Words of Wisdom

#3 The Spirit of Error

The Apostle John speaks of the two spirits that are in the earth. “Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (I John 4:6). While most of the false prophet’s life is steeped in delusion, their doctrine will diametrically oppose the tenants of truth. Much error will come from “revelations” that they have received “directly from the Lord.”

God primarily used prophets or apostles to pen the books of the Bible. Whenever it is time to introduce a fresh revelation, a new move, or a recovery of what has been lost, God typically uses His prophets to do the job. And although the Word of God is the infallible revelation from God to man, He is yet giving us insights and expansions in His revealed Word through the ministry of the prophet.

Caution must be exercised, however. Because of their estrangement from God, who is Truth, the false prophet cannot help but shift into doctrinal error. Nearly every known cult founded by a self-proclaimed prophet has introduced heresy into the religious world. Heresy is an opinion that strongly opposes the truth or veracity of God’s Word and has the power to create splits, fractions, and sects.

Some well-known religious cults are Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Armstrongism, Black Hebrew Israelites, and Christian Science, some of whom had leaders who received divine revelations from heaven, many of whose leaders claimed to have received revelations from heaven.

Listed below are some popular doctrines circulating in Christian circles and how they rate on veracity.

· Eve had sex with the serpent and produced Cain, who was marked by God as the seed of the devil (False). The Bible clearly reveals the parentage of Cain. “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord” (Genesis 4:1). Had Cain been the son of Satan; he would be the first hybrid (part man/part demon) in history which means that he was not fully human. This is error because we see that God offered Cain a chance to repent and offer a blood sacrifice and be accepted as his brother Abel had (Genesis 4:4-7).

· Because he did not die, Elijah plays a special role in the eternal purposes of God. The voice that Adam heard in the garden was actually Elijah. (False). Described as a prophet from Tishbe in Gilead, Elijah was subject to like passions as us all, such as fear, discouragement and suicidal thoughts. He was one of two men who did not die, and since death is an appointment to every man, he and Enoch will be the two witnesses who will die in the streets of Jerusalem during the tribulation period (Revelation 11:3-11).

· The Sabbath is Saturday (True) The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week and was established when God rested after six days of creation—long before it was instituted as Jewish law by Moses. When persecuted by the religious elite for not adhering to their interpretation of the Sabbath, the Lord simply said, “For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day” (Matthew 12:8). He is our rest. Anyone who judges you on such a matter should carefully read (Romans 14:1-8).

· The world is flat (False). “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:22).

· There is no hell, and everyone will go to heaven. (False). Called the gospel of Inclusion, it is a re-packaged version of Universalism, and is a rapidly spreading, damnable heresy. It teaches that Jesus universally redeemed the entire world, and that everyone goes to heaven (except for a select group who intentionally reject God after they have “tasted of the heavenly gift” (Hebrews 6:4)), regardless of his or her belief, lifestyle or deeds done in the flesh. It eliminates the necessity of renouncing sin (turning away from doing wrong), the regeneration of the human spirit, and the personal application of the blood of Jesus Christ for the removing of individual sins. According to this doctrine, the practicing pedophile and whoremonger, the murderer, the unforgiving, the Taliban, the liar, the God hater, the terrorist, the atheist, the rebellious, the racist and Satanist will all see God’s face in peace. The Bible states that heaven belongs to those who are spirit-born, and blood-washed through confession and faith in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Inclusionists are those “who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4).

· We are gods. (True). If a tiger mates with another tiger and it produces a cub tiger. The offspring from a bird is another bird. If a bear produces a cub, and an antelope produces a fawn, then God produces little gods. Since we were conceived in the mind and bosom of God, who is a Spirit, then we are likewise made into His image as a spirit possessing a soul and body and placed here on the earth. We are then little gods.

This truth was spoken three times in scripture. “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your lay, I said, Ye are gods?” (John 10:34). The Lord referred to Psalms 82:6. He is not slack in sharing His power, authority and glory with His children. When commissioned to go into Egypt, Moses resisted because of a speech impediment. God brought his brother, Aaron, aboard while saying, “And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God” (Exodus 4:16).

Predicting the Second Coming

The end time events preceding the Lord’s return have been the fascination of the ages. When asked what the signs of His return would be, the Lord gave a litany of occurrences like famine, war, rumors of wars, the emergence of false prophets, signs in the heavens, and ended with, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matthew 24:36). This means that even the Lord does not know when He will be sent to set up His kingdom in Jerusalem; and yet we have scores of bible teachers predicting His return.

Back in the early eighties, Edgar C. Whisenant, a former NASA engineer and Bible student, sold millions of copies and rocked the religious community with his book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. Even though the Lord said that no one knew the day and hour, Whisenant surmised that he knew the month and year. (Go figure that!) What he failed to see is that no one knows “but my Father only” (Matthew 24:35). Scores believed, sold their businesses and property, took out loans, quit their jobs, gave away their money, moved to the hills, divorced, married early, and watched for the coming of the Lord, which never happened.

This was nothing new in Christian history. Over a century prior to this, William Miller, a Baptist preacher, predicted the coming of the Lord and gathered a large following of believers who sat on their rooftops awaiting the Lord’s return. They were disappointed, of course, and were called Millerites, which later morphed into the Seventh Day Adventist.

Prophetic Witchcraft

Recently, a flurry of predictions hit the internet saying that something would happen to the planet Earth on September 23, 2017. Conjoined with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, along with a once-in-a-lifetime planetary alignment and the astrological sign Virgo—symbol of the virgin, many began teaching the alignment was a fulfillment of the sun-clothed woman in Revelation 12.

Scores of Bible teachers, including popular Christian televangelists, taught that this could be it—but nothing unusual on September 23. Surprised? Hardly! The co-mingling of the signs of the time, Bible prophecy, and Jewish feasts with astrology is witchcraft, pure and simple, and once again man’s unholy appetite for knowledge as introduced by the serpent in Eden prevails. (Genesis 3:5-6). Like Whisenant, these teachers fell prey to seducing spirits, which only want to interject error and division into the Body of Christ. Let every believer beware.

Identifying the Real

The world is rifted with false doctrines of every source, far too many to mention. The key in recognizing false doctrine is to know true doctrine. In the banking system, counterfeit currency is identified by a repetitive study of the authentic. The same is true with the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we know our God and the truth of His Word, as we know His voice, and as we walk in the Spirit, we will not swallow error nor follow the voice of a stranger. Every believer should be like those in Berea of whom Luke wrote, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:11).

# 4 The Spirit of Control

The forth indication of a false prophet is the presence of a controlling spirit which is equivalent to witchcraft. False prophets work heavily in the realm of manipulation, intimidation and domination. They will twist the Word of God telling their audience “not to question the prophet,” or “you cannot grow and go to the next level without a prophet in your life,” or “obey the prophet for a blessing, but disobey and you will be cursed.”

Once a platform has been set, they sow heresies, sensuality, and control of every sort, while robbing the congregation financially blind. A weak, young, or undiscerning pastor will allow these charlatans to ensnare his entire congregation.

Below are some tell-tell signs of a church under witchcraft domination:

· Members are told who to marry, what to eat, what to wear, where to go, when to vacation, what to buy, etc.

· Heavy reliance upon non-scriptural sources of teaching

· Use of fear to control congregants

· Members are discouraged from thinking for themselves, asking questions, or reading literature

· Declaration that they are the only true church and the only ones going to heaven

· There is an emphasis on birth control through abortion or vasectomy

· Members are forbidden to fellowship at other assemblies not in their denomination

· Demands to separate from those with opposing viewpoints, including family and friends

· There is an exaltation of a prophet, Master, teacher, or guru and obsessive reliance upon their writings and teachings

· Micromanaging the members lives… (“you must report everything to headship”)

· Brain-washing political jargon such as— “it’s them against us”

· Members are cursed when they leave the church (“they will never prosper” or “they are cut off”)

· There is a heavy demand upon your money

· Members are encouraged to spy and snitch on defectors

· There is a sick demand for sexual submission to leadership (Huge red flag!)

· Public humiliation of its members

· Leadership focus on destroying other ministries and ministers

· Heavy emphasis on preparation of the end-time apocalypse

· The use of terror to get people to the altar…”at the count of three, get to the altar or you’re on your way the way to hell!”

· Inference that a particular church, doctrine, or organization defines your destiny

· Use of physical force as a means of discipline

· The use of a few scriptures taken out of context to build an entire doctrine upon.

· Belief that God divinely inspires headship, and therefore headship is infallible. The list is exhaustive.

Now some would say that they know a religious organization or a person with these regulations, and therefore they are cults. This is not necessarily true. There is not a person who has not at some time or another operated in witchcraft. Neither is there an organization that has steered clear of this dilemma. The key here is the weight of oppression.