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Fearless Fools
I have begun to be more and more disturbed by the spiritual flippancy which seems to be so common amongst those who proclaim themselves to be "Spirit-Filled." I believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit did not cease with the death of the 12 apostles; that indeed they are important to the life of the Church today, but I am appalled at the sheer nonsense and rampant heresy which now seems to pervade so much of this segment of Christianity. In fact, Spirit-filled believers, by their spiritual immaturity, often provide ample reasons for cessationists to deny that the spiritual gifts still operate today.Phrases such as "Thus saith the Lord" and "God told me…" roll off of their lips with frightening ease. 'Prophecies' and 'words of knowledge' abound, many consisting of nothing more than the vague generalities of a horoscope or fortune cookie prediction. Blatantly false prophecies are either ignored or put through a spin cycle worthy of President Clinton himself. Popular preachers and evangelists talk of frequent encounters with God or Jesus, with all the banality of a chat at the office water cooler. Gone are the days when the person encountering the awesome holy majesty of the Almighty fall on their face, crushingly aware of their own sinfulness. Familiarity, it seems, does breed contempt.
Recently, I viewed several of Rick Joyner's Morningstar programs on television. Rick is heralded as a man who moves in the power of God and the prophetic, and I wanted to see firsthand what he was like. What I saw was more pathetic than prophetic. Rick introduced a the video of a speaker named Bobby Conner. I had previously read how Rick used Bobby to "give a reading" (reveal facts about a man they just met&emdash;very much like a psychic reading). Bobby's message was filled with his supposed conversations with God. What immediately struck my wife and I was his utter lack of respect for God. He was constantly portraying himself as arguing with God, and telling God things like "You've got a problem" and "Are you sure?" At one point, he says he saw heaven, with all these angels sitting around and he told God "You need to put these angels to work!" Of course God 'tells' him that it is our job to command the angels, not His. What was more shocking than his pride, was his total oblivion to the fact that he was repeatedly dishonoring Almighty God. The crowning moment (or should I say low point?) was when he relates how he commanded a war in Russia to stop, and the next morning on the news, he saw that it had ended. I guess he hasn't got around to using the same technique on the Kosovo situation yet! Before all this, Rick Joyner had talked about what a great man of God Bobby Conner was. Sorry Rick, but a true man of God treats his Lord with respect and dignity. Maybe I'll believe you when you and Bobby develop some holy fear.
Of course, Joyner and Conner are typical of a much larger problem. Defilers of the holy are a dime a dozen. The worst problem in this country is not the atheists, homosexuals, or abortionists. It is those who profess to love God, and then desecrate His holy name by their words and deeds. God will not be mocked, and it is written that judgment will begin in the house of God. Right now, there is putrid, moldering stench spread throughout the Body of Christ by the defilers that have desecrated it by their lying tongues and cancerous pride. I fear that a holy purging fire is the only thing that will remedy the situation.
I believe that part of profaning, or taking the name of God in vain is to say "Thus saith the Lord" when He has not truly spoken. It would be wisdom to not attach God's name to something, unless we are very sure that He indeed initiated it.
God's mercy is great, and I pray that we will repent, and turn from our foolish pride and posturing, and return to a holy, reverent fear of the supreme ruler and creator of all things. Then, and only then will we be prepared to hear the word of the Lord.
"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way, and the perverted mouth I hate." Proverbs 8:13
"Yes declares the Lord, I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare 'The Lord declares.' Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, declares the Lord. They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least, declares the Lord." Jeremiah 24:31-32
*** Get ahold of R. C. Sproul's Holiness of God teaching series. It is a good antidote to the problem.
Reproduction of this article for free distribution is permitted. John Green, azgreens@hotmail.comJohn Green's new site is at http://members.tripod.com/~Aslan_777/articles.html.
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