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Can You Be Deceived?
Why People Are Duped and How Not to Be
by G. Richard Fisher
Excerpt from Personal Freedom Outreach
S-H-A-R-P
S — Search the Scriptures daily. Know the Word of God and read it in context. Hosea 4:6 says: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” We need to be constantly hiding the Word in our hearts. History attests to the tragedies that occur when God’s Word is neglected. Remember that the unspeakable mischief and misery in Salem in the 1690s was the acceptance of “spectral evidence” (that is, that Satan could take the form and shape of innocent persons) which did not have a shred of biblical evidence. Many innocent people died. We must search God’s Word. There are eight spiritual revivals in the Old Testament. Everyone of them was centered on the Word of God. True revivals are based on the reception of God’s Word. It is the foundation for any true and lasting revival.
H — Hold on to God in prayer for wisdom and discernment. Herbert Lockyer reminds us:
“Craftily and cleverly, Satan hides his snares, and we have to constantly pray that we may always be aware of his tricks.”30
Jesus said: “Men ought to pray and not faint” (Luke 18:1). Ephesians 6 makes clear that prayer is a vital part of our “armor” and protection.
A — Accept no claims of man at face value no matter how compelling or slickly presented. Remember Jeremiah 12:6:
“For even your brothers, the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; Yes they have called abundantly after you. Do not believe them, even though they speak smooth words to you.”
This is not being paranoid, only discerning and cautious. Obviously if the teacher has a long proven track record, we can be more accepting. Proverbs 15:14 is a timely word: “The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps.” Remember that the person passing on the information may be deceived.
R — Require documentation (two or three witnesses) and proofs for stories and illustrations that are claimed to be true. Accept no less. Do not assume something has happened because someone says so or it is in a book or video. Even sincere believers may be misinformed and be passing on misinformation. Think how long the Crying Wind, John Todd, Betty Malz, Mike Warnke and Y2K lies were circulated and accepted. Christian bookstores and Christian ministries helped circulate these. Demand evidence, remembering that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
P — Pursue only reputable ministries, teachers and commentaries. Insist on doctrinal statements and detailed financial reports. Take seriously documented reports of false teaching, mismanagement of money, outlandish claims and poor doctrine. Even the secular press can only report what is there. It is unfortunate that they have become the watchdog of the scammers. The Church should be doing the job.
Stay SHARP. Don’t be duped by deceivers or deceit.
“Not to be alarmist, but it looks a lot like Satan is in charge right now. The enemy has a subtle way of using even the proper scenery and props to obscure the main character. The church, mission, cultural transformation, even the Spirit can become the focus instead of the means for “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2)…… The story behind all the headlines of the Bible is the war between the serpent and the offspring of the woman (Gen. 3:15), an enmity that God promised would culminate in the serpent’s destruction and the lifting of the curse. This promise was a declaration of war on Satan and his kingdom, and the contest unfolded in the first religious war, between Cain and Abel (Gen. 4 with Matt. 23:35), in the battle between Pharaoh and Yahweh that led to the exodus and the temptation in the wilderness. Even in the land, the serpent seduces Israel to idolatry and intermarriage with unbelievers, even provoking massacres of the royal family. Yet God always preserved that “seed of the woman” who would crush the serpent’s head (see 2 Kings 11, for example). The story leads all the way to Herod’s slaughter of the firstborn children in fear of the Magi’s announcement of the birth of the true King of Israel.
“The Gospels unpack this story line and the epistles elaborate its significance. Everything is leading to Golgotha, and when the disciples-even Peter-try to distract Jesus away from that mission, they are being unwitting servants of Satan (Matt. 16:23). “The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers”-not simply so that they will defy Judeo-Christian values, but “to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4:4-5).
“Satan lost the war on Good Friday and Easter, but has shifted his strategy to a guerilla struggle to keep the world from hearing the gospel that dismantles his kingdom of darkness. Paul speaks of this cosmic battle in Ephesians 6, directing us to the external Word, the gospel, Christ and his righteousness, faith, and salvation as our only armor in the assaults of the enemy. In Revelation 12, the history of redemption is recapitulated in brief compass, with the dragon sweeping a third of the stars (angels) from heaven, laying in wait to devour the woman’s child at birth, only to be defeated by the ascension of the promised offspring. Nevertheless, knowing his time is short, he pursues the child’s brothers and sisters. Wherever Christ is truly proclaimed, Satan is most actively present. The wars between nations and enmity within families and neighborhoods is but the wake of the serpent’s tail as he seeks to devour the church, employing the same tried and tested methods: not only martyrdom from without, but heresy and schism from within… toward what can only be called, tragically, ‘Christless Christianity.”’
[Excerpt from Christless Christianity by Michael Horton]
Thanks to “A Twisted Crown of Thorns” blog by Michael Acidri
Ancient-Future Heresies
Let’s both reason from the Scriptures, and simply be reasonable (Isaiah 1:18). The Ancient-Future search to discover gems from “Classic Christianity” comes up short by a century — the century in which the New Testament was written. The critical difference should be obvious. The writers of the New Testament were inspired by the Holy Spirit as they penned God’s Word (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21, 22). What writings from A.D. 100 and later can claim such inspiration? None. But we’re told that some were disciples of or lived at the time of the apostles. True, but proximity to the apostles is hardly a guarantee against heresy, nor does it come close to inspiration. Furthermore, much of the first-century-written New Testament reproved and corrected errors that had already entered the church!
Remember the Apostle Paul’s warning to the Ephesian elders, who were certainly closer to Paul than any of the so-called Church Fathers:
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears” (Acts 20:28-31).
Again, why this attraction to the ancient Church Fathers? Could any of them say with Paul, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:9)? We can trust his God-breathed words completely. On the other hand, it takes very little scrutiny of men like Origen, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian, Justin Martyr, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Jerusalem, Augustine, and others, to see their flaws, let alone their heresies. For example, Origen taught that God would save everyone and that Mary was a perpetual virgin; Irenaeus believed that the bread and wine became the body and blood of Jesus when consecrated, as did John Chrysostom and Cyril of Jerusalem; Athanasius taught salvation through baptism; Tertullian became a supporter of the Montanist heresies, and a promoter of a New Testament clergy class, as did his disciple Cyprian; Augustine was the principal architect of Catholic dogma that included his support of purgatory, baptismal regeneration, and infant baptism, mortal and venial sins, prayers to the dead, penance for sins, absolution from a priest, the sinlessness of Mary, the Apocrypha as Scripture, etc.
It’s not that these men got everything wrong; some, on certain doctrines, upheld Scripture against the developing unbiblical dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church.
Nevertheless, overall they are a heretical minefield. So why seek them out?
Sunday evening November 13th 2011 ,Paul Gowdy appeared on Brazilian television warning the church of a false anointing. He had the opportunity to do a special interview for Rede Record TV Network. You will also hear from Andrew Strom on this tv program.
Please watch. Most of it is in Portuguese. Come in at about 20 minutes for a shorter version.
This is Google translastion of a local Brazilian website: (Sorry about the oddities that occur during translation)
Founder of the chain that folds down in the spirit makes the unprecedented revelations “Record”. Entrevista foi ao ar neste Domingo Espetacular, dia 13 de novembro 2011. Interview aired on Sunday Spectacular, November 13, 2011.
Paul Gowdy, one of the founders of the chain that preaches fanerose, a practice that became popularly known in Brazil as the fall in the spirit or bandeau,’re sorry. This year, after passing through a hospital and almost dying from a blood clot in the leg which affected the lungs and heart, he decided to break the silence and launch a warning about what helped spawn.
In an exclusive interview with “Rede Record” and a letter, she says, it took nine years to be able to write, he showed regret and said that, contrary to what has always defended the fall in the spirit never was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
“I believe that Satan has used this experience to blind people on the historical doctrines of God, in which the fruit grows next to a life of repentance,” he wrote.
In the “Record”, Gowdy went further. After leaving the hospital, said he believes God saved him so he could grant the interview and thus warn of the error in which he believed for a long tim
The statements were broadcast on Sunday evening (13), in a special report produced by the program Sunday Spectacular. Besides listening to one of the founders of this chain, the program team also visited temples in which followers fall, laugh and roll on the floor. The practice has many fans in Brazil and is gaining traction. According to neurologists and psychologists interviewed by “Record”, this is a phenomenon linked to the induction, influenced by the music and the speeches of the preachers.
Gowdy sees “the action of lying spirits” and warns of the risk of being influenced. He says that “watching people act like animals, barking, growling, cackling, pretending to fly, as if they had wings, behaving like drunken men, chanting meaningless,” and now finds himself “flabbergasted to think that accepted it as manifestations of the Holy Spirit. “
Da redacao@folhauniversal.com.br From redacao@folhauniversal.com.br
The first sin the Corinthians ignored was lack of unity. A multiplicity of cliques each used the name of some Christian leader to split the church. This disunity had nothing to do with differences of doctrine. It was largely due to intellectual pride and a status-seeking spirit. Paul condemned these alarming dissensions and pointed out that all four cliques dishonored Christ Himself, for none of these human leaders had been crucified for them or gave them eternal life. However, these divisions and dissentions were but symptoms of a deep problem in the church–a kind of pride and dependence upon worldly wisdom as though eloquence, intellectualism, talents, or philosophical learning were to be grasped as an eternal good or means of power to win people to Christ. In response , Paul downgrades mere human wisdom without Christ and presents Christ and His cross as the true wisdom and power of God, which the Corinthians should seek above all else.
From the Acts of the Apostles
Notes lesson 19 BSF.
Serving the Lord is a wonderous thing but we must be careful of what is in our heart…..Those who pound the table or their chest and say, “Look at all the things I have done for the church,” expose their thoughts. What does God say about our works?
Consider Psalms 64:6 “All of us have become like the one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;”
Even all our righteousness are like filthy rags. The good we may try to do is unacceptable and unclean before the Lord. Because we are all like an unclean thing, even the good we do is polluted. “Brethren, if our righteousnesses are so bad, what must our unrighteousnesses be?” (Spurgeon)
“Those that seek to be saved by their works, Luther fitly calleth the devil’s martryrs; they suffer much, and take great pains to go to hell . . . We must do all righteousnesses, rest in none by Christ’s, disclaiming our own best as spotted and imperfect.” (Trapp)
Because of our fallen nature we do well to consider this verse.
” Do nothing out of vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3
One of my favorites quotes is from James Montergomery Boice .
“God uses the small things and the small people…as a matter of fact, the smaller you can become, the more effective his work in you will be….”
Excerpts FROM:
Truth Endures: Landmark Sermons from Forty Years of Unleashing God’s Truth One Verse at a Time
“It is only through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that you or I or anyone will ever enter the kingdom of God. We can’t enter through our religious emotion or our sanctified feelings. It is only through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Lip profession is no good–there must be obedience. And in the statement, “Lord, Lord,” you get the idea that these people are surprised-in fact they’re shocked. “You mean we’re not even getting in?” But remember what Jesus Christ says in Luke 6:46, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”‘
The following verse is on an old slab in the cathedral of Lubeck, Germany:
Thus speaketh Christ our Lord unto us,
ye call Me Master and obey me not,
ye call me Light, and see Me not,
ye call me Way and walk Me not,
ye call me Wise and follow Me not,
ye call me Fair and love Me not,
ye call me Rich and ask Me not,
ye call me Eternal and seek Me not,
you call me Gracious and trust Me not,
ye call me Noble and serve Me not,
ye call me Mighty and honor Me not,
ye call me Just, and fear Me not;
if I condemn you, blame Me not.
“Millions of people depend on their morality, their good deeds, their baptism, their church membership, even their religious feelings. There will be many church workers in hell, many pastors, and sad to say, many teachers in so-called religious schools. I’m sure many of them are going to say to Christ, “Christ, it’s us, we prophesied in your name.” But Jesus will tear off the sheepskin and lay bare the ravening wolf. That’s exactly what He’s been talking about in Matthew 7:15-20, where He reveals the false prophets–those who claim to have reality and have it not.”
“The true church of Jesus Christ is not a religious institution that welcomes everyone; it is the body of Jesus Christ apart to God, uniquely married and wedded to Christ, and redeemed by faith.”
This was taken from the very first sermon John MacArthur gave to 300 people at Grace Church in 1969. The sermon is titled
“HOW TO PLAY CHURCH”
Governor Rick Perry’s “The Response” prayer rally is, if nothing else, revealing the growing political influence of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) evangelists. These are people who believe they have supernatural powers and the divine authority to rule over “the nations.” The prayer rally is a snippet of a widespread, well-organized movement.
The NAR evangelists embrace “seven mountains dominionist theology,” a belief that Christians must dominate seven “mountains” of culture which include church/religion, family, education, arts and entertainment, business/finance, media and government. Emerging as a leader of this movement is a group that calls itself The Oak Initiative, which seeks to reshape the culture and “to work on every level where government is found, from the most local to state and national levels.”
A number of The Oak Initiative’s board members are involved with Perry’s prayer rally and, in a recent newsletter, the group announced its latest goals:
Article HERE
Make sure to watch the video about Rick Joyner
“Joyner also claims that he has transcended time and space by mysteriously popping from one city to another.”
Anyone that has appeared on Sid Roth’s show is a false teacher, participates in false teaching, or is deceived by false teaching.
There is a local health institute that has done excellent work for the community here in the state of Washington. For that I commend them.
This is from from an article dated August 20, 2009.
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/kitsap/pat/news/53850762.html
CAPRI’s 12-week cardiac rehabilitation program helps people recover from heart attacks, angina, heart surgery including bypasses and valves, angioplasty and stent insertions, and heart/lung transplants. CAPRI also offers an eight- to 10-week pulmonary rehabilitation program that helps people manage pulmonary conditions such as COPD, emphysema, asthma and pulmonary fibrosis.
Once rehabilitation is done, many clients move on to the cardiac and pulmonary maintenance program to continue improving their health.
Their website says that this is their mission or vision.
CAPRI’s Pulmonary Programs
Our Vision
“STRIVING TO ACHIEVE OPTIMAL HEART AND LUNG HEALTH IN OUR COMMUNITY”
But it seems that some serious issues have arisen.
The director has taken it upon himself to further enlighten the participants of this program. I was given one of the handouts circulated at a June 23, 2011 meeting. It is titled, “Healthy Thinking & Positive Self-Talk.”
There are many great suggestions on the front and back of page one regarding healthy thinking in relation to stress, healthy diet, exercise, etc. The areas I disagree with here are the recommendations of meditation 15 minutes a day and hypnosis to “reprogram your attitudes, beliefs and thoughts”, as “methods of reprogramming the subconscious.”
Page two further develops how such things may be accomplished. It is titled “Notes on Thoughts, Belief and Destiny.” My first reaction was to ask, ” Why is an exercise program delving into spiritual issues? As a Christian I can tell you that my discernment alarms clanged loudly at the following list of quotes.
“There is one secret, and that is the power we have in forming our own destinies.” Dolley Madison 1833
This goes against biblical thinking. There is no secret. God’s plan is laid out openly in the Holy Bible. Consider these verses in Isaiah 45:19, “I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth…I, the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right”, and 48:16. “Come near to me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning.” In Luke 8:17 we read, “For nothing is hidden that shall not become evident, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light.”
The buzz from the book The Secret teaches otherwise. In his review of The Secret, Donald Whitney says, “It is not exaggeration to say that this book implicitly ( and sometimes explicitly) denies virtually every major doctrine in the Bible.” [1]
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Napoleon Hill, 1937, Think and Grow Rich
Here again we have positive thinking on steroids. False teacher Robert Schuller based his ministry on these concepts and now faces bankruptcy for his ice palace of a church. All the visualizations of money rolling in from the visualized fat wallets of the congregation seems to have fizzled out.
What is behind the man, Napoleon Hill and how was his philosophy created. The answer may surprise you. This is from Mike Oppenheimer of Let us Reason Ministries.
Napoleon Hill wrote about imagery and visualization in his book, Think and Grow Rich. He writes, “The THIRTEENTH principle is known as the sixth sense, through which Infinite Intelligence may and will communicate voluntarily, without any effort from, or demands by, the individual…. Step by step, through the preceding chapters, you have been led to this, the last principle. If you have mastered each of the preceding principles, you are now prepared to accept, without being skeptical, the stupendous claims made here….”Just before going to sleep at night. I would shut my eyes, and see, in my imagination, this group of men seated with me around my council table…. After some months of this nightly procedure, I was astounded by the discovery that these imaginary figures became apparently real.” “Each of these nine men developed individual characteristics, which surprised me…. “These meetings became so realistic that I became fearful of their consequences, and discontinued them for several months. The experiences were so uncanny, I was afraid if I continued them I would lose sight of the fact that the meetings were purely experiences ofmy imagination. …. Whatever you believe that the adviser is a spirit, a guardian angel, a messenger from God, a hallucination, a communication from your right brain to your left, or a symbolic representation of inner wisdom is all right. The fact is, no one knows what it is with any certainty. We can each decide for ourselves….
Sometimes people will encounter religious figures like Jesus, Moses, or Buddha, while others will find an angel, fairy, or leprechaun. People sometimes encounter the adviser as a light or a translucent spirit…. The best way to work with this and any other imagery experience is just to let the figures be whatever they are. Welcome the adviser that comes and get to know it as it is.
Also from Dave Hunt
Though he clung to the idea that it was all imagination, from what Hill wrote it is clear that visualization had opened the door to the world of the occult:
Ah…so Napoleon Hill had spirit guides. The bible is clear on divination, we are not to contact spirits from the other side, because we will indeed be deceived by them.
There are other quotes from James Allen, As A Man Thinketh, and Florence Scovel Shinn. Mixed in we have some scripture about prayer. The Bible verses just don’t fit in the New Age mix, and of course this is intentional for the new thinking involves finding your own truth. The thinking is that you can pick and choose whatever you happen to like at the moment and create your own religion and your very own God..which of course is…youself, because some entity has made you feel divine.
New Age ideas and thought do not mix with Bible teachings because they are completely opposed to each other.
In the new age, truth is found within, but the Bible teaches that we are not to trust our hearts. Jeremiah 17:9 says that “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it.” Yet James Allen tells us to seek Ancient Wisdom and that the master is the inner voice which is self. Shinn instructs that the Bible is “a book dealing with science of the mind…telling man how to release his soul from bondage.” This person could not be more wrong about the Bible.
Jesus Christ came to release o free us from our SIN. This is bondage we face daily. The way to everlasting life is to put your faith in Jesus as Savior, who died on the cross, taking our sin upon His sinless self. He rose again from the dead, showing us His power and glory, as the Son of the true and living God.
John Ankerberg wrote this in his book, Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs. It was difficult to find a summary passage in this large book. This section tells how children are being indoctrinated at an early age into hypnosis, guided imagery, visualization, and meditation.
In November of 1988 we received a letter from a couple involved in researching a program used in elementary schools in Florida and other states. This program used tapes called “Quieting Reflex and Success Imagery.” A mother had told this couple that her little girl had contacted an inner guide through the hypnotic techniques used in this program. The daughter, commented, “My wise person told me not to pray in the name of Jesus anymore.” Furthermore this wise person was not the guide that the little girl has chosen for herself but rather someone that had appeared unexpectedly and spontaneously in her consciousness. It claimed that it resided in the corner of a “safe place” in her mind. But it proceeded to command her to do mean and nasty things. The mother was distraught and had no idea what to do. [2]
The guidance counselor comes into the second grade class and the regular teacher leaves….The counselor turns off the lights and begins to play the audio tape. The counselor is there to enhance the children’s self-esteem…after the meditation and relaxation exercises they are instructed to picture a rabbit as a friend in the secret place. And they are told that there is a secret and that it is believing in yourself and your self-power. With it you can do anything like magic. Answers to many things come up from a bubbling spring after watching for a white light. The answers come from the deep springs. Sometimes you will hear the words in answer to your question and sometimes you will feel it.
What you have read above is a brief induction method for meditation and hypnosis. In fact, meditation, hypnosis, progressive relaxation and guided imagery or visualization have more commonalities than many people realize.
However these techniques are also taught by the spirit world as a means to become channelers, i.e., one who is possessed by spirits in order to allow the spirits to channel information out of them…..What these spirits encourage is no different than what New Age educators are now teaching children. [2]
Apparently these techniques and beliefs are also being taught in pulmonary programs. I was told by the director at Capri:
Our educational session on healthy thinking and positive self-talk draws upon the teachings contained in several highly-respected books including the Bible. Some of the material is science-based, some of it is belief-based from a variety of beliefs, and some of it is opinion. CAPRI does not subscribe to a particular religious belief, nor do we promote any particular religious beliefs. We provide material from a wide variety of sources because people approach these matters from a wide variety of beliefs and perspectives. As part of our cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs, we encourage people to adopt a positive mental attitude. We trust that they will do that in a manner that is consistent with their core values and religious beliefs. We are not trying to change anyone’s religious beliefs, nor are we trying to conform to any particular religious beliefs.
Thing is….new age teachings are incompatible with Christianity and do not belong on the same page and cannot be lumped together. Jesus said He is the only way to the Father. In John 14:6 it says “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This totally goes against what James Allen taught who said the master is the inward voice. You can’t have it both ways. Is this narrow and intolerant?. Yes it is but this is what the Bible teaches.
Using techniques meant to relax the body actually can open one up for demonic deception. New agers always look for the light, but God gives a warning.
2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
As eastern spirituality grows leaps and bounds, those who cling to biblical faith will be ridiculed and mocked. You will be called intolerant and hateful for your faith. But take heart, beloved, Jesus said, in John 15:21, “They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.” Pray for those who persecute you.
So stay in the Word of God. When you hear such things as the law of attraction, or that the universe will fulfill your desires if only you ask, you can compare such teachings against the Word of God and immediately recognize it as a false teaching.
Believer, ask that the power of the Holy Spirit will teach and guide you into all truth and that God’s written Word is absolute truth for all times.
1. Donald S. Whitney, “A Review of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
2. John Ankerberg, Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, pgs. 412-413
From Real Truth Matters
Every year thousands of people climb a mountain in the Italian Alps, passing the “stations of the cross” to stand at an outdoor crucifix. One tourist noticed a little trail that led beyond the cross. He fought through the rough thicket and, to his surprise, came upon another shrine, a shrine that symbolized the empty tomb. It was neglected. The brush had grown up around it. Almost everyone had gone as far as the cross, but there they stopped.
Far too many have gotten to the cross and have known the despair and the heartbreak. Far too few have moved beyond the cross to find the real message of Easter. That is the message of the empty tomb. It is a message of new life, and that is exactly what God has done for the believer. He has planted or grafted the Christian into the resurrected Christ. It is new life. “He that hath the Son hath life.”
DiscernIt 
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