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Let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer, then we'll begin.
Our Father, we do thank You for this time and we pray that Your Holy Spirit who is always
active, always present, always working will guide us into the truth of Your Word. Sanctify
us in the truth of Your Word. And, Lord, as we look at these issues today, somewhat controversial,
quote/unquote, somewhat confusing, very confusing for many people, we pray that Your Spirit
will illumine the truth of Your Word to us and that we would live our lives accordingly
and be equipped to speak Your truth in love to others so that they may do that as well.
These things we ask in the name of Christ, for His sake. Amen.
It's good to be with you once again. I thank you very much for coming. And what we will
be doing in this session is we'll be looking at some of the more dramatic, some of the
more spectacular things of the Word/Faith Movement and the gist of this, the direction
we'll be looking at how these practices that we'll be looking at, the abuse of tongues,
the practice of divine revelation knowledge, the claims of people who say they've been
to heaven, how these things divorce people from their reliance upon the sufficient Word
of God. And at the end of our time, we'll be looking a little bit at physical healing.
This seminar is about seven hours in length, I'm trying to condense it down to two. Yesterday's
session and today, so we'll be just hitting a few of the high points and we'll be going
very quickly through this, but if you would like the full seminar, they do have my DVDs
entitled "Clouds Without Water" in the bookstore, those are available for you. And so...let's
begin.
Now, this may be a little bit anticlimactic because this has already been discussed somewhat.
But for those who may be tuning in on the Internet and haven't been here at the conference,
which theological group does the following: heretic jerking and shaking, uncontrollable
laughter, being slain in the Spirit, they prophesy and they speak in tongues. Of course,
most people would think of Charismatics/Word of Faith, it's actually Hindus. Hindus do
all of these things as well and has already been mentioned in this conference, you can
look at video clips of Hindus practicing this thing known as Kundalani(?), it's a subset,
a little discipline within Hinduism. You can look at clips of Hindu Kundalani, and look
of clips of professing Charismatic Christians and they are absolutely indistinguishable.
You cannot tell the difference, the exact same kind of behavior. And so that should
give us really a lot of pause before we start to say, "Oh, well so-and-so is speaking in
tongues, or so-and-so is being slain in the Spirit, that's a sign of God's hand on that
person, that's a sign of spirituality." Absolutely not. There may be a spirit at work, but it
is not the Holy Spirit...it is not the Holy Spirit.
Watch this video clip from quote/unquote Apostle Guillermo Maldonado.
CLIP: And I can give you a list. Faith has been supplanted by reason. Today we don't
do anything unless we understand it. When...of you go to the Scripture, every act or miracle
of God, it cannot be explained. That's a supernatural means. Something that cannot be explained,
it's beyond your head, it's beyond your reason. If you want to receive your miracle now, you
need to disconnect your head. And your reason has its place. I'm not saying you're stupid,
we have to be stupid. That's not what I'm saying, but you can get into the supernatural,
you cannot move in the supernatural by the reason.
JUSTIN: You cannot move in the supernatural by your reason. If you want to be spiritual,
if you want to move in the supernatural, you've got to disengage your head. Is that what the
Bible tells us to do? Absolutely not. Acts chapter 17:11, the Bereans says they were
considered more noble than those in Thessalonica because they received the Word with all readiness
of mind, searching the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. The Word
of God never enjoins us to disengage our minds when it comes to the things of God.
Quite the opposite. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind.
We are to study to show ourselves approved unto God. But there is a very palpable undercurrent
of anti-intellectualism, a theological intellectualism within the Word of Faith/Charismatic Movement.
This is very pervasive. Doctrine and theology have become bad words. And that is prevalent
not only in the Charismatic Word of Faith Movement, it is also prevalent in most evangelical
churches tragically. Most people have come to the point where they say, "Well I don't
need doctrine. I don't need theology. I just love Jesus. That is a foolish statement. That
is a foolish statement.
If we love Jesus as much as we profess to love Him, then don't you think we would want
to get to know Him? And the only way to get to know Him is by knowing Him in His Word.
We're to study the Word of God. And when our knowledge of God is deepened, our love for
God is deepened.
By the way, I have this word "apostle" in quotes for a reason. There are no more apostles.
Not with a capital A, the office of the Apostle has been closed. There are Twelve Apostles,
Revelation 21:14, the twelve foundation stones in the New Jerusalem on which were inscribed
of the names of the Twelve Apostles. So no more Apostles today. Thank you very much for
applying but the quota has already been filled.
Briefly I want us to look at the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues. Of course, there is a
debate within Christianity as to whether or not these gifts are still in operation. Obviously
as you might imagine, my position is that from a cessationist position. And let me reiterate
something because a lot of people think if you're a cessationist, that means that you
don't believe in any of the spiritual gifts.
That's not cessationism. Beth Moore thinks that's cessationism as she has defined it.
But that's not cessationism. Cessationism is not the belief that all of the spiritual
gifts have ceased, only that the apostolic gifts have ceased...tongues, interpretation
of tongues, prophecy in the sense of foretelling the future, and healing. Those gifts are no
longer in operation. The gifts of mercy, the gifts of teaching, the gifts of exhortation,
administration, all of those gifts very much still in effect. But we have a few here...I
have a few items here dealing with the gift of tongues. Just kind of in a general nature,
we're going to blow through these real quickly. But just some parameters for this gift.
Number one, as we've already looked, tongues are not unique to Christianity. They're not
unique to Christianity. So the fact that pagans can speak in tongues and do it just as convincingly
as any professing Charismatic Christian is proof positive that just because someone is
speaking in tongues, it's not necessarily an indication that that person is getting
that ability from God. Pagans do it too. So not at all an indication of God's hand on
that person.
Tongues can be practiced in an ignorant, ungodly way. This is what was going on in the church
in Corinth. The church in Corinth was an absolute mess. And they had this rampant abuse of the
spiritual gifts. They were abusing the gifts in every imaginable way, in an unimaginable
morality going on in that church and Paul was writing to correct this. Paul was writing
to correct this. Tongues can be practiced in an ungodly way, it can be done in such
a way that it brings attention to the person speaking in tongues, rather than glorifying
Christ, rather than edifying the church. That's what was going on in the church at Corinth.
Also, if it's done in public in corporate worship, an interpreter must always be present
and he must always interpret. And so if you're in a church and there's a group of people
speaking in tongues all at once, and no one is interpreting, that's well outside of biblical
parameters. That's not of God. Paul says it must be done by two or at the most three,
each in turn and one must always interpret. And if that's not what's going on, then that
is outside of biblical parameters, it is not of God. And, of course, we argue that that
gift has ceased anyway, no longer in operation.
Also, it is false that all believers should speak in tongues. Some churches teach that
if you are saved, your salvation will be evidenced by you speaking in tongues. And if you don't
speak in tongues, well then you must not be saved. But that is patently unbiblical. The
Apostle Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions. He says, "All are not workers of miracles,
are they? All do not teach, do they? All do not speak in tongues, do they? And clearly
the implied answer to these rhetorical questions is no...no they don't.
We can no more say that every Christian should speak in tongues than we could say that every
Christian should have the gift of teaching, or every Christian should have the gift of
mercy. Every Christian does not have every spiritual gift. The Holy Spirit distributes
the gifts among the body as He wills to do so, 1 Corinthians chapter 12. So this is patently
unbiblical. And also, tongues were for a sign of judgment. Tongues were for a sign of judgment.
This is something I think the vast, vast majority of people miss. Tongues were for a sign of
judgment. There's only one place in the New Testament that gives us an actual reason,
a function for the gift of tongues, and that's in 1 Corinthians 14:20 through 22. And the
Apostle Paul says, "Tongues were for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers."
Now what did Paul mean by that? Was Paul indicating that when a lost person sees you speaking
in tongues, they'll be so impressed by that ability that they will just have to come to
know Jesus as Savior and Lord? Not at all...not at all. And we know that because right here
Paul directly quotes Isaiah chapter 28. Well what's going on in Isaiah chapter 28? Judgment...judgment.
One of the signs that God was bringing judgment on His people is that one day the Jews, Hebrews,
would look up and in their midst would be a group of people speaking a foreign language.
Not unintelligible gibberish but a foreign language, Babylonian, Syrian, what have you.
And when they saw that, that was a sign that oh, oh, God's about to bring the hammer down.
God's bringing judgment. And this is what Paul quotes when he gives us a reason, a function
for the gift of tongues. And that's what was happening in the book of Acts. Acts chapter
2, when the Holy Spirit fell the Day of Pentecost, and these men began to speak in foreign languages,
that was a sign that God was bringing judgment on unbelieving Israel because Israel had rejected
Jesus as their Messiah. They crucified Him. And so as a sign of judgment, God was showing
that when these men began to speak in other languages, that was God's indication, the
sign that His salvific gaze, if you will, His gaze of salvation was shifting away from
the Jews to the Gentiles. And even to this day, Israel remains under the judgment of
God. Not in a militaristic sense, not in a political sense, I'm not saying we should
not support Israel, we absolutely should, but in a salvific sense.
To this day, God is doing the vast majority of His saving work not among Jews, among Gentiles.
Now one day God's salvific gaze will return to Israel. Romans chapter 11, He will return
to Israel, but for right now in a salvific sense, Israel is under the judgment of God.
And also, tongues were known languages. We've made this point repeatedly, tongues were not
unintelligible gibberish. It was known languages.
Now to give you a little illustration of how this would have looked in the early church,
let's kind of transport ourselves back about two thousand years, almost, and let's say
we're at Grace Community Church in Jerusalem. Okay? To kind of illustrate what this would
have looked like, now there's not only a gift of tongues, or languages, there's also a gift
of interpretation of languages. And the way this would have looked to illustrate...Barney...Barney,
I just met Barney. All right. The way this would have looked, Barney would stand up,
if the Holy Spirit gave Barney the gift of languages, all of a sudden Barney would be
able to speak and say, I'm going out on a limb here and say that you don't know Swahili.
Okay. So Barney would start speaking fluid Swahili, even though that's a language he
doesn't know. Now let's say I had the gift of interpretation of tongues, then immediately
I could translate what Barney said in Swahili even though I don't know Swahili either. And
then Barney would sit down. And then Kevin would stand up and Kevin, all of a sudden
the Holy Spirit gave Kevin the gift of tongues and let's say Kevin started speaking in fluent
Farsi, don't know Farsi. Okay, so he's speaking in Farsi fluently even though he does not
know that language. And then I, if I had the gift of interpretation, tongues, I could translate
what Kevin said in Farsi even though I don't know Farsi either. Okay? And then Kevin would
sit down.
And that's how it would have looked. Is that what we see today in the modern Charismatic
Movement? Not even close, not even remotely, not remotely. But yet, let me show you what
is mainstream in the Charismatic Movement today, this is a video clip of Sid Rolfe(?)
on TBN, this is from just this past December, watch this as Sid Rolfe attempts to teach
the live studio audience how to speak in tongues.
VIDEO CLIP: And if you've never prayed in tongues, if you follow my instructions, the
anointing is here to do the rest. I can't do it for you. But I can tell you how to pray
in supernatural languages. So you start speaking like little baby words and say them as fast
as you humanly can when I begin to pray. And the supernatural will become natural as you
take a step, Peter, of faith. Raise your hands to a holy God and begin to pray in a language
you've never been instructed. Gibberish... a lot of gibberish... If you don't move your
tongue and speak no one else will do any... gibberish... I know you do know what to say.
Make little non-sense syllables up, they're not non-sense, but they're the first words
coming out of your Spirit... gibberish... do it faster, I said faster, I said faster...you
can do it faster than that. If I had a gun in your ribs you'd do it faster.
JUSTIN: You can do it faster than that, if I had a gun in your ribs you could do it faster.
Can't you just see the Apostle Paul saying something like this? Do it faster, faster,
if I had a dagger in your side you could do it faster than that. Does that even remotely
look like what we just saw illustrated? Does that even remotely look like what we see in
the book of Acts? Absolutely not. This is pagan. This is the flesh. You know, and Sid
Rolfe, he's not even any good at it. (Laughter) I've seen a lot of people put a lot more convincing
display of tongues than that. He's not even any good at it. That is so far outside of
biblical parameters.
We do not see the biblical gift of languages being exercised today for a lot of reasons.
For a lot of reasons. Number one, the function of the gift has already been fulfilled. There's
no longer a need for it. Those gifts have ceased. After we get past about the year A.D.
58 chronologically in the New Testament, no more tongues, no more interpretation of tongues,
no more physical healing. Those gifts just seem to fade out of operation, even while
many of the apostles were still alive.
I want us now to look at heavenly encounters. It almost seems like if you want to make it
into big time Christianity today, it really helps if you've been to heaven at least once.
Jesse Duplantis is a man who claims that he's been to heaven. He wrote a book entitled Close
Encounters of the God Kind. This is what really put Jesse Duplantis on the map. He claims
that in 1988 he was in Southeastern Arkansas and he was in a hotel room and he just felt
burdened of the Lord to pray. And so he got down on his knees, just confused by what the
Lord was doing. He said, "Lord, what?" and right at that moment, Jesse says he was sucked
up out of his room, found himself on a cable car, no less, traveling through space and
time at a phenomenal rate of speed and there was a blond-haired angel on the cable car
traveling along with him and when the cable car finally came to a stop, the doors opened
and Jesse steps out into heaven. And Jesse goes on to tell you about everything that
he saw, everything that he heard while he was in heaven.
Now, going through this quickly, the first real concrete clue that we have that something
here is not right with Jesse's strip to heaven is what the angel on the cable car told him.
The angel said, "You have an appointment with the great God Jehovah." This is our first
concrete clue, something's not right.
Dear Friends, Jehovah is not God's name. God's name is not Jehovah, His name is Yahweh, YHWH,
ancient Hebrew had no vowels, all consonants. And so, the ancient name for God, the Hebraic
name for God is YHWH the English equivalent of that.
Now what happened about the year 1520, there was a scholar by the name of Peter Galatin(?)
and Galatin took the consonants of YHWH and then he took another name for God, the name
Adonai and he took the vowels of Adonai, this word Adonai, it means ruler, it means one
who is in control, and basically what Galatin did was he took the consonants of YHWH, the
vowels of Adonai and he smushed them together. Okay? And when he smushed them together, this
is what he got. The Y in YHWH drops down, as does the A in Adonai. The H in YHWH drops
down, the O in Adonai, the W in YHWH, the final A in Adonai and then the final H and
you have the name Yahowa(?) and I'll give you three guesses and two of them don't count
as to what the English equivalent of Yahowa is...Jehovah. So the name Jehovah did not
even exist until 500 years ago. Jehovah is not God's name. Next time a Jehovah's Witness
knocks on your door you might like to share this information with them, they might find
it very interesting. Jehovah is not God's name.
Now is it a sin to call God Jehovah? I don't know, it's not a sin but maybe it's time we
get on a first-name basis with the creator of the universe, His name is Yahweh. The point
though of the matter is this, is that an angel would have known better...an angel would have
known better. An angel would never have said you have an appointment with Jehovah. If anything,
assuming you can get pass the whole cable car deal, he would have said, "You have an
appointment with Yahweh. So an angel would have known better, but Jesse Duplantis apparently
did not, gives himself away.
Going to heaven is a rather lucrative business. This is Jesse Duplantis parsonage. My wife
and I drove past it earlier this year and took a picture down into Strahan(?) Louisiana,
35,000 square feet...not 35 hundred, 35 thousand square foot parsonage. But to be fair, only
thirty-two thousand of those square feet are actual living space, the other three thousand
square feet, that's his garage. So.
Nothing wrong, dear ones, with having material wealth if you've worked hard for it and God's
blessed you to keep some of the fruits of your labors, that's fine. But when your wealth
is gained off of distorting the gospel, when your wealth is gained off of exploiting the
poor and the sick and the desperate and the widows, there's a lot wrong with that. It's
not just the Charismatics that say they've been to heaven, some of them are Baptists.
Don Piper, author of Ninety Minutes in Heaven, Don Piper is a Baptist preacher and he had
a car accident in 1989 in Southeast Texas, horrific car accident, no doubt about it,
but he said upon impact he died and he went and he spent an hour and a half in heaven.
And Don Piper talks about all the people that he saw in heaven, but...he saw his great grandfather,
or his grandfather, he saw his great grandmother Haddie, he describes what they look like in
their physical bodies which is problematic, actually, because the people in heaven right
now don't yet actually have their glorified bodies. So that's a problem.
But he talks about all these people. His high-school buddy that he saw who died at an early age.
But of all the people that he saw in heaven, there's one person he said he did not see
on page 33 of his book, he said, "I did not see God. I saw an aluminous glow that might
have indicated His divine presence. (Laughter)...True enough.
So, of all the people that he saw, claimed to see, he says he did not see God. This book
came out in the year 2004. Let me show you a video clip from Don Piper from 2011, it
seems as though his story has changed just a little bit.
VIDEO CLIP: Drinking that in and absorbing how great the mansions were. And then I began
to look up to the gate and I could see this kind of pinnacle in the middle of the city,
it's kind of the hill high and lifted up. There's a river flowing down the side of this...well
it's the river of life and it's coming down the side of this mountain, or hill, if you
will, and at the top of that is the brightest light I've ever seen, and I know who that
is, it's the Lord high and lifted up. This is His city.
JUSTIN: Now wait a minute. It says in his book he did not see God. Not only did he not
see God, he did not even see aluminous glow that would have indicated where He was. But
now he did see God way down there on top of the hill, he said, that was the brightest
light I'd ever seen and I knew who that was, it was the Lord high and lifted up. Which
is it? Which is it?
The title of your book is Ninety Minutes in Heaven and you can't remember whether or not
you saw God? I'll be the first to admit that I'm bad with names and faces. I am. I admit
it. I'm bad. I embarrass myself a lot of times regularly with how bad I am in recalling people's
names and sometimes faces. But as bad as I am, I would have to think that if I was taken
to heaven, there's probably one person whom I would never forget meeting and that would
be God. He's a liar. He's a liar. This book has sold somewhere in the neighborhood of
six million copies, all in Christian bookstores. And I can't tell you how many people have
seen my presentation on this, "O but, Justin, I bought this book in Lifeway. I bought this
in Lifeway Christian bookstores, the largest Christian bookstore retailer in the world,
connected to the Southern Baptist Convention. Surely you can trust that."
You know, one of the most dangerous places for a Christian to go, Christian bookstores.
You'd be safer on a SWAT team. Do they sell some good stuff? Sure, sure. Does Lifeway
sell some good stuff? Sure. But they sell a lot of garbage and they sell it because
it makes money. Now I've talked to them at Lifeway, I've written an article on this,
extensive...doesn't matter to them.
Seen this book, Colton(?) Burpo(?), Heaven is for Real, story of this little four-year-old
kid that says he went to heaven. Honestly, dear ones, I kind of take offense at the title
of the book. I don't need a four-year-old kid to tell me heaven is for real, the Bible
already tells me that. So got it, thanks anyway.
I've got video clips of this kid. This is made up. And the sad thing is, is this little
kid's...well he's not a little kid anymore, he's fourteen years old now...but his father
is a pastor, made up story...made up story, none of it's true.
Dear ones, think about this. In the New Testament there were only three men who were allowed
a glimpse into heaven...only three. Stephen, right before he was ***, Acts chapter 7,
right before he was *** had a very brief glimpse into heaven, saw Jesus standing at
the right hand of the Father, and then he was ***. He wasn't really having his best
life now, was he?
John, the Apostle John, author of the book of Revelation, by far the most detailed account
we have of heaven, by far. But John was writing inspired, authoritative Scripture and so that's
on a level all of its own. And then the only other one is the Apostle Paul. The Apostle
Paul, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, the Apostle Paul, Paul writes, "I know a man in Christ
who fourteen years ago, whether in the body, I don't know, or out of the body, I don't
know, God knows such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man
whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, God knows, was caught up into
paradise and heard inexpressible words which man is not permitted to speak."
The Apostle Paul was speaking of himself. And he referred to himself in the third person
because that is how humbled he was about what he had experienced. He didn't even want to
talk about this in the first place, but his apostolic authority was being questioned and
so basically to paraphrase he was writing to the Corinthians, he was saying, "Okay,
you question my apostolic authority? I know a man." He didn't want to talk about it at
all. But notice, what do we know about what the Apostle Paul saw and heard while he was
in heaven? Nothing. We have no idea of what he saw, no idea of what he heard. Why? Because
he said he heard words that are inexpressible that man is not permitted to speak.
Contrast that level of humility with Jesse Duplantis, Colton Burpo, Roberts Lee(?) Arden(?),
Mary Baxter, the list goes on and on and on. People claim they've been to heaven. Some
people claim they've been to heaven.
Dear ones, if the Apostle Paul, the man who wrote roughly a third of the New Testament,
was not allowed to tell us what he saw and heard in heaven, I seriously doubt that any
other yahoo would be allowed to do so, especially when these people make careers out of it.
Don Piper, that's his career now. The Burpos, that's their career, they're making a movie
off of Colton Burpo's story...making a movie out of it. Quite the difference, is it not?
By the way, this book has not been as popular, but somewhat popular, Alex Malarky(?) now
don't...I know what your...please don't...please, please don't. Please don't...please don't.
The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven., Alex was a little boy in a vehicle with his father
and they had a horrific car accident, and Alex was left paralyzed and now is almost
completely helpless, physically. Will never recover, will never get any better. This happened
to Alex when he was six-years-old. Alex is now 15, I believe, 14-15 years old. What's
interesting about this book, it wasn't written by Alex, it was written by his father, Kevin
Malarky. Kevin has made this story up. You know how I know that? Because Phil Johnson
and I have spoken with Beth Malarky, Alex's mother. And this story is not even true.
Alex, the boy, pleaded with his pastor, when this book was coming out and becoming very
popular pleaded with his pastor, lying in his hospital bed, mind you, "You've got to
tell your church the truth about the book. It's not true." But Kevin makes money, he's
exploiting his paralyzed son. It's not even true. It doesn't keep quote/unquote Christian
bookstores from selling it. Never ever, ever believe anyone who says they've been to heaven
and they want to tell you about it, because all of these accounts, all of them, all of
these accounts give us supposed details about heaven that is not in the Bible. Okay? And
by the way, the details that they give us of heaven in all these different accounts,
they contradict one another so logically they cannot all be true. You know, Colton Burpo
says that everybody in heaven has wings. And Jesus moves up and down like an elevator.
And the Holy Spirit is blue, you know, is he, a Smurf, you know. I mean, they give us
details about heaven that are not in the Bible.
Now in theory, in theory, if these people have really been to heaven and they come back
and they give us details about heaven that are true, accurate, things that they have
seen and they report them accurately to us then in theory, whatever they tell us about
heaven should be just as authoritative as any verse in that book. So we should add that
to Scripture. If Jesus really does move up and down like an elevator, if the Holy Spirit
really is blue, if people really do have wings, then...then we should add that to this book.
There's only one problem with that. This book says, "Do not add to this book." And then
we have to ask the question, "Well what about all the people who died before they had a
chance to read Ninety Minutes in Heaven? Before they had a chance to read heaven is for real,
did they have insufficient revelation of heaven? Well I guess they did because you see now
we've got more information about heaven than all the people who died before they had a
chance to read these books. Aren't we privileged?
Do you see the problem we're having here? Open canon of Scripture. And nowadays when
people want to learn about heaven, where do they go? Do they go here? No. They go pick
up Ninety Minutes in Heaven, they watch Close Encounters of the God Kind, they read Heaven
is for Real. They don't go to the Bible, that's too hard.
Dear friends, anything that divorces people from their reliance upon the Word of God is
not the work of the author of the Word of God. Anything that diverts our attention away
from Scripture is not coming from the author of Scripture. It's coming from the enemy.
Are these people being used by Satan? You better believe they are. You better believe
it.
We've gotten to the point where the Bible is just no longer enough. Many of us have
got to the point where we feel like God needs us...God needs us. Watch this from Kenneth
Copeland.
COPELAND: People that get all upset at preachers who preach prosperity never have taken the
time to pray and see if God wanted them to prosper financially for some reason or another.
God needs you saved. He needs you full of the Holy Ghost. He needs you well and He needs
you strong, and He needs you rich.
JUSTIN: Dear ones, God loves us but make no mistake about it, God does not need us. (Applause)
We need Him. And any man who is preaching a gospel that says that God needs us is preaching
a different gospel...a different gospel. And to tag on to something that I said yesterday
in the panel Q&A, God doesn't need us, doesn't need Southern Baptist Convention or any other
denomination, He doesn't need these things. God does not need TBN. He does not need Daystar.
He does not need the inspirational network. It's time for the good guys to stop associating
with the bad guys, it's time for (applause)....
Not long ago, David Jeremiah, good preacher, goes on the set of TBN. It's one thing to
have your own self-contained program on TBN, that's one thing. But to go on the set of
TBN with Paul Crouch and fellowship with him, break metaphorical bread with him. He praised
Paul Crouch, praised TBN, raised money for TBN. And TBN, and Daystar, and all these,
they are the tip of the spear in exporting this theological poison to the rest of the
world. And as Conrad said this morning, this is becoming the face of Christianity in most
of the world. What are the good guys doing, going and raising money for this? They are
giving these men legitimacy, a sense of legitimacy that they do not have on their own. Paul Crouch,
Matt Crouch, Paul's son, loves to have the quote/unquote good guys on there, it gives
them legitimacy. I'm sick of the Good Ole Boy network.
I want us to look at something that's very dangerous, Jesus' Calling-Jesus Calling, have
you heard about this book, written by Sarah Young. We're transitioning now to a topic
entitled "Divine Revelation Knowledge." How does God speak to us today? And, of course,
all of the prosperity preachers, Word of Faith, New Apostolic Reformation, they claim that
God speaks to them all the time. And some people will recognize the error of that, some
people. But there's a softer version of this that flies in under a lot of people's radar
and Jesus Calling is flying under a lot of ladies radars right now, and men to, especially
the ladies.
Why am I so worked up about this book? Sarah Young, this is...by the way, 2012, number
two best-selling book of any genre, not just Christian, any genre. Huge. What makes this
so dangerous? Well, let me show you some excerpts from the introduction of her book. This is
not normal devotional book.
Sarah Young writes, "During 1992 I began reading God Calling, a devotional book by two anonymous
listeners. These women practice waiting quietly in God's presence, pencils and papers in hand,
recording the messages they receive from Him. This was her inspiration, reading this book
God Calling, written by these two anonymous female mystics. They claim to tune in just
to the right frequency, they tune in to God's frequency and God began speaking to them and
they were writing down what He said. Does that sound familiar what happened about two
thousand years ago with the Apostles? Sarah Young says, "I knew that God communicated
with me through the Bible, but I yearned for more." You see, the Bible was just no longer
enough. The Bible wasn't enough.
In theory, theologically conservative evangelical Christians, whatever that term means nowadays,
but in theory will you have won the battle over the inerrancy of God's Word? But where
the battle is raging today is over the sufficiency of God's Word. And you know what? We're losing
that battle...big time.
Sarah Young says, "I decided to listen to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever
I believed He was saying. "Houston, we have a problem." So Sarah Young tuned in, she got
to just the right frequency and Jesus began calling Sarah Young. And with pen in hand,
writing down what He said. Dear Ones, if that is indeed what is happening, then Sarah Young
is writing Scripture. She's writing Scripture and when you read this devotional book, and
it is light years ahead of any other devotional book on the market, I mean light years ahead.
It's written in the first person for Jesus. "I, Jesus, will do these things. I am such-and-such,
I know this." Writes in the first person for Jesus. When you read it, it's a very warm,
fuzzy, emotional effeminate Jesus. Ladies are eaten up with this. There's a shocking
lack of discernment in the church today, shocking lack of discernment.
Now, bear with me, watch this video clip. A lot of supposed mainstream evangelicals
today are claiming that God speaks to them. Watch this from Beth Moore.
VIDEO CLIP: What God began to say to me about five years ago and I'm telling you it sent
me on such a trek with Him that my head is still whirling over it. He began to say to
me, "I'm going to tell you something right now, Beth, and, boy, you write this one down,
and you say it as often as I give you utterance to say it. My bride is paralyzed by unbelief.
My bride is paralyzed by unbelief."
JUSTIN: I'm not sure what happened to the video there. Beth Moore also claims that God
speaks to her and even going so far as saying, "Beth, you write this down." Dear friends,
that is profoundly dangerous, it's profoundly dangerous. All these people going around saying
God spoke to me, let me tell you what He had to say. God spoke to me and told me to tell
you that you need to do this. You need to do such-and-such. "Pastor, God spoke to me
and he told me our church needs to go this way."
Is God speaking to people like that today? How does God speak to us? Well, through His
Word. Let's go to the text, Hebrews chapter 1:1 and 2. You all are ahead of the curve
here. Hebrews 1:1 and 2, "God after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in
many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son whom He appointed
heir of all things, through whom also He made the world." The writer of Hebrews says that
in the old days, God spoke in many different ways. Indeed He did. God spoke to Elijah through
a storm and thunder...I mean, excuse me...to Moses through a storm and thunder up on the
mountain. God spoke to Elijah through a still small voice which, by the way, was not some
inner impression, still a voice.
In Numbers chapter 22, God even made a donkey talk. So God did indeed speak in many different
portions, and in many different ways. But in these last days, says the writer of Hebrews,
God has spoken to us in His Son.
Friends, Jesus is the final speaking of God...the final speaking of God. Everything that God
has to say to us, He has said in His Son Jesus Christ. And we have a perfect, inerrant, infallible,
all-sufficient record of that in His Word. Jesus is the final speaking of God.
Now, am I saying that God does not speak to us anymore? No, that's not at all what I'm
saying. God does speak to us today, right here. This is how God speaks to us. Can God
give us, you know, to hear people say, "Well, God gave me a burden for so-and-so, can God
do that?" Sure He can. But as Dr. MacArthur said a day or two ago, "We're not aware of
when that's happening, but can God do it? Sure. Can He bring people to our mind? Sure,
absolutely. Can He...can He guide our steps? Absolutely. Yes He does these things. Yes
He convicts the lost of sin, righteousness and judgment. Yes He guides us as believers.
Believers are led by the Holy Spirit of God. Proverbs 3:5 and 6, "Trust in the Lord with
all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him. He will
direct your paths."
How does God do that? I don't have the foggiest idea. I just know He does. He spoke the universe
into existence, I think He can direct our paths. So yes, we as Christians are led by
God's Holy Spirit in His sovereign will. We are led by a Spirit.
But what I am saying is this, when people say God spoke to me and said, quote: "Da-to-da-to-da,"
you've entered some very deep waters. If God is speaking that way today in a direct quotable
sense, outside of Scripture, then whatever God is saying should be just as authoritative
as any verse in God's Word. It should carry the same authority.
Dear friends, God cannot speak less authoritatively on one occasion than He does on another. If
God is speaking, God is speaking. God cannot speak in the Bible and really, really, really
mean it. But when He speaks to us today outside of the Bible, you know, in this supposed still
small voice, or whatever, He still means it but He doesn't mean it as much as He meant
it here.
How does that work? If God is speaking, God is speaking. If God is speaking today outside
of Scripture, then what we've got is an open canon of Scripture. The Word of God is not
sufficient. Open canon of Scripture, I don't know how you avoid it. There is no avoiding
it. God's Word is not enough. That's where the battle is being called today.
Dear ones, if you want to hear God speak to you, there's one way I can guarantee you that
you will hear God speak, read your Bible. If you want to hear God speak to you audibly,
read it out loud. (Laughter & applause) I promise you...I promise you, you'll hear Him
speak.
Well how do I know God's will for my life? If God doesn't speak, how do I know God's
will for my life. Here's how you know God's will for your life. Read and study the Word
of God, obey it. Pray for wisdom. You may want to ask for godly counsel. There's wisdom
in a multitude of counsel, godly counsel. There's wisdom in a multitude of counsel.
Men, go to some godly men you trust, ask their counsel. Ladies, go to some godly ladies you
trust, ask their counsel. Look at the opportunities before you, make a wise decision, do whatever
you want to do. Do whatever you want to do. You don't have to have this mystical experience.
You won't find that modeled in Scripture. You won't find that modeled in Scripture.
The Word of God is sufficient.
I want us now to transition to physical healing and we'll spend the remainder of our time
looking at this, physical healing. This is another way that the faith preachers, Charismatics
really manipulate people and get them to...they begin to divorce people from their alliance
upon God's Word. They do it in the other sense, in the other areas that we've already looked
at, drawing people's attention away from the sufficient Word of God. They do it with healing
as well.
The prosperity preachers teach that it is always God's will to be healed, always. Now
why do they teach that? They teach that because of their little gods doctrine that we looked
at yesterday, the faith preachers teach that if you are a Christian, you are in fact a
little god because you're a God, you should not be poor, should not be sick. This from
Joseph Prince, Joseph Prince says, "You are destined to reign in life. You are called
by God to be a success, to enjoy wealth, to enjoy health, to enjoy a life of victory.
When you reign in life, you reign over sin, over poverty, over every curse and over every
sickness and disease. The Christian should never be sick, or if you do get sick, physical
healing is guaranteed as long as you have enough faith...as long as you have enough
faith.
Watch this from Jan Crouch.
JAN: One day I was in my prayer garden and I was just, I just said, "Jesus, I just thank
You, I just thank You that You are the greatest healer, You are the greatest everything. And
I thank You, thank You, thank You." And He said to me, "No, Jan, thank you for receiving
My gift."
Now I know it's a little difficult to take anything seriously who comes from someone
who looks like that. You were all thinking it. You know, and the Bible has...the Bible
has some parameters for how women are to dress and adorn themselves, men as well, by the
way. That aint it. But, dear friends, Jan Crouch had cancer and she claims that Jesus
healed her of her cancer. In actuality she had treatment for that cancer and she had
surgery for it. She claims that Jesus healed her and she was thanking Him. He said, "No,
Jan, thank you." The very notion that Jesus would thank us for anything. Friends, Jesus
owes us nothing. We owe Him everything. And this cannot be said from someone who knows
Jesus. She does not know the Jesus of the Bible. She may know a Jesus that she has created
after her own image, but she does not know the Jesus of the Bible.
These people are not Christians. You cannot be indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and teach
such jaw-dropping heresies that are rampant, rampant in the Word of Faith Movement. Well,
if it is always God's will to be healed, and a person prays for healing, but that healing
does not come, then the question, of course, is whose fault is it? It's always God's will
to be healed, and you pray for healing but you're not healed...who bears the blame for
that?
Well, let's let Kenneth Copeland answer that question.
COPELAND: Well, I don't understand why God healed them and He won't heal me. Could it
be by some stretch of the imagination, O probably not, but could it be that it's your fault
and not God's? Oh yeah. Say it, "Oh yeah."
JUSTIN: Lest there be any doubt as to what they teach, if it is always God's will to
be healed and a person prays for that healing, but the healing does not come, then, dear
ones, there's only one person who could bear the blame because it cannot be God's fault
because He is perfect. The only other one then to whom to look is one whose sick. It's
his fault, it's her fault, they don't have enough faith. They haven't sown a big enough
seed into the ministry so they can reap a harvest. Maybe they're not saved.
They actually teach that, you know. If you're persistently sick, and you haven't been healed,
they teach that, you may not be saved. Of course foundational to their teaching that
healing is always God's will, is their assertion that physical healing is provided for in the
atonement. And there's a lot we could say about this but just briefly let's go to their
go-to text, Isaiah 53:4 and 5, let's look at verse 5. "But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastise of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes
we are healed." So this is their go-to text. "By stripes we are healed."
Well, this is true. We are healed via the atonement, but what kind of healing is in
view here? He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The primary
context of Isaiah 53 is not talking about physical healing. It's talking about spiritual
healing, not healing from sickness and disease, healing from sin. In fact, read Isaiah 53
beginning in about midway through chapter 52, the whole thing is talking about transgression,
sin, iniquity...not healing from sickness and disease.
But, what is the answer to the question? Is physical healing provided for in the atonement?
Yes...yes it is. Dear ones, the reason that we get sick in the grand scheme of things
is because of the Fall. The reason I have cerebral palsy, the reason many of you are
wearing eye glasses, the reason people get cancer, they have multiple sclerosis, muscular
dystrophy, arthritis, in the grand scheme of things, that is a direct result of the
Fall. We live in a fallen world.
When Jesus came and died on the cross, He paid for our sins, He also paid for all of
the consequences of those sins, one of which is sickness and disease. So yes, physical
healing is provided for in the atonement. But here's where the faith preachers get it
very, very wrong. Not all of the benefits of the atonement are promised to be fully
realized this side of heaven. Okay? Not all the benefits of the atonement are promised
to be fully realized this side of heaven. Some of the benefits of Jesus' atonement we
will not realize until the other side of heaven. And healing from sickness and disease is one
of those benefits.
To give you an illustration of this, a glorified body is also provided for in the atonement.
Raise your hand if you've got your glorified body. No? Why not? It's provided for in the
atonement. It's not promised to be realized here.
Dear ones, when we die and go to heaven, we're not taking our sickness with us...no cancer,
no arthritis, no multiple sclerosis, we're not going to take our sickness and disease
with us. But, dear ones, to be real honest, when you stop and think about it, dear ones,
when we die and go to heaven, I'm not real sure it's even going to cross our minds that
we no longer have our sickness and disease. We will be in the presence of Christ. We'll
be able to worship Christ fully,, fellowship with Christ fully. Praise Him for all of eternity.
We'll be in the presence of Christ, He is the joy and the glory of heaven. He is what
makes heaven heaven. Heaven is not about having a big family reunion. Heaven is not about
no longer being sick. I'm not sure it's even going to cross our minds. We're in the presence
of the King of Kings. He is what makes heaven heaven. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full
in His wonderful face, and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light
of His glory and grace."
What of the biblical record, can we look through the Bible and find examples of people who
were faithful servants of God and yet did not walk in perfect health? Absolutely. Trophimus
was left sick at Miletus. Epaphroditus, sick to the point of death. The Apostle Paul encouraged
Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach in his frequent ailments. Now I find that
very interesting. Notice that the Apostle Paul did not write to Timothy and say, "Ah,
Timothy, go see a faith healer. Be sure you sow a seed into his ministry so you can reap
a harvest. Take a little wine for your stomach and your frequent illness." Notice that when
Paul was with Trophimus, in 2 Timothy, Paul left him sick. Paul was with Trophimus and
he left him sick. That happened about the year A.D. 65, A.D. 66. Back up about ten or
twelve years, the year A.D. 54, what was going on in the year A.D. 54? The advance of Acts
chapter 19 we're going on, what's happening in Acts chapter 19? Extraordinary miracles
of healing being wrought at the hands of the Apostles, the Apostle Paul. So much so that
handkerchiefs and aprons were being taken from the Apostle Paul, delivered to sick people
at distances, God was healing the sick remotely through these handkerchiefs and aprons, distances,
extraordinary miracles of healing, year A.D. 54.
A.D. 64, Paul writing to Timothy, no handkerchiefs and aprons for Timothy, no handkerchiefs and
aprons for Trophimus, no healing. What changed? Could it be that even in that ten-year span
that the apostolic gift of healing had already faded out of operation? Interesting.
Now, am I saying that God does not heal people today? Absolutely not. That's not at all what
I'm saying. God does still physically heal people today, but only when it is His sovereign
will to do so. Can He do it? Yes. Does He do it? Yes. Is it the rule? No, it's not.
It's much more the exception. But when He wills to do it, He does. But you know what?
When God does that, He doesn't do it just for the comfort of the individual who's sick.
He does it to glorify Himself and further His purposes. He is not doing it through Benny
Hinn. He's not doing it through Pastor Chris in Africa. He's not doing it through Reinhardt
Bunkie. There is not a person alive today who has the apostolic gift of healing...not
one. There's not a person alive who has the gift of healing as what we see from the Apostles,
Peter and Paul, nobody. The Apostles seemingly could go up to people and heal people at will
with confidence, knowing that that person was going to be healed. Show me that person
today. I want to see him. And if that person does exist, why is he not in the hospitals?
Why is he not clearing out St. Jude? (applause)
According to the faith preachers, if you want to receive your healing, one of the things
you must do, show me the money. Watch this from Rod Parsley. Rod Parsley wants you to
sow a fifty-four dollar and seventeen cents seed into his ministry. Why $54 and 17 cents?
Well based off of Isaiah 54:17, of course.
PARSLEY: There's a battle raging and it's raging right now, a fierce all-out attack
against you, against everything of great value in your life. But my dear, dear friend, your
Commander in Chief has full supremacy, absolute authority and He's decreed and declared that
no weapon formed against you shall prosper. On this broadcast you're about to discover
how to receive for yourself His miraculous anointing of provision and protection. Stay
right where you are, I'm Rod Parsley.
PARSLEY: And I'm going to take you at your word, I'm going to stand up in faith and I'm
going to sow an Isaiah 54:17 seed of 54 dollars and seventeen cents. Let's go to the phone,
do it right now, go to the phone right now, this is a moment of faith that may never ever,
ever be repeated again. But God is saying, if you're hearing this word, take hold of
it, cease this moment, claim. This word right now is your own word and say, "God, that's
me, that's my family. That's my business. That's my ministry. That's my church. God,
those are my children, that's my marriage, so I feel the adversary releasing his stranglehold
on you. Are you going to your phone, 54 dollars and 17 cents.? Are you going to your phone
right now?
JUSTIN: This...this, what you just saw, what you just saw is not on the fringe this is
standard fare on TBN...standard fare on Daystar. Standard fare on the Inspiration network.
And again, I ask the question, why are the good guys associating with the bad guys?
But Rod Parsley says, "Are you going to your phone? Are you going to your phone right now?"
You know why they have this tangible sense of urgency for you to go to your phone? Because
right now there's a special anointing, don't miss this anointing right now, go to your
phone right now. They want you to hurry up and go to your phone because they know if
you actually stop and think about the sheer absurdity of what it is that they're teaching,
you might not go to your phone.
But let's be fair. Let's look at this, Isaiah 54:17. "No weapon that is formed against you
will prosper." Wow! It does say it. Every tongue that accuses you in judgment, you will
condemn." This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from
Me, declares the Lord." Well it does say that. Well...oh a couple of things, one, 54.17,
why does that work in dollars, 54 dollars and 17 cents. But, you know, that wouldn't
work in Uganda, 54 shillings. You know why it wouldn't work in Uganda with 54 shillings?
Cause 54 shillings would barely buy you a stick of bubble gum. It seems to work in America
though. But 54.17, dear friends, there is nothing inspired by the chapter divisions
and the verse numbers. There's nothing inspired about 54-17. The content is inspired. The
chapter divisions and the verse numbers are not. They're just put there by man just to
help us look things up more easily in the Bible. Nothing inspired about 54-17.
Well what about this no weapon that is formed against you will prosper? It says this is
the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Well aren't we servants of the Lord? Yeah.
So no weapon that is formed against us will prosper, right? That depends. It seems to
me that the weapon that was formed to lop off the head of the Apostle Paul, that weapon
seemed to prosper. The nails that attached Peter to the cross, those weapons seem to
prosper. They attached our Lord to the cross, those weapons seemed to prosper.
Well what does this mean? Well, think of it this way. It's kind of like the atonement.
Is this a promise for us? Yes. When will it be realized? Maybe not here. Is a glorified
body provided for in the atonement? Yes. Will it be realized here? No. Is it true that no
weapon that is formed against a servant of God will prosper in the eschaton. That is
true. In the eschaton. Absolutely, when God brings all things to their appointed in, it
is true. No weapon that is formed against God nor His people will prosper. God wins.
That is true. But this is taking that out of context, way out of context.
By the way, verse 17 is the last verse of Isaiah chapter 54. You know what Isaiah chapter
55 verse says? Now why don't we sow a 55 dollar and one cent seed into Rod Parsley's ministry,
that would be more money. That would be, what? Eighty-four cents more money in a 54-17 seat,
right? So why not Isaiah 5:1? Well this is why. "Everyone who thirst come to the waters.
You who have no money, come, buy and eat, come, buy wine and milk without money and
without cost." That's why he doesn't want you to look at Isaiah 55 verse 1. He's a charlatan. He's
a charlatan. He's an American version of a witch doctor. So is Benny Hinn, so is Kenneth
Copeland, so is Jesse Duplantis, all these prosperity preachers, they are charlatans.
Their most egregious offence is that they distort the gospel. That's their first offense.
But to heap on top of that, they exploit the poor and the sick and the desperate and the
widows.
If you have heard Dr. MacArthur's sermon on the widow's mite, very good, if you haven't,
by the way. It's entitled "Abusing the Poor," and basically the thesis is that this widow
was not to be commended. You know, she wasn't doing a good thing. This widow was being exploited
by a false religious system. That's what was happening with the widow's mite. This widow
was being exploited. And to show you that the same thing that was going on two thousand
years ago is going on today. Watch this video clip, short clip from Mike Murdock, Mike Murdock,
watch this.
MURDOCK: There is a widow who is watching Daystar, watching us right now and you're
sitting there and your thoughts are, Wow, I wish I was young again and I wish I had
a business. But I'm on a fixed income and I don't know where I would get the $58.00.
That's what makes it faith. That's what makes it faith.
JUSTIN: If you didn't hear the first part, Murdock said, "There is a widow watching me
right now, doesn't know...fixed income, doesn't know where she's going to get the $58.00.
That's what makes it faith.
The same thing that was going on two thousand years ago was going on today. These people
are charlatans and it's about time we stand up and draw a line in the sand, it's about
time we call out the wolves for what they are and it's about time we start...we stop
fraternizing with the wolves. (Applause)
Dear ones, I want to close with this. As I said, I do believe that God is still physically
heals people today when it is His sovereign will to do so. But it is not always God's
will to be healed. We saw from Scripture, and there's many other examples we could cite.
There are many people in the Bible who are faithful servants of God, loved Him, and yet
they were not healed. Paul himself, Galatians chapter 4, had a bodily illness. Not the thorn
in the flesh, Galatians chapter 4. It's a matter of physical record that not everyone
who loved God, served Him in perfect health. But God does heal and so if you are sick,
if you have a loved one who is sick, there is nothing at all wrong with praying that
God would heal you or your sick loved one. There's nothing at all wrong with that. But,
dear ones, sometimes God is most glorified in us when we suffer. Sometimes He is most
glorified in us when we suffer. If God does not bring healing, rest assured knowing that
this is His sovereign will for your life and He will use that to sanctify you, to sanctify
me, to conform us more to the image of His Son. He will sanctify us through that and
ultimately He will glorify Himself, He will glorify Himself. God sometimes is most glorified
when a watching world looks at a sick believer or a persecuted believer. When the lost world
looks at suffering Christians, and yet they remain faithful to Christ, they still glorify
Christ, they still tell others about Christ. God's glorified in that. God is glorified.
His grace is sufficient. His cross is sufficient. Let's close in a word of prayer.
Father, we know that You're loving cause Your Word tells us that. We know that You are merciful
because You have demonstrated Your mercy toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. Father, it would be wonderful if all we had to do was to preach the gospel,
if we could...we resonate with what Jude said, that he wished he could just write about Him,
common salvation, if we had nothing to do but to go out and preach the gospel. Lord,
there are wolves among us, there have been wolves among us, among the church from almost
day one. They remain here today. Lord, may we be equipped to speak Your truth with confidence,
speak Your truth in love, and may we care enough about people to tell them the truth,
ultimately may we care enough about You, care enough about Your name, Your Word to represent
you rightly to a watching world, in our words and our conduct. We pray these things in Christ's
name. Amen.