steven Mark
I know all about AA. As a recovered alcoholic sober 38 years, I recall the time spent in this institution. I hated it. My thinking back then was I wouldn’t drink again if I didn’t have to attend another meeting.
I was raised in the church but wasn’t walking with the Lord at this low point in my life. Because of the grace of God, He pulled both me and my husband out of our addiction to the bottle and we both have never drank again.
For years The Word Like Fire has unearthed the unholy origin and history of Alcoholics Anonymous, and warned that A.A. is an anti-biblical religion. All this you can find on this blog.
In several articles we have noted that A.A. can be defined as a new age religion (where anything and everything can be defined as “god”), but is nevertheless rigidly fundamentalist in key areas.
Irving Peter Gellman observes, “A member who suggests that A.A. is not as effective as maintained, and who implies that some improvement might be made, will be censured when broaching these ideas. The A.A. program is deemed infallible, whereas other methods are considered less than perfect.” [1]
Here is where the A.A. fundamentalism comes from. The following is a passage fromHow It Works, which is read at the beginning of each and every A.A. meeting. Consider what is being said here:
“Rarely have…
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Many who once stood firm on the solid foundation of biblical doctrine have gone soft. So soft, in fact, that one can hardly differentiate between the so-called born-again Christ followers and the carnal world.
Jesus is not surprised at all, as He warned that this would happen.
A a few years ago a writer named Gregory Reid penned an insightful article on the great falling away that is happening in Christendom, which he allowed me to reprint. I share it again because it’s an important historical primer for anyone who missed it the first time:
The Progressive Disease of Spiritual Deception in Our Time
There was a time when ideas like yoga or eastern meditation in the church were only associated with Christ Science churches, Universalist Churches, and a few spurious non-biblical fringe places. In a few scant decades, the walls have been so completely torn down that we not only see no harm in these things, we promote them.
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OUR PRESENT SUFFERINGS
By Rick Becker
Suffering – it’s never pleasant, and we do our best to avoid all forms of it, but suffering is inescapable in this fallen world. The biblical view is that believers should expect sufferings, not simply because they live in this fallen world, but because God uses various forms of afflictions to discipline us, test our faith, and cause us to have an eternal perspective. As a result of false teaching, many have the view that all suffering is a sign of deficiency at our end of the equation. What should be seen as a privilege (suffering that God permits us to endure) is seen as a curse. Suffering that God permits his children to endure, is not harmful, but beneficial. “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.”
Psalm 119:67
Finish HERE
In these last days it seems that what is up is down and what is down is up. The dynamic, forward moving evangelical part of the visible Church is quickly moving into a form of Christianity that seems oh so right to people. It seeks to offend no one. Many “evangelicals” have openly embraced union with the Roman Catholic church implying that the Protestant Reformation was a mistake. The focus of this form of Christianity is never on the Gospel. Instead it is on feeding the poor or world peace and always seeking to be friends of the world. Then there is the Social Justice Movement with its roots in Marxism and is often called “WOKE.” This form of Christianity is an attempt to divide Christians up into groups of victims who are seeking justice with those in Orthodoxy as the culprits behind all their problems. However, even though what…
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