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“Deliverance!”
I have just returned from preaching at a pastors’ retreat. On one of the days I had to deal with the issue of false prophets and teachers. Whereas previously I would have had in mind the major Christian cults (e.g. Jehovah’s Witnesses), this time at the back of my mind was the extreme Charismatic “deliverance” movement. I saw this as a greater danger to evangelicalism because it is a Trojan horse.
During our discussion time it became apparent that I was correct. Although while I was teaching I did not mention the Charismatic “deliverance” movement, almost all the questions were related to this phenomenon. It is a common vice.
The loss of the gospel
My chief concern about this movement is the loss of the gospel. In my personal evangelism I often come across individuals who are members of these churches and all their talk is about perceived miracles and deliverance but never about repentance and personal faith in Jesus Christ. There is something definitely wrong with that.
The regular content of preaching on TV confirms this. I never hear a straightforward sermon on the death of Christ as God’s atoning sacrifice for our sins. I never hear preachers calling hearers to repentance and faith in Christ. Rather, whatever passage the preacher is dealing with, he soon makes a beeline to felt needs (barrenness, lack of or infidelity in a spouse, a “curse” in your wider family, lack of employment, etc) and then appeals for any individuals going through this to “believe” as he—the preacher—is about to pray for them.
The consequences of the loss of the gospel have been disastrous. Churches are filled with happy-clappy people whose lives are whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones. This must be obvious. The gospel alone changes people’s hearts. Once you lose it, you will have the crowds but without sanctified hearts. Their religion becomes a thin veneer that covers unbridled sinful passions. In the end, those who know the truth about the scandals and the skeletons in the wardrobes of church-going people blaspheme the Lord’s name. It is terrible!
The loss of worship services
In most cases, the deliverance supposedly takes place as the preacher is praying. This is not just a TV phenomenon. It is now the highpoint during church services. After all the singing and dancing, there is a sermon. It amounts to something like, “So-and-so came to Jesus or Paul for deliverance, this is your day to also be delivered. Just believe.” Then the invitation is made for those with any needs to come to the front for the deliverance.
There is no doubt that this draws the crowds. However, it is not because there are any miracles taking place. Far from it! It is because of the phenomenon of people falling down and writhing on the ground. It is precisely the same kind of phenomenon that draws crowds to the local witchdoctor. There is only one difference. We are supposed to believe that it is the devil who does these things at the witchdoctor’s den but it is God who is doing it at the “deliverance” church.
My quarrel is with turning a worship service into a deliverance session. Every Sunday ends with people coming to the front to get their “deliverance”. Is this what was happening in the days of Jesus or that of the apostles? Even a casual reading of the book of Acts does not give me that impression. It is clear that worship services were for singing and prayers going up to God, and the Word of God being preached for the salvation and sanctification of the people. After which they went home to think about and apply what they had heard.
The loss of the priesthood of all believers
When I question all this, I sometimes get accused of not believing in a God who can do the miraculous today. That is not the point. My quarrel is with the “man of God” phenomenon that is utterly unbiblical. It steals away from the priesthood of all believers and reduces it to the priesthood of “the man of God” who seems to have powers that ordinary Christians do not have. Hence, his prayers (and those of his wife) are anointed while the prayers of ordinary John and Mary are not.
In the Bible, the phrase “man of God” was applied to prophets (as vehicles of God’s self-revelation) and not to priests (as miracle workers). Granted, some of these men of God (like Moses) were also miracle workers but that was not the essence of this phrase. Hence, you find men like David being referred to as men of God (see 2 Chronicles 8:14) but they never performed a single miracle. Thus Paul was also able to apply it to Timothy in the New Testament (see 1 Timothy 6:11) and as far as we know no single miracle was performed by Timothy.
This answers the question that I was asked at the pastors’ retreat: “What if, while I am preaching, some demons manifest in an individual?” My answer is simple. Ask a few mature Christians in the church service to carry that person out to another room so that they can pray for him and continue with your sermon.
Why keep everyone waiting for the next hour or two while pandemonium breaks out in front of the pulpit? There are no special powers in the prayer of the preacher, which ordinary Christians do not have in their prayers. It is the prayers of a righteous man that avail much and not the prayers of some anointed “man of God”. In fact, from the scandals filling up our history books, we are learning again and again that the so-called “men of God” are often not even righteous.
We need to arrest this trend
I am very concerned about the “false prophets and teachers” of our day, who have come into evangelicalism through the back door. As I said earlier, this is a Trojan horse. The loss of the gospel, the loss of worship services, and the loss of the priesthood of all believers is a matter of grave concern. If we do not arrest this trend there will soon be serious animism and syncretism in the church, until there will be no difference between what takes place in the witchdoctor’s den in the village and what is taking place in church. God forbid that it should be so!
Posted by Conrad Mbewe
WATCH THIS VIDEO
From Faith in Faith to Faith in Christ
By: Peter Glover
Mark Haville’s is an extraordinary story. Converted into the Pentecostal/Charismatic church he quickly came under the spell of the Word-Faith teaching of men like Kenneth Copeland. But things did not stay that way for Mark… Still in his mid-20’s, Mark became an itinerant minister travelling the country earning large sums of money through his ability to perform ‘signs and wonders’. Remarkably, he has renounced his former life, his beliefs, and his practices as a Word-Faith minister and is now speaking out boldly against the beliefs and practices of the current Signs and Wonders movement. (Note: In the text ‘EN’ refers to Evangelicals Now, and ‘MH’ refers to Mark Haville. ‘PG’ is Peter Glover)
EN: “How did you first get involved with Word Faith teaching?”
MH: I was given lots of tapes and books by Kenneth Copeland…
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Always like to read this blog:
by Mike Ratliff
13 Καὶ μὴ θαυμάζετε, ἀδελφοί, εἰ μισεῖ ὑμᾶς ὁ κόσμος. (1 John 3:13 NA28)
13 Do not marvel brothers if the world hates you. (1 John 3:13 translated from the NA28 Greek text)
There are many ministries in our time that are run by people who have either forgotten that friendship with the world is a sin or they are deliberately overlooking it. If a ministry operates in such a way that the world loves it then there is at least one missing component within it. That of course is obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture is clear that Christians cannot be friends of the world. Why? Satan is the one who dominates the evil world system, which is in rebellion against God (John 14:30). Therefore, the world not only hates Jesus, but also those who follow Him. This hatred is also focused toward the Father because He…
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I had accepted some friend requests on facebook only to discover their intent was to attack me. They were determined to smash my idolatry of gathering together with Sunday worshippers and observing certain holidays. Many in the HR movement fall into legalism. Here is a short article on facebook exposing the “119 Ministries.” You might note that other teachings are also bringing in the gnostic gospels which are adding to the Bible.
ANTI-CHRIST ARITHMETICThe Hebrew Roots Movement uses the same general strategy to cheat you of your salvation that other cults like the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses do. That’s because behind all cults, including the Hebrew Roots Movement, is Satan himself.ADD
Many who are caught up in the HRM have not started reading the Talmud or Mishnah yet. But they’re being groomed to receive these extra-biblical texts by a culture of idolizing all things Hebraic. Once they are convinced to read these heretical documents, they are likely to go all the way and deny Jesus because these texts absolutely deny Jesus’s deity.
Revelation 22:18
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, IF ANY MAN SHALL ADD UNTO THESE THINGS, GOD SHALL ADD UNTO HIM THE PLAGUES THAT ARE WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK:
SUBTRACT
Many if not most in the HRM are unitarian monotheists – that is they believe in only one person in the Godhead. This is consistent with a traditional Jewish understanding of the Godhead. Why is this so important? Because, it prepares your mind to reject Jesus’ deity. If there is only one person in the Godhead, when Jesus speaks to the Father, and the Father is God, then WHO IS JESUS. Attacking the Trinity is a very important weapon of Satan.
Isaiah 48:16
Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
MULTIPLY
When you multiply your works thinking you’re pleasing God in the process, you subtly fall into a doctrine of works. Satan LOVES this. Satan knows you cannot mix grace and works. Whenever you mix the two, grace is always diminished and works becomes your god.
Romans 11:6
And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
DIVIDE
As you struggle to keep yourself saved by your works, you end up dividing your love for Jesus with a love for Jesus PLUS Torah. You end up deifying the Torah. Jesus doesn’t care to get into a kinky ménage à trois. It should be only you and Jesus. It should never be you, Jesus and the Torah. There’s no room for a third party in the relationship between Jesus and His bride.
Exodus 20:5
you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, THE LORD YOUR GOD, AM A JEALOUS GOD, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
by Rick Frueh
MAJESTIC SIMPLICITY
II Cor.11: 2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
This new, intellectual, materialistic and esoteric Christianity is not Christianity at all. It is a modern revelation of the Tower of Babel built with the bricks of human logic, human desires, and human interests that are all held together by the mortar of demonic influences.
We live in perilous times in the natural and in the supernatural. And much of what is happening in the unseen world has been making itself known in the seen world. And these manifestations are not just occurring in the secular world or even in the religious world which does not consider itself “Christian”. There are many serious demonic incursions within the visible church that does call itself Christian. In these days of accelerated wealth and power and hedonistic lifestyles the true church has now been overrun by the tide of the profound confusion of an ever expanding litany of messages. It would take no more research than sitting in front of the television and watching “Christian” television for one day to discover all the different and insane messages.
Finish Article HERE
http://www.wordofhisgrace.org/shroudofturinqa.htm
Q. Is the Shroud of Turin really Jesus’ burial shroud?
A. The Shroud of Turin is a 14.3 × 3.7 ft (4.4 × 1.1 m) linen cloth
bearing what appears to be the image of a man. The popes of the Roman Catholic Church accept as authentic the claim that the shroud is the cloth wrapped around Jesus Christ at His burial, and that the image was formed at His miraculous resurrection.
The scientific debate over the authenticity and age of the shroud, and the origin or cause of the image, has spanned centuries and continues today. But scientific analysis is not needed to answer the question of whether the shroud is really the cloth in which Jesus was buried.
Biblical Evidence
There is clear biblical evidence that will tell us whether the Shroud of Turin is genuinely Jesus’ burial cloth. Let’s examine it.
After Jesus died on the cross, Joseph of Arimathea requested and received permission from Pilate to take Jesus’ body and bury it. Nicodemus assisted him. Then, as we read in Matthew 27:59-60, “Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock, and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed.”
The word “wrapped” here is from the Greek entulissō. “Linen cloth” is from the Greek word sindōn, which means “fine linen.” The Apostolic Bible Polyglot, which is a literal translation, renders this verse, “And having taken the body, Joseph swathed it with pure fine linen.”
The parallel account in Mark 15:46 reads, “He bought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of a rock. He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.” “Linen cloth” is the same Greek word as is used in Matthew’s account. “Wound him,” however, is a different word. It is eneileō. It means to “roll in” or “encoil.” Thayer‘s says, “to roll in, wind up.”
Luke 23:53 says this: “He took it down, and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that was cut in stone, where no one had ever been laid.” “Wrapped” is the same word Matthew uses, entulissō. “Linen cloth” is again sindōn.
John tells us this: “Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred Roman pounds. So they took Jesus’ body, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury” (John 19:39-40).
“Bound” in this verse comes from the Greek word deō. It means to “bind, fasten, or tie up.” “Linen cloths” this time is from the Greek word othonion. Specifically, it is othoniois, which is the plural. It means “strips of linen bandages.” In other words, Joseph and Nicodemus wound Jesus and the spices in tightly bound strips of clean, fine linen bandages.
What Peter and John Saw
After Jesus’ resurrection, Mary Magdalene and the other women reported the empty tomb to the apostles. Luke tells their reaction: “These words seemed to them to be nonsense, and they didn’t believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he departed to his home, wondering what had happened” (Luke 24:11-12). “Strips of linen” is again from the plural form of othonion.
John gives us an additional, important detail:
Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!” Therefore Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first. Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he didn’t enter in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying, and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed. For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
John 20:2-10
“Linen cloths” is once again from the plural form of othonion—”strips of linen bandages.” Peter and John saw these strips of linen bandages lying but without the body in them. But they saw something else. They saw “the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself” (verse 7). “Cloth” in this verse is soudarion. It means a “handkerchief” or “sweatcloth.” It was lying separate from the strips of linen bandages, it was “rolled up” (entulissō) “in a place by itself.”
What John’s account shows us is that, apart from Jesus’ torso being bound with strips of linen cloth somewhat like a mummy, Jesus’ head was wrapped in a separate handkerchief.
Conclusion
The Shroud of Turin is a one-piece sheet of linen. The image of the body and head is within that one cloth. This does not at all agree with the biblical account of the way Jesus was buried. As we have just seen, Jesus’ torso was wound with strips of clean, fine, linen bandages, and His head was wrapped with a separate cloth or napkin.
This evidence from the Word of God proves the Shroud of Turin to not be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. It also proves the pope to be fallible, and exposes him as someone who rejects the Word of God. As for what the Shroud of Turin really is, we can let the scientists debate about that.
Peter Ditzel
Copyright © 2013 Peter Ditzel. Permissions Statement. Unless otherwise noted, Bible references are from the World English Bible (WEB).
From True Discernment:
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1John 4:1
This is one of the most important passages for the church today. It is also one of the most misunderstood. Many in today’s lukewarm church make no effort to test the spirits. They swallow anything fed to them. Any teacher, preacher, or so called apostle or prophet that comes along is accepted as long as they have some kind of credential or some type of endorsement from the majority.
Some believe that they are testing the spirits but they test by the flesh. When a preacher draws large crowds, has a large church, or sells lots of books he is assumed to be operating by the spirit of God. His success in worldly terms is seen as God’s stamp…
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