Happy “Fathers Day” Gift Issue

Truth Matters Newsletters – May 2010 – Vol. 15  Issue 6 – “The Happy Fathers Day”  Gift Issue – By Rev. Robert Liichow

Discernment Ministries International

THE HAPPY FATHERS DAY GIFT ISSUE

By Rev. Robert S. Liichow

The month of June is indeed a blessed month. Not only do I get to celebrate Father’s Day but also my birthday (the 16th!) From one father to another I give to all the DMI family a free book this month to enjoy reading during these lazy hot days of June. This book will help equip you to answer some of the charges leveled against those of us who stand up for biblical truth. Enjoy!

Will the Real Pharisee Please Stand Up!

By Rev. Robert S. Liichow

Chapter 1

Name Calling

“Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me”

One would think that leaders who are supposed to have been initiated into the high realms of sanctification and anointing due to revival would naturally be more spiritually-minded. Having arrived at a level of godly development beyond that of their non-charismatic brethren one would not expect them to stoop to the childish level of name calling…yet this is one of the most commonly employed tactics by the leadership of today’s so-called revival.

The Dreaded Title of Pharisee

In every revival meeting my wife and I have attended (which is quite a few) we have heard a litany of derogatory names used to describe anyone who dares disagree with their beliefs and practices. Their favorite term is that of “Pharisee.”

A Pharisee is anyone who has the gall to look to the Bible and only accept what is contained contextually within its pages. Here is a direct quote from the Toronto Blessings Page on the Internet:

Many passages of Scriptures seems to cast laughter as undesirable, and most Pharisees uses these Scriptures to forbid laughter at Toronto Blessing meetings.

Those who truly and honesty do not see holy laughter in the context of Scripture are reported as being so traditional as to forbid non-Biblical practices in the Church! I have yet to hear anyone publicly admit that there are Christians who out of a pure heart and honest motive simply do not agree with what is happening.

All of those who do not endorse the revival have evil motives attributed to them. Michael Brown, one of the leading writers for the revival chastises the non-supporters in this fashion:

How many worldwide awakenings would have taken place this century if church people had not stood in the way of God? Very few revivals have ever finished their God-appointed course. Very few outpourings of the Spirit have ever reached their potential. Man is always getting in the way!…Our denominational pride has stifled many a move of the Spirit.

 Which church people was Brown referring to? Obviously the “Pharisees,” the people who refuse to submit themselves to subjective experiences which fall outside of the Biblical perimeters.

What is more shocking than the name-calling is the lack of theological understanding of God that Michael Brown possesses. This is “shocking” because he is the head of the new bible training center at the Brownsville Assembly of God!

Mr. Brown has an incorrect view of God’s sovereignty. To him man is capable of stopping a sovereign move of the Spirit! The Lord wanted to send revival, but the ole mean Pharisees stopped Him and His Spirit by refusing to budge from the Word of God (forgive the sarcasm). If this were possible then man would be more powerful than God. Let’s consider some Biblical texts and see if God’s will is ever thwarted. (Bold type and underlining added for emphasis).

Daniel 4:25 That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

Daniel 4:35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

The king in the above text had lost sight of a crucial facet of the character of God – He is totally sovereign in His actions and is accountable to no one. “None can stay His hand”, so if He sends revival then there is no one alive who can stop His will to revive His people. None.

Deut. 10:17 For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible which regarded not persons, nor taketh reward:

2 Chron. 20:6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

There are multitudes of Scriptures which prove beyond any discussion that God is sovereign. That He accomplishes all the good pleasure of His will. The Bible plainly states there is none that can stop Him. Yet the revivalists of yesterday and today continue to preach a “god” who is less than the God of the bible. Their god is one whose will and desires are thwarted by men and women who, obviously, are mightier than God at least in this respect.

Charles Finney was one of the forerunners of this misconception about the sovereignty of God. He said that it has always been the ministers who have stopped God’s revival.

Now it is remarkable that so far as my knowledge extends, all the seasons of great revivals with which the church has been blessed from the very first, have been broken up and the revival influence has been set aside by an ecclesiastical and sectarian jangling to preserve what they call the purity of the church and the faith once delivered to the saints. I believe it is to be a truth, that ministers as a class, have always been responsible for the decline of revivals.;

As the saying goes “the fruit does not fall far from the tree” and Michael Brown echoes the same incorrect concept that Finney originally harbored. Finney held a “limited” God view, which is not surprising since many theologians consider Charles Finney to be a Pelagian in regards to his doctrinal stance.

When the term Pharisee is used by today’s leaders it is often referring to other Christian leaders with a seminary education. Anyone who has gone to school for several years. Undergone the rigors of learning the original languages. Taking a few years to write a thesis and later a dissertation are somehow generally of no value to God. According to Rodney Howard Browne, the “Holy Ghost Bartender,” believers are often ruined by their seminary education.

Too many people allow their education to make them unstable. I’ve noticed people, prior to going into seminary, who are totally qualified for the work of God, totally anointed, but they come out after several years of seminary totally ruined.

Is that right? Unstable as in incapable of being used? I for one thank God for the seminary education I am undertaking, it has rendered me impossible to be used by the trickery of men, as I was prior to learning something about the God of the bible.

What does the Holy Ghost Bartender mean by qualified? When Rodney and his family go to the doctor how qualified does he expect his doctor to be? I assume the “call” to be a doctor must be all that is needed in order to set up a practice. On the contrary, I am sure he wants the most highly trained physician who got the highest grades and who graduated at the top of his class. When Rodney builds a home, I suppose the architects desire to draw is sufficient to license him as an architect.

Rodney, like everyone else demands the highest level of training possible from anyone he deals with, from cook to auto mechanic. Now if a mere medical doctor obtains from eight to ten years of training how much more should those who minister God’s eternal Word strive to obtain as much training and education as possible?

This is the mind set of Charismatic’s in general. Just being “called” is sufficient to start a church, get up in front of 1,000’s and teach, to write books and hold seminars. Do not loose sight of the fact that the majority of today’s charismatic leaders have little or no theological training. People such as Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Charles Capps, Marilyn Hickey, and many others have not graduated from seminary, do not read the original languages, etc. Yet they are qualified to teach millions of people the Bible!

Most of today’s leaders hold the wrong belief that God mainly uses the Scripturally ignorant to do mighty works…because somehow a sound theological education gets in God’s way. Speaking of the Azusa Street revival Brown says-

God had not chose an established mission where this could be done. They were in the hands of men; the Spirit born again in a humble ‘stable’ outside ecclesiastical establishments. God often moved through homely and unlikely vessels to show us we do not have it all.

He goes on to speak about Jesus choosing fishermen and a tax collector and not the religious leaders of His day. What Mr. Brown does not seem to understand is that these ignorant fishermen and tax collector, did not remain in the condition of spiritual or Scriptural ignorance for long.

To begin with they were Jews, and as such they had memorized the first five books of the law since childhood. Secondly, these ignorant simple folks, spent seven days a week for a little over three years with the Lord God, the Living Word. They did not take summer vacations away from Christ. In short, the original disciples (who later became apostles) received the most intensive on-the-job Biblical training ever given to any man! The amount of time they spent with Jesus would equate to approximately nine years of schooling. If one spent as much time in seminary as they spent with Jesus one would end up with a Master’s degree and two doctorate degrees. The bottom line: The fisherman might have started out somewhat ignorant, but they did not remain in that condition.

Mr. Browne also chooses to ignore historical fact – all the genuine promotions of the Body of Christ have come at the hands of highly educated, theologically trained individuals. Almost all of the early Church fathers were educated theologians. It was these men who set forth in systematic form the major doctrines of Orthodox Christianity. The Reformation was headed up by two men in particular, Martin Luther and later John Calvin– – – both men of huge intellect and unwavering desire to please God.

The men today’s revivalist’s love to cite were also men of great background, Jonathan Edwards for one, and John Wesley for another. Both of these men saw value in theological education. The Wesley’s started the concept of Sunday school, they were advocates of Biblical learning.

Furthermore, the text today’s revivalists cite like a mantra is Paul’s statement:

1 Cor. 8:1 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

They will say Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. However, Paul was not stating an either-or principle. One can have knowledge and love, they are not mutually exclusive. This possibility is not considered by those anointed with the revival spirit. They automatically assume if one has theological knowledge then they are devoid of love. Then on top of it, the same “loving” leaders heap aspersions upon those who do not agree with them!!

If this is an example of a heightened passion for Jesus then they can keep it to themselves, because it does not seem to be the fruit of the spirit the Bible speaks of.

Chapter 2

A Personal Testimony

On Wednesday August 20, 1997 my wife and I attended the Signs and Wonders Conference in Toronto held by Rodney Howard Browne. The first words out of his mouth were a mockery of those in traditional non-charismatic Protestant churches. Because their worship is different from his, the length of their services is shorter, the emphasis is placed in other areas he declared them “spiritually dead.” At 9:30 p.m. some people got up and left. As they left Rodney began to ridicule and make fun of them he assumed they were leaving (like many others had been doing in other locations) due to the various bizarre manifestations occurring throughout the sanctuary. He had no earthly idea why those folks were leaving! Then at the offering time he made more snide remarks that now is a good time for others to leave so they can get blessed at some local “eatery.”

None of these comments were called for at all. Rodney is the father of the holy laughter movement and has been drenched in this so-called anointing, yet it has not made him more loving or tolerant to those who differ from him.

Another example of name calling is seen in Pastor John Kilpatrick’s prophecy against Hank Hanegraaff. What was brother Hanegraaf’s crime? He did not (and does not) believe the revival today is of God. So what was the loving response of America’s vortex of revival power, a.k.a. Brownsville Assembly of God? Here is a portion of the text sent to me (Please read appendix One which was sent to me via e-mail)

…And Mr. Hanegraaff, I want to say to you, before you get back on national television and start spouting off at the mouth again about something of which you know nothing of, you’d better be careful, because God said, “Vengeance is Mine. Saith the Lord.”

And I want to say something else to you. If you want to keep any kind of a semblance of a ministry, you better back off from this revival and what God is doing. You better back off, because I’m going to prophesy to you that if you don’t and you continue to put your tongue in your mouth on this move of God, within 90 days the Holy Ghost will bring you down. I said, within 90 days the Holy Ghost will bring you down.

This portion gives a legitimate insight into the gist of the prophetic word to brother Hank.

When the 90 day period was almost over Pastor Kilpatrick repented and said he was in the flesh and asked forgiveness, which I know Hank extended to him long before he asked for it. I trust Pastor Kilpatrick was sincere, but it is curious that it took the Lord all that time to get him to admit he was in the flesh when he made that hideous statement. Keep in mind Kilpatrick was in revival services every night for all those days. He (in his eyes) was in the midst of the direct flow of the Holy Ghost and in the manifest presence of God and yet the Lord could not get through to him to make it right immediately! (I guess a Pharisee might think that he waited as long as he could and upon seeing his word was not going to be fulfilled he had to eat crow. After all hank’s book  Counterfeit Revival was listed as number seven on the bestseller list at Baker Book House in Grand Rapids when I last visited there).

This is simply another example of the leaders, the stewards of today’s mighty revival stooping to name calling and fear tactics. I have personally heard Pastor Kilpatrick of Brownsville, Pastor John Arnott of Toronto, and father Rodney all make cutting remarks of those who oppose the manifestations of the revival.

All of the alleged intimacy with the Lord, and personal ministry by the Spirit to their spirits has not produced the true fruit of the spirit spoken of in the Bible. Where is love? The turning the other cheek? Where is the longsuffering and patience? It is non-existent!

Frankly, it is just such behavior on the part of these leaders which is as much of a stumbling block as are the bizarre manifestations to many people looking at the revival.

Our ministry operates an apologetics/polemics web site (http://www.newdiscernment.org) and we get a great deal of e-mail. I want to cite an example of a typical e-mail from a supporter of the revival. I have withheld the author’s name to spare him any further embarrassment, but I have left his spelling alone:

I am an elder in the body of christ presently involved in the evangelizing of the lost training of leaders and elders relationally, ordaining of elders, church planting, school of ministry,church discipline, imparting the supernatural dimension of the kingdom of god as he leads, restoration of the apostles and prophets, five fold ministry, the tabernacle of david, the prophetic and apostolic movements, restoration theology, etc…each year we recognize, raise, and release hundreds of students through our school and personalized training ministry. no one has to pay for it, no one has to be a part of Your ministry. freely we receive, freely we give, you say that you do not believe in apostles and prophets. I say that you are extremely pharisaical and legalistic, restricting meanings of the scripture to support your contention and frustration to be right first of all, can you honestly disprove of present day apostles and prophets? What scriptures do you wrestle with to support your claims? can you define for me jesus the apostle, the twelve apostles, the post_ascension apostles, the 70 who were apostolic like but not apostolic in like but not apostolic in life, and the many apostles of the spirit today? in our school, we give a fair and plenary approach of the bible defining the bible, the word of god being it’s own interpreter. we teach the restoration of the church and divine order. We teach and train believers in the work of the ministry as recorded in Ephesians 4:11_16; 1 cor. 12, romans 12:4_8 etc…we believe that all expressions of ministry grace belong to the body of christ and flows out of the headship of jesus. not out of religion and legalism. we have confirmed in the ministry numerous ones with the call and anointing of apostleship on them. Understanding well (over 23 years of teaching ministry and a teacher of greek), that apostles are often alluded to as missionaries let me just say that all missionaries do not possess the wisdom, anointing, or calling to apostleship many today, travel to leper camps, food for hunger centers, orphanages, and such yet never understanding the depth or life of an apostle; thus being sent generically overseas to be what the religious bored (no misspelling here) made them to be. Selah! many are taught in cemetaries without the apostolic release of elders and the impartation needed to go ye therefore, holding to their limited degrees of titular authority, professional, and not anointed. and to make matters worse, they are sent out with a piece of paper by a rather staunch, cold, and impersonal advisory bored, assuming that this is the door for their expected avenues. only to operate the ministry from the heights of their lofty intellect, how sad! and you say that there are is no need for apostles? i would like to go on recored as having to say that your dogmatic and schismatic beliefs to further draw the body of christ apart with your Calvinistic,hyper_dispensational,ultra_nebula, pre_millennial theory of ministry is quite comical and obsurd. to think that your primary intentions personally is to re_write and to re_define holy Scriptures.

In one e-mail I was called: (1) dogmatic, (2) schismatic, (3) Calvinistic (I am a Lutheran), (4) hyper-dispensational, (5) extremely legalistic, and (6) extremely Pharisaical. What called for all this vitriol? The simple fact that I do not see what is taking place in the revival services in the context of Scripture. So I do not support the revival on that grounds.

On Saturday August 23rd 1997 I received another response to the web site from a “disciple of Christ” who prayed that I would be born-again. I need to wake up to the fact that the Holy Spirit was using Benny Hinn and what God only uses people who are mentally dead, a.k.a. brain dead!

Chapter 3

Will the Real Pharisee Please Stand Up!

The Biblical Pharisee’s get a negative response from the Lord Jesus, and rightly so. Why did Jesus respond to them in the manner that he did. There are several reasons, and I just want to consider a couple of them. Underlining added for emphasis.

Mark 7:9 And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! (NIV)

Matthew 15:6-9 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Here are two examples of why Jesus upbraided the Pharisees of His day. They had added their non-Biblical practices (traditions) to the Scriptures. By dong so they had rendered what God had plainly said in His Word of no effect:

Akuroo, from Greek 1 (a) (as a negative particle) and Greek 2964 (kuroo); to invalidate:_disannul, make of none effect.

Let me ask you a simple question. Who has added unbiblical practices (traditions) to the Word of God and thus reject the plain teaching of Scriptures which do not support such traditions? The answer is quite simple – it is today’s charismatic extremists who have supplanted God’s Word by their practices.

Allow me to cite some of the many man-made traditions used in almost all charismatic ministries which have no basis in Scripture at all.

• The practice of being drunk in the spirit. this is the belief that the Holy Spirit will come upon a person and render them totally inebriated in the same manner as alcohol does. Please read another pamphlet I wrote entitled: Does the Bible Support A Doctrine of Being Drunk In The Spirit?  There is nothing in the bible at all to even remotely support this tradition of men.
• The practice of being slain in the spirit There is not one instance in the entire Bible of where hands were laid on another person and their physical body was overcome by a mystical force and they fell to the ground. This is the manner in which 99% of all slaying takes place in services today. Yet this tradition is fully endorsed by all Charismatics, even though there is not one contextual verse to validate this tradition.
• The practice of holy laughter Again, another non-biblical practice. They know this and appeal to past revivals as validation that this is what happens when the Lord moves by His Spirit. They fail to recognize the past revivals are not the standard by which Christians are to judge faith and practice. The Bible alone is our guide. Those manifestations were spurious in the past and they are spurious today. Again, a tradition of men, not a Biblical practice or godly tradition.
• The doctrine of sacred dance There are no New Testament examples of god’s people dancing before the Lord as David did. In and of itself dancing may be a legitimate expression of joy on the part of individual believers. But now dancing has become a means by which the presence of God is ushered in by ministers of dance. Dance was never an avenue used in the bible as a means to approach God or as a ritual by which God is enabled to approach His people. Dance in that context is strictly a pagan practice and not a godly one. Again, an example of a doctrine of men. Dance is now also a means to obtain healing, conduct spiritual warfare, and intercede for the lost – – – dance never was used to do any of these thing in the Canon of Scripture. All of these things are regularly practiced in pagan cultures today.
• The doctrine of restored prophets and apostles It is now commonly taught and practiced that God has restored to the Church the ministry of apostles and prophets. Yet the Bible plainly teaches that these two ministries were foundational Ephesians 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; Once the foundation was laid their ministry was finished. You read of no apostolic succession in the New Testament. You never read of Paul or Peter saying who will receive their apostolic mantle.

Today there are thousands claiming to be prophets and hundreds claiming to be apostles! In total contradiction to the Word of god and the history of the Church. In the past all who claimed such ministries were proven to be flakes and liars. Men and women such as Montanus, Irving, Dowie, and Branham to name a few.

 

• The Music Ministry as a means to usher in God’s presence Music in charismatic circles is not just an expression of love back to God from His people. It is a mystical tool by which God’s very presence is ushered into a service. It is a tool that transforms the worshiper and takes them into the realm of the spirit. Along with the music and dance is the charismatic concept of rebuilding the Tabernacle of David. Some ministries are striving to build places of praise and dance before the Lord 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. By this work, God will manifest Himself in these locations. Again, total nonsense, mysticism, and extra-Biblical practice/tradition.

These are just a few examples that I know about from my own experience. Many of these things I have not only personally experienced, but have taught others as restored truth. I could add doctrines/traditions of spiritual warfare via other tongues, fasting for spiritual power, revelation knowledge, unique definitions of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, etc…

Who has added traditions to the Bible? Who by their traditions have gone further and further away from Biblical Orthodoxy? It is today’s charismatic extremists, not those who take the sola Scriptura stance!

For today’s charismatic extremist to call others who uphold Christian Orthodoxy as being Pharisaical is simply an unfounded charge meant to divert attention from their departure from the Scripture.

Here is the format of a typical response we get at DMI as we try to reason who those involved in charismania. First, they begin by calling us the usual litany of names. We respond that name calling is not very productive, why not discuss specifics, since we both are Christians. Secondly, they then go into what I term “level two” defense mode and they cite what is fast becoming their favorite verse:

John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

It is now commonly held among many in the sign-gift movement that the Bible does not contain all that Jesus did and taught. Thus how can we say that these manifestations are not of God? Such a belief holds wide open the door which would allow anything not specifically named or shown within the Bible to be seriously considered as being from God! A unique argument, but one that does not stand even a small amount of logic. If you subscribe to such a belief then you must realize that it –

 

• It impugns the wisdom of God – God obviously left out important examples when He gave us His Word.
• It denigrates the sufficiency of Scripture – The Bible is no longer the sole guide. There are traditions outside the bible which are valid. How do we know they are valid? Because today’s leaders tell us they are.
• Subjective fruit – alone has become the means by which these extra-Biblical practices are judged.

Yes, I will admit that the Bible does not contain all that Jesus did or taught. However, I believe wholeheartedly that the bible does contain all I ever need to know about knowing God and about faith and practice. The Reformation was fought over the concepts of sola Scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, and sola Christus. Now those of us who hold to these hard won truths are considered Pharisees by those who have added to the Scriptures their own traditions of men, and in some cases demons.

What we have taking place in today’s charismatic renewal is a placing of man made traditions on an equal par with the Scripture. This is identical to the Roman Catholic view.

The sad truth of the matter is this – if anyone is guilty of being Pharisaical today it is those in the charismatic revival camp. A camp I was part of for years and I am well aware of the elitist mind set we harbored. We always saw ourselves in terms of being “God’s remnant” or His “overcomers.” We saw ourselves as the “Zion of God” and others as merely being “Jerusalem.” After-all we were “Spirit-filled” and others were just low-wattage Christians. Kind of reminds me of the following text:

Luke 18:11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

Some may say “that is not our attitude,” to which I say “I certainly hope not.” However, with over fifteen years and drinking from the last five moves of the “Spirit”, I have been in enough conventions, private pastor’s seminars, leadership meetings, etc…where this mind set was clearly enunciated.

In closing, I urge that we pray for those who are caught-up in the current frenzy of unbiblical practices, manifestations, and beliefs. May the Lord grant them to see the error of their ways and come back to Orthodox Biblical Christianity.

May we, who by the grace of God, have been spared or delivered out of this darkness respond to our brethren by speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:15) and correcting those who oppose themselves with a spirit of humility (2 Tim. 2:26).   ♦

Copyright © 2010 Robert S. Liichow

Oringinally Published by Truth Matters Press in 1997 revised 2010

( All colored highlights and some bolding and underlining not in the original)

Appendix

John Kilpatrick’s April 6, 1997 Prophecy Against Hank Hanegraaff and John Kilpatrick’s apology issued to Hank Hanegraaff on June 18, 1997. It looks like John Kilpatrick has a change of heart 74 days into the 90 day Prophecy he issued on April 6, 1997, against Hank Hanegraaff. Does this make John Kilpatrick a false Prophet? You make the call.

John Kilpatrick’s April 6, 1997 Prophecy Against Hank Hanegraaff

And Mr. Hanegraaff, I want to say to you, before you get back on national television and start spouting off at the mouth again about something of which you know nothing of, you’d better be careful, because God said, “Vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord.” And I want to say something else to you. If you want to keep any kind of a semblance of a ministry, you better back off from this revival and what God is doing. You better back off, because I’m going to prophecy to you that if you don’t, and you continue to put your tongue in your mouth on this move of God, within 90 days the Holy Ghost will bring you down. I said, within 90 days the Holy Ghost will bring you down.

John Kilpatrick’s apology issued to Hank Hanegraaff on June 18, 1997

I called you (and by implication, others) a devil and that was wrong. I said, “Let Hank Hanegraaff and all the othe devils, etc” _ that was wrong of me. I ask your forgiveness. When I said “I’m going to prophesy as a man of God that the Lord bring you down in 90 days “ I was not speaking that as a prophet but as a shepherd putting something in the ears of God. I do not say “Thus saith the Lord”, it was a “Thus saith John Kilpatrick,” putting these words into God’s ears in the context of the message I was bringing. Let me reemphasize again that was me speaking….in April I got in the flesh and lashed out at you. I want to emphasize also that I did not wish you any harm personally. I was talking about your ministry, I was saying, “God bring down your platform for crying out and associating us with a cult.” I did not nor do I wish you any harm. I ask your forgiveness if you thought I meant any harm to you personally. Honesty, before the Lord, I had your platform in mind, not the person Hank Hanegraaff. This is by no means to be interpreted as an attempt to wiggle out of a prophecy. I would like to grant you the right to continue to count down the days and continue to comment about the 90 days. It’s ammunition that I gave you in April I only want you to know _ it was me speaking that and not a “thus saith the Lord.”

(As I stated earlier in this booklet, it only took 74 days of intense revival services for the Lord to get through to John Kilpatrick that he was wrong and in the flesh! Amazing, but I am glad the Lord did finally get through to him!)

NOTES

1. Brown, Michael. The End of the American Gospel Enterprise. Destiny Image, 1989.

2. Finney, Charles. Reflections on Revival (Minneapolis: Bethany House), 1979, pg. 94

3. Brown Rodney. Apostles Are Coming. Revival Ministries International 1997 pg. 19

4. Brown, Michael Second Wind, Spring 1997 Pg. 11

5. The statement was too long for this booklet, but the above gives a legitimate insight into the gist of the prophetic word to brother Hank. Taken in part from an e-mail sent to me from the Internet.

6. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance on the NavPress CD Rom

Oringinally Published by Truth Matters Press in 1997 revised 2010

Hearing The Voice of God – Part Two

Truth Matters Newsletters – May 2008 Vol. 13  Issue 4 – Hearing The Voice of God Part Two – By Rev. Robert S. Liichow

Discernment Ministries International

Hearing The Voice of God Part Two

By Rev. Robert S. Liichow

Last month I began to lay the axe to the root of a common error, one that is held dearly in the minds of many Christians both sign-gift folks and evangelicals alike and that is the belief that God speaks to them personally.

For well over twenty years I most assuredly believed that God did speak to His people (especially the “great” ones who led the charismatic movement) and that all I had to do was the necessary work in order to get myself in the correct spiritual position to tune-in to His frequency. It was commonly taught among us that God was always speaking to us, but most of us simply were not listening to His voice due to a myriad of things in our lives. Because of our low level of spiritual maturity God out of His Fatherly kindness restored prophets back to the Church so we could go to them and hear the present day truth (2 Pet. 1:12) and hear the word of the Lord until such time as we could mature and discern His voice ourselves.

I realize that you are probably shaking your head wondering how I (and millions more) could be misled into believing such nonsense. It really is not difficult to understand if you begin with the premise that God is speaking to all His children personally and individually and this premise is taught by very charismatic (in the personality sense of the term) individuals who regale the audience with their own experiences in “hearing” God on a daily basis. When this type of message is reinforced by every teacher you see on television, in conferences, and in your local church then you believe what they are saying.

The problem with what was taught to me and is currently being taught to multitudes of people is that it was not validated with any contextual scriptural evidence. Almost all the accounts we heard were anecdotal accounts passed on as gospel truth to us sign-seeking power mongers. That message is very appealing to most Christians, after all, who does not want to have such a close fellowship with Almighty God where He converses with one throughout the day! When you as a mere low-wattage believer hear that type of fellowship is available to you (if you pay the price, which varies according to the teacher) naturally you will strive to obtain it.

What we learned in last month’s Truth Matters is that throughout the entire Bible very few individuals ever actually held conversations with God. Those who did actually “hear” from the Lord were people whom God used to change the course of either the people of Israel or His Church. The Ancient of Days is never seen merely chatting with His children about mundane affairs, who to marry, what job to take, which local church to attend. It simply is not in the Bible.

When I first began to come to the biblical understanding my initial reaction was to reject it on the grounds that it seemed to make Christian Spirituality “dry” and certainly not dynamic. I also had to struggle with the reality that all the years I thought I was hearing God “speaking” to me personally was not the case. Once again I had been misled by a myriad of teachers, many of whom were no doubt will intentioned, but just as deceived as I was. This was (and sadly still is) a classic case of the blind leading the blind and all of us sign-seekers falling into the ditch of deception (see Mat. 15:14) Yet thanks be to God who sent Jesus to open the eyes of the blind (see Luke 4:18) and I certainly qualified.

It is not just the sign-seekers who have been misled, although they are more numerous but also many “Baptistic” evangelicals as well. Charismatic believers have their teachers and so do the evangelicals. The primarily disseminator of this error is Henry Blackaby:

For thousands of Baptist churches in America today, as well as churches of many other denominations [including Roman Catholic churches], the answer has been that they accept and embrace this teaching, as found in the best-selling workbook Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, by Henry T. Blackaby (co-authored by Claude V. King and published by Lifeway Press of Nashville, Tennessee)…

Blackaby clearly states that God is giving revelation to us in the same way. He did to Moses and Jesus, only now through the Holy Spirit versus direct communication with God the Father. It certainly appears as if Blackaby is teaching that God’s revelation is continuing today just as when the Old and New Testaments were written. Obtained from Adapted from two articles by Thomas Williamson (Assistant Pastor of Tabemaculo Bautista Metropolitaro, Chicago, Illinois).

Blackaby goes as far as to say that if a Christian is not personally hearing from God then there is something seriously wrong with them. Naturally Blackaby was a “darling” on the speaker’s circuit of the Promise Keepers and his 12 week course materials have been adopted by not only Protestant congregations, but Roman Catholic groups as well as the charismatic extremist Vineyard movement. I mentioned Blackaby in conjunction with the charismatic teachers to illustrate how widespread this specific error is.

The tremendous spiritual danger inherent in such teaching is that it usually leads to spiritual abuse by the leaders. On page 166 of Experiencing God. Knowing and Doing the Will of God we read the following:

“When God wants to reveal His will to a church, He will begin by speaking to one or more individuals. Because of the nature of his call and assignment from God, this is often the pastor, although it may be another member of the body. The pastor’s job is to bear witness to the church about what he senses God is saying.”

In other words God will speak to the pastor and the role of the people is to “swallow-and-follow” the direction coming to the pastor from “on high”. I know from personal experience how much harm and abuse occurs when any leader is given this much authority. Also Blackaby endorses the false belief that there is only one correct way to go in every situation of life. This places an ungodly and unbiblical burden on people who must then struggle and worry if whatever they decide to do is in fact God’s will for their lives. This bondage often leads people to relying heavily on their pastor or spiritual overseer to tell them which way to go and what to do in life, again this leads to spiritual abuse most times.

Another problem which is never adequately addressed by those who teach this error is how does one determine if it is “God” or Satan who is speaking to their minds? Usually the pat answer is that whatever God tells you will line up with the Scriptures. Yet didn’t Satan cite Scriptures when he tempted our Lord (Matthew 4:5)? Yes, Satan took the verses out of context, yet how many Christians are skilled in hermeneutics to really know the difference? Also, the voice of God nine times out of ten will guide us in the direction we had already determined to go, i.e. God usually agrees with us!

These are just a few of the problems associated with the belief that God is personally speaking to all His children. I am sorry if what I am writing offends some of you; it was somewhat offensive to me when I first encountered it too. Yet DMI has a mandate to “teach truth and expose error,” regardless of how cherished the error may be. This much I can assure you, if you will humble your hearts and stick to the truth of God’s Word you will be set free indeed (see John 8:32). Sometimes spiritual surgery can be painful, but Jesus is the Great Physician, the Balm of Gilead and the One who rose with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2) as we continue to submit ourselves to the absolute authority of His Word we will be healed. Additionally, we shall also experience more and more of the glorious liberty and inexpressible joy (1 Peter 1:8) that belongs to us as the children of God.

How Does God Speak to Us Today ?

I believe the Holy Spirit says it best in the first Chapter of the book of Hebrews:

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many time and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. Hebrews 1:1-2

He begins by saying that in the past God did speak to the patriarchs at many times and in various ways (dreams, visions, angels, etc). Yet now in these last days God has spoken to us personally through no less than God the Son. It is no mistake that Jesus is called “The Word of God” in the book of the Revelation (Rev. 19:13) and that phrase is used 48 times in both the old and New testaments always referring to what God is saying.

This is one of the beautiful things about having the Holy Scriptures. Every child of God can know exactly and with certainty what God is saying. There is no guesswork, no subjective sensing or feeling led to go one direction or another. No need to strive to achieve some mystical level or work to obtain some hidden gnosis. It is all in front of us in black and white!

Today, now that Christ has set me free from my former charismania, I am amazed and grieved at the thousands of people flocking to the various so-called restored prophets to get a “word” from the Lord when they have in their hands the Bible which is completely trustworthy and accurate which is far more than can be said of any of today’s crop of pathetic prophet$. Again this is indicative of a serious problem within the Church at large. There are multitudes of people whether charismatic or evangelical who are placing more trust in their own ability to subjectively hear from God, while ignoring His written God.

The Bible is the voice of God to His people. It is all sufficient and within its pages is contained all we will ever need to know about living a life of godliness that is fully pleasing to our God. In a few lines the sweet psalmist of Israel speaks of the vast storehouse of wealth between the covers of our Holy Bible:

1. The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul.

2. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

3. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.

4. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

5. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.

6. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous.

7. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;

8. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Psalm 19:7-11

King David seems to be in a musical rapture in this psalm, he begins by extolling the awe inspiring wonders of God’s creation and then into ecstasy as he uses one superlative after another in describing the value and inherent power contained in the Word of God.

1. It is perfect (complete, sound — 1. Complete, whole, entire, healthful, of men).

In a time when many of God’s children grow weary, we can turn to God’s Word for true revival.

2. It is trustworthy (confirm, support –1. Pillars. Supporters of the door, made firm, sure, lasting, verified, faithful,) In a time when many things are in flux we can know that heaven and earth will pass away before even a “jot” of the Bible fails (Matthew 5:18). If we lack wisdom, all we need do is ask of God who gives us wisdom via His Word liberally (James 1:5).

3. It is right (ethical sense, straightforward, upright, Pi. 1. make smooth, straight, make smooth or straight, i.e. free from obstacles, successful; in ethical sense). In a world that only leads people astray from God, His Word gives us joy by leading us to the Shepherd of our souls.

4. It is radiant (light, light is closely related to life and happiness, which may account for the frequent comparisons between God and light. In line with this usage Dahood argues that “to see light” is often really to see the light of God’s face in immortality (Psa 36:9 [H 10]; and contra Psa 49:19 [H 20]). In a spiritually blind world, groping around for answers, we can turn to God’s Word and receive illumination to direct our daily path.

5. It is pure (adj. clean, pure –ethically pure, clean; of heart; hands; eyes (of God); words of men; words of God; law of y as object of reverential fear.) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7) and wisdom (Psalm 111:10). Those who rightly fear the Lord have obtained this wisdom and knowledge through His Word and they shall endure forever!

6. It is sure (firmness, faithfulness, truth (contr. For fr.) reliability, sureness, stability, continuance. An attribute of God. Truth (a) as spoken. (b) of testimony and judgment. of divine instruction. (d) truth as a body of ethical or religious knowledge. In a time of uncertainty we can trust that God is watching over His Word to perform it (Jer. 1:12).

7. It is more precious than gold and anyone with half-sense should know that the eternal riches of God cannot compare with the best of the best in this fallen sinful world.

8. It warns us (teach, warn, admonish. The meaning “teach” is probably basic to the root. The most frequent meaning is “warn,” which is used fourteen times in two chapters alone, Ezek 3 and 33, the classic portions dealing with the responsibility of watchmen to warn people under their care (Ezek 3:17-21; Ezek 33:3-9). Not only does the Word of God warn us from what is dangerous to our spiritual and physical wellbeing we are also told that by being a doer of the Word we will be blessed (James 1:25).

Just from these few verses from one psalm we can see the richness of abiding in the Word of God and hearing God speak to us through His Word. How can we keep our way morally pure and upright in God’s sight, simple — Psalm 119:9. How can we know about Jesus and His ministry, again we look to the Word of God (see Luke 24:32) as Jesus revealed His ministry. Do we need to run to a so-called prophet? NO!! We have a more sure word of prophecy (2 Peter 1:19).

God is indeed speaking to us, as He has to all His people throughout the Church age, by speaking to us through His infallible Word. Blessed is the man who trust in the Lord, how is he or she to know the Lord? Simply according to what He has revealed as His will in the Scriptures.

For anyone to seek any additional information than what God has given to us in the Bible is to in effect accuse God of not giving us all we need. Yet the Apostle Peter says:

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Peter 1:2-4

Our gracious heavenly Father has given to us everything we need to know in order to live a life that is fully pleasing to Him. Seeking additional information through dreams, visions, or going on long fasts in hopes of achieving some mystical insight is to denigrate the value of the Scriptures and is an evidence of a lack of genuine faith in God’s provision.

It is my hope that all of you reading these two articles will begin to rely fully on God’s written Word and cast aside any dependence upon “voices” or “leadings” that are subjective at best and have no grounding in the Bible. God’s Word is more than enough and I encourage all of us to dig into the “Book” like never before in order to draw truly closer to our God and thus walk in His will for our lives.

Psalm 100:5

For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

2 Samuel 22:31

As for God his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

A good book you might enjoy reading on this topic is written by a fellow pastor and apologist named Gary E. Gilley.  His latest book is a well presented argument for the sufficiency of Scripture and a solid refutation for those who have been misled into thinking that God is indeed speaking directly to them and giving them daily guidance.

It would be a good addition to anyone’s library, especially if you know of family members or friends who are being misled by this specific false teaching.

DMI does not receive anything from the sale of our brother’s book, but as is our custom we gladly promote other ministries which are teaching truth and exposing error and brother Gilley surely does this in his book entitled “Is that You Lord?”  It is published by Evangelical Press and is available on Amazon.com.  I am not sure of the retail price because DMI’s copy was given to us by some dear friends in S. Lake Tahoe.  ♦

Copyright © Robert S. Liichow

Bob the “Bully”

Truth Matters Newsletters – June 2007 – Vol. 12 Issue 6 – Bob the “Bully” – by Rev. Robert S. Liichow

Discernment Ministries International

By Rev. Robert S. Liichow

“Nowadays any one who insists that pure doctrine is a very important matter is at once suspected of not having the right Christian spirit. The very term “pure doctrine” has been proscribed and outlawed…If any one goes to the extreme, as it is held to be, of even fighting for the pure doctrine and opposing every false doctrine, he is set down as a heartless and unloving fanatic.”

C.F.W. Walther, September 11, 1885.

Dr. Walther made the above statement over 125 years ago in his book “The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel.” (in fact all his quotes are from that book) and I have learned over the years of involvement in this type of ministry that his words are truer today then when he initially spoke them. It is the responsibility of every minister, as our ministry motto says to “teach truth and expose error.” Yet when any minister does this he is indeed called a “heartless and unloving fanatic,” and that is putting it mildly compared to what I am called on a regular basis by those who walk in doctrinal darkness. Walther goes on to say:

There is no question, then, but that both, yes, both these efforts are necessary: to defend the truth and to oppose every doctrinal error.

Walther’s position is most assuredly the biblical one as we read stated in Jude:

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. Jude 1:3

When I embarked upon this facet of ministry over ten years ago I did not expect the vitriol, personal attacks and unreasoned arguments that were to come. Initially, I assumed that others involved in charismatic extremism would rejoice and embrace the truth when it was showed to them as my wife and I did. It did not take long for me to realize that biblical truth (pure doctrine in Walther’s words) is fought against and often out rightly rejected by the ones who should be embracing it. The following e-mail is merely that latest of many attacks DMI endures form those who call themselves Christians. This “sister” wrote us regarding our article about Joel Osteen:

The greatest Christian sin is not adultery. Adultery is one of the greatest wicked acts. It’s not stealing. Stealing is a terrible thing because it puts others at a disadvantage. It’s not lying. This is the worst kind of deception and must be condemned. It’s not murder. This is inhuman. It’s not prayerlessness or lack of Bible reading. It’s not absconding church services. This is because Christians do not commit any of the above sins. What then is the greatest Christian sin? The greatest Christian sin is judgment. How? True, because judgment is only reserved for the judge or for the King and in our case God. It’s God’s privilege to judge and we cannot share that honor. I pray that God will help me not to judge in these entire short messages. I write….

How incredibly arrogant you are. Again nothing but judgment from someone who thinks he is so above every thing and everyone including God…Your response was no surprise and is typical of someone who can’t see the forest for trees. Sham on you! Funny thing is God and the universe will find a way of humbling you. It’s called the two by four between the eyes and it happens to those whose arrogance clouds their real vision and keeps them from loving kindness. When it happens I hope you will see that attacking others is not Christian, nor is it kindness. It is arrogance at it’s worst. You’ve taken something you’ve incorrectly interpreted and spun your own arrogant view on it and use it to bear false witness against those you have NO RIGHT to judge. I agree you will not stop being a bully or being arrogant. Your motivation is jealousy and hatred. I just wanted you to know that your lies and hateful behavior will never reach those of us who love unconditionally the way God and Jesus do.

Note how the writer says the “greatest sin” is judging another person. First of all, this is not the greatest sin in the Bible and if it was then she is extremely guilty of this. Note the following judgmental statements: (1) incredibly arrogant you are, (2) thinks he is so above every thing…including God, (3) a bully, (4) motivation is jealousy and hatred and (5) lies and hateful behavior. Fortunately for sister Bailey, these 5 spiritual deficiencies of mine will NEVER reach her or those like her who “love unconditionally.” In responding to her I kept asking what specifically had I written concerning Mr. Osteen that was factually wrong, or what comments I had written that were hateful towards him in any way; she never answered me. I also told her that neither I or DMI doubts the sincerity of Mr. Osteen nor do we doubt that he loves Jesus. However his sincerity does not abrogate Mr. Osteen’s lack of biblical education or the lack of sound biblical preaching to the congregation Osteen, Robert Schuller, Rick Warren and others all fit perfectly in with another comment by C.F.W. Walther:

The worst offenders in this respect are the so-called rationalistic preachers, who with diabolical audacity mount Christian pulpits and instead of preaching Christ, the Savior, to all sinners, recite their miserable moral precepts for a virtuous life and fill ears of the people with their empty bombast.

I guess Walther would have been excoriated by sister Bailey too as a bully and filled with envy. Pray that our Lord mercifully opens Ms. Bailey’s ears to the truth and all those like her. She is just one of the many emails DMI receives each month. Pray for us too, that we will stay the course and continue to teach truth and expose error. ♦

Copyright © Robert S. Liichow

 

Hey, Kenny, Where’s the Glory Fire?

Truth Matters Newsletters – December 2006 Vol. 11 Issue 12 – Hey Kenny, Where’s the Glory Fire? – by Rev. Robert S. Liichow

Discernment Ministries International

Hey Kenny, Where’s the Glory Fire ?

By Rev. Robert S. Liichow

Anyone’s who has been around the charismatic circus for any length of time knows that in the center ring is no less than Mr. Kenneth Copeland along with his capable assistant Mrs. Gloria Copeland.

I suppose it is only fair to those of our readers who are unfamiliar with the origins of Mr. Copeland and the Word of Faith Movement (WOF) (1) which he has become heir to due to the untimely (2) death of Mr. Kenneth E. Hagin Sr. to give a little background before we launch off into the deep.

In a nutshell the WOF movement believes that God created the universe by using a force called “faith.” He did not create the universe out of nothing (Ex Nihilo) because according to WOF dogma faith is something, an actual substance (Heb. 11:1). According to their teaching faith is a spiritual force that is released by words, hence the pejorative appellation “the Positive Confession movement.” God created man in His exact image and likeness in the Garden of Eden:

God’s reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself. I mean a reproduction of Himself and in the Garden of Eden He did just that. (Adam) was not a little like God. He was not almost like God. He was not subordinate to God even…Adam is as much like God as you could get just the same as Jesus…Adam, in the Garden of Eden, was God manifested in the flesh. (3)

“This eternal life He came to give us is the nature of God.” He then adds, “It is, in reality, God imparting His very nature, substance, and being to one human spirit…Zoe, then, means eternal life, or God’s life. This new kind of life is God’s nature,…Even many in the great body of Full Gospel people do not know that the new birth is a real incarnation…Jesus was first divine, and then He was human. So He was in the flesh a divine-human being. I was first human, and so were you, but I was born of God, and so I became a human-divine being!” (4)

Man was created as a god, and like God Adam could create reality by releasing faith filled words. According to WOF doctrine and Mr. Copeland Adam committed high treason by sinning. He lost his divine nature and partook of Satan’s nature thus in the fall of Adam, Satan became the “god” of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). Mr. Copeland teaches that redemption did not take place on the cross, as the Church has taught for 2,000 years. Redemption took place in hell, after Jesus was tormented by Satan and demons for three days. God looked down and said it was enough and the Holy Spirit came back into the formerly sinful spirit of Jesus (you see WOF people believe Jesus did not bear our sins, but literally became a sinner on the cross) and then Jesus, as the first born-again MAN defeated Satan and demons and secured redemption for all who would make a decision to receive Him as their Lord. All of this can be read in the following book: What Happened From the Cross to the Throne, by E.W. Kenyon {the true Father of this apostate group}. Mr. Copeland’s blasphemous and damnable doctrine is still available from his web site on audio cassette for $5.00, “What Happened From the Cross to the Throne.” (5)

Kenyon, Hagin, Copeland, Duplantis, Savelle, Meyer, Hickey, Tilton, Capps, Price, Crouch, and a host of others seen on Television regularly teach that the redeemed person is basically in the same situation as Jesus was when He was in human flesh, we are in essence little gods. Their logic behind such beliefs is based upon a hodgepodge of biblical texts ripped from their contexts. Passages such as John 14:12 state that the believer shall do the works of Jesus and ever greater works. Copeland and others all stress that Jesus did nothing as Almighty God in flesh, He operated only as a man “anointed” with the Holy Spirit.

Now the charismatic Christian has also received the indwelling of the Spirit, just like Jesus, so it is only natural that we are expected and empowered to do His same works and greater works…assuming we know who we really are in Christ and whom it is that indwells us and how to release the Spirit to flow through us.  In order to gain access to such knowledge we need to listen to and follow men such as Mr. Copeland! This brings us to his most current revelation as set down in his monthly magazine The Believers Voice of Victory entitled “Ready to Reveal His Glory.”

Copeland begins to spin his twisted tail of “the glory” by citing a couple of Old Testament Theophanous Ezekiel 1:27-28 and Habakkuk 3:4. In these examples the Lord God appears as a glorious rainbow (Eze. 1:27-28) and then as One with lightening like power flowing out of His hand (Hab. 3:4). From there Kenny jumps into the revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:14-16) which describes our risen Lord’s countenance like the shining sun. Maybe out of context, but Copeland has biblically-described our Lord as seen by a couple of the Old Testament Prophets and a New Testament Apostle.

Like Superman ®  Copeland leaps from one skyscraper to the next, exegetically speaking. He posits that since Jesus in His true nature (6) is a glowing power emitting spirit and He now indwells us that means we too can or should be working on manifesting the same type of glory as our risen Lord possesses. The goal of the overcoming Christian is to become literally glowing Holy Ghost empowered lords of this world, after all, Jesus is “Lord of lords,” and according to WOF dogma we are the lords Jesus is Lord over.

What is more, the charismatic aka “Spirit-filled” Christian is actually just like Jesus and then some! I quote Copeland’s article:

That image in itself is stunning enough. But what’s more astonishing is this: That blazing, all glorious King of Kings and Lord of lords with lightening-like power shooting out from His hands and the life of God Himself roaring in Him with such white-hot force that His very body glows with it, that Jesus is the One who is living inside us, our spirits have been recreated in His image. (7)

He anticipates his readers question of how can this glory be made manifest in our bodies as it was in Jesus. So he adds a rhetorical question:

But, Brother Copeland, how could that be? We’re still just flesh and blood. We live in earthy bodies. That kind of glory can’t shine through us! Yes it can. (8)

Before I allow Copeland to dig his exegetical grave deeper let me report that I have been hearing him teach this garbage since 1979. One would imagine that after almost thirty years of no manifestations of such confessions would make one stop proclaiming it. I believe Mr. Copeland is emphasizing this specific aspect of the Manifest Sons of God teaching (9) now because he is growing older, he turns 70 in January and he and Gloria among others have been faithfully confessing this to make it reality. They are so deceived in their minds that they really believe what they are saying must come to pass in order for Jesus Christ to return. You must understand that Jesus Christ CANNOT return to the earth UNTIL the restoration of ALL THINGS (Acts 3:20) which would have to include this manifestation of the shekinah or manifest glory of God shining literally from our spirits through our bodies.

Kenny begins by citing Moses as his initial example of what we are to experience as end-time believers:

In Exodus, when Moses went up on the mountain to receive the commandments for Israel from God, he spent so much time in God’s glory that his face shone with it. He had so much fire coming out of his face that he had to wear a veil over it to keep from killing people when they got close to him. (10)

His relating of this account is false in several areas. Yes Moses did go up and meet with the Lord God and received the commandments. Moses was even allowed to see a glimpse of the back of God who hid him in the cleft of the rock and covered Moses with His had as He passed by (Ex. 32:22). Moses was not up on the mountain with God just basking in His glory per se. The Bible plainly tells us that when he returned back wit the commandments he did not even know his face shone at all.

And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. Ex.34:29-33

Naturally when Moses returned and his face shone brightly it was frightening to Aaron, the leaders and the people. But READ what the text says (1) Moses was unaware of it, he did not seek to become a glory transmitter. (2) Moses called the leaders to come to him and “all the rulers returned unto him.” Nobody was killed by the reflected glory on Moses, nobody even got the sniffles from it. (3) Lastly, “all the children of Israel came nigh.” None of them were killed either and then Moses according to his own volition placed a veil over his face until he spoke with the Lord again (v.34). When he spoke to God he removed the veil and he left it off until he was done sharing the directives from the Lord to the people (v.35) so they could see his shining face Copeland’s statement regarding Moses is simply a fabrication and he embellished God’s Word (which is a sin) by making the text say more than it does.

But as we were fond of saying “let everything be established by two witnesses” Mr. Copeland brings forth his next witness concerning the glory we are supposed to be manifesting by appealing to the account of the transfiguration of Jesus:

…His earthly body was so transfigured by the fire of God’s glory that ‘His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them (Mark 9:3, NKJV).’ At that time Jesus’ body was just as natural, just as much flesh and blood as ours, yet it was totally lit up with the fire of God! (11)

The WOF cult has a long well documented history of demoting Jesus to a mere man and lifting sinful man up to the level of God. What Mr. Copeland seems to forget, if he ever knew it, was that Jesus’ body was not exactly like our bodies. Yes, His body was a real flesh and blood body with one significant difference; Jesus was without sin both body and soul. His was and is a sinless body. However we live in bodies that are sinful and subject to the ravages of this fallen world, sadly it decays daily (2 Cor. 4:16) just take a look in the mirror!

By now you have probably guessed where Copeland is leading the blind who follow him into this new revelation of glory. (12)

If that is not enough to convince you that God’s glory can shine through you, consider what happened in the book of Acts when the fire of God’s fell again…this time not just on a few special saints but on all 120 ordinary believers who had gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. (13)

Any careful exegete who examines the account of Pentecost originally set forth in Acts will easily determine that the 120 people cited by virtually all Pentecostal and CRM people falls apart, leaving only the 12 Apostles who initially received the endowment of Holy Ghost power. As in the above cited statements Mr. Copeland’s fevered mind continues to spin out of control:

The sound the 120 believers heard wasn’t an earthly wind at all. It was a sound from heaven. It was the sound of heaven pouring itself into earth, filling the atmosphere with God Himself. God left the throne and came to Jerusalem that day, and the roar that accompanied Him was so loud that everyone in the world heard it. (14)

God is omnipresent, how could God “fill” anything pre se in a philosophical sense? What texts state that God left his heavenly throne to pour Himself into the upper room? I guess Jesus was left sitting alone at the momentarily vacant throne to His immediate left. We know that the Holy Spirit’s “throne” (if He ever has one) was vacant because as Jesse Duplantis learned in his visit to heaven that the Holy Spirit is on earth and not in heaven! (15) The Bible never says that “everyone in the world heard it”? According to our research no ancient historians mention such a global sonic effect. Again we see Mr. Copeland off into la-la land. Sadly, he goes from bad to worse in this article alone:

Along with that heavenly sonic blast came the very fire of God’s glory…He sat on each of them, entering them in full power and glory and they absorbed it. They took into their reborn human spirit’s the blazing glory of the Holy Spirit Himself. (16)

The original twelve Apostles appear to have been able to absorb the full power and glory of God within their reborn human spirits. Does not the Bible teach us that the fullness of the godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9). Oh sure, the text is referring to Christ, but are we not “in Christ now? The text in Acts says no such thing, this is fantasy on Copeland’s part. He asks another rhetorical question “what does all that have to do with you? Here comes the astounding answer, I hope you are sitting down because when you read this you’ll become shout’ in happy and probably do the Pentecostal two-step unless you restrain yourself!

If you’re born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit, that same fiery glory is in you right now. That’s right! The same glory that lit up Adam and Eve, the same glory that made Moses’ face to shine, the same glory that transfigured Jesus’ flesh-and-blood body on the Mount of transfiguration, the same fire that filled the upper room and launched the first disciples into a ministry of power, signs and wonders the likes of which the world had never seen…the same glory now resides in the spirit of every born-again, Holy Ghost-baptized believer. (17)

Pay close attention to whom it is that has this power, it is not every Christian. Charismatic believers have a two-tiered level of Christians. First, there are those who have received a second experience called being baptized in or filled with the Holy Spirit which is evidenced by them speaking in ecstatic speech (what they call other tongues). Then you have the less blessed, lower wattage Christians who have not received this second work. Copeland is referring specifically to “Spirit-filled” people not the Church universal. The charismatic Christian according to Copeland’s glory doctrine have within them the exact same glory that “lit up” Adam and Eve (I wonder what version of the Bible he uses to find these hitherto unknown facts, it must be the notes in the Finis Dake paraphrase), that was seen on Moses’ face and was unveiled in Christ before Peter, John and James.

What is appalling, beyond the fact that Copeland is deluding people on several levels simultaneously is that he has not got one shred of proof to back up his claims. I cannot find any examples in the N.T. or even in the writings of the ante-Nicene and post-Nicene fathers of where believers went around exuding effulgent glory as id Moses’ face for a period of time. Nor can I find any examples of disciples looking like our transfigured Lord. One would have to imagine that if what Mr. Copeland is teaching is true then it would be plainly set forth in the New Testament and probably alluded to by the Old Testament Prophets. Yet none of the sixty-six books of the Bible give such glory to believers.

The next glaring error in his comment is regarding the first “disciples” being launched into a ministry of power and signs and wonders. The common misconception of most charismatic people is that virtually all Christians were running around working miracles, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. That simply is not the testimony of the Book of Acts. The Apostles did work genuine signs, wonders and miracles. Paul stated to those who were being misled regarding his status as an Apostle wrote “The things that mark an apostle-signs, wonders and miracles–were done among you with great perseverance” (2 Cor. 12:11). There are only a very few examples of non-Apostolic disciples being used to work any signs or wonders and those few who were used had been sent out specifically by the Apostles. According to Copeland that same glory resides within each Spirit-filled believer today, implying we ought to be doing these powerful signs and wonders too. Ok Mr. Copeland , “Where’s the Glory?”

Naturally he has an answer for this obvious power failure in the lives of the highly charged charismatic. The answer is that they have to learn how to operate in that kind of glory. He’ll give us the wisdom we need to do what Proverbs 4 says and guard our spirit above all so that nothing hinders the release of the glory that resides there. We’ll rid ourselves of devilish stuff like strife, envy and hatred because we know that trash will cause us to walk in darkness. It will keep the glory from shining through We’ll resist and rid ourselves of every trace of fear because that fear will pollute our spirits…We’ll walk in love–love for God and love for each other—not because we want to be religiously right but because we want to be gloriously bright. (18)

All the highly empowered ones need to do is open their hearts by faith (how does one do that?) and God will give them Gnostic insight that will cause them to learn how to release this inner glory and “shine” with His power. Again, I ask, if the Apostles and disciples of the early Church walked around like glowing lights why isn’t it recorded anywhere biblically or even by secular historians of the day who did write about the church? Peter, Paul, John James and all the Apostles at least should have walked in so much power visibly emanating from their spirits through their sanctified bodies that it boggles the mind as to how they could die as martyrs. After all, if just the glance Moses got of God’s back could have “killed” the Israelites, how much more so the FULLNESS of God’s glory and power that Copeland says flooded into them on Pentecost? How could any mere sinner get close enough to these walking powerhouses in order ot capture them, let alone kill them? Obviously, these initial Apostles and disciple failed. They must have gotten “religious” and turned out their glory lights. Thank goodness that God has once again restored prophets (profits?) and apostles (opossums?) back to the Church in these last days {I am joking here folks, ok?}.

Note the stress placed upon us in the former quote. Copeland is preaching sinless perfectionism through self-effort. We are the ones who will rid ourselves of various sins. We are the ones who will resist and rid ourselves of every trace of fear. We’ll be the ones to walk in love and not because it is the religiously correct thing to do, no, we’ll walk in love because we want to be gloriously “bright.” Jesus is never mentioned at all. There is no need to cry out to Him as the Savior from the weights and sins which so easily beset all of us. No, the super-saint can rid themselves of all these pesky devilish problems.

Even though the Church has failed and failed miserably to walk in this realm of supernatural glory and power for almost two thousand years, don’t despair my brothers and sisters. Copeland closes out with a great note of hope & victory:

That’s what true prosperity is all about! And we’re right in the middle of it now. We are grasping the revelation of this and becoming beacons of light— all of us shining together with the glory of Jesus Christ in the darkest times this earth has ever known. We are reaching out to others with hands filled with the lightning-like splendor of God’s power and finishing the job Jesus left us here to do. (19)

See my friends we are right in the middle of this new revealing of God’s glory and power. I’ve seen Mr. Copeland’s hands on television along with Benny Hinn’s, Joyce Meyer, Marilyn Hickey, Jesse Duplantis and others and I have yet to detect lightning-like splendor emanating from them.

Maybe this is the charismatic extremist version of what others call the “emerging church.” Maybe like God, we are in process of becoming what we truly are meant to be, little gods and as such finish the “unfinished” work Jesus has left us to do. All I can say to this utter nonsense is that it is far more akin to Luke Skywalker fighting the evil Emperor who has bolts of lightning-like splendor coming out of his hands than anything ever remotely resembling biblical Christianity.

DMI is very concerned about what is being taught by Copeland and others. We know that literally hundreds of thousands of people look to Mr. Copeland as a genuine prophet of God which means untold numbers of his followers are working hard (and failing) trying to reach this exalted level he declares is theirs for the taking, if they follow his directions exactly. There is no room for any margin of error within charismatic extremism. Any and all failure rests solely on the sagging shoulders of the one trying to grow closer to Jesus and be a vessel of honor for Him. Unless you’ve been on that pseudo-spiritual treadmill as I have you have no idea of the damage it does to people who try their hardest to work all the principles, to follow all the steps, to learn every formerly hidden key to Present Day Truth (2 Pet. 1:12) and to watch their every word so they can receive what has been promised to them by their blind guides. When people fail, and they always do fail at some point because their initial goal was not from God to begin with and no system of works righteousness has ever “worked.” They will not receive any compassion from their fellow drones, you see failure is simply not tolerated. When a leader fails there are multitudes of explanations and systems for restoration. Yet when a mere sheep fails, they get mercilessly kicked to the curb.  Our hearts grieve for our brothers and sisters on the treadmill today trying to become these glorious Christians Copeland has promised is just within their grasp.

It is because of what we have seen, taught and experienced that DMI keeps forging ahead. As I write this I am suddenly reminded of the words and image of Marlon Brando in the movie Apocalypse Now at the end when he says “the horror, the horror.” If by God’s grace I can spare one person the horror my wife and I experienced, then it is well worth all the sacrifice, pain, heartache and loss we’ve undergone in this small portion of His ministry.

I realize that possibly some of you reading this article may think that DMI is making a mountain out of a molehill regarding what Copeland has written. If he were the only squirrel in the pecan tree I might agree with you, but he is not.

Let me cite just ten of the newer books in print now and available in most Christian bookstores. All of these titles deal with the subject of tapping into God’s glory.

The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind 40-Day Devotional and Personal Journal by Bill Johnson:  “healing, deliverance, signs and wonders are the inheritance for all the followers of Jesus Christ…of a Transformed Mind teaches you how to remove the hinders of religious limitation to redeem the lost and transform communities.”

Miracle Workers, Reformers, and the New Mystics by John Crowder.

Secrets of the Ascended Life by Kelly Varner: “You are about to be infused with a fresh dose of resurrection life—His life—you are about to learn The Secrets of the Ascended Life.

Secrets of the Prophetic by Kim Clement.

The Fire of God by Joy Dawson: “The Fire of God unlocks the mysteries that surround the Fire of God, unveiling its significance in the life of the believer.”

Show Me the Glory by Bill Hart: …explores the current experiences associated with the presence of God.”

Dancing Into the Anointing by Aimee Kovacs: Miracles are happening as the Bride of Christ worships God in the dance.”

The Costly Anointing by Lori Wilke:“….boldly reveals God’s requirements for being entrusted with an awesome power and authority.”

How to Live the Supernatural Life in the Here and Now by Joe Ibojie

Return to Glory by Joel A. Freeman.

All of these books are published by Destiny Image which is located in Shippenburg, PA. The more bizarre the alleged revelation is or profound the mystical experience the more likely they are to publish them. It is important that you understand that Destiny Image does not just publish “flakes” per se, they also publish internationally know and respected (in their ever growing community) charismatic leaders such as T.D. Jakes, Myles Monroe, Tommy “God-Chaser” Tenney among a host of other heretics you can see on a regular basis on your local cable stations.

Every one of these books provide often conflicting keys, steps and principles that are supposed to enable the believer to enter into the promised land of the ascended Christian life. The poor charismatic runs from movement to movement seeking to put into action these keys to “open their hearts up to God.” Make no mistake about it these are dangerous, damaging and deceptive books that will only lead the readers further from Christ Jesus and not closer to Him. The “horror” is that the presence they may have “opened their hearts to” and coming to embrace will be that of a demonic entity masquerading as Jesus. Why do you think the Apostle John commands us to “test the spirits?”  (1 John 4:1)?   Is it really any wonder why all those smiling, seemingly healthy and very wealthy televangelists prove themselves by their very doctrines to be ministers of Satan (2 Cor. 11:14) disguising themselves as servants of righteousness? There are some of the people Paul warned the Ephesian elders against in Acts 20:29-31 when he said:

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock. Also from your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Brothers and sisters if that text does not fit us today than which one does? I see Paul, like a Jeremiah warning these pastors about the danger to the Church from without and within for three years day and night and doing so weeping!

I cannot tell you how many pastors I and others, have warned about the dangers many of these men and woman present to the Church globally and their own congregations locally. Frankly, the usual response is rather blasé or one of  “well the Church has had these problems from the beginning.”   Yes, that is true but does that make the spiritual damage and shipwreck any less a disaster in the lives of their parishioners today? No ! Paul warned the elders so that they would in turn go back to their congregations and warn and educate their people concerning the false teachers, false prophets, false apostles, fake healers, liars and genuine pastors to recognize the dangers facing their people and boldly address it biblically in love but unapologetically too.  ♦

Copyright © 2006 Robert S. Liichow

End Notes:

1. I never cease to be amazed by pastors and other church leaders who simply “lump” all tongue-talking people as either Pentecostal believers or charismatic Christians. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only are there massive doctrinal distinctions between classic Pentecostal denominations and the charismatic renewal movement (CRM) but there are great distinctions within the CRM itself. My wife and I were part of no less then five clearly defined aspects within the CRM. These five included: (1) The Word of Faith movement, aka “name it and claim,” fake it till you make it, or the health and wealth movement.” (2) The Discipleship movement aka the Shepherding Movement more or less started and run by the Florida Five [Derek Prince, Bob Mumford, Don Basham, Charles Simpson, and Ern Baxter]. My exposure here was through the Word of God Community in Ann Arbor, and later a nationwide campus group know as “Maranatha” stated Bob and Rose Weiner (3) The Prophetic movement then the (4) the Apostolic movement and lastly (5) the Signs and Wonders movement aka The Toronto Blessing/Holy Laughter, etc. There is some overlapping in belief and practice within these five I’ve mentioned (there are a few others, but my wife and I had no personal intimate experience with them, I guess you could cal them, “classic charismatic” congregations) but there are also major distinctions especially concerning the end times, the exact role of the restored prophet/apostle, global quasi-Calvinistic theocracy (Dominionism/ Kingdom Now) concepts among other issues. Few if any seminaries I am aware of teach their forthcoming pastors about not only the distinctions within the sign-gift community but the danger that these groups, especially the so-called Prophetic & Apostolic moves, pose to not only their local congregation but their denomination (s) as well.

2. I say untimely because the Word of Faith (WOF) movement Hagin helped propel to global status teaches that we are to live to be at least 120 years old, and then possibly longer. Hagin missed that mark by a good thirty years having passed away (due to illness of all things!) on September 23,2003.

3. Copeland, Kenneth Following the Faith of Abraham I, Side A, Fort Worth, Texas, K. Copeland Ministries, 1989, audiotape #01-3001. Underlining added for emphasis

4. Copeland Kenneth The Force of Righteousness, Fort Worth, Texas, K. Copeland Ministries, 1984, p. 12. Underlining added.

5. http://kem.org/usstore/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=cross+to+the+throne.

6. All WOF teachers make a false dichotomy between the physical body, the soul, and spirit of man. They teach man as a tripartite being yet they do not view man as a complete unit, in fact, the spirit of man is often referred to as the “real” person and the human body is merely our earth-suit which gives us authority on this planet (which is why God has to become a man in order to gain back our lost authority).

7. Copeland, Kenneth. The Believer’s Voice of Victory, Ready to Receive the Glory. Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Fort Worth, TX, 76192-0001, October 2006m p, 14

8. ibid. p. 14

9. The Manifest Sons of God were an extreme offshoot of a very extreme brand of the CRM known as “The New Order of the Latter Rain.” The Manifest Sons of God, which find their expression today in much of the teachings of the restored prophets and apostles teach that Christians can achieve sinless perfection but because of his or her sinless perfection they will even overcome physical death itself which is the last great enemy (1 Cor 15:26). Christianize the world and hand a perfected world back to the returning Lord Jesus Christ. These concepts are found throughout the writings of Franklin Hall (many of his books are out-of-print, but DMI has reproduced his major works in PDF format on CD), Earl Paulk, Rick Joyner, Mahesh Chavda and other authors can be purchased at your local Kristian bookstore.

10. BVOV, Oct 2006, p. 4

11. ibid p. 4 Underlining added.

12. Please understand that this man is no “lightweight” when it comes to proclaiming his heretical doctrines and blasphemous thoughts. His ministry is so vast that someone can hear Mr. Copeland anywhere in the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That is a huge broadcasting footprint. He is a force to be reckoned with openly rebuked and God’s people warned about this tare sown among the pure wheat of God.

13. BVOV , October 2006, p. 4

14. Ibid p. 5 Underlining added

15. Lest you think I am making this up, simply buy a used copy of Heaven, Close Encounters of the God Kind written by Jesse Duplantis. While in the throne room, he sees Jesus, whom Jesse tells us is a great preacher he sees the feet of got the Father but does not see the Holy Spirit and asks the angel who has escorted him into the throne room “where is the Holy Spirit?” The angel tells Jesse that He is on earth and then Jesse says he felt so “stupid” for asking such an obvious question. Obviously, such a concept of the Godhead is heretical and sadly demonstrates the overall biblical ignorance of multitudes of charismatic believers who not only purchased Duplantis’ book, but actually ALL the tall tales, lies, heresy and even blasphemy contained in it. I highly suggest any budding apologist to buy the book and have a field day tearing it apart doctrinally.

16. BVOV, October, 2006, p5

17. Ibid p. 5 Bold type added for emphasis.

18. Ibid p. 5 Bold type and underlining added for emphasis.

19. Ibid p. 5 Underlining added.

NEED YOUR SUPPORT NOW

Truth Matters Newsletter – August 2009 – Need your support now – by Robert S. Liichow

In fourteen years my wife and I have rarely had to appeal to our readers to give to our family specifically. Now that time has come.

My wife and I went away to celebrate our 26th anniversary by visiting my mother, sister, and her family in Southern California. We flew from Detroit as their guests, all expenses paid and I admit it was an exquisite time for Tracy (who has never seen the pacific ocean) and I.

Upon our return, Tracy went to work on Monday, as usual, only to be told that she was “laid off.” prior to our leaving she was told her lay-off date would be August 14th! So she and our household were surprised to learn Tracy would not have at least another full paycheck before her layoff. It seems that was not to be.

Tracy has since been looking into receiving unemployment compensation and food stamps to help keep our family “alive” regarding rent, food, insurance, etc.

My brothers and sisters DMI has depended upon God to meet our needs through our readers, website guests, blog visitors etc…Right now I am asking YOU, as the Head of DMI, if you will permit my family to utilize the financial gifts that come in this month to help offset our living expenses for this month? Honestly, we have nothing financially, apart from looming bankruptcy, in the way of savings, etc. Nor does DMI.

We, as many of you have known, live month by month, as we have for close to 15 years. This was with Tracy working 40 hours+, now that is gone and we have no “social-safety net” to fall upon apart from the generosity of God’s people. Please help my family during this time of need and may our gracious God bless and keep you in His truth.

Rev. Robert S. Liichow

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 15639, Detroit, Michigan  48215

Proverbs 19:17

He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.