Category Archives: False Teachers

Discernment Troubles?

Posted by Dan C. on

In the facility where I work there is a Wednesday lunch time fellowship/Bible study. I am not a frequent Visitor, for a variety of reasons, but I’m on the distribution list the study facilitator maintains and I receive the Wednesday morning announcements confirming that it will indeed take place, along with the topic of discussion. Yesterday morning I received this one:

“Today, we’ll continue our new study of Psalm 91: God’s Umbrella of Protection, from the book by Peggy Joyce Ruth. We’ll look at Chapter 2 which looks at verse 2, “I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!’” Peggy says to circle the word ‘say’ in verse 2 in your Bible, “because we must learn to verbalize our trust.” She believes that the more we say verses 1 and 2 out loud, “the more confident we become in His protection.” Do you believe as she does? Bring examples of when speaking Scripture out loud boosted your confidence. Peggy also says that in times of trouble, “Take notice of what flies out of your mouth.” “The worst thing that can happen is for something to come out that brings death. Cursing gives God nothing to work with. This Psalm tells us to do just the opposite – to speak life!” What comes out of your mouth in times of trouble, death or life? I think this will be a great day of discussion. See you at noon! Bring your lunch.”

The first questions that came to mind were 1) Who is Peggy Joyce Ruth? 2) Am I looking at Word of Faith (ala Kenneth Copeland) teaching? And 3) Is Psalm 91 really about our needing to “verbalize our trust”?

1) Peggy Joyce Ruth. Well, at first I couldn’t find out a lot about Peggy Joyce Ruth other than a short bio on her ministry website and a few transcripts of interviews with Sid Roth, of “It’s Supernatural” fame. It seems that she spent about eight years in psychological torment, including electric shock treatments, received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit at a Pepsi Cola meeting in New Orleans, had peace for two years and the spirit of fear came back to torment her again.

Then one night God appeared to her in a prophetic dream/vision one night and spoke to her audibly and said ‘‘in your day of trouble call on Me, and I will answer.’ To make a long story short, she said this was God leading her to Psalm 91, which she has been studying for about thirty years while receiving ‘divine’ insight to its meaning. She now has published a series of books about Psalm 91, with editions for toddlers, youth, teens, mothers, and military members (regular and pocket sized editions), as well as a collection of testimonies of those who come through some really tough stuff and were miraculously delivered thanks to clinging to the promises of Psalm 91 and quoting it a lot.

2) The Kenneth Copeland Connection. A day after looking into her ‘ministry’ and reading Sid Roth Interviews I discovered the August 2015 edition of Kenneth Copeland’s Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine. She was the cover story for that edition and there was a lengthy article about her inside which focused more on all of the ‘taking spiritual authority over demons and dark forces’, as is to be expected from Kenneth Copeland. While Sid Roth was all about the “Supernatural”, Kenneth Copeland was all about “taking authority”.

3) Psalm 91. The other thing I did was read Psalm 91 again to see if it was teaching anywhere that we “must speak/verbalize” Psalm 91 to see miraculous deliverance(s) when we are in a pickle. (Especially verse 2, the crux of Ms Ruth’s ‘divine’ revelation). Turns out from my plain reading in context and ALL of the commentaries I consulted (10 or so); Ms. Ruth’s teaching is nowhere to be found. The Psalm certainly promised divine protection for those who trust in the Lord, in all manner of circumstances, but no way does it teach any “Word/Faith” techniques/practices.

Discernment Troubles?

All this brings us to the crux of this post – discernment. You see, after my initial questions and first round of research, I sent an email to the Wednesday Bible study facilitator with my concerns:

“It might be profitable to actually examine Ps 91:2 to see if it is actually teaching “we must learn to verbalize our trust”, or is it an expression of a heart sentiment, knowing and trusting that God is a refuge and strength. Don’t take my word for it. Here is a link to several commentaries concerning Psalm 91:2.

http://biblehub.com/commentaries/psalms/91-2.htm

This a wonderful Psalm concerning God’s protection in all the circumstances and storms of life, and one in which we can take great solace and comfort, but is it really teaching about personally verbalizing a passage for better confidence. Personally, the more I read and study scripture the more confidence I have in its truth. In this case, reading and studying other passages that speak about God’s protection for his children will go much farther in that regard.”

I received a hearty “Thanks for your input!” reply and sent another short email asking if anyone had looked into Peggy Joyce’s credentials as a Bible teacher. Here is the reply from my friend:

“I did a little bit and nothing jumped out as questionable.”

At that point, and mostly because I had not been attending the Bible study and been part of the process in selecting something new after the previous topic being discussed, I could only wonder why my friend found nothing questionable about this woman’s teaching if he had looked into her. Was it because his ‘little bit’ of investigating was very, very little, or he found the same stuff I had found (since there was little to find anyway) and was clueless concerning bad doctrine? Did he get sucked in by the novelty of new revelation that was pleasing to itching ears? What?

This is not a personal criticism, but rather an observation. After all, my friend might have a LOT of company. While I am sure that there is a certain amount of truth in Ruth’s books and teachings, I am equally sure that lies always ride in on the horseback of truth. I don’t remember when I first heard it or who said it, but someone said that sound discernment isn’t so much knowing the difference between truth and lies, but it’s being able to tell the difference between truth and ‘almost’ truth. Perhaps he was right.

On the other hand, maybe the disease technically termed “itchingearitis” causes the desire for plain Biblical truth (inherent in the new heart of a believer) to fly out the window. If that’s an accurate statement, there is a single and 100% effective solution for that believer. Read the Book for what it says, and be cautious concerning ‘extra’ material. First and foremost, let scripture interpret scripture. When we do that, our ears become sensitive to little clues that something might be amiss, and are less susceptible to being tickled.

Yes, I would say that ‘discernment troubles’ abound in the ranks of professing Christians, given the amount of very questionable ‘teaching’ these days.

And remember. . .lies come prancing in on the horseback of truth.

If a personal word of prophecy spoken over you fails, it’s YOUR fault!

Posted by Dan C. on

In an article published 11 August at the ‘Jennifer LeClaire Ministries’ website titled “Why Some Would-Be Life-Changing Prophetic Words Don’t Come to Pass” (also published in Charisma Magazine and via the Chrisma podcast), Jennifer LeClaire has this to say to us concerning the ‘prophetic word(s)’ over our lives:

“At the end of the day, it really does boil down to this: There is a war over the prophetic word over your life. Sometimes that war comes from the wicked one. Sometimes that war comes from our own carnal nature that wars against the Spirit (Gal. 5:17). Either way—and whether in Scripture or via prophecy judged accurate—we must fight the good fight of faith so we can walk in the fullness of God’s promises.”

I see a couple of problems with the above declaration. First of all it assumes that extra biblical ‘prophetic words’ over our lives are part of ‘the fullness of God’s promises’. Of course, as Jennifer tells us concerning these prophetic words, “you need a certain maturity to walk out the word by faith”. In other words, your spiritual immaturity could cause these ‘prophetic words’ to fail. Neither of these two points is taught in Scripture, but must be read into the text.

What is her scriptural support for this? What is the Biblical text into which Ms. LeClaire tries to fit her assertions? The parable of the sower, the seed, and the different types of ground upon which the seed falls (Matthew 13:3-23)! Jennifer tells us (prophetically?) that “In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus explains some spiritual truth about the Word of God. But it can also apply to prophecies that come straight from His heart.” (emphasis mine). In other words, the ‘prophetic words’ that others can speak over us, that we can speak over ourselves, or that we can receive in dreams (more about that in a bit), are straight from Jesus’ heart. So how do we know that a ‘prophetic word’ is from Jesus’ heart or an imperfect and still sinful human heart? I have no idea and Jennifer doesn’t explain that one.

Then we have the ‘spiritual warfare’ that takes place in the spiritual realm and/or in our own flesh that can thwart that the parable describes (because Jennifer says so, of course):

“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one who received seed beside the path” (Matt. 13:19-20). It’s important you understand exactly what God is saying prophetically. Many people miss it on the interpretation or application, especially in the dream realm. Of course, some prophecies are hard to misinterpret, especially ones about having babies or operating in some spiritual gift.”

Jennifer’s concluding advice is this:

“Continue to declare the prophetic word over your life. Remember, the enemy doesn’t really care about you. He hates you, yes, but ultimately he just doesn’t want the prophetic word to come to pass because, when it does, God’s will comes to the Earth.

If you are in a season of waiting and warring, hold on. Keep in mind it was at least 15 years between David’s prophetic anointing and David’s kingship. And it was about 13 years in between Joseph’s dream and his promotion to Egypt’s prime minister.

Chances are, it won’t take that long for you to see the first fruits of life-changing prophetic words spoken over your life. But even if it does, don’t give in to the enemy’s strategies. Ultimately, this is the Lord’s battle. Declare the prophetic word over your life and keep fighting the good fight of faith.”

Really? What the bible tells us about the possibility of genuine prophecies failing seems to disagree with Jennifer:

“If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18:22).

Not surprisingly, Jennifer never touches that passage, nor can she without suffering a huge loss of credibility, at least with the Biblically literate among us.

Furthermore, the penalty for prophesying falsely, in the name of the one true God or any other false god, was death (Deut 18:20). Period. End of story.

Ms. Leclaire, as well as other false prophets among us would have far fewer followers, not to mention ‘students’ at their “Schools for Prophets” (they’re out there) if God’s true word concerning claiming to speak directly for Him were read and heeded. While we don’t actually see false prophets being executed at the hand of man, or God for that matter, they will all face judgment. Perhaps if one were to drop dead, perhaps at a ‘prophecy open mic night’ (they are out there too), some of their mouths would quickly become silent as they repented and begged God for mercy. That is not the case however.

What can we do to stem the advancing tide of false prophets claiming to speak directly from God’s lips to our ears? If the spiritual tsunami of apostasy lead by false teachers and lying prophets is part of the end times great delusion, maybe nothing. It could get worse and worse. We can however, stand up for truth and the sufficiency of scripture for all things in our lives. We can expose the lies and falsehoods out of a love for God’s revealed word, a burden for lost souls, and the spiritual welfare of believers we know who have bought into the lie.

__________________________________________

The Jennifer LeClaire Ministries article can be read here. The same article is in Charisma Magazine here. I mention Charisma Magazine because Ms. LeClaire is a Senior Editor at CM, which is the ‘flagship’ publication for Charismatics everywhere. I also have Christian friends who are Charismatic/Pentecostal and for whom I care deeply. I used to be one.

As a final note, Chris Rosebrough over at Pirate Christian Radio Episode addressed the same article/issue in a recent ‘Issues, Etc.’ podcast you can listen to here. It was listening to the podcast that led to more research. It was hard to believe that someone would twist scripture as badly as Ms. Leclair (I’m thinking giant pretzel).

Beware of False Fire

Posted by Dan C. on

The ‘Toronto Blessing’ (now called ‘Catch the Fire Toronto’) began in January 1994 and its fallout has been continuously poisoning the church for a dozen years now, even having invaded once solid evangelical organizations. The Toronto Blessing had roots in the earlier Latter Rain movement and was denounced by the Assemblies of God in 1949. Nevertheless, it still gets very favorable press in Charismatic circles and publications, most notably Charisma Magazine.

At the same time, those with sound biblical discernment skills can easily see it for what it is – heretical poison. Recently, Chris Rosebrough devoted a Pirate Christian Radio segment to the movement, using a teaching by Alan Morrison from 1994. You can listen to it here, or you can watch the YouTube here. The presentation discusses the roots of the movement, it’s main personalities, and its purposes.

This post summaries  the purposes of Toronto Blessing, both Satan’s and God’s, as presented in Alan Morrison’s presentation:

Satan’s Purposes:

1. Destroy the authority of scripture.

· Making it subordinate to personal revelation(s).

· Making it subordinate to human personal/subjective experience(s).

· Twisting it (scripture) to justify unbiblical ideas. (Psalm 23-he makes me lie down) Decide what you want to believe and find a ‘proof’ text.

2. Stop Christians using their minds. Like the New Age movement.

  • Through the suppression of  discernment
  • By eradicating the centrality of doctrine in the Christian life. (Relationship with Jesus is more important than doctrine.)

3. Destroy the work of Biblical evangelism.

  • By stopping the mouths of preachers of God’s word.
  • By removing the heart from out of the gospel (Christ died for our sins).

4. Intimidate Christians into surrendering to Satan.

  • Death to those who resist the ‘new’ move of the Spirit. (Benny Hinn, William Branham, Paul Crouch)

5. Seduce Christians into believing there is some ‘higher’ form of salvation that they should seek. Faith is not enough – there’s MORE!.

6. Make believers confuse pietism (experience of divine presence, etc.) with true spirituality.

7. To bring an occult initiation into the heart of the church. Initiation into all the forces of the New Age.

8. Prepare Christians for the coming great deception (Benjamin Crème and The New Age)

God’s Purposes:

1. Drive his true people to run to him alone for comfort and salvation – to become serious students of the Word.

2. Sift the churches – separating the true church from false churches, denominations and movements.

I highly recommend watching the YouTube, which is rather long, to get a real appreciation for the seriousness of the poison that has invaded the church. Chris Rosebrough’s audio doesn’t really do the presentation justice.

I also pray that current Charismatics would either listen to or watch the presentation. It very well could be a giant wake up call for those deceived into thinking Toronto was a genuine move of the Holy Spirit when it was not.

Together 2016 – Reversing the Reformation?

Posted by Dan C. on

If you haven’t already heard, an event called ‘Together 2016’will be held on July 16 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It’s advertised as a call for unity in the church – a stand against division.

Division is everywhere.

Race. Class. Politics. Social media. Religion. The millennial generation is the most cause-driven in history—but our causes put us at odds and we create enemies of each other. The Church is paying a price. Young people associate faith with arguing and politicking. The message that Jesus loves us and offers a reset is getting lost in the noise.

Jesus directly challenged a culture of division. He prayed we would be one—one family, one body. And He told us to love our enemies. Everyone loves their friends; it’s when we love those who aren’t like us that the world takes note. It’s time to come together around Jesus in a counter-cultural moment of unity and love for each other. 

The need for hope is too great to be pointing fingers at each other instead of pointing to Jesus together.

Source

Roman Catholic Pope Francis is even scheduled to make a video appearance. Main organizer, Nick Hall  had this to say about the Pope’s appearance:

“We are humbled and honored by his involvement and are eager to share his message with the crowd that gathers at Together 2016,” Hall said in a statement to The Christian Post, reacting to the announcement that the pope has added his name to the list of speakers. “That His Holiness would choose to speak into this historic day is a testament to the urgency and the need for followers of Jesus to unite in prayer for our nation and our world.”

I hate to say it, but Nick Hall & Company will probably be an inspiration to a huge flock of young people. You see, Nick Hall is the founder of PULSE, which is primarily a ministry to college age ‘next generation’ youth. He seems to be HUGE, if you believe the ads about him, but I wouldn’t know because I am not a follower of the various youth directed ‘movements’ that seem to be more like rock concerts than genuine spiritual revival. They are ‘spiritual’ all right, but what ‘spirit’? Just asking. . .

You see, by having the leader of a religion that preaches a false gospel of ‘faith plus works’ as a headliner at a ‘Christian’ event should concern genuine Bible believing Christians. I don’t necessarily blame the million or so young people that will be drawn to this event. Many, if not most of them have probably never read their own Bibles. Although there have been attempts in the past to bring Protestants and Catholics together, or make it seem that we are, the Council of Trent clearly states that it is faith in God plus works that save a man. You can read for yourself the specific Canons from Trent speaking to adding works to faith here.

The movement toward Catholic & Protestant reconciliation is nothing new.

“March 29, 1994 saw a development that some have touted as the most significant development in Protestant-Catholic relations since the dawn of the Reformation. A document titled “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium” was published with a list of more than thirty signatories—including well-known evangelicals Pat Robertson, J. I. Packer, Os Guinness, and Bill Bright. They were joined by leading Catholics such as John Cardinal O’Connor, Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla, and Catholic scholar Peter Kreeft.” Source

“The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) is a document created, and agreed to, by the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999, as a result of extensive ecumenical dialogue. It states that the churches now share “a common understanding of our justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ.” To the parties involved, this essentially resolves the five hundred year old conflict over the nature of justification which was at the root of the Protestant Reformation.” Source

In 2017 Lutherans and Catholics will jointly celebration the 1517 Reformation. In a section of a detailed explanation of the 2017 initiatives we have these words:

“The first imperative: Catholics and Lutherans should always begin from the perspective of unity and not from the point of view of division in order to strengthen what is held in common even though the differences are more easily seen and experienced.” Source

I would add that the segment of Lutheranism represented in this ecumenical dialogue does not represent the conservative segments of Lutheran Church, such as the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS).

Here’s the point in all this in the words of the Apostle Paul:

Ephesians 2:8-9English Standard Version (ESV)

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph 2:8-9, ESV)

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Gal 1:8, ESV)

Need I say more? I certainly hope not.

What we can do:

1. Educate our believing friends concerning the danger of mixing the genuine gospel with false gospel messages, and pray that evangelical churches sponsoring and planning to attend this abominable event will see the light and choose truth over false unity.

2. Pray that God will open the hearts of young people (the primary target audience for this abomination), and that He will send his messengers to speak to those open hearts.

May this Lord’s Day find you blessed and prospering in His Word!

A Prophet for an Un-discerning Church

Posted by Dan C. on

Posted on Monday, January 12, 2015 by Todd Pruitt on 1517

Online Source

If you want to get people mad at you (I mean really mad) just criticize Beth Moore’s teaching. Trust me on this. Many a young pastor has found himself being roasted over the rhetorical bonfire of women’s ministry meetings for daring to raise concerns about Beth Moore’s rather exotic approach to biblical interpretation. 

But those who don’t much care about popularity or physical safety have in recent years been willing to challenge some of the outrageous claims and troubling teachings coming from Beth Moore. It would be one thing if Beth’s claims of direct revelation, sloppy exegesis, and squishy ecumenism were confined to a small corner of the church. The trouble is that Beth Moore is hugely popular which means she has a lot of influence. 

If you are wondering why I am writing something critical of a popular Bible teacher then you must be new here. Remember the name of the website – “Mortification of Spin.” Keep in mind also that Beth Moore is a public and highly influential teacher. That means that her errors must be confronted publicly. If you study the Bible you will see the prophets, Jesus and apostles doing the very same thing in their own day. 

Beth Moore has been pushing for a kind of ecumenism between Baptists and Charismatics and Roman Catholics and Prosperity heretics that ignores essential Christian doctrines. In Beth’s ecumenism, the doctrines of God, Scripture, salvation, and the church do not seem to matter nearly as much as her vision of “unity”. Hers is an unbearably light unity for it cannot bear the weight of biblical distinctions. And to make matters worse, if you disagree with her ecumenism you are standing in the way of Jesus’ vision for the church. How do we know that Beth’s vision is Jesus’ vision for the church? Because she told us so HERE.

It is, I suppose this shallow ecumenism which explains Beth’s willingness to praise and partner with false teachers such as Joyce Meyer. If you are wondering why this is a problem then I assume it is because you do not know what Joyce Meyer preaches. 

Beth also claims direct revelation from God. Her claims that God speaks to her are ubiquitous throughout her books and preaching. It is these divine revelations that supply the gravitas for Beth’s extravagant claims. If you watched the video clip above you have already seen her claim to have received a prophetic vision directly from Jesus concerning the future of the church. 

The following is an excerpt from Beth’s book The Beloved Disciple which captures once again her ease in receiving revelation from God. In this case Beth and God come up with a whole new term to add to the church’s lexicon (You may want to contrast Beth’s casual reception of revelation with that of the apostles and prophets). 

Beloved, I am convinced one of our severest needs is pure rest. Not only sleep, but refreshment and recreation. Recently God spoke to me about capturing what He and I are calling “Sabbath moments.” Like many of yours, my schedule right now is particularly tough, and I see no time in the near future for a number of days off. God spoke to my heart one Saturday morning while I was preparing for Sunday school: “My child, in between more intense rests, I want to teach you to take Sabbath moments.” I wasn’t certain what He meant. Just that morning God confirmed His desire for me to drive all the way to the other side of Houston to the medical center to visit a patient with brain cancer. I was very thankful for the privilege of visiting this patient, but I knew in advance it would be tough emotionally and far from restful.

I fought the traffic across Houston, then visited with my new friend and her husband while choking back the tears. They have two young sons, and unless God performs a miracle, their mother will go home to be with the Lord before they are grown. I got in my car and prayed. I pulled out of the parking garage, fighting the tears. A few blocks later as if on autopilot, I turned my steering wheel straight into the parking lot of the Houston Zoo!

Christ seemed to say, “Let’s go play.” And that we did. I hadn’t been to the zoo in years. I heard about all the improvements, but I never expected the ultimate: Starbucks coffee! (OK, so I don’t have all my health issues down pat.) Can you imagine watching a baby koala take a nap in a tree on a rare cold day in Houston with a Starbucks grande cappuccino in your hand? Now that’s a Sabbath moment! God and I had a blast.

– Beth Moore, The Beloved Disciple, (B&H Publishing: 2003), 220.

Just as Sarah Young’s Jesus in Jesus Calling sounds much like an American woman steeped in contemporary therapeutic language, so the Jesus of Beth Moore’s vision seems to suit an affluent American demographic. As you consider the condition of the church in the prosperous west alongside the persecution and suffering of so many Christians in the majority world do you think that “one of our severest needs is pure rest” along the lines of playdates with God to Starbucks and the zoo? 

I’m in favor of rest. More importantly God is in favor of rest. He created a cycle of days with the wonderful gift of rest in mind. God gave man the Sabbath day as a gift precisely for the purposes of ministering rest to our bodies and minds. I’m not sure when God decided to add “Sabbath Moments” to the mix. Is it God’s way of recognizing that most American Christians do not take their rest on the day God has set apart and made holy for that very purpose? Beth does not tell us. She simply claims that God chose to speak to her directly and together they coined a new term. 

I’m not saying that we cannot enjoy good gifts from God. I am as grateful for good coffee and cute koalas as the next guy. But the words quoted above illustrate well the utter weightlessness of contemporary evangelicalism, particularly that which is peddled to Christian women. If I were a woman I believe I would be insulted by such nauseating triviality. 

What Beth Moore is describing in her experiences is what we call “direct revelation.” Revelation means to unveil or make known. The doctrine of direct revelation means that God speaks directly to someone apart from any mediation. We understand that direct revelation was given by God to the prophets and apostles and was ultimately inscripturated as God’s written word. Protestants have historically denied continuing revelation. We believe that God’s Word is His chosen and sufficient means to speak to his people. Indeed the Southern Baptist Convention has clearly denied continuing revelation and affirmed the sufficiency of Scripture.

And yet Beth Moore’s books and studies are published by Broadman & Hollman (B&H) and sold in Lifeway stores. Both Lifeway and B&H are Southern Baptist entities and Beth Moore a member of a Southern Baptist Church. So why does the Southern Baptist Convention publish, promote, and sell teaching that clearly departs from historic Protestantism and is against its own doctrinal positions? Follow the money my friends. Follow the money.

The ‘Azusa Now’ Conference and Prophetic Extravaganza

Posted by Dan C. on

Hat Tip in advance to Chris Rosebrough of ‘Fighting for the Faith’, whose podcast audio so enthralled me that I had to listen to the Azusa report three times and take notes!

I knew about the Azusa Now event from having read about it already, but I don’t remember where I found the article. It all went down this last Saturday, 9 April. Fighting for the Faith reported on it and I regularly listen to F4F podcasts.

The podcast began by providing a quote from Jeff Jansen of Global Fire Ministries who had a fantastic experience while driving to the Los Angeles conference site. Says Jansen:

“As we were driving on Interstate 5 to the Azusa Now event on April 9, I saw a large, gold angel standing over LA,” Jansen says. “The Lord said, ‘Just as the 1849 gold rush drew people to California … So 4/9 2016 will mark a new gold rush of divine proportion that will once again draw the nations into revival.” (Charisma News)

The F4F podcast focused on several personalities from various ministries and the pronouncements / revelations / prophesies they delivered to the ecstatic crowd.

First there was Heidi Baker (Iris Global Ministries), who has revelations and visions on a fairly regular basis. She was introduced by Bill Johnson of Bethel Church (home of ‘dead raising teams’ who will train your church). Ms. Baker’s revelation was that God was healing “digestinal” problems/diseases of all sorts (small and large intestines), as well as lots of allergies. Having heard ‘John 6’ in her spirit continually she told the crowd that “some of you feel like you are starving” and can’t eat regular food. The Lord told her that he was going to heal them as they ‘ate Jesus’.

She then prayed that the inflicted ones would rid themselves of the “poison, fluff, and puff”. God was also healing all sorts of addictions from alcoholism to drug addiction, to addiction to medicines (prescription and non-prescription.

She also said there was someone being healed from a twisted knee and a skateboarder being healed of a broken wrist. Those last pronouncements were accompanied by a sudden ‘shakaraba’ utterance while she was prophesying. Such utterances are common with her, actually. She’s a regular on Fighting for the Faith.

Next we had Kris Vallotton (Bethel Church) who began by saying God was breaking the power of suicide that was caused by a ’spirit of insanity’ that put suicidal thoughts into people’s minds. He specifically mentioned a 17 year old named Thompson. God would break the spirit of suicide from him, as well as all from the God TV watchers similarly suffering. He ‘came against’ the evil spirit of suicide afflicting them and an entire generation! In the name of Jesus he released ‘life, visions, dreams, and promises of peace’. He ‘broke the bad visions’ some were having that were caused by the ‘spirit of foreboding’.

Then we were treated to Shawn Bolz from Morningstar Ministries. Morningstar Ministries is led by Rick Joyner, who was instrumental in the ‘restoration’ of Todd Bently (Lakeland Revival) after Todd’s adulterous affair with his nanny, divorce from his wife and marriage to the nanny. Joyner was also one of the NAR prophets who anointed Todd as an ‘Apostle’ at Lakeland.

Back to Shawn……

Shawn appeared on stage to dispense ‘words of knowledge’ and prophesy over some of the thousands in attendance. He even called out people by name and revealed specific things about them and their families! I think he must have received the ‘words of knowledge’ in advance and recorded them on his smart phone because he read from it for the whole 15 minutes he ‘prophesied’. Never mind that thousands of people had registered online and given names and that Facebook can tell us all sorts of things. I actually found the video showing him reading from his smart phone as he was prophesying. I had a hard time believing the F4F account!

Cindy Jacobs, prophetess and founder of Generals International, treated the crowd with a genuine ‘thus sayeth the Lord’ moment by saying “This is that which the prophets foretold!”, referring to the Asuza Now event as a direct fulfillment of OT prophesy.

Todd White, renowned street healer (specializes in lengthening short legs) then prophesied that there is coming a time of great revival where every believer is going to have a ‘prophetic anointing, and perform great signs and miracles wherever we go, even drug stores and other places we go shooing. He kept shouting “Do you want this?” over and over again, along with “The time is now!!!!!” reminiscent of a High School pep rally.

Lou Engle, leader of The Call spoke during the ‘tithes and offerings’ interlude, talking about a new movement called SAFA (Spiritual Air Force Academy) that was birthed at the Colorado Springs Air Force Academy where a group of cadets were very much into fasting and intercessory prayer. An exciting video clip accompanied the short presentation. The SAFA is mostly young people specializing in fasting and prayer who will be removing demons from the heavens and from the darkest places on the Earth. Divine encounters would abound. It was an invitation to ‘sow’ into the SAFA movement.

_________________________

So there you have it………..It was all too fantastic to keep to myself!

Sarcasm aside, I have to say that all of the above are part of the Charismatic/Pentecostal movement and all regularly receive great press from ‘Charisma Magazine’, and thousands of professing Christians buy into it all.

Hearing God and Sharing With Others

Posted by Dan C. on

When I want to hear God speak, I open the Bible and read it. If I want to hear God speak audibly, I read it out loud. B. B. Warfield, eminent Princeton theologian of the 19th and 20th centuries, is known for saying “When the Bible speaks, God speaks!” I agree.

If God’s revelation of himself in the Bible is everything we need to live a godly life and equip us for every good work, I have the best possible standard by which to order my life; ALL of my life within it’s pages. If my God spoke the universe into existence, he is more than capable of ‘breathing out’ scripture (writings) into the minds and hearts of men and ensure his infallible and inerrant truths are transmitted to us. Compared to speaking the universe into existence, transmitting his inerrant word to us is probably on the order of ‘chump change’.

And if the Bible is completely sufficient for my life, I don’t need ‘private revelations’ whispered into my ear. What I do need is the ‘illumination’ of God’s word to my heart. Isn’t that the role of the indwelling Holy Spirit? If it is, then we DO receive ‘revelation’ from God as the Holy Spirit illumines (sheds light upon) God’s word and sends it straight into our hearts.

At the same time, I need to choose my words carefully when I share what God is teaching me. We hear a lot of people say to us “God spoke to me…”, or “I had a revelation…” followed by the details. While both statements might be ‘technically’ true when the Holy Spirit teaches us, using those phrases might might not be wise. Here are a few reasons.

For one thing, most, if not all of the big name televangelists use them often and frequently to mean they have a special private communication link to The Divine – a virtual private network (VPN) to God, so to speak. And we are to receive what they say as the direct word of God, no matter how outlandish or theologically vacuous are their pronouncements.

Both phrases are also often used by ordinary, everyday believers. And because they are used so much by spurious televangelists and various false teachers peddling their snake oil, I feel the need to ask the “what do you mean” question and am suddenly hit with some version of the “why are you questioning me” demon.

Also, why would I use words that cause “issues” when I can just talk about what I believe God is teaching me? Am I trying to communicate that I am somehow special or am a more mature spiritual Christian? Maybe or maybe not, but why take a chance on there being any confusion because of how I express myself. I might not have evil intentions, but Satan sure does and he loves to pounce.

Lastly for now, claiming to have a VPN to God leads to the tendency to be declarative and assert as gospel truth what we share with others. I know some who will hardly ever say “I think”, “I believe”, or “it’s my opinion”, if they begin the conversation with “God told me” or “I had a revelation”, or if they are just convinced in their minds of same.

Am not judging (please stay off of that horse) but I’m old, sometimes tired, have listened to, read, and watched much in the last 40 years. It is was it is. And please note the frequent use of the hypothetical “if” in the above.

I pray you all have a blessed Lord’s day!

“The King James Bible is the Truth!”

Posted by Dan C. on

So states the title of a blog I stumbled upon as result of clicking the name of a commenter on a blog I occasionally visit.

The KJV Only author, in addition to inviting anyone who subscribed to any of the devil’s ‘PERversions’ to immediately leave his blog and never return, offered the following as the basis for his KJV position:

1. Only the King James Bible is the truth without error.

2. Only the King James Bible has been providentially preserved for hundreds of years.

3. Only the King James Bible has the power to convict souls and persuade people to be saved according to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (His death, burial and resurrection, 1Corinthians 15:3, 4 KJB).

4. All other versions are MAN-MADE, adding and/or subtracting from the KJB, which God strictly PROHIBITS in Revelation 22:18 and 19.

5. All other versions are COPYRIGHTED, meaning that they are printed to make money and no one else can use that copyright. Only the KJB has no copyright because GOD is the Author, and He wants us to share it freely with all men.

6. The Devil is the author of all these foul versions.

Noticeable in the above is a total lack of substantiation for any of the claims made concerning the KJV, a possible indicator that the blog author might be one of the rare possessors of a ‘mind like a steel trap’ (rusted shut).

There is nothing new in the above ‘KJV only’ assertions. Scholarly books and articles have been written soundly refuting them, most notable among them written by Dr. James White and Dan Wallace. I draw your attention to only two of them here.

Reason #4, that “All other versions are MAN-MADE. . .” claims ‘divine’ inspiration / authorship of the KJV, as divine as the original manuscripts penned by the authors of the Bible themselves. All KJVonly-ists do not subscribe to that notion. That the KJV was as ‘breathed out by God’ as the original manuscripts should seem to be a rather silly notion to any thinking adult, not to mention a lot of literate teenagers.

Reason #3 was new to me, although I am certain not one newly invented by a ‘steel trap mind” (Mr. STM) parroting what others have already postulated. Not only was it new to me, I find it more grievous than the rest.

Here’s the claim again:

“Only the King James Bible has the power to convict souls and persuade people to be saved according to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (His death, burial and resurrection, 1Corinthians 15:3, 4 KJB)”

To be fair, the definition of the gospel is correctly cited from 1 Corinthians 3-4:

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. (KJV)

A quick search of those verses will show that just about every other translation defines the gospel exactly the same way! Think for a moment what that means Mr. STM is telling us. Assuming that STM agrees that the original manuscripts (which we do not have) were ‘breathed out by God’ (the KJV says so), STM would have us believe that a lost sinner could only be saved by reading, or having read to him the definition of the gospel from a 1611 KJV Bible! That, my friends, is beyond stupid!

The Apostle Paul provided the above definition of the gospel to Christians at Corinth. He also addressed the following to believers in Rome:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16 (KJV) (emphasis mine – I hope I don’t go to Hell for that)

This is where STM gets a little silly. Paul said he was not ashamed of the “gospel”, defined it as the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and said that the “gospel” is the power of God (to convict of sin and persuade people) unto salvation. In other words, the “power” is in the message, NOT in a particular English translation of the Bible. And again, we have numerous other English translations that define the gospel message exactly as does the KJV!

So according to STM, we can have the same message (the power for salvation), in the very same words, in multiple English translations, but nobody’s getting saved except when it’s read in/from the KJV!!!!!!!????????

Is that the absolute epitome of ignorance, audacity and arrogance? Don’t answer. I would have really liked to ask a few questions at STM’s blog post but comments were closed and he attitude toward anyone who would question his KJV idolatry wasn’t very kind. Yes, I said IDOLATRY.

Jonathan Cahn’s Con – Knowing the Difference Between Shemitah and Shinola

Posted by Dan C. on

This is an article from the ‘Pulpit and Pen’ blog, definitely worth reading. You also might want to connect to the other article links in the post. Here goes. . .

Jonathan Cahn’s Con – Knowing the Difference Between Shemitah and Shinola

In The Pen by JD HallSeptember 14, 2015Leave a Comment

As of this morning, Jonathan Cahn’s best-selling book, The Mystery of the Shemitah, ranked #2 in Amazon’s prophecy category, #3 in religion and #129 in books overall (it did rank at #1). Cahn’s prophetic oracles also graced the New York Times Best-Seller’s list. Cahn has been selling his predictions on almost every major news outlet out there, and up until the last minute yesterday, was digging into his predictions that a great “shaking” would take place across the world.

The problem is, of course, it didn’t happen. The Shemitah ended last night at dark, beginning September 25 of last year. The predictions were not true.

The Background:

Jonathan Cahn, who calls himself a Messianic Rabbi (whose credentials are dubious), wrote a book detailing ten signs present before Israel’s collapse, comparing them to ten signs now present in America, called The Harbinger. With the success of that book, Cahn springboarded into a new divination, this time pulling from the Old Testament ceremonial law the command in Exodus 20:11 that the ground lay fallow every seven years, which was both agriculturally astute and required the Israelites to trust God for their provision. Debts were also to be canceled during that year as well, which was one of a number of safeguards against the holding of longterm debt in Israel’s economy. This year was called the Shemitah, meaning a “releasing” (referring to release from debt), which Cahn has interpreted more ominously as a “shaking.” Doing the math, Cahn reveals that September 25 2014 to September 13 2015 is the Shemitah Year.

Here’s where things get wonky. Cahn argues…

· God has given warnings to the United States in a seven year cycle going back decades

· The Lord deals with nations on a seven year cycle, like he did Israel

· Things like stock market crashes, economic recessions etc have happened in seven year intervals as a warning that this very Shemitah year will be God’s final judgment on America

· America has been unforgiving of debt and violating the Sabbath years, and so God is judging us in this year’s Shemitah

Along with John Hagee’s Four Blood Moons, the mysticism of these Hebrew Roots-influenced Judaizers has mainstream evangelicalism lapping up their predictions like water. Unlocking secrets, providing hidden keys, and unwrapping prophecies through astrology, star-gazing, date-setting and omen-interpretation seems to be the key to book sales as of late.

The Problem:

· The Shemitah was an aspect of God’s ceremonial law for the nation of Israel. Unlike the binding perpetuity of the Moral Law, the ceremonial law has been fulfilled in Christ and is no longer in force. Any good confession, like the Westminster Confession or the 2nd London Baptist (1689) could have explained that (chapter 19). This is why we should be catechizing our kids, frankly.

· The Shemitah, even while in force for Israel, was not applied to any other nation. The notion of God applying Israel’s Old Testament ceremonial laws to gentile nations (either then or now) is pure fabrication

· America is not some kind of “second Israel.” This is, frankly, a bizarre claim for a “Messianic Christian” to make.

· The exact dates of the Shemitah are in dispute, and facts tend to make Cahn’s dates differen from what we would have inherited from Moses (if it mattered in the first place).

· The coincidences heralded by Cahn regarding various “warnings” every seven years for the last few decades are poppycock. There are other “warnings” in between, and one could do the same thing for every 3 years, two years, fourteen years, twenty-three years. It’s a calendar smoke and mirrors that really anyone should be able to see. I demonstrated this in my critique of Four Blood Moons last year, in which I successfully predicted the deaths of WWE superstars based on the “opposition of Mars.”

The Hype:

· Charisma Mag predicted “10 Things that are Going to Happen within 15 Days of the End of the Shemitah.” A list of a lot of coincidental things planned on the world’s calendar, the author ends by writing, “I am fully convinced that the months ahead are going to dramatically change life in America…” Another false prophet bites the dust, I guess…

· World Net Daily discussed the “Strange Signs on Shemitah’s Final Days” only two days ago, in which Cahn mention two signs – the collapse of a crane in Saudi Arabia and a rainbow in New York City, both on September 11, of which he said they were “striking signs.” Signs that  nothing would happen, apparently…

· Cahn was on the Glenn Beck Program just a couple weeks ago, talking about these spooky, mysterious signs that this Shemitah would bring judgment (a fake Rabbi and fake Christian are talking about End Times prophecy…there’s a punchline somewhere but I can’t find it).

· Cahn has been a repeated guest on Jim Bakker’s program, just recently on again, explaining why the Shemitah would bring certain judgment (right before Bakker started to shill his brand of survival food)

Frankly, the list goes on and on. The Times of India reported last week said that one in ten Google searches was for “Shemitah.”

The Failure:

Yeah, didn’t happen. Not even close. Well, a few things happened…to be fair. Jonathan Cahn sold millions of dollars in books, Jim Bakker sold some survival supplies and Charisma Magazine got some real mileage out of the farce over the last year. The Shemitah is over, Jonathan Cahn is a false prophet, and evangelicals have been made fools of once again. Oh, also – and this is obligatory – we told you so.

The Lesson:

1. The Bible is sufficient. Stop chasing after prophecies, people. Stop buying for yourselves false prophets. Stop buying books that supposedly “unlock secrets” and “reveal mysteries” and all of that gobbledegook. God doesn’t hide things in the Bible. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to man. Hiding things in His revelation kind of defeats the purpose, don’t you think?

2. If someone says they’ve discovered something in the Scripture that no one else in 2 thousand years has discovered, they’re wrong and trying to sell you something – each and every last and lousy time. Bank on it.

3. If Charisma Mag, Jim Bakker, and Glenn Beck all promote something, it’s probably seven different kinds of jacked up. Seriously. Look alive.

4. Interpreting omens, using astrology, and looking at signs is not Christianity – it is occultic.

5. Seriously, a basic children’s catechism could have saved you all a lot of hassle. Understanding the three-fold divide of Old Testament law and how it applies (or if) to us today would be really helpful. The only reason evangelicals fell for Cahn’s arguments is because we collectively have the Biblical understanding of second graders in a United Methodist Church VBS. Anything more substantive, and we would have shirked this off like the nonsense it was.

By the way, Charisma Mag ran an article by Jonathan Cahn just this morning. He mentioned how many millions purchased Mystery of the Shemitah, but not the elephant in the room – it’s the morning after (after a full year of waiting) and nothing has happened.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. – Matthew 7:15

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The Prosperity Gospel in Africa

Posted by Dan C. on

This is a long but important article from World Magazine. The tactics of ‘Prosperity’ preachers in Africa are no different than here in the good old U.S.A. Thy might be more blatant than some are here, but the heresy is the same and many of the victims are similar. If you read this, and I hope you do, the more subtler forms of this false gospel might come to mind, as well as the American purveyors of this garbage. I’ll only say that there are mega churches full of deceived hearers and the preachers of this poison will one day appear before the judgment seat and the One whom they mock with their blasphemy. Here is the article in it’s entirety.

The prosperity gospel in Africa

Religion | The cultic activity promises worldly power in place of the power of the cross

By Feumba Samen

In five trips to Africa I’ve been impressed and even thrilled by the spread of Christianity in country after country south of the Sahara. At the same time, many more experienced travelers caution that Christianity in Africa is sometimes thousands of miles wide but only an inch deep.

Feumba Samen, an economics and statistics graduate of Université Marien N’Goubi in the Republic of Congo, last year became a doctor of missiology via Grace Theological Seminary in Indiana. He is also a multilingual and multi-continental journalist with articles in Congo Magazine, The Intruder, La Rue-Meurt, La Come Enchantee, and other publications.

Samen will be a student in the World Journalism Institute’s mid-career training course in Austin, Texas, next week. The following article is derived from a book he is writing. —Marvin Olasky

Africans are especially attached to supernatural values. For this reason African Christianity is characterized by an intense spiritual hunger. Nevertheless, faith on the continent is threatened by several factors, one of the most serious being the prosperity gospel.

Where it all started

In the early 1970s the Charismatic Renewal movement appeared in traditional African churches. The followers of this movement launched by Pentecostal teachings walked away from Catholicism, Protestantism, and evangelical churches to launch so-called revivalist churches. In these churches the pastor occupied a prominent place in the life of the followers. This trend expanded through the 1990s after the failure of structural adjustment policies imposed by the Bretton Woods institutions. People lost confidence in economic mechanisms, social recovery plans, and the ability of governments to bail them out and turned to the churches.

The revivalist churches are originally from New (Neo) American Pentecostalism, preaching the gospel of prosperity and miracles. These churches, with their earthly founders called apostles, prophets, or visionaries, promised earthly happiness, refusing any open dialogue with other churches. According to the Acts of the Seventeenth Scientific Seminar held in Kinshasa in 2013, “They receive financial support and legal status of the various governments of the country in addition to the support of churches in the USA.”

These churches preach prosperity, offering utopian hopes through the gospel of prosperity and miracles. The prosperity gospel was received in Africa for two main reasons: First, these churches were born and grew because this gospel integrated with an African belief that human events are controlled by spiritual powers, bad luck, and good luck. Pastors substituted for fetishists and traditional practitioners. Second, the prosperity gospel found fertile ground in Africa because of the real sufferings facing these Christians, burdened by material and spiritual poverty, who needed immediate relief and thought they could find happiness trusting in anyone making such promises.

The explosion of the cult of democracy and globalization has created in Africa new messiahs, besieging large cities in particular, by selling the prosperity gospel. The profusion of churches teaching the prosperity gospel number in the thousands. In Kinshasa, one source counts about 10,000! In some countries there are seven churches in an area of ​​300 square meters (3,229 square feet). The great number of these churches in many African cities raises some questions.

Actually, these churches are often the result of dissent where their main characteristics do not meet the criteria of apostolicity, unity, holiness, ethical responsibility, and universality, and put little emphasis on the authority of the revelation of God’s Word. In addition, these churches, which have a closed leadership and lax administration of the sacraments, indeed show that they meet almost all the criteria that define cults. Therefore, these churches are not created from God’s vision to seek lost souls for extending the kingdom of God.

Statistically, it is difficult to quantify the number of followers praying in these churches because of the multiplicity of “informal” chapels, migration of followers who go from one church to another or experience various places of worship at the same time, the strategic and political manipulation of data that depend on the leaders of these churches, or, finally, the lack in their culture of statistics or surveys in these churches.

Incestuous relationship

For decades, Pentecostals and evangelicals considered the practice of politics like “the Devil” and located outside God’s scope. Cults offering messages of prosperity opted in favor of the relationship of “church” and politics.

According to the Rev. Francis Michel Mbadinga—founder in 1985 of the Center for Evangelization Bethany (CEB), one of the most recognized and powerful prosperity gospel churches in Gabon—the primary purpose for his vision of the church supposedly received from God is: “The proclamation of the Gospel of Christ and His Word to create a new awakening that must affect and transform all areas of life in society: spiritual, political, economic, social, cultural, and educational.” This bridge between Church and nation would appear to be excellent, but it is the shameless exploitation of this “vision” that is outrageous and questionable.

In Gabon, members of prosperity gospel churches represent more than one-fifth of the voters. Some politicians, although without declaring publicly to be Pentecostals or evangelicals, use these churches to become popular in order to benefit politically. These churches encourage their followers to vote for these politicians, which are also for them a reliable source of funding. Thus, certain politicians, while providing visibility and credibility to their pastors, saw their political standing grow. Some were elected to political office; others, such as D. Divungi Di Ndinge, who was appointed to minister, were rewarded with high government positions. In this arrangement of giving and receiving, followers believed they could also come into contact with these political authorities through the church for certain opportunities, while churches improved their recognition and spread their religious message, thus, being a version of “I’ll scratch your back, and you’ll scratch mine”!

These pastors often have unlimited influence. In 2003, Francis Michel Mbadinga managed to sack Gen. Nguétsara Lendoye, head of the General Commission for Documentation and Immigration (CGDI), for refusing entry to the Gabonese territory and for lack of visas to the Rev. David Fletcher, who had been invited by the CEB for “Christian” events. Following this incident, the CGDI was dissolved under pressure from influential CEB members.

Gabon is not the only case where the tentacles of this spiritual anomaly have crept into the spheres of state administration. Joseph and Elisabeth Olangi lead a cult called the Spiritual Warfare Ministry. It spread its tentacles from its headquarters in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, to the Republic of Congo, where the Olangis expropriated state land. Members of the government, businessmen, and wealthy people, especially women, attend such cults to submit their requests to remain “forever” in the government and “continually keep” their high status or increase their business.

Because of their acquaintance with political powers, prosperity gospel churches reject democracy, although it has allowed them to emerge from the shadows to spread their extravagance in broad daylight. In their understanding, this political system is not the will of God. Their reasons: The democratic political system is that of “struggles and fights.” Placed in the African context and to a certain extent, that is not entirely false. Among other reasons they believe this system of government is not from God is, “If man had not failed in his duty, we would be living in a theocratic regime.” Their messages support the regime or political authorities in power. Their sermons emphasize the sacredness of the authorities and the fact that we should vote for them because God Himself established them.

These maneuvers are analyzed by observers of the religious scene as a means for these churches to exist on the economic and social scene, to be recognized, to be able to access some functions, or to avoid too deep a financial control from the government.

Prosperity gospel strategy

The sermons of prosperity gospel churches follow this pattern: predestination of members of their cults to reign (political and social power), prosperity (economic power), and the overcoming of disease and occult forces (mystical power). In a sermon titled “Chosen for the Summit” by Nigerian David Oyedepo, founder in 1983 of the Winner’s Chapel, he teaches how to reach the peaks. Excerpts:

“‘But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light’ (1 Peter 2:9). God had a purpose in creating you. The ultimate objective of this goal is to make you walk on the hills here on earth to make you an outstanding success. Successful means stand out, be distinguished among others. … To walk on the heights, your will must be strong. It is your will that makes you go through and over the opposition of life. With this established will, no opposition can stop you. Exercise your will to succeed, and it will lead you through the obstacles to your palace.”

In his 1987 book titled The Fourth Dimension, South Korean Paul Yonggi Cho, founder of the Full Gospel Central Church and another guru of the prosperity gospel favored by Africans, gives guidelines that followers of prosperity gospel churches must follow to live a happy life:

“You have to enter into your mind the idea of ​​victory and abundance. God never fails. So if you get thoughts that come from God, you will always know success. God never loses the battle, because He is the eternal winner. You should always be aware of the victory. God never lacks anything. Get used to thinking also in terms of abundance.”

In his theory of positive confession, which is the “incubation, the law of faith to see our prayers answered,” he outlines four steps that govern: the representation of objectives clearly defined, a burning desire to achieve, prayer to be assured, and expression of the language of faith.

“Church” without a theological foundation

Prophets, pastors, and gurus take the place of God. They do not preach according to the vision of Christ whose sole mission for the church is to seek the lost and make disciples, according to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20). They do not preach Christ crucified—instead they proclaim healing, miracles, and support for the tired and overworked as a priority of the church. These so-called men of God divert the theological foundations of the church, using all the means of propaganda for manipulating their followers looking for social rank, honor, and money by means of miracles and healings. They also aim to attract members of independent churches, as well as other churches: Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, and even Muslims.

According to Ngolo Gibau in Congo Vision:

“The proliferation of churches in Congo is a deadly vapor. I expressed my anxiety about the scourge in this mess that clogs the channels of awareness with all sorts of aberrations, deception, songs worthy of a Luciferian spirit, and rapacious merchantry, which Congolese ‘pastors’ demonstrate. Becoming a pastor requires a long and arduous journey that is defined by sanctity … humility, discretion, the refusal of any form of ostentation, to be immune to the allure of money. As in other areas in the Congo where these churches prevail, the devil, vanity, and quackery are the first ministers.”

This disorder is not specific to the Congo but extends to this type of church in other countries of the continent. It is explained by the epistemological, biblical, philosophical, and logical errors within these churches due in part to the lack of training of their founders, who claim to have received their vision directly from God and yet reject the mission of Christ for His church.

These churches, which lack a theological foundation, set aside the mystery of the cross of Jesus Christ. Thus, they reject the invitation of Christ to those who love Him to take His cross and follow Him (Matthew 10:38, 16:24), the profession of faith of the Apostle Paul to which the cross of Christ is the only source of pride (Galatians 6:14), and the exhortation from the writer of Hebrews of “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

According to the theologians of prosperity, sin is the “high treason” of Adam by which he transmitted to Satan the dominion that God had given him over creation. Thus, Satan has dominion over the creation by a “legal right,” not only because of the rebellion of man. This approach shifts the problem of responsibility in the act of the commission of sin. Satan becomes the instigator of all wrongdoing in the world as the author of sin. The aim of the “theologians” of prosperity is disassociating man from sin. He does not deal with his own sin but that of Satan. By denying original sin the fundamental core in the sin problem becomes the lack of self-esteem. The most serious sin is the one that causes a person to declare that he is unworthy.

Intellectuals’ attraction to the prosperity gospel

African intellectuals are increasingly exposed to and victims of these magico-religious cults. These people, who could instead be reflecting on the concepts and techniques of development of the continent, spend part of their time in these cults chasing demons. In their approach they seek to achieve prosperity or promotion in their professional lives by shortcuts.

Pride, envy, excess, and the search for physical, material, and spiritual security make them spiritual prisoners of these cults. Examining political, economic, social, and legal issues to find solutions is outside their field of thought and reflection. Basic scientific and technical research is placed on the back burner. Their truncated Bible study remains the only search tool to achieve the desired security. Their fear of self and of others is a result of profound disorientation experienced when suddenly put in contact with a sectarian environment. Its features are unknown, incomprehensible, and threatening, which causes African intellectuals to have an internal imbalance resulting in the erosion of moral values, the loss of cultural identity, and the degradation of positive competitive values. These cults, by capturing African intellectual potential, have placed in hibernation most African academics and researchers. They have become puppets in the hands of gurus.

The philosophy taught in these cults manufactures uprooted and alienated individuals. The good seed—that is, the African intelligence that should be the pride of Africa—is not, for the reason that they are victims of spiritual alienation caused by looking up to the gurus who eventually lull their consciences.