Many of you will think that whilst writing about these shepherds I am judging them, but that is not the case. I am merely pointing out false doctrine! It is my believe that many of these Shepherds are being used by Satan, blinded by him to guide many sheep astray. They are as much the victims of his vile schemes as anyone else who believes their lies. However, it is my duty as an honest and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, who is my Lord to pointout to you these false teachings in order for you to abstain from them. It is my duty to teach and make you aware of the apostasy that is already widespread within the Christian wolrld, especially within the Charismatic Movement. I do believe in the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit testifies about Jesus and HIm only, and herein lies the deceit. Many a preacher who claims to have the gifts of the Holy Spirit does no. and not the other way around. Jesus is and always should be the central and primary focus of our teachings of the Gospel.
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.”(1 Tim 4:1-3)
Have you ever attended a Charismatic meeting with one of the famous TV Evangelists or have you watched them on TV or on your computer screen? I have and what I have heard and seen has made me very sad. Sad because these false teachings that these shepherds spread are misleading many, many who think they are being saved by these teachings's while in fact they are not. That is really sad brethren. I will not name any names for it is not my purpose to attack these personally. What I will do however, is point out some heresy doctrine which I have heard them preach and compare their doctrine with the Bible. It is my intention to make you aware that there are many false prophets out there who claim to work in the name of Jesus. Jesus himself told us that this would happen: “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Mat 24:5).
Sadly enough this is not something new, for it also happened in Paul’s days. However, nowadays with the easy access of the media, these false heresies are being easily and widely spread, taking many to perdition, and this is vile. One of these heresies concerns the Holy Spirit. Let me ask you something. Who is more important, the Holy Spirit or Jesus? What is being preached more in Church today, the Holy Spirit or Jesus and His atonement? Yes, that is right, the Holy Spirit is given more credence than Jesus. I hear many of these so called prophets, Evangelists or whatever they may be, speak continually of the Holy Spirit and of his gifts and hardly about Jesus. They hardly mention the name of Jesus and His work on the cross. They draw thousands upon thousands of people into their meetings to receive the Holy Spirit and his gifts, but have these poor people really Jesus in their lives? Do they really understand what Jesus is and what He did for us? Is it not in fact a biblical truth that the Holy Spirit will testify about Jesus and not the other way around?
“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceed from the Father, he shall testify of me”(Jn 15:26).
We see that Jesus himself told us that the Holy Spirit who is our Comforter, would testify about Him. The purpose of us receiving the Holy Spirit is not to have the gifts of the Holy Spirit to make money out of them nor to enhance our status in this world, which is so evident from these Evangelists. They sell these gifts with empty speeches which have no biblical relevancy at all. This is so very wrong brethren! These gifts are given to us to enhance the Kingdom of God on earth,not to enrich ourselves. To me it is very obvious that many of them operate under false gifts, which are clearly not from God. These people prey on the hunger of well meaning believers who want to draw close to God, but excuse me if I offend you, who are too lazy to read, pray and learn from the Bible themselves. These people think that such an Evangelist will draw them near to God. Is it not our own responsibility to draw near to Him? Has God not in fact given us a promise that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us(Jas 4:8)?
Furthermore, the Bible clearly tells us that we ought to look at the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22), in our shepherd’s lives to see what and who reignsin their lives, God or Satan. Now let me ask you, have you done so? Have you tried to figure out what love guides your pastor’s or your Evangelist’s life? If you do, you might find out that many of them are caught up in scandals such as dirty divorces, incest, sexual relationships with church members etc. Are you willing to follow such a shepherd? I know I am not. Are you willing to believe everything they say, and worst of all, are you obeying the Bible? Are you not in fact being untruthful to God by following such people instead of making Jesus the center of your life?
Another worrysome aspect of these preachers is their eagerness to lay hands on everybody. Does not the Bible clearly warns us that we ought not to lay hands on no man (1 Tim 5:22)? Why do you think this is?Did you know that through the laying on of hands demons and demonic ower is being actually transmitted! You may think this is biblical because the Bible says so. Does it? Paul did indeed lay his hands on people alongside much prayer (Acts6:6 etc), but He did it only when God told him so. He never did lay hands on everybody, Paul was an honest and integer apostle who would only obey God. He layd hands on people when he was ordained by God to do so.
The Church today does not respect this practice, in truth the laying on of hands is totally out of control. Every self-professed evangelist or preacher lays hands on the sheep just as he pleases, and nobody questions that! If you think that you are getting the gifts of the Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit transmitted to you by their laying on of hands, you might find yourself in for an unpleasant surprise! Did you know that many occult gifts are transmitted in this way? Did you know that some of these Evangelists are in fact Freemasons? If you would do a bit of research you will find that out very easily. Freemasonry has nothing to do with God!
It is imperative that you know the fruits of the spirit in your pastor’s, preacher’s, prophet’s or Evangelist’s life before you allow someone to lay hands on you. Many of these so called Holy Spirit manifestations where people sizzle like snakes, move like snakes are openly being sold as the workings of the Holy Spirit. If Satan is also known as the snake in the Garden of Eden, how is it possible for people to believe that sizzling and moving like a snake comes from the Holy Spirit? Is it not in fact blasphemy? Other manifestations you see in their shows, are people running around headlless chickens laughing uncontrollably making themselves look like fools? Do you honestly believe that God would like you to look like a fool? Do you honestly think that His Holy Spirit works in us in such a way? To think so is mere blasphemy!
Let me honestly ask you, where in the Bible can we find that the imparting of the Holy Spirit goes along with uncontrollable laughter or a person being knocked out unconsciously? Is this really from God? Hardly.This whole so called “slaying in the spirit” is not from God. Where in the Bible do you find that whenever the apostles laid hands on somebody, these would fall back, unconscious or whatever happens in those meetings? I cannot not find any evidence for this in the Bible.
Some more heretical doctrines I have found is that you cannot enter into God’s Church without a gift”. Have you not noticed that they, who profess to be so close to God have actually no trust in Him to meet their own or their ministry needs? They are constantly through TV, shows, and mailings begging for money! Let me tell you where is their trust in God! They have the audacity to claim that in New Testament churches, gifts were also brought in otherwise people would never been allowed to enter that church. You never hear them teach that these gifts were in fact food which was destined for the poor among the church members. These gifts were not only for the Church leaders, but they were mainly for the real poor people in the congregation.
Furthermore, there is no evidence whatsoever to be found in the Bible that you have to be a member of a Church in order to belong to a Church nor are under obligation to bring in gifts for the Church, otherwise you would not be part of that Church. Gifts were supposed to be given out of mercy, out of a cheerful heart and not out of obligation. It was an appeal to people’s heart to profess Christianity by sharing their food with the poor. Membership was something that was not needed, either you believed in Christ and you attended Church meetings, or not. Needless to say that these teachers only take these quotations out of its context in order to fill their own pockets! You can share your gifts with the needy yourself, you do not have to do give your money to them. DId you know that these so called Prophets, Teachers or Evangelists who live in multimillion dollar mansions take your money while some members of their own congregation suffer from hunger? Their own giving has been under scrutiny and televised many times over the years.
In order to fill their own pockets they preach the so called “prosperity gospel”. I do not know if you realize this, but the teachings of these prophets go right down into the occult. Quoting, claiming verses instead of praying to God, are part of occult rituals. We are called to rely on God to meet our every need (Phil 4:19), not to quote Scriptures aloud and commanding God to give to us, for that is what they preach. Command God to give you what He promised you. That is not biblical. You have to pray and ask God, and He will in His mercy and grace give it to you. Asking humbles you, it makes you dependant upon God, and that is what God wants for you, for you to be dependant upon Him, to rely upon Him in order for Him to bless you and take care of you. Take care to not fall prey to this doctrine of devils because you might find yourself quoting verses and verses for years on end without any results! The Bible warns us from such teachings:
“Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself”(1 Tim 6:5)
Now in all honesty let me ask you: Has Jesus, who is the Son of God, taught us to claim, to aim for riches in order to walk this earth rich? Many of them teach that the we can order the angels to do so! Angels are ministering spirits, send forth to minister for us not to obtain wealth for us(Heb 1:7) If you know the Bible, you will know that it tells us that we should abstain from worldly lusts and live soberly. Do you not believe me? See for yourself:
“Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;”(Tit 2:12).
Jesus himself was born into a carpenter’s family. He was not born into a Royal family nor a wealthy family. Why is this so? Because He set the example for us. Worldly lusts only keep us from God. Through them we are enticed to get greedy, to want more and more, to obtain wealth and riches, which will lead us astray from God. Be aware: This is Satan’s teaching and not of God.
Teachings that you are like little gods and therefore the whole world lies at your feet and has to obey your commands are mere blasphemy. The biggest blasphemy I have so far heard is this: if Jesus would not have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, He would have become a sinner, and He needed to die and to be reborn again to redeem us from our sins. In other words he had to die twice in order to obtain victory over death. Where does this crap come from? It is the doctrine of devils. Think about it: If it were so, why is it that we, who are now filled with the Holy Spirit, that is, if we are born again, still continue sinning? If the Holy Spirit would keep us from sinning and thus becoming like Christ, why is it then that we still struggle with sin, while Christ did not sin? Dear friends, test the spirits, the Bible clearly tells us that in the latter days, that is in our days, seducing spirits would sell doctrines of devils. It is clearly that this is being done today.
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim 4:1).We are admonished to test the spirits for our own good:“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 Jn 4:1).
Another good advice for you to ponder on is this: : Not every gift of tongues comes from God. Satan can counterfeit the gift of speaking in tongues very easily. The same goes for prophesy. How many prophesies are not given in these churches that only contain riches? Prophecy should go about repentance, and not about which church and which pastor will become great and rich. Friends, it is not about how big and how popular is your church. The Gospel is all about Jesus Christ and what He did for us. It is the learning to discern who our enemy is, to live a godly life to proclaim the gospel in order to seek salvation for many. The gospel that is nowadays quite often preached in these churches is in fact the gospel of perdition.
Special note: instead of jumping to the gun and attacking this ministry, you would do well in searching the Scriptures to see that what I have written about is true!