That's a good question that only you could answer.
Years ago, when I first came into Christ, I was hungry for the basic message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To be saved. To be a believer.
Then September 7th, 1979 happened. A call to the ministry. I was young and very "impressionable." Young in my natural and spiritual years. I was unable to quickly mature to understand the Scriptures. To know the difference between what's true and outright deception.
I was ripe for deception.
But I was in a Baptist Church. Zion Baptist Church in Brooklyn NY, under the leadership of Reverend Dr. Benjamin James Lowry.
When I first came to Zion, they had a thriving Sunday School, led by Deacon William Dye, The Drum and Bugle Corp called The Zion Ambassadors, led by Bernard Corbett, Reverend Jerry Bivens, and Jimmy Bivens. The Evelyn Lowry Choir, was led by Katherine Corbett. On Wednesday Evenings, there would be Bible Study Classes but I would never stay for Mid Week Prayer, led by the older saints.
Zion was a thriving local church that impacted the neighborhood. The youth attendance was huge, to say the least.
A few of the members of Zion Baptist got wind of what was going on in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa was the "mecca" of the charismatic movement. So, they went down every year to attend these services.
But the word went around the United States that denominational churches were filled with dead preachers and that their members frowned upon the move of the Holy Spirit. That people in denominational churches were being cheated. Denominational pastors and churches spoke viciously against tongues and the gifts of the Spirit. It was a war within the Body of Christ that lasts even to the day.
The "Cessationists" against the "Charismatics."
There was no real love for the brethren then as is today. John 13:34 was non existent. But how could it when in these charismatic circles you have false doctrine in open manifestation. There would be no concrete proof that the gifts of the Spirit were in operation.
The only gifts that were apparently in operation would be the utterance gifts of tongues, prophesy, and interpretation of tongues but it would only measure up to "word salad."
These people have a word for saints, but most of them never preach the gospel to sinners in the streets. Most of them are never seen in cancer centers in hospitals, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, prisons or other places.
There would be a lot of story telling about what kinds of services would happen way back then, but nothing to tell about in the services of today.
We're to put them to the test as 1 Thessalonians 5:21, 1 John 4:1-6, and Revelation 2:2 tells us.
Turns out that they were peddlers, hirelings, and false apostles.
Now mind you, that denominational churches had major problems too.
Pastors and deacons were committing adultery with members in their churches.
Practicing homosexuals were music ministers in many of these institutions.
In fact, in both denominational and non-denominational churches, sexual imorality, pornography, and solo sex was a major issue then as it is today.
Members in these churches were single parent families. Abortion was once a silent occurrence, but today, it's visibly defended in some of the churches.
Back to the defections from denominational churches, millions, over a span of a few decades, left solid denominational churches that were steady with the handling of the Scriptures, and they've filled these charismatic churches.
But if you were really paying attention, it was a trap.
Innocence and ignorence could easily be exploited because when you don't know how to discern, it's very easy for deception to come and you wouldn't know it.
2 Peter 2:1-3 (NKJV) "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber."
Back in the 70's and 80's, the WOF (Word Of Faith) and charismatic movement were in full swing. We came across Bible teachers like Kenneth Hagin, Charles Capps, Carlton Pearson, John Osteen, T. L. Osborn, R. W. Schambach, Pat Robertson, Fred Price, Benny Hinn, Jim Bakker, Kenneth Copeland, Oral Roberts, and others.
The names listed above seemed to be solid Bible Teachers, but they would twist the Scriptures and the unsuspecting never challenged them. The deception was in place.
They were building large church facilities, holding services in arenas, and such. People flocked to these places where "Holy Ghost Meetings" would be advertised.
Tongues, gifts of the Spirit, signs, wonders, miracles, deliverance, healings, tent meetings, seed offerings, tithes and offerings, and praise and worship were the staple of these meetings.
As I look back, we really didn't see much. There were large meetings and what was lacking in genuine, authentic, and verified manifestations, the good emotional preaching, the music, and the singing made up for it.
In many of these meetings, there's no question about the emotional highs and feeling spiritually high, you were left very impressed that you've experienced a "move of God."
You were mesmerized by the sermons called "revelation knowledge," and you never questioned what they would preach. The altar calls gave it that sense that people were getting saved and needy people coming up for prayer. Minor calls for repentance from sin. In some places, there was a gospel preached but it lacked the gospel of Christ. Music would play to compel people to come forward. Emotional outbursts gave the appearance that something was happening.
Hundreds, if not, thousands of books, tapes, CD's, and other "Faith" items as advertisments made millions of dollars.
But in most, if not, in all of these meetings, it was like you were given two huge pieces of bread with no meat in it, and you were told that it was a hamburger.
Our neighborhoods still remained the same. Crime was increasing. Poverty increased.
Tulsa was a crime ridden city. Oklahoma was a very poor state.
It wasn't pretty.
On TV, Tulsa looked like an oasis, but the reality was that things really were getting worse.
In the eighties, the religious right in the church got into politics. It would be the emergence of religious politics. Recessions were hitting and hurting the economy, and people. Inflation was out of control. The cost of living in most of America was unbearable.
The cry for an "end time revival" back in the 80's was that. Just a cry.
Just like it's still just a cry 40 years later.
It took me 40 years to figure it out that I was deceived.
It took Covid to really see that we had problems and that we were in trouble.
So a decision had to be made.
Stay deceived or come to my senses.
Today, scandal after scandal is rocking the Body of Christ. False doctrine is accepted as a normal part of the Body.
Today, the economy is as worse than we've ever seen it.
If you were really reading your Bible, when ever you see famine, pestilence, and incredible natural disasters, a bad economy, dangerous politics, and other serious problems in Israel in the OT, it was the judgment of God.
Today, there's a new phenomenon.
End Time Prophesy.
Most pastors are having "Prophesy Updates."
I almost joined the "bandwagon" but I have to admit, the times call for a solid teaching on the endtimes from the Bible. But what tends to happen is that in teaching end time prophesy, we put our interpretation on things when we really don't have a firm grasp of it.
I believe that all we need to do is have a basic command of the end times.
As far as the current events of our times, the judgment that happened to Israel then to compel people to repent is no different than today. It's no different.
False prophets are more prominent. False teaching is still infiltrating into the Body of Christ. People don't know the difference and it's only going to get worse.
When you're in deception, you won't see it but when you see that what was "advertised" didn't manifest, it should be an alarm to discern. To ask questions. To investigate, examine, be skeptical, and have some scrutiny. And be ready to debunk, renounce, denounce, rescind, and destroy all false doctrine and their teachers.
It's ok to challenge them. You have a clear Biblical authority to question me and everyone that handles the Word of God (see Acts 17:11, Galatians 1:6-9).
It's ok to come to a conclusion that they've missed it and that they're false prophets that will be destroyed in hell.
For instance, when Kenneth Copeland "prophesied" that Covid is over in 2020, the disease raged on for 2 more years, killing millions around the world. Not one false prophet prophesied that Covid would come.
The prophesy was a nothing burger.
But what happens is that we give them a pass as if false prophets are permitted a pass when they miss a prophesy. When you miss a prophesy, you didn't hear from God (see Jeremiah chapter 28).
Jeremiah 14:14 (NKJV) "And the LORD said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart."
But the rule of Scripture never allows for a false prophet to be believed when their prophesy fails to come to pass.
But we're livng in a time of deception as told by Paul in 1 Timothy 4:1.
The sad thing is, there's nothing that you can do to stop people from being deceived.
It appears that people are quite happy being told that it's a hamburger, even when there's no meat in between the buns.
Comentarios