Month: March 2015

There is a tally known only to heaven of the many souls that perished from lack of knowledge.  In spite of that tragic fact, people still rely heavily on other people to know what they should know.  It’s like they depend on human smoke alarms (spiritually speaking).  If Satan comes snooping about, they expect the “alarms” to go off.  In the physical realm the alarm doesn’t sound because the batteries are dead or it has exceeded its lifespan.  In the spiritual realm it is because of a several factors.  Either the “alarms” are not armed with knowledge, or they have joined the enemy, or they are intimidated into silence.  Whatever the case, the “alarms” are not sounding and people are walking head-on into deadly deception.

Who else can warn them but people who are witnesses and and have experienced the true fire?  Those faithful witnesses are often aged because the degradation of Christianity has been occurring for decades.  I perceive a full-orbed view of decaying Christianity because I have been witnessing the degradation for nearly four decades.  It is a sad state of affairs.  Individuals recently coming into Christianity believe that the decay is normal, thus the further decay is progress.  They believe that the faithful witnesses are just old, traditional, set-in-their-ways Christians that hate change.  To some extent that may be true.  However, this is not about the type of change that normally accompanies the passing of the torch from one generation to another.  The fact is, the torch was dropped.  Its flame has gone out.  And a new generation deviated from divine order to pick up the strange fire of heresy.

Most pastors are not equipped to warn them.  There are diabolical operatives working on the people they were given charge to feed and protect.  They see IF:Gathering, or Nines Conference, Bethel Music  (or some other Bethel extension), plus a full on assault of numerous ‘teleheretics,” but they truly don’t know what they are looking at.  They are witnessing people being led down the primrose path to bondage and think, “Wow, they’re really having a great time!”  The ramifications of this anomaly is a great apostasy swelling with innumerable professing Christians that ought to have known better.

But they don’t know.  They are ignorant because the emphasis today is on the temporal realm and how “self” can enjoy it to the fullest with maximum comfort.  And I’m not saying that a pastor should carp about everything that is attacking Christianity.  If he warned the people about everything, he have no time to preach and teach the milk and meat of God’s word.  But he has to know certain things, and most importantly, he must equip and prepare people to recognize evil disguised as good.

In the cases of IF:Gathering and Nines Conferences, they are operating covertly by the use of technology.  Sailing under the radar, and as internal parasites, they are infesting groups  within the local church via the internet and spreading out into local communities.  Most pastors are unaware of their presence.  When they have lured a significant number into their deception, the local churches will be too infiltrated to survive.  The numerical value will still be strong and may even increase, but any opportunity for distributing truth will be lost.

This is a dark period.  It is not business as usual.  Any pastor that believes that as long as people are attending, are involved, and the Sunday morning meeting is interesting, all’s well, he is mistaken.  No matter what church, what town or city, denomination or independent, how well it is thriving numerically and financially, every church in this nation is being infested by powerful and dangerous heresy.  If leaders do not wake up and begin educating and equipping their congregants, one day they will stand in the pulpit and minister the Gospel as usual, and they next day they will be dismissed and replaced. Don’t think so?  It has already happened.

Truth is not tolerated by the swarm of heretics and their beguiled followers.  Deceived professing Christians are rejecting the alarms.  Do pastors believe that after a significant number of people in a congregation has ingested popular heresy they will not have to “adapt” to remain in their positions?  “Adapt” means compromise; to find a happy medium, agree to disagree, to mix light with darkness.  Thus, some pastors have already morphed from light bearers to shadow makers.  They’ve managed to keep their positions and income, but at what expense.  Now they must either walk on eggshells when they preach, or throw all caution to the wind and placate the apostasy.  They must make up their minds, and defend their decision with the fortitude of the Holy Spirit’s anointing, that they are going to speak and defend truth while exposing darkness.  The choice is clear; be a bearer of light, or a shadow maker.

What if you bought a new car, a really expensive one, and a friend wanted to borrow it.  Oh yes, he or she would have to be a really good friend for you to consent.  So they borrow your car and when they bring it back you are devastated.  Not only did they paint elaborate graffiti all over it, but they also modified the inside.  It doesn’t look like the same car and its value has significantly lower.  Would you be happy?

“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” – 1 Corinthians 6:20

I should probably stop right here and let people figure out what they should do, but I’ve never been an appeaser when it comes to truth.  Here is a fact that no true Christian can deny.  God is good and Satan is bad.  Here are some more facts.  God is Almighty, and Satan is merely the “god of this world.”  God’s enemy is Satan and the carnal mind.  God’s people live according to God’s will, Satan’s subjects live according to the world system.  God’s people identify by themselves by their surrender to God, and Satan’s people identify themselves by surrender to Satan.  That was really simple.

Now consider that the subjects of Satan love to wear his symbols.  They love to wear death and demons on their clothing and tattooed on their bodies. Some of them will even engage in image mutilation in order to honor their master.  Image mutilation is getting worse as the apostasy increases and the world system becomes more hedonistic.  It is a statement of self-possession, i.e. “It my body and I’ll do with it as I please.”  It is the same premise used by pro-abortion advocates.  However, to own oneself is not to be owned by God.

Clearly, God’s word declares that as Christians, we do not own our bodies.  Our bodies belong to God.  When He redeemed us with the blood of His Son, we became His possession.  Therefore, we should honor God with our bodies as we do with our spirits.

That being the case, why would someone who claims to be God’s property mutilate their body, which is created in God’s image?  If we belong to God, why should we be identified as the property of Satan?  Is that okay with God?

Most Christians do not seem to care what God thinks about their appearance.  It is as if they are making statements to the world system; “Okay, you’re stronger than us.  Your influence is more powerful.  We are terrified of being criticized by you.  We want what you have.  We want to identify with you.  It is embarrassing to be identified as a Christian.”

So we have this body that belongs to God, but we’re going to tattoo graffiti all over it, get all types of piercings, and wear the symbols of bondage and death on our bodies and clothing.  No, I’m not a legalist,  I don’t preach against women wearing jewelry, makeup, or pants.  I’m just saying that we should be conscientious about bringing glory and honor to God.

Why should free people headed to heaven be identified with bound people headed to hell?  Is there any spiritual benefit in it?  When our fashion to please the world negates our passion to please God, it’s time for change.  Confession is not possession.  If we claim the Name, we ought to want the same.  Is that too much Jesus?

“Holy Spirit search me.  Expose every unclean thing in me.  Make my heart pure.  Make me the same on the outside as I am on the inside.  I present myself as a living sacrifice.  Consume me with purging fire.  Help me bring honor and glory to God Almighty.  I surrender to the One who bought me with the life of His Son, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

While Cheryl and I were travelling, we booked a room with a hotel chain we frequently use.  After checking in, she gave the room the once over while I began unloading the bag cart.  I heard her say from the bathroom, “This is not good!”  The tub/shower had a hair around the drain and walls.  The floor and vanity were filthy.  As we searched elsewhere, we pulled back the sheets and one bed had obviously been slept in and the sheets were not changed.  Behind a padded chair we found a large black bug about an inch long.  It was dead (Cheryl says, “Thank You, Jesus!).

I called the manager who arrived minutes later with his housekeeper.  We pointed out the issues, but he replied that he did not understand the problem.  He asked his housekeeper to tell us about the procedures they use to clean the rooms.  I informed him that I was not interested in those procedures, but only in a clean room.  After a bit of back and forth he finally said that because of our fastidiousness, it was apparent that he was not going to be able to please us with another room.  My reply was, “Obviously not.”

That story illustrates the problem with discernment.  It isn’t that discernment is a problem in and of itself, but that it always uncovers what people either do not wish to see, or are unable to see.  This is especially true in the case of heresy and heretics.  Deception has severed them from the truth necessary to recognizing the heresy or heretic.  Discernment had to be disarmed in order for that to occur.  Our loving God knows that this is a problem with humanity, so He gave the gift of discernment to individuals in the Body.  They are able to see by assistance of the Holy Spirit what has avoided discovery by other people.

Deceived individuals do not wish to recognize the exposure for various reasons.  However, all those reasons are rooted in the fact that they spiritually or physically attached to the object of discernment’s focus.  They either enjoy it, are enamored by it, feel comfortable with it, it fits well with everything else in their lives, etcetera.

Additionally, they are unable to recognize the expose’ because they are immature, or unknowledgeable, or unstable, untaught, and, at the risk of sounding condescending, some are ignorant.

I have advised, debated, and spent hours attempting to convince deceived people of deception.  It is nearly impossible to convince them that they are deceived.  In the case of a heretic, people are not easily convinced that the heretic is bad no matter how high one stacks evidence to the contrary.  Prying them away is not usually an option, especially if they are an adult.

There is one particular type of person that is just as that hotel manager. They live with error every day and have become so familiar with it that pointing it out to them is fruitless.  What a discerning person may find wrong and even repulsive, they believe it is right and refreshing.  They glory in their shame.  Further, they are convinced that the problem is with you.  You are a judgmental, harsh, critical, mean-spirited, possibly demonic, splinter hunter.  They are convinced that the problem(s) would go away if you would go away.  However, the hair is still in the tub, the vanity is filthy, and the bed is soiled.  And the bug is still behind the chair.

Here is a sticky note to folks who have accepted heretics and their heresy.  People with the gift of discernment are not going away until Christ comes to get His Bride.  The reason is because God is love.  The prophet, as harsh as he may seem and as hated as he often is, is a product of God’s love.  The discerning Christian who dares to call out the heretic and his or her heresy is a manifestation of God’s love.  However, just as the child that has been disciplined by a parent cries out, “You hate me!” the deceived views as hate God’s loving attempt to set them free from the bondage of deception.  Satan makes certain of that!

God can no more stop warning them than He could stop loving them.  And His people with the gift of discernment can no more stop speaking the truth than they can cease loving God and people.

It would be cruel to know essential truth and withhold it because people were offended by it.  In my opinion, it is a sin to watch someone drawn into deception, being led deeper into apostasy, and never speak or write a word of warning.  There was a time when we all rejected God, did not recognize or accept His truth, and refused to believe that people who attempted to inform us had our best interests at heart.  But God kept loving us, and He kept sending the truth.  As long as someone says, “Here am I, Lord, send me.” He will not cease to lavish His truth upon the ones trapped in deception and darkness.